Psych review night 3

Psychodynamic Perspective

• Unresolved Conflicts: Central to the psychodynamic theory is the concept that unresolved conflicts, often stemming from childhood experiences, reside in the unconscious mind. These conflicts can influence current behavior and mental health, even if the individual is not aware of them.
• Trigger Words: The term "psychodynamic" is often mistakenly associated solely with childhood events. However, it focuses on the unresolved issues from the past that continue to affect present behavior.

Behaviorism vs. Psychodynamic

• Behavioral Learning: The example of Jack, who observed his father's drinking as a coping mechanism, demonstrates behaviorism. His actions as an adult, such as becoming an alcoholic, are attributed to learned behavior rather than unresolved psychodynamic conflicts.

Humanistic Perspective

• Conflict Between Real and Ideal Self: The humanistic approach emphasizes the discrepancy between a person's real self (who they are) and their ideal self (who they wish to be). This can lead to feelings of failure and may result in self-destructive behaviors such as substance abuse.
• Self-Sabotage: Some individuals resort to unhealthy coping mechanisms because they feel overwhelmed by their inability to meet societal expectations.

Cognitive Perspective

• Irrational Thoughts: This perspective suggests that maladaptive thinking patterns can contribute to psychological disorders by distorting an individual’s interpretation of experiences.

Evolutionary Perspective

• Evolutionary Anxiety: This viewpoint posits that certain fears were once advantageous for survival. However, in modern contexts, these responses may be irrational and lead to anxiety disorders.

Sociocultural Perspective

• Cultural Norms and Disorders: This framework looks at how social expectations and norms influence mental health. Variations in diagnostic criteria across cultures reflect differing societal standards.

Biological Perspective

• Neurotransmitter Imbalances: This perspective focuses on the biological underpinnings of psychological disorders, emphasizing the role of brain chemistry and physiological factors.

Biopsychosocial Factors

• Integration of Perspectives: Understanding psychological disorders requires considering biological, psychological, and social factors together, as demonstrated in the case of Andrea Yates, who faced multiple stressors leading to severe depression.

Diathesis-Stress Model

• Definition: This model explains how predisposition to a disorder (diathesis) and environmental stressors can interact to trigger mental health issues.
• Example: A person with a genetic predisposition to a disorder may not develop it without significant stress, while another person without such predisposition may be more resilient.

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders

• Positive Symptoms: These symptoms refer to abnormal behaviors or experiences, such as hallucinations (sensory perceptions without input) and delusions (false beliefs).
• Negative Symptoms: Represent the absence of normal functions, such as flat affect (lack of emotional expression) and social withdrawal.
• Catatonia: This state involves marked motor immobility, evidenced by waxy flexibility or stupor, where an individual becomes unresponsive to their environment.

Anxiety Disorders

• Phobias: Include specific fears such as acrophobia (fear of heights) and arachnophobia (fear of spiders).
• Agoraphobia: Involves the fear of open spaces, causing individuals to avoid leaving their safe environments, often exacerbated during social isolation events like COVID-19.
• Social Anxiety: Affected individuals fear embarrassing themselves in social settings, distinctly separating it from agoraphobia.

Panic Disorder

• Definition: Characterized by sudden and intense panic attacks that may feel like a heart attack but occur without any clear trigger.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• Definition: Involves persistent and unfocused anxiety without a specific cause, resulting in continuous distress.

Trauma-Related Disorders

• PTSD: Individuals exhibiting symptoms like hypervigilance (constant alertness) and flashbacks, often leading to insomnia due to distressing memories surfacing during sleep.

Research Methods in Psychology

• Descriptive Methods: Include surveys and naturalistic observations. Surveys gather subjective data, while naturalistic observation allows behavioral data collection in real-world settings.
• Case Studies: In-depth studies of unique individuals or groups, limited in generalizability due to their specific focus.
• Correlation Research: Examines relationships between variables without manipulation, distinguishing between positive and negative correlations. Causation cannot be established from correlation alone.
• Experimental Methods: Aim to identify cause-and-effect relationships by manipulating an independent variable to observe its effect on a dependent variable.

Key Terms

• Operational Definition: Clarity in defining how variables are measured for research purposes.
• Confounding Variables: Extraneous factors that can influence dependent variables, necessitating random assignment in experiments to minimize bias.
• Standard Deviation and Range: Used for depicting variation within data, which impacts interpretations of scores and averages in studies.
• Normal Distribution: Recognizable by its symmetry, with defined percentages associated with standard deviations from the mean, constant in normal curves across different measurements.

Summary

• Understanding psychological disorders requires integrating various perspectives and research methods, emphasizing the complexity of human behavior and mental health. Key concepts include the diathesis-stress model, research methodologies, and symptoms across a spectrum of disorders, underscoring the interrelation of biological, psychological, and social factors in mental health.