PSYC100 - Abnormal Psychology

what is abnormal

it is culturally-dependent, there is no absolute for what is a disorder. YOU (as a culture) defines what is abnormal

describe the supernatural causes revolving around disorders

we had supernatural ideas of what caused mental health disorders

describe naturalists

maybe the reason things happens are because of some rules around nature? supported hippocrates

describe hippocrates

4 humors, every illness is a misalignment of these four bodily fluids: blood, yellow bile, black bile, flem

what is the importance of hippocrates

it's our first major biological theory about mental health

describe the middle ages in abnormal psychology

at the end of the mental ages, right before the beginning of the renaissance, you had mental health facilities open. they were the asylums

describe the asylum movement in abnormal psychology

people were just put away without treatment at asylums

describe moral treatment in abnormal psychology

"moral treatment of the insane", those with mental illness were in the hospitals and they actually started doing things in those hospitals to help them

**tranquilizer chair

asylums officially start becoming a place of treatment. in America we eventually adopted psychology and created places for psychiatric treatment

describe psychopharmacological revolution

we had an accidental discovery of medicine that calmed down schizophrenia. now we had a pill/drug to help with mental health

describe deinstitutionalization

we started closing these really large hospitals because they were very costly. we also had more medication to give out. the idea was that instead of going to these large hospitals where you stayed there for weeks we'd have community mental health

describe community mental health

clinics in every state where you could get medicine and get help

describe the consequences of community mental health (2)

1. getting rid of all these hospitals caused an increase in homelessness

2. the criminal justice system not "provides" a great deal of mental health resources. doesn't mean that these resources are very good though. but a lot of these people ended up in prison when the hospitals were taken away

what are the two reasons we diagnose

reliability and it became a requirement of insurance companies to get paid care

describe reliability

helps us communicate the disorder, have a shared understanding

describe the american psychiatric association (APA)

devised a system for diagnosing disorders known as the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM5)

describe the 9 symptoms of DSM5

Symptoms (9): Out of the total nine, you need at least five. One of those five you need at least one of the first two. Have to experiences these systems multiple times a day, everyday, or the majority of the month.

1. Sad mood

2. Anhedonia (loss of interest in pleasurable activities)

1. Sleep

2. Concentration

3. Guilt/Worthlessness

4. Psychomotor Agitation (too much energy)/Retardation (too little energy physically, slouchy)

5. Weight/Appetite Loss/Gain

6. Energy Loss (don’t want to do anything)

7. Suicide/Death Thoughts

describe rumination

not a symptom but often happens in depression

it's when you think about something over and over and over and you cannot stop thinking about it

describe chemical imbalance

a lack of a certain neurotransmitter leads to depression

describe SSRI

selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor

A neurotransmitter is released, goes into the synapse, and is taken up by the other neurotransmitter. the extra serotonin neurotransmitter goes back up into the first presynaptic cell. The medicine acts as an inhibitor, acts as a serotonin agonists and prevents the serotonin from being absorbed so that is stays in the synapse longer.

key points about SSRI

When we look at people who haven't been medicated, we do not see a different in pre-disease serotonin levels. There is no good research that says before you get medication, there's differences in serotonin levels in people who are and aren't depressed.

There is also no difference in receptor ...

sensitivity

it takes how long to see behavioral effects with SSRI medicine

4-6 weeks

a vast amount of reduction in depression symptoms in mild-moderate depression is due to..

placebo

describe anxiety disorder

a generalized feeling of fear and apprehension that may be related to a situation or object

describe phobias

specific phobias are an excessive and irrational fear and AVOIDANCE of specific objects or situations

what is the most common phobia

blood injection phobia, fear of blood or needles

what are panic attacks

sudden periods of intense fear

what is panic disorder

when your fear of panic attacks prevents you from doing things. like if you don't want to leave your house or go somewhere because you're afraid of having a panic attack

describe generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

chronic elevation of anxiety at baseline, free-floating anxiety

worries over low probability events

describe psychological therapy

an interactive experience with a trained professional, working on understanding and changing behavior, thinking, relationships, and emotions

describe biomedical therapy

the use of medications and other procedures acting directly on the body to reduce the symptoms of mental disorders

describe psychoanalysis in insight oriented therapies

the talking cure

uses techniques that release the tension of unresolved and unconscious inner conflicts -> freud

describe neo-freudian in insight oriented therapies

psychodynamic therapies, interpersonal therapy

describe methods of insight oriented therapies

free association and dream analysis

describe humanistic therapy

attempts to support growth by helping people gain self-awareness and self-acceptance

describe client-centered therapy

is carl rogers' name for his style of humanistic therapy

goals: humanistic psychotherapy vs psychoanalytic psychotherapy

humanistic: promote growth

psychoanalytic: cure mental illness

how to improve: humanistic psychotherapy vs psychoanalytic psychotherapy

humanistic: take responsibility for feelings and actions

psychoanalytic: bring unconscious conflicts into conscious awareness

role of therapist: humanistic psychotherapy vs psychoanalytic psychotherapy

humanistic: provide an environment in which growth can occur

psychoanalytic: provide interpretations (dreams, resistance and transference)

content of therapy: humanistic psychotherapy vs psychoanalytic psychotherapy

humanistic: conscious feelings, actual self and ideal self

psychoanalytic: unconscious conflicts

time focus: humanistic psychotherapy vs psychoanalytic psychotherapy

humanistic: the present and future

psychoanalytic: the past