psychopathology ch1

DSM-5

Published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and is the standard used by mental health professionals.

Mental disorder

Defined using the harmful dysfunction model.

Harmful dysfunction model

A model for defining mental disorders based on dysfunction that is harmful, involving distress and/or disability.

Distress

Subjective pain or suffering.

Disability

Anything that affects a person's life, such as social life or ability to work.

Dysfunction

When natural mechanisms do not function the way they were naturally/evolutionarily selected to work.

Example of dysfunction: Fight-or-flight system

The fight-or-flight system may fail to activate when it should, activate when it is not supposed to, or not work in correspondence with other mechanisms.

Psychological, biological, and developmental processes

Should not be separated because psychological processes already encompass biological and developmental processes; psychological processes cannot be explained only in biological terms or developed in biological terms.

Mental disorder as a syndrome

A group of symptoms that occur together and constitute a recognizable condition.

Symptoms of a syndrome: Timing

Symptoms must go together in time.

Symptoms of a syndrome: Course

Symptoms must come and go together.

Symptoms of a syndrome: Treatment response

Symptoms must get better together with treatment.

Symptoms of a syndrome: Similarity across people

Many people must have the same syndrome symptoms.

Clinical significance

Determined by the severity of symptoms, distress, or disability; time/persistence; and clinical judgment based on research and clinical experience.

Factor 1 of clinical significance

Severity of symptoms, distress, or disability.

Factor 2 of clinical significance

Time/persistence; the symptoms should persist for a meaningful amount of time.

Factor 3 of clinical significance

Clinical judgment based on research and clinical experience.

Distal cause

The origin of the dysfunction; includes genes, environmental events, and CNS abnormalities.

Examples of distal causes

Genes, environmental events, and CNS abnormalities.

Proximal cause

The dysfunction itself that is closer to the actual symptoms/behavior.

Examples of proximal causes

Impulsive behavior, cognitive distortions, defense mechanisms, and CNS dysfunction.

CNS dysfunction

Central nervous system dysfunction that can contribute to psychological-mechanism dysfunction.

Psychological-mechanism dysfunction

Dysfunction in psychological mechanisms that contributes to the disorder.

Consequences of mental disorders

Can include distress and disability.

Examples of distress

Fear, anger, guilt, despair, and hopelessness.

Examples of disability

Impaired work performance and relationship disruption.

Distal cause vs. proximal cause

Distal causes are the origins of dysfunction; proximal causes are the dysfunctions/mechanisms that are closer to the symptoms or behavior.

Certain diseases vs. mental disorders

Certain diseases can have symptoms similar to mental disorders but are not considered mental disorders because they have a known biological mechanism causing the dysfunction.

Criterion for certain diseases: biological mechanism

There is a known biological mechanism that causes the dysfunction.

Criterion for certain diseases: consistency

The same mechanism of dysfunction occurs for everyone with the condition.

Criterion for certain diseases: treatment

The condition can be easily/successfully treated by a medical professional.