Download Chapter 16 - BowkerPsych

Chapter 16, Goal 5
Psychological Disorders
Abnormal psychology
What is the difference between
normal and abnormal behavior?
According to Rosenhan and Seligman(1984)
1. Suffering – does the person experience
distress and discomfort?
2. Maladaptiveness – does the person engage in
behaviors that make life difficult for him or her
rather than being helpful?
3. Irrationality – is the person incomprehensible
or unable to communicate
4. Unpredictability – does the person act in ways
that are unexpected by himself or herself or by
other people?
 5. Vividness and unconventionality – does
the person experience things that are
different from most people?
 6. Observer discomfort – is the person
acting in a way that is difficult to watch or
that makes other people embarrassed?
 7. Violation of moral or ideal standards –
does the person habitually break the
accepted ethical and moral standards of
the culture?
 The first four – how a person is living
 Fifth – social judgment, what is convention
or not
 Last two – social norms.
Problem with social judgments – often fail to
consider diversity in how people live their
lives –
Defining abnormality is PROBLEMATIC!!!
Jahoda’s (1958) normal
characteristics
 Efficient self-perception
 Realistic self-esteem and acceptance
 Voluntary control of behavior
 True perception of the world
 Sustaining relationships and giving
affection
 Self-direction and productivity
Criticism of Jahoda
 If criteria were applied, most of us would
seem somehow abnormal
 These are value judgements
 Example: Changing views on
homosexuality
 DSM-III (1980)Changed homosexuality from a
disorder to
“only abnormal if the individual has negative
feelings about his or her sexual orientation.”
 DSM-IV (1994)
“Sexual disorders not otherwise specified” where it
is marked as “persistant and marked distress
about one’s sexual orientation”
 What has happened in the meantime –
people’s attitudes have changed. It is no
longer considered abnormal and cannot
be classified as such
 What is normal and not changes!!
DSM
 The American Psychiataric Association
published a manual to list observable
symptoms
 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders
 The 5th version (update) has just been
released.
Transsexualism
 DSM-IV has classified as a disorder
 Called gender identity disorder
 After movie Boys Don’t Cry, there are
arguments to declassify it.
ABC’s of a disorder
Psychologists use this when describing symptoms of a
disorder
 Affective symptons – emotional elements (fear,
sadness, anger)
 Behavioral symptoms – observational
behaviours (crying, physical withdrawal from
others, pacing)
 Cognitive symptoms – ways of thinking
(pessimism, personalization, self-image)
 Somataic Symptoms – physical symptoms
(facial twitching, stomach cramping a
amenorrhea)
Criticisms in trying to identify
characteristics of “abnormality”
 Some use these labels as an “excuse” for
behavior
 Diagnosis are not objective, can be
influenced by culture and politics
 In the former Soviet Union dissidents were
diagnosed as schizophrenic
 In the UK in the 1800s women who were
pregnant and not married could be admitted
to an asylum.
Thomas Szasz
“The Myth of Mental Illness” 1962
 Some neurophysiological disorders are
diseases of the brain (Alzheimers)
 Most “mental disorders” should be
considered as “problems in living”
 The concept of mental illness is not used
correctly by psychiatrists
Is Szasz’s argument valid today?
 Neurophychologists have revealed
possible chemical abnormality in the brain
(schizophrenia)
 But brain scans haven’t yet provided an
ultimate answer.
Szasz
Ideology and Insanity (1974)
 People use labels such as mentally ill,
criminal or foreigner in order to socially
exclude people
 Also, those labelled as mentally ill often
endure prejudice and discrimination
Rosenhan’s study
 Shows the concerns about reliability in the
diagnosis of psychiatric illness.
 2 psychiatrists can easily diagnose the
same patient with different disorders.
 Bias in diagnosis, attitudes and prejudices
of the psychiatrist
 Must rely on the patient himself to answer
questions about his own behavior – may
be unreliable.
Biopsychosocial Approach
Nature and Nurture
 Biological causes
 Psychological causes
 Social Causes
different cultures have different anxiety disorders
anorexia-nervosa (western cultures)
Susto, fear of black magic (Latin America)
Taijim-kyofusho (eye contact ???) Japan
Andrea Yates
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3xN__
s2-KQ