Psych 270 Exam 1

Naive Realism

 human tendency to believe what WE see as accurate

Patternicity

human tendency to see patterns even when they’re absent 

Illusory Correlations

 perceived statistical association between uncorrelated events 

Confirmation bias

we tend to pay more attention to things that align with preexisting bias

Bias Blind Spot

we tend to see ourselves as less biased than others 

Psychopathology

 pathology of the mind, symptoms and signs of mental disorders 

Abnormal psychology

area of psych that studies mental disorders/abnormal behavior patterns and treatments 

Stigma

attribute that reduces an individual to this negative thing/connotation surrounding something/a disorder; four characteristics of stigma 

Four characteristics of stigma

1. Distinguishing label is applied 

2. Label refers to undesirable attribute 

3. People with label are seen as different 

4. People with label are discriminated against

Psychopathology via supernatural/mystical forces

• Abnormality is result of evil spirit 

• Therapy involves exorcism 

Psychopathology via somatogenesis

• Abnormality is result of problem with body part/organ 

• Cure lies in treating or removing diseased organ 

• 1st conducted 2000-3000 BCE

Psychopathology via psychogenesis

• Abnormality is result of how one feels/thinks/perceives world 

• Therapy involves examining behavior/thoughts to be modified 

Psychopathology via environmental pathogenesis

How cultural impacts disordered behavior by impacting thoughts

Demonology

possession by evil beings or spirits - exorcism

Early biological explanations

3 categories; mania, melancholy, phrentis, four humors (Hippocrates)

Middle Ages

knowledge controlled by church, viewed as punishment by god for sins

Dark ages

torture of “witches” resulting in bizarre “confessions”

Lunacy trials

held to determine sanity in 18th cent England, municipal gov in charge (during dark ages)

Asylums

confinement + care establishments, treatment non existent or harmful, key reformers Pinel (moral treatment) and Dorothea Dix

Enlightenment

prioritizes reason + science as sources of truth, abnormality from physical

1990s

theory is king (freud era), rise of behaviorism

2000s

clinical science, scientific principles and relies on evidence

Systems theory

 reality is best understood as a function of interrelated systems 

Equifinality

different predictors lead to the me disorder, all come to the same place

Multifinality

one predictor goes to multiple disorders

Gene x Environment correlations

Passive correlation: your environment predicts your outcome because of shared genes (eg. your mom is aggressive so you are aggressive because it’s in your genes) 

Evocative correlation: your genes cause you to find or evoke environments 

(eg. youre difficult to deal with so your mom becomes aggressive, you get more aggressive because you're difficult) 

Polymorphism

difference in a DNA sequence on a gene in population; most common are SNPs and VNTRs 

Serotonin & dopamine

depression, mania, aggression, schizophrenia

Norepinephrine

anxiety and other stress related disorders

GABA

anxiety, has action of alcohol/benzodiazepines

Mechanisms of NTs

• Agonist: acts as NT to do it’s job 

• Antagonist: stops the NT from doing what it usually does 

Sympathetic ANS

fight or flight (heart rate increase, pupil dilation, gastrointestinal inhibition 

Parasympathetic ANS

rest and digest (heart rate decrease, pupil constriction, gastrointestinal activation

HPA axis

Involved in stress response, hypothalamus releases CRF > causes pituitary to release ACTH > causes adrenal cortex to release cortisol

Reductionism

View that behavior is best understood by reduction to basic biological components

Emil Kraepelin

Focus on biological factors, assumed psych disorder are fundamentally brain disorders

Freud

Father of psychoanalysis, psych conditions caused by conflicts between ID (wants), Ego (what you can do) and Super Ego (moral compass). Conflicts/fixation during stages cause disordered behavior

Continuing impact of Freud today

Personality shaped by early childhood, behavior influenced by unconscious, causes of behavior not always apparent or obvious

Carl Rogers

Humanistic view: when I accept myself as I am, then I can change. assumes humans are innately good, if therapists provide empathy and unconditional positive regard > change is encouraged

Behaviorism

Past assumption of psych that all behaviors/pathology results from conditioning

Difference between negative and positive reinforcement

Positive: adding stimulus

Negative: removing stimulus

Learning theory

Some maladaptive behaviors that contribute to psychiatric & mental health problems are learned through modeling or classical/operant conditioning

Schema

Organized network of previous knowledge that influences how we interpret new information

Aaron-beck cognitive therapy

Sees disorders as a result of maladaptive schemas about future, self, and present

Ellis Rational-EMotive Behavior therapy

Sees disorders as result of irrational beliefs that reflect assumptions about self, unrealistic demands we place on self, others, and the world

Temperament

Characteristic styles of relating to the world, emotional reactivity/regulation, an early part of developing personality

Compendium of Psychiatry

written by Kraepelin, introduces concept of syndromes (grouping of symptoms); suggests two main disorders: dementia praecox (schizophrenia), manic depressive psychosis (bipolar)

Criticisms of the DSM 5

1. Limited construction validity of many disorders

2. Diagnostic reliability for only some disorders

3. Potentially artificially high comorbidity

4. Expanding # of categories

5. Diagnosis highly influence by cultural norms/identity

6. At what point to we pathologize typical experiences

HiTop approach

Defines disorders by breaking down into sub groups/degree categories, less disorder splitting, closer to how clinicians look at patients for treatment

Psychological assessment

Used to describe client problem, find causes, diagnosis, create treatment, different types for different goals

Intelligence tests

Evaluation of cognitive abilities; can be used to diagnosis intellectual disability, looks at discrepancy between cognitive function and performance

Projective test

Assumes individuals cannot describe their feelings, problems, and motivations, consciously but can be figured out by investigated unconscious thoughts (eg. Ink blot test, these suck)

Reactivity

Act of observing ones behavior may alter it

Metabolite Levels

Byproducts of NT breakdown found in synapses, used post Mortem in studies to try to understand neuro bio

Case Study

Detailed biographical description of an individual including fam history, education background, relationships, issues etc

Useful: generating/disproving hypothesis, rare disorders

Limitations: cannot rule out alt explanations, paradigm heavily influences

Epidemiology

Surveys or clinical interviews, useful for point prevalence and incidence rates

Correlation

Measuring correlation between two variables, stronger relationship = stronger absolute value, can be positive direction relationship or negative, probability < 0.05 to be significant

Statistical vs clinical significance

Statistical: is probability < .05

Clinical: is this a meaningful effect/association, do I care

Types of samples

Representative: represent everyone of some selection criteria

Case control: those presenting to clinic with x disorder

High risk: representative but over sampled and then weighted for something

Cross sectional vs Longitudinal studies

Cross sectional: one point in time, cause + effect measure at same time, could be across dif groups

Longitudinal: studies same participants over time to determine whether causes are present before disorder

Experiment basics

Provides information about casual relationships, involves IV, DV random assignment (sometimes hard), control group etc

Internal vs external validity

Internal: how much can we say the effect is due to independent variable, experiment is designed well

External validity: will these results generalize beyond this study

Single subject experiment

Examine how one individual responds to changes in the IV,m uses ABAB design (baseline, intervention, baseline, intervention)

Steps of meta analysis

1. Identify relevant studies

2. Compute effect size (results transformed to common scale)

3. Best evidence in science tada

Mood

Long lasting, diffused, non-specific affective experience that includes frequent emotion; can change the way you see the world, pervasive

Unipolar vs bipolar

2 types of mood disorders

Unipolar: only depressive symptoms

Bipolar: depressive and manic symptoms

MDD def

Def: unipolar disorder characterized by the presence of one of more Major Depressive Episode, cannot meet criteria for manic episode unless caused by drug

MDD symptoms

Need 5 or more symptoms for 2 weeks, nearly every day

Emotional: depressed mood (irritability in kids)

Cognitive: feelings of worthlessness/guilt, difficulty concentrating, thoughts of death or suicide

Somatic: fatigue, weight loss/gain, insomnia/hypersomnia

Behavioral: psychomotor retardation/agitation, anhedonia

Need at least depression and anhedonia

MDD epidemiology & consequences

• symptom descriptions vary across cultures and lifespan

• High comorbidity with anxiety disorders

• Tends to emerge in adolescence

• More common in women than men (regardless of country)

MDD causes

Genetics: 37% heritable, specific SNP in serotonin transporter causes higher risk for depression based on interactions w/ stress

Brain: maybe deficiencies in serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamines; sensitivity of receptors, amygdala, ACC elevated in depression + mania; DLPFC, hippocampus, striatum diminished

Social & Contextual: more stressful life events = greater risk of depression based+ lack of social support (vicious cycle)

Other: increased levels proinflammatory cytokines can cause sickness behavior (very similar to the symptoms of depression); overactivity of HPA axis (high cortisol)

Persistent DD/Dysthymia def

Unipolar, no manic or hypomanic episode/disorder, must last 2 years without remission for 2 months of more, chronic depression but slightly more mild, averages 5 years

PDD symptoms

3 or more symptoms across 2 years “most” days w/out remission for 2 months or more

Emotional: depressed mood

Cognitive: low self esteem, hopelessness

Somatic: fatigue, weight loss/gain, change in appetite, insomnia/hypersomnia

Behavioral: poor concentration

PMDD def

Very severe form of PMS, symptoms present in final week before period, start to improve within a few days after start of period, minimal or absent post period

PMDD symptoms

5+ symptoms present in final week before period

At least one: affective lability, irritability or anger, depressed mood, feelings of helplessness, self detracting thoughts, anxiety/tension

At least one: anhedonia, subjective difficulty in concentration, lethargy/easy fatiguability, change in appetite, overeating, specific food cravings, hypersomnia/insomnia, a sense of being overwhelmed or out of control

Physical symptoms: present tenderness, bloating, weight gain, joint pain

Bipolar disorder def

characterized by the presence of one or more manic or hypomanic episode, commonly alternate with depressive episodes

Bipolar 1: manic episodes and depressive sometimes (not required)

Bipolar 2: depressive episodes (required) and hypomanic episodes

cyclothymic disorder: less severe than bipolar, chronic mood disturbance at least 2 years, includes hypomanic episodes and frequent mild periods of depressed mood

symptoms of a manic/hypomanic episode

4 or more symptoms

emotional: elated or irritable mood

cognitive: inflated self esteem, racing thoughts or ideas, distractibility

somatic: decreased need for sleep

behavioral: pressured speech, goal directed activities, intense pleasure seeking (to impulsivity)

difference between manic & hypomanic episode

manic: 7 days, marked impairment, psychosis or hospitalization

hypomanic: 4 days, less significant impairment, no psychosis

epidemiology and consequences of bipolar

• prevalence rates lower than MDD, no gender differences

• average onset in 20s, tends to be recurrent

• high rates of suicide

risk factors for recurrence of manic episodes

• younger age of first manic episode

• lower stress level of event associated w first episode

• close family members w any disorder

Causes of bipolar disorder

Genes: high heritability (80-90%)

Brain: potentially more sensitive to dopamine and serotonin; drugs effecting either can trigger manic episode, suspected problems in prefrontal cortex (executive functioning) and hippocampus/amygdala (emotional), hard to get MRI info because can’t get manic people to sit still

Social/contextual: stressors such as family or social problems/major stressors can increase risk of developing bipolar

Other: circadian rhythms can predict/trigger manic or depressive episodes

medications for bipolar

lithium: effective but has serious side effects (especially risks of lithium toxicity)

newer mood stabilizers like anticonvulsants/antipsychotics, also have serious side effects

many people stop taking because of side effect and/or because they miss the mania

treatment for bipolar disorder

other than medication (usually used in tandem)

• psychoeducation

• cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

• interpersonal social rhythm therapy (IRSRT)

• family therapy

demographics of suicide

• highest in older adults

• top ten causes of death in US

• 50% are firearms (2022)

suicide predictors

best predictor = past attempts

other predictors: history of psychological disorder, hopelessness, social factors, sex assigned at birth differences (trans or nonbinary)

parasuicide

attempted suicide without death, use this term less often now, mainly say unsuccessful suicide attempt because takes it less seriously

includes: motivations similar to death, impulsivity, less lethal methods, interruption

Nonsuicidal self injury (NSSI)

behaviors meant to cause direct bodily harm but not death. increasingly common in early adolescence.

risk factors: interpersonal stress, heightened negative emotion, self critical beliefs

treatment for suicidal ideation

medication, therapy (eg. CBT, DBT, CAMS), remove means to carry our suicide attempt/hospitalize (reduce lethality)

biological treatment for depression

• ECT: inducing a seizure to cause mass release of NTs and cause brain reset (severe)

• deep brain stim.: OG used for parkinson’s. stimulates cingulate gyrus and limbic system

• transcranial magnetic stimulation: use magnet to stimulate DLPFC

• medication (tricyclerides, MAO-Is, SSRIs)

psych treatment for MDD

• IPT: focused on interpersonal disputes

• MBCT: mindfulness based strategies to encourage non-judgmental observation

• CBT: combo of cognitive treatment and behavioral focus