Chapter 2 - Origins of Clinical Psychology

Origins of Clinical Psychology

The discipline of clinical psychology, which emerged around the turn of the 20th century, developed from earlier academic and research-based roots in psychology.

Early Pioneers of Clinical Psychology

Individuals from Europe and North America who challenged the inhumane treatment of people with mental illness and advocated for more humane care during the 1700s and 1800s.

William Tuke

An English pioneer who founded the York Retreat, a residential treatment center emphasizing kindness, dignity, and decency for people with mental illness.

York Retreat

• A treatment center where patients received proper nutrition, regular exercise, and friendly interactions with staff.

• A residential treatment center founded by William Tuke

• humane treatment for people with mental illness.

Philippe Pinel

A French physician known as the 'Liberator of the Mentally Ill' who rejected the belief that mental illness was caused by demonic possession and advocated compassion and humane treatment.

Philippe Pinel’s Contribution

• He worked to free people with mental illness from prison-like asylums

• promoted proper nutrition, freedom from chains, and protection from physical abuse

• introduced case histories, treatment notes, and illness classifications

• systematic and patient-centered.

Eli Todd

An American physician from Connecticut who adopted Philippe Pinel’s teachings and promoted humane treatment of people with mental illness in the United States.

Eli Todd’s Treatment Philosophy

Emphasized patients’ strengths rather than weaknesses and included patients’ input in treatment decisions.

Dorothea Dix

An American reformer and former Sunday school teacher who devoted herself to improving the treatment and living conditions of people with mental illness.

Dorothea Dix’s 1841 Observation

She observed that people with mental illness were often placed in prisons and jails because of inadequate space and mental health institutions.

Dorothea Dix’s Impact

Her advocacy contributed to the establishment of more than 30 state institutions in the United States and additional institutions in Europe and Asia.

Neurosis

A historical classification of mental illness involving symptoms such as anxiety and depression while maintaining contact with reality.

Psychosis

A condition involving a break from reality, potentially including hallucinations, delusions, or disorganized thinking.

Emil Kraepelin

A German psychiatrist known as the 'father of descriptive psychiatry.'

Kraepelin’s Contribution

Developed diagnostic terminology and classifications that influenced later diagnostic systems, including the DSM.

Dementia Praecox

Kraepelin’s term for a disorder resembling what is now called schizophrenia.

Descriptive Psychiatry

An approach emphasizing careful description and classification of mental disorders.

Exogenous Disorders

Disorders considered to be caused by external factors and viewed as more treatable.

Endogenous Disorders

Disorders considered to be caused by internal factors.

Lightner Witmer

An American psychologist widely recognized as the founder of clinical psychology.

Witmer’s Doctoral Mentor

Wilhelm Wundt, a pioneer of experimental psychology.

First Psychological Clinic

Founded by Lightner Witmer at the University of Pennsylvania in 1896, marking the beginning of psychology as an applied profession.

Witmer’s Clinical Work

Applied psychological science to assess and treat individuals, particularly children with learning and behavioral problems.

The Psychological Clinic

The first journal in clinical psychology, founded by Lightner Witmer in 1907.

Term “Clinical Psychology”

Coined and published by Lightner Witmer in 1907, providing the field with its first formal definition.

Witmer’s View of Clinical Psychology

Viewed clinical psychology as a specialized profession integrating psychology with medicine, education, and social work, requiring specialized training.

DSM

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a classification system used to define and categorize mental disorders.

• American Psychiatric Association in 1952.

Early Purpose of U.S. Mental Disorder Classification

To collect population statistics about mental disorders.

1840 U.S. Census

Used one broad category: 'idiocy/insanity.'

1880 U.S. Census

Expanded mental disorder classification into seven categories.

DSM-II

Revised the original DSM and was published in 1968.

DSM-III

Published in 1980; introduced specific diagnostic criteria and a multiaxial system, representing a major change in psychiatric diagnosis.

DSM-III-R

Revised edition published in 1987.

DSM-IV

Published in 1994.

DSM-IV-TR

Text revision of DSM-IV published in 2000.

DSM-5

Published in 2013.

DSM Diagnostic Expansion

The number of DSM diagnoses increased by more than 300% between 1952 and 1994.

DSM-5 Section III

Contains conditions that require further empirical study before receiving full diagnostic status.

Examples of Conditions Requiring Further Study

Internet Gaming Disorder, Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome, Persistent Complex Bereavement, and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury.

Edward Lee Thorndike

Psychologist who advocated the idea that individuals possess distinct and relatively independent intelligences.

Charles Spearman

Psychologist who proposed that a general intelligence, called “g,” underlies and intersects with multiple specific abilities.

General Intelligence (g)

Spearman’s concept of a general intellectual ability underlying multiple specific cognitive skills.

Alfred Binet

French psychologist who developed an early standardized intelligence test to identify students who needed educational assistance.

Binet-Simon Scale

Intelligence test created by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon in 1905 to help the French government identify students who qualified for special educational services.

Theodore Simon

Collaborator of Alfred Binet in developing the Binet-Simon Scale in 1905.

Mental Age

A measure comparing an individual’s intellectual performance with the average performance expected at a particular age.

Chronological Age

A person’s actual age.

Binet’s Intelligence Assessment

Compared mental age and chronological age as an indicator of intelligence.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

A numerical measure of intelligence derived historically from the relationship between mental age and chronological age.

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

The later version of the Binet intelligence test updated by Lewis Terman and developed into a widely used intelligence assessment.

David Wechsler

Psychologist who developed intelligence tests designed to assess adults as well as children.

Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale

Intelligence test published by David Wechsler in 1939 to address the need for an intelligence test designed for adults.

WAIS

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, an intelligence assessment designed for adults.

WAIS-R

Revised version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, published in 1981.

WISC

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, an intelligence assessment designed for children.

WPPSI

Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, designed for young children.

James McKeen Cattell

Psychologist who first used the term “mental test” in 1890.

Mental Test

basic tests of abilities such as reaction time, memory, and sensation/perception.

Projective Personality Tests

Personality assessments that present ambiguous or unclear stimuli and assume that individuals project aspects of their personality onto them.

Rorschach Inkblot Method

A projective personality test published by Hermann Rorschach in 1921 consisting of 10 inkblots.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

A projective personality test published by Christiana Morgan and Henry Murray in 1935 in which clients create stories based on ambiguous scenes.

Draw-A-Person Test

A projective personality assessment in which personality characteristics are inferred from drawings of human figures.

Rotter’s Incomplete Sentence Blank

A projective personality assessment in which personality is assessed through how clients complete sentence stems.

Objective Personality Tests

Structured personality assessments that typically use multiple-choice or true/false questions.