Chapter 1 Terms Abnormal Behavior in Historical Context PSYC 110

Psychopathology

Scientific study of psychological disorders

Scientist practitioners

• Mental health professional expected to apply scientific methods to their work.

• A scientist-practitioner must know the latest research on diagnosis and treatment,

• Must evaluate his or her methods for effectiveness

• May generate research to discover information about disorders and their treatment

Presenting problem

Original compliant reported by the client to the therapist. The actual treated problem may be a modification derived from the presenting problem.

Clinical description

Detail details of the combination of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of an individual that make up a particular disorder

Prevalence

Number of people displaying a disorder in the total population at any given time (compared with incidence)

Incidence

Number of new cases of a disorder, appearing during a specific period (compared with prevalence)

Course

Pattern of development and change of disorder overtime

Prognosis

Predicted development of a disorder overtime

Etiology

Study of the cause or source of disorder

Psychological disorder

Psychological dysfunction associated with distress or impairment and functioning that is not a typical or culturally expected response

Phobia

A psychological disorder characterized by marked and persistent fear of an object or situation

Abnormal behavior

Actions that are unexpected and often evaluate a negative because they differ from typical or usual behavior

• D — Prognosis → Maria is expected to recover quickly; this predicts the outcome.

• C — Incidence → Three new cases occurred during a specific period.

• A — Presenting problem → Elizabeth seeks help because of guilt and anxiety.

• F — Etiology → Biological, psychological, and social factors contribute to the causes/origins of disorders.

• E — Course → Describes the pattern a disorder follows over time (chronic, time-limited, episodic).

• B — Prevalence → Asks how many people in the overall population have OCD.

Exorcism

Religious ritual that attributes disordered behavior to possession by demons and seeks to treat the individual by driving the demons from the body

Psychosocial treatment

Treatment practices that focuses on social and cultural factors (such as family experience), as well as psychological influences. These approaches include cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal methods

Moral therapy

Psychosocial approach in the 19th century that involve treating patients as normally as possible and normal environment

Mental hygiene movement

19th century effort to improve care of the mentally disordered by informing the public of their mistreatment

Psychoanalysis

Assessment and therapy pioneer by Sigmund Freud that emphasizes exploration of an insight into unconscious processes and conflicts

Behaviorism

Explanation of human behavior, including dysfunction, based on principles of learning and adaptation derived from experimental psychology

Unconscious

Part of the site kick makeup that is outside of the awareness of the person

Catharsis

Rapid or sudden release of emotional tension thought to be an important fact of psychoanalytic therapy

Psychoanalytic model

Complex and comprehensive theory originally advanced by Sigma fruit that seeks to count for the development, structure of personality as well as the origin of abnormal behavior based primarily on inferred, inner entities and forces

Defense mechanisms

Denial

Refuses to acknowledge some aspects of objective reality or subjective experience that is apparent to others

Displacement

Transfers, a feeling about, or response to, an object that causes discomfort onto another, usually less threatening, object or person

Projection

Falsely attributes own unacceptable feelings, imp, or thoughts to another individual or object

Rationalization

Concealed the true motivations for actions, thoughts, or feelings through elaborate, reassuring or self-serving, but incorrect explanations

Reaction formation

Substitute behavior, thought, or feelings that are the direct opposite of unacceptable ones

Repression

Blocks disturbing wishes, thought, or feelings that are the direct opposite of unacceptable ones

Sublimation

Direct potential maladaptive feelings or impulses into socially acceptable behavior

ID

In psychoanalysis the unconscious psychic entity present at birth representing basic drives

Ego

in psychoanalysis the psychic entity responsible for finding realistic and practical ways to satisfy ID drives

Super ego

In psychoanalysis the psychic entity representing the internalized moral standards of parents and society

Intrapsychic conflicts

in psychoanalytic theory, a struggle among the ID, ego, and superego

Defensive mechanisms

Common patterns of behavior often an adaptive coping style when it occurs in moderation, observed in response to a particular situation.

Psychoanalytic theory suggests that defense mechanisms are unconscious processes originating in the ego

Psychosexual stages of development

Psychoanalytic concept of the sequence of phases a person passes through during development.

Each stage is named for the location on the body where ID gratification is maximal at that time

Castration anxiety

in psychoanalysis, the fear in young boys that they will be mutilated genitally because of their lust for their mothers

Neurosis

Obsolete psychodynamic term for a psychological disorder though to result to result from an unconscious conflict and the anxiety it causes

Plural is neuroses