Abnormal Psychology Exam 1

What does it mean for something to be abnormal?

Patterns of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that deviate significantly from cultural norms, often causing distress or impairment in functioning.

When is behavior considered abnormal?

When it is statistically rare, violates social norms, causes personal distress or harm, and impairs functioning in daily life.

What are some behaviors that may be considered abnormal?

Severe anxiety, depression, irrational fears, and socially disruptive actions that differ from societal expectations.

Is this abnormal: A 10 year old wants his entire body tattooed

Children go through different phases and their mind is still developing. This behavior would not be considered abnormal. If their parents allowed all the tattoos, that would be abnormal behavior on the parents end.

Is this abnormal: Your grandmother believes part of her body is missing and cries out about the missing part all day long. You show her that the part she thinks is missing is actually there. She refuse to acknowledge this contradictory information.

This behavior is abnormal, indicating a delusional disorder, where a person holds strong beliefs despite clear evidence to the contrary, causing significant distress and impairment.

Is this abnormal: Your neighbor sweeps, washes, and scrubs his driveway daily.

This behavior may be considered abnormal if it is excessive and causes distress or impairment in functioning during day-to-day, potentially indicating OCD or an obsessive-compulsive trait.

Is this abnormal: Your uncle consumes a quart of whiskey a day. He has trouble remembering the names of people around him and is often absent from work.

This behavior is considered abnormal, suggesting a potential alcohol use disorder. The excessive consumption most likely causing this memory issues indicate significant impairment in his daily functioning.

What causes mental disorders?

A combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors. These factors interact in complex ways, leading to various symptoms and impairments.

Mental Illness

A mental health condition that negatively affects a person’s emotions, thinking, behavior, relationships with others, or overall functioning

Abnormal Psychology

The scientific study of psychological/mental disorders

Psychopathology

The study of symptoms, causes, and treatment of mental disorders

What are the DSM-5’s views on Abnormality?

• A significant disturbance in thinking, emotional regulation, or behavior caused by a dysfunction in basic psychological, biological or developmental processes

• Significant distress in day to day functioning

• Not an expected response to a common stress or difficulty (in consideration with cultural expectations)

What are the 4D’s of gauging deviations from normative standards?

• Distress

• Deviance

• Dysfunction

• Dangerousness

Distress

Emotional pain or suffering that affects an individual's ability to function in daily life.

Deviance

Behavior that diverges from societal norms and expectations, often leading to social stigma or disapproval.

Dysfunction

Impairment in the ability to function in social, occupational, or other important areas of life.

Dangerousness

The risk of causing harm to oneself or others, often associated with certain mental health conditions.

Epidemiology

The study of the frequency with which mental illness occurs

Prevalence

The percentage of a population who have a specific disorder

Lifetime Prevalence

The existence of a disorder during any point in a person’s life

Cultural Relativism

The idea that mental illness and treatment should be understood within the context of a person's culture, recognizing that norms and values can differ significantly across societies.

Cultural Universality

The belief that certain aspects of mental illness are universal and can be understood similarly across different cultures, suggesting that there are common experiences and symptoms regardless of cultural context.

Stereotype

A widely held but oversimplified & often wrong belief about a particular group or type of people, often leading to generalizations that may not reflect reality.

Example of a stereotype

Assuming all teenagers are rebellious. This often ignores individual differences and can contribute to biased perceptions.

Social Stigma

A negative perception and discrimination against individuals with mental health issues, often leading to isolation and reluctance to seek help.

Self-stigma

The internalization of negative stereotypes and stigma by individuals with mental health issues, leading them to feel ashamed or unworthy.

What can you do to reduce stigma and stereotyping about mental illness?

Educate yourself and others, promote open conversations, and challenge negative stereotypes.

What can we do as a society to reduce stigma and stereotyping about mental illness?

Fostering inclusive environments, provide mental health education, and support advocacy efforts to address and combat stigma surrounding mental illness.

Humanism

A psychological perspective emphasizing individual potential and self-actualization, focusing on personal growth and the importance of self-awareness.

What are some of the factors that may lead a person to have a psychological disorder?

Biological, social, psychological, and sociopolitical influences, including genetics, trauma, and stress.

The biological viewpooint

considers psychological disorders as linked to physical or genetic factors, including brain chemistry, structure, and function.

The Psychological viewpoint

Considers psychological disorders are linked to mental processes, emphasizing the role of thoughts, emotions, cognition, and experiences.

One dimensional models of psychology

Focus solely on one factor, such as biological, psychological, or social influences, to explain psychological disorders.

Why is it likely that the one-dimensional model does not work to describe mental health challenges?

• Limited in that any one model cannot explain every aspect of a disorder

• Overly simplistic

• Set up a false Either/Or dichotomy

• Does not consider a variety of circumstances that contribute to the disorder

• Does not consider interrelated or interactions between/among each dimension

Biopsychosocial Model

Integrates biological, psychological, and social factors to provide a comprehensive understanding of mental health. This model emphasizes how these dimensions interact together to influence individual behavior and well-being.

Biopsychological Model criticisms

• Limited focus on interaction between elements

• Little guidance on treatment

• Does not consider culture

Multipath model

A comprehensive framework for understanding the complexity of mental health disorders, emphasizing the interplay of biological, psychological, social, and cultural factors.

Assumptions of the Multipath model

• Not a theory but a guide to understanding different parts of mental health

• No one perspective is adequate to explain the development of mental disorders

• Multiple pathways and influences contribute to the development of any single disorder

• Not all dimensions contribute equally

• Integrative and interactive

Resilience model

Our ability to recover from stress or adversity, focus on our strengths, and use positive supports

Biological dimension of resilience

Our bodies are primed to adapt

Psychological dimension of resilience

We have the ability to be flexible, cope, and be optimistic

Social dimension of resilience

Supportive environments and interpersonal relationships

Sociocultural dimension of resilience

Community support and cultural connection

Biological factors

Forebrain

The largest part of the brain, responsible for higher cognitive functions, including reasoning, emotion, and voluntary movement.

Cerebrum

the primary component of the forebrain, involved in functions such as learning, memory, and sensory processing.

Cerebral cortex

the outer layer of the cerebrum, responsible for complex thought processes, sensory perception, and voluntary muscle movements.

Limbic system

a set of structures in the forebrain that regulates emotions, memory, and motivation.

HPA – Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis

a central part of the body's stress response system, involving the interaction between the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, and adrenal glands that regulates various physiological processes such as stress reactions and mood.

Biochemical processes

chemical reactions occurring within living organisms that are essential for maintaining life, including metabolism and energy production.

Neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that transmit signals across synapses between neurons, influencing a variety of functions including mood, perception, and behavior.

Adrenaline

a hormone released by the adrenal glands during stressful or exciting situations, increasing heart rate, blood flow and energy availability, leading to a physical boost & heightened awareness.

Noradrenaline

a neurotransmitter and hormone that plays a key role in the body’s stress response, affecting attention, arousal, and mood.

Dopamine

a neurotransmitter involved in reward, motivation, addiction, and motor control, influencing mood and pleasure. People repeat behaviors that lead to dopamine release.

Serotonin

Contributes to well-being and happiness; helps sleep cycle & digestive system regulation. Affected by exercise & light exposure

GABA

Calms firing nerves in the CNS. High levels improve focus; low levels cause anxiety. Also contributes to motor control & vision.

Acetylcholine

Involved in thought, learning, & memory. Activates muscle action in the body. Also associated with attention and awakening.

Glutamate

Most common brain neurotransmitter. Involved in learning and memory, regulates development and creation of nerve contacts.

Endorphins

Released during exercise, excitement, & sex, producing well-being & euphoria, reducing pain perception and enhancing mood.

Neuroplasticity

The brain's ability to reorganize and adapt by forming new neural connections throughout life, crucial for learning and recovery from injury.

Neurogenesis

The process of generating new neurons in the brain

Psychopharmacology

The study of how drugs affect the mind and behavior, including the effects of medications on mental disorders.

Anti-depressant medication categories

Various classes of drugs used to treat depression, including SSRIs, SNRIs, tricyclics, and MAOIs, each working through different mechanisms in the brain.

Pharmacogenomics

The study of how an individual's genetic makeup influences their response to specific medications, particularly in the context of mental health treatment.

Electroconvulsive therapy

A medical treatment that involves sending small electric currents through the brain to treat severe depression and other mental health conditions when other treatments have failed.

Neurosurgical and brain stimulation treatments

Psychosurgeries (removing parts of the brain) procedures aimed at treating mental health disorders, such as deep brain stimulation or targeted lesions, often used when other treatments are ineffective.

Biological model criticism

• Model fails to consider individual’s unique circumstances

• Rapid growth in sale and marketing of psychotropic medications

• Drug-drug interactions possible

• Limited focus on ethnic or gender group differences in physiological response to medication

4 major perspectives of psychological factors

• Psychodynamic

• Behavioral

• Cognitive

• Humanistic

Psychoanalysis

A therapeutic approach founded by Sigmund Freud that emphasizes the exploration of unconscious thoughts and feelings, often through techniques like free association and dream analysis, to uncover repressed emotions and thoughts.

Interpersonal psychotherapy

A form of therapy that focuses on improving interpersonal relationships and social functioning to help alleviate emotional distress. It often addresses issues such as grief, role transitions, and interpersonal conflicts.

Repression defense mechanism

Involves the unconscious blocking of distressing thoughts, feelings, or memories from awareness, often leading to emotional difficulties.

Denial defense mechanism

Where an individual refuses to accept reality or facts, acting as if a painful event, thought, or feeling does not exist, often to avoid emotional distress.

Projection defense mechanism

A defense mechanism where individuals attribute their unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or motives to others, thus avoiding direct acknowledgment of their own emotions.

Displacement defense mechanism

Involving the redirection of emotions or impulses from a threatening target to a safer one, often resulting in emotional release.

Regression defense mechanism

Where individuals revert to behaviors typical of an earlier stage of development in response to stress or anxiety, often to cope with uncomfortable emotions.

Sublimation defense mechanism

Involves channeling unacceptable impulses or desires into socially acceptable activities, allowing for positive expression of these feelings.

Criticisms of the psychodynamic model

• Reliant on case studies

• Difficult to do research with empirical data

• Does not work with all types of people

• Does not take into account social and cultural context

Cognitive – Behavioral model

A psychological model that emphasizes the role of cognitive processes and behaviors in understanding and treating psychological disorders. It combines cognitive and behavioral techniques to help individuals change maladaptive thoughts and behaviors. Example treatments include cognitive restructuring and exposure therapy.

Ellis’s ABC theory

Framework that helps individuals understand the connection between their beliefs, emotional responses, and behavioral outcomes. It outlines how activating events can lead to beliefs, which in turn produce emotional consequences. Such as losing your job turning into believing your worthless which leads to more stress

Cognitive – Behavioral model criticisms

• Psychology is about observable behaviors, and Cognitions are not observable phenomena

• The power to identify irrational beliefs may intimidate clients

• Questions about the cross-cultural applicability

Social-Relational models

Approaches in psychology that emphasize the significance of social interactions and relationships in shaping behavior and mental health. These models explore how social contexts, dynamics, and support systems benefit individual psychological processes.

Family Systems Model

A therapeutic approach that views the family as a complex system where individual behaviors are interconnected. Personality development strongly influenced by family. Mental illness often reflects unhealthy family dynamics and therapist must focus on the entire family not just the individual.

Family Systems Model Treatment Approaches

• Teaching message-sending and message-receiving skills to family members 

• Mental distress or behavioral difficulties reflects dysfunction in the family system

• Consider family power struggles and move toward more healthy distribution

• Reorganizes family in relation to level of involvement with each other

Couples therapy

Aimed at helping couples understand and clarify their communication, needs, roles, and expectations

Group therapy

• Allows participants to become involved in a social situation, develop communication skills, and feel less isolated

• Provides supportive environment

• Allows therapist to observe patient’s actual social interactions

Criticisms of the social model

• Studies have generally not been rigorous in design

• Family systems models may have negative consequences

• Parental influence may not be a factor in an individual’s disorder but are burdened with guilt

• Cultural diversity is not adequately addressed

Sociocultural Factors

People’s cultural experience play an important role in their beliefs about mental health

• Emphasis on several factors in explaining mental disorders

• Ethnicity

• Gender – women have higher prevalence on many mental health conditions

• Sexual orientation

• Religious preference

Acculturative Stress

The psychological impact of adapting to a new culture or moving to a new country, which can lead to feelings of anxiety and distress.

Multicultural model

A framework in psychology that recognizes and addresses the diverse cultural influences on mental health, emphasizing the importance of cultural competence in mental disorders and their treatment.

Sociocultural Considerations in Treatment

• Greater importance as our population becomes more diverse  

• Problems may reflect possible etiological influences of the community and society

• Effects of discrimination, marginalization, and environmental adversities are considered 

• Traditional therapies often do not consider the importance of diversity issues

• Influences, such as family experiences and degree of assimilation, must be considered in approaches to treatment

Sociocultural model criticisms

• A disorder is a disorder

• Relies heavily on case studies

• Western worldview

Reliability

Degree to which a test or procedure yields the same results repeatedly under the same circumstances

Example of reliability

A test consistently measuring the same psychological trait over multiple administrations.

Test-retest reliability

The consistency of a test's results when administered multiple times to the same group at different periods.

Internal consistency

A measure of how well the items on a test assess the same construct and produce similar results across different items.

Interrater reliability

The level of agreement between different raters or judges when assessing the same phenomenon, indicating the reliability of a measurement across multiple observers.

Validity

The extent to which a test or procedure actually measures what it was designed to measure

Example of validity

is when a depression scale accurately reflects the level of depressive symptoms.

Predictive validity

Extent to which a test can accurately predict future outcomes or behaviors based on its scores.

Real life example of predictive validity

A scenario where a college entrance exam score predicts a student's future academic performance.