Week 2: Etiologies and Theories of Psychopathology

True or False: Incidence and prevalence of psychopathology in US minorities is equal or less than White individuals, but minorities report higher burden of disability.

true

What are some racial discrepancies in epidemiology?

• Bi- or multiracial individuals are more likely to report mental illness than any other racial or ethnic group

• Some disorders are more common in certain racial or ethnic groups than others

  • Others are more commonly misdiagnosed because of their racial or ethnic identities

• Minority youth presenting with mental disorders are more likely to be sent to the juvenile justice system; white youth are more likely to be referred to Primary Care

When do most gender differences emerge?

age 11.5 years

True or False: Trans, non-binary, and genderqueer individuals have higher risk of psychopathology.

true

What are some gender discrepancies in epidemiology?

• Women tend to have more mental illness compared to men except for substance use and antisocial personality disorder

• Women have higher rates of suicide with men having higher rates of successful suicides

What is reciprocity?

if one variable is changed, then the other variable changes too

What is temporal precedence?

do changes in one variable occur before the changes in another variable

True or False: In clinical psychology, we rarely establish causation.

true

What are risk factors?

 something that prospectively predicts (comes before) a psychopathological outcome; predates psychopathological symptoms

What are maintenance factors?

something that predicts the continuous of symptoms over time among those who are symptomatic

What are protective factors?

something that reduces the effect of a risk factor or makes psychopathology less likely

What is a paradigm?

a set of shared assumptions about:

• the substance of a theory

• how scientists should collect data and test theoretical propositions

• the approach that is taken to study psychopathology

What are some governing paradigms?

• biological (bodily functions and structures)

• psychodynamic (unconscious mind)

• cognitive-behavioral (observable behavior)

• humanistic (self-actualization)

What is the biopsychosocial approach?

an approach that integrates biological factors, psychological factors, and social factors into our evaluation of psychopathology

What are some biological factors?

inherited genetic mutations, family history, biological sex, age, predisposition towards certain genetic disorders, neurochemistry, immune/stress response

What are some social factors?

support system, socioeconomic status, culture, religious beliefs, education, work, family circumstances

What are some psychological factors?

internal/external locus of control, self-esteem, temperament, coping skills, attitudes

What is the systems theory?

Integrating perspectives and evidence from all paradigms to see how different factors interact to produce psychopathology

What is holism?

the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

What does reductionism focus on?

smaller and smaller units

What is the diathesis component of the Diathesis-Stress model?

existing vulnerability precedes stressor; biological, psychological, and social factors

What is the stressor component of the Diathesis-Stress model?

any event that triggers the onset of disturbance; biological triggers, social triggers, and psychological triggers

What is a limitation of the Diathesis-Stressor model?

the model only includes two different causal factors

What is equifinality?

different causes for the same disorder

What is mulifinality?

different outcomes from one common causal factor

What is reciprocal causality?

when two factors influence each other so that both act as causes on the other

True or False: Psychology and biology can influence each other.

true

How can psychology influence biology?

• Therapy changing neurotransmitter levels

• Social activities influencing sleep patterns that then influence hormonal regulation

What is behavior genetics?

the study of genetic contributions to development of normal or abnormal behaviors

True or False: Behavior genetics investigates both genetic and environmental factors.

true

What are some characteristics of the reciprocal gene-environmental model?

• Genes might influence the environment that people seek out

• Environmental factors might bring out a genetic predisposition

• Environment may impact genetic expression (epigenetics)

What are some incorrect assumptions about behavior genetics that should be avoided?

• If there is a genetic influence, a disorder is inevitable

• If a behavior or characteristic is genetically influenced, it cannot be changed

• If there is a genetic influence, a gene must be directly responsible for the behavior

What is a proband?

the index person in the family; first person within the family identified with having the disorder

What is concordance?

agreement

True or False: Clinical psychology thinks monozygotic twins as having 100% shared DNA and dizygotic twins as having 50% shared DNA.

true

What is the reasoning behind twin studies?

If MZ twins show higher concordance rates than DZ twins, there is higher genetic heritability

What is a flaw of the twin studies?

MZ twins are treated more alike than DZ twins, so they may share more environment, not just genetic code, than DZ twins

What is the reasoning behind family incidence studies?

If the proband has several close family members with the disorder, then it may “run in the family”

What is a flaw of family incidence studies?

The disorder can “run in the family” because of the family environment, rather than genetic causes

What is the reasoning behind adoption studies?

• If concordance rates with biological parents are higher, we assume genetic plays a role.

• If concordance rates with adoptive parents are higher, we assume environment plays a role

What is a flaw of adoption studies?

Environmental influence doesn’t begin at birth (prenatal exposures, early childhood exposures, etc)

True or False: Family incidence studies, twin, and adoption studies do not identify which specific genes are involved in the development of the given disorder.

true

What does the candidate gene approach examine?

the association between a phenotype of interest and a specific theoretically relevant gene

What does the genome wide association study (GWAS) examine?

the association between  phenotype (observable characteristic) of interest and every gene on the genome

What are some of the purposes of psychological classifications?

• As a basis for communication within a science 

• For information retrieval

• As a descriptive system for the objects of study in a science

• To make predictions

• As a source of concepts to be used within a scientific theory

What psychological classification manual does the US use?

the DSM (published by the APA)

What psychological classification manual does the rest of the world use?

the ICD (produced by the WHO)

What are some characteristics of the DSM?

• List of diagnostic categories

• Each category has a set of diagnostic criteria

• Diagnosis is categorical (either you have it or you don’t), rather than dimensional (you have it to a certain degree)

What does each new version of the DSM do?

• Adds new categories

• Eliminates categories

• Changes diagnostic criteria for categories that are retained

What are some limitations of the DSM?

• Almost no evidence of any forms of psychological problems being truly categorical

  • Best evidence is that all forms of psychological problems fall on a continuum

• Incredibly high rates of comorbidity (having more than one disorder at the same time)

• Problem of comorbidity

  • 45% of those who meet criteria for one disorder also meet criteria for at least one other disorder

  • High heterogeneity or symptoms and presentations

Other than the ICD, what is an alternative to the DSM?

the hierarchial taxonomy of psychopathology (HiTOP)

What is important to know about HiTOP?

• Categorical

• First proposed in 2017

• Still connected to DSM categories (at least for now)

What is the research domain criteria (RDoC)?

A competing system for mental disorders that uses a dimensional approach (instead of the DSM-5’s categorical approach)

What are some of the functions of the RDoC?

• Defines certain constructs and decides where each disorder measures on a dimension of that construct

• Looks at different domains that interact with these constructs

• Covers a biopsychosocial approach 

• Traits exist on a continuum

List the RDoC categories.

• negative valence

• positive valence

• cognitive

• social

• arousal/regulation

List the domains of the RDoC.

• genes

• molecules

• cells

• circuits

• physiology

• behavior

• self-reports