Clinical psychology

What is clinical psychology

Identifying abnormal behaviour that is problematic to the individual.

Name the 4 Ds

Deviance, distress, dysfunction, danger

Deviance

The extent to which behaviour is rare in society which may suggest a clinical problem, behaviour in the minority eg. 2 different eye colours/ left hands

Dysfunction

behaviour that interferes with the quality of a persons life and prevents “a normal lifestyle” eg. OCD, severe anxiety that stops you going out

Distress

Extent to which behaviour is upsetting for the individual eg. Hypochondriasis consisting of the severe fear of having a serious disease

Danger

Danger to themselves/others to the extent intervention is required eg. Self harm/ smoking nicotine -second hand smoke is dangerous to others

The 5th D

Duration -if some behavioir is short term it can’t really be considered a psychological disorder eg. Getting into a bar fight once and then never again

What is psychosis

Where you experience a different reality eg. Schizophrenia

Affective disorders

Mood affecters eg. Depression

Classification

The act of classing things into groups

Diagnosis

The recognition and identification of a disease/conditions by its signs or symptoms

The two classification systems

The DSM-V (5) - stands for the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders published by the American psychiatric association

ICD- Internstional classification system of diseases used globally covering all disorders and psychological illnesses