Chapter 2: Theories and Treatment of Abnormality

Sociocultural approach

Approach to psychopathology focusing on the role of the environment, stress, and culture in producing psychopathology.

Biological approach

View that biological factors cause and should be used to treat abnormality

Psychological approach

Approach to abnormality that focuses on personality, behavior, and ways of thinking as possible causes of abnormality.

Theory

Set of assumptions about the likely causes of abnormality and appropriate treatments

Biopsychosocial approach

Approach to psychopathology that seeks to integrate biological, psychological, and social factors in understanding and treating psychopathology

Diathesis-stress model

Model that asserts that only when a diathesis or vulnerability interacts with a stress or trigger will a disorder emerge.

Cerebral cortex

Part of the brain that regulates complex activities, such as speech and analytical thinking.

Thalamus

Structure of the brain that directs incoming information from sense receptors (such as vision and hearing) to the cerebrum

Hypothalamus

Component of the brain that regulates eating, drinking, sex, and basic emotions; abnormal behaviors involving any of these activities may be the result of dysfunction in the hypothalamus.

Limbic system

Part of the brain that relays information from the primitive brain stem about changes in bodily functions to the cortex, where the information is interpreted.

Amygdala

Structure of the limbic system critical in emotions such as fear

Hippocampus

Structure of the brain involved in memory and in the stress response.

Neurotransmitters

Biochemicals, released from a sending neuron, that transmit messages to a receiving neuron in the brain and nervous system.

Synapse

Space between a sending neuron and a receiving neuron into which neurotransmitters are first released (aka synaptic gap)

Receptors

Molecules on the membranes of neurons to which neurotransmitters bind.

Reuptake

Process in which a sending neuron reabsorbs some of the neurotransmitter in the synapse, decreasing the amount left in the synapse.

Degradation

Process in which a receiving neuron releases an enzyme into the synapse, braking down neurotransmitter into other biochemical.

Endocrine system

System of glands that produces many different hormones

Hormone

Chemical that carries messages throughout the body, potentially affecting a person’s mood, level of energy, and reaction to stress.

Pituitary

Major endocrine gland that lies partly on the outgrowth of the brain and just below the thalamus; produces the largest number of different hormones and controls the secretions of other endocrine glands

Behavioral genetics

Study of the processes by which genes affect behavior and the extent to which personality and abnormality are genetically inherited.

Polygenic

Combination of many genes, each of which makes a small contribution to an inherited trait

Epigenetics

Study of how environmental conditions can change the expression of genes without changing the gene sequence.

Antipsychotic drugs

Drugs used to treat psychotic symptoms, such as delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking

Antidepressant drugs

Drugs used to treat the symptoms of depression, such as sad mood, negative thinking, and disturbances of sleep and appetite; common types are tricyclics, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors.

Lithium

Drug used to treat manic and depressive symptoms

Anticonvulsants

Drugs used to treat mania and depression

Antianxiety drugs

Drugs used to treat anxiety, insomnia, and other psychological symptoms.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

Treatment for depression that involves the induction of a brain seizure by passing electrical current through the patient’s brain while he or she is anesthetized.

Trephination

Procedure in which holes were drilled in the skulls of people displaying abnormal behavior presumably to allow evil spirits to depart their bodies performed in the Stone age

Psychosurgery

Rare treatment for mental disorders in which a neurosurgeon attempts to destroy small areas of the brain thought to be involved in a patient’s symptoms

Behavioral approaches

Approaches to psychopathology that focus on the influence of reinforcement and punishments in producing behavior; the two core principles or processes of learning according to behaviorism are classical conditioning and operant conditioning

Classical conditioning

Form of learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus that naturally elicits a response, thereby making the neutral stimulus itself sufficient to elicit the same response.

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

Unconditioned response (UR)

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Conditioned response (CR)

Operant conditioning

Modeling

Observational learning

Behavioral therapies

Psychotherapeutic approaches that focus on identifying the reinforcements and punishments contributing to a person’s maladaptive behaviors and on changing specific behaviors.

Systematic desensitization therapy

Cognitive theories

Cognitions

Causal attribution

Global assumptions

Cognitive therapies

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

Psychodynamic theories

Psychoanalysis

Catharsis

Repression

Ego psychology

Object relations

Self psychology

Relational psychoanalysis

Collective unconscious

Psychodynamic therapies

Free association

Resistance

Transference

Working through

Interpersonal therapy (IPT)

Humanistic theories

Self-actualization

Humanistic therapy

Client-centered therapy (CCT)

Reflection

Family systems therapy

Family systems theories

Third-wave approaches

Mindfulness

Multiculturalism

Primary prevention

Secondary prevention

Tertiary prevention