Chapter Three: Models of Abnormality  

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• Models / Paradigms: The perspectives used to explain events
• Used to only use the demonological model

The Biological Model

• Sees physical processes as key to human behavior

How Do Biological Theorists Explain Abnormal Behavior?

• View abnormal behavior as an illness brought about by malfunctioning parts of the organism
• Brain Anatomy
• Some connections have been found between particular psychological disorders and problems in specific structures of the brain
• ex: Huntington’s disease has been partly linked to a loss of cells in the basal ganglia and cortex
• Brain Chemistry
• Psychological disorders can be related to problems in the transmission of messages from neuron to neuron
• Abnormal activity by certain neurotransmitters is sometimes associated with mental disorders
  • Depression has been partly linked to low activity of neurotransmitters (Serotonin and Norepinephrine)
• Mental disorders are sometimes related to abnormal chemical activity in the Endocrine System
  • Abnormal secretions of Cortisol have been tied to anxiety and mood disorders
• Brain Circuitry
• Brain Circuit: A network of particular brain structures that work together, triggering each other into action to produce a distinct behavioral, cognitive, or emotional reaction
• ex: The fear circuit often functions improperly in people suffering from anxiety disorders

Sources of Biological Abnormalities

• Genetics
• Genes: Segments that control the characteristics and traits a person inherits
• Several genes combine to help produce our actions and reactions, both functional and dysfunctional
• Evolution
• Mutation: An abnormal form of the appropriate gene that emerges by accident
• Many genes that contribute to abnormal functioning are the result of evolution
  • Genes that may have helped our ancestors can hurt people now because our environment has adapted
• Controversial theory

Biological Treatments

• Drug therapy
• Most common treatment
• Psychotropic Medications: Drugs that primarily affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental dysfunction
• Overused, doesn’t help everyone
• Four major ones used
  • Anti-Anxiety meds / minor tranquilizers / Anxiolytics: Help reduce tension and anxiety
  • Antidepressant Drugs: Help improve the functioning of people with depression
  • Antibipolar Drugs / Mood Stabilizers: Help steady the moods of those with bipolar disorder
  • Antipsychotic Drugs: Help reduce the confusion, hallucinations, and delusions that accompany psychosis
  • Psychosis: Loss of contact with reality. found in schizophrenia and other disorders
• Brain Stimulation: Interventions that directly / indirectly stimulate the brain in order to bring about psychological improvement
• Electroconvulsive Therapy: Oldest and most controversial approach. used primarily on severely depressed people
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: An electromagnetic coil is placed on a person’s head, sending a current into certain areas of their brain
• Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Pulse generator is implanted in a person’s neck to stimulate their vagus nerve, which delivers electrical signals to the brain
• Deep Brain Stimulation: Electrodes are implanted in specific areas of the brain and connected to a pacemaker in their chest
• Psychosurgery: Brain surgery for mental disorders
• Trephining: Prehistoric practice of chipping a hole in the skull to cure mental illness
• Lobotomy: Surgeon cuts the connections between the brain’s frontal lobes and the lower regions of the brain
• Several of today’s biological treatments have undesirable effects
• This model shouldn’t be used alone

The Psychodynamic Model

• Looks at people’s unconscious internal processes and conflicts
• Deterministic Assumption: No symptom or behavior is accidental, it’s all determined by past experiences

How Did Freud Explain Normal and Abnormal Functioning?

• Theory of psychoanalysis explains both normal and abnormal psychological functioning
• Three dynamic central forces shape the personality and operate at the unconscious level
• Id: The psychological force that produces instinctual needs, drives, and impulses
  • Pleasure Principle - The Id always seeks gratification
  • All Id instincts tend to be sexual
  • A person’s libido fuels the Id
• Ego: The psychological force that employs reason
  • Reality Principle - We acquire through experience that it can be unacceptable to express our Id impulses outright
  • Guides us to know when we can and can’t express Id impulses
  • Develops ego defense mechanisms to control unacceptable Id impulses and avoid / reduce the anxiety they arouse
  • Repression: Prevents unacceptable impulses from ever reaching consciousness
  • Denial: Person refuses to acknowledge the source of anxiety
  • Projection: Person attributes their own unacceptable impulses to others
  • Rationalization: Person creates a socially acceptable reason for an action that reflects unacceptable motives
  • Displacement: Person displaces hostility away from a dangerous object and onto a safer substitute
  • Rntellectualization: Person represses emotional reactions in favor of an overly logical response
  • Regression
• Superego: The psychological force that represents a person’s values and ideals
  • Morality Principle: A sense of right and wrong
  • Conscience development
• If the Id, Ego, and Superego are in excessive conflict, the person’s behavior may show signs of dysfunction
• Developmental Stages
• Each stage of development requires a person to make adjustments in their Id, Ego, and Superego
• Fixation: A condition in which the Id, Ego, or Superego do not mature properly and are frozen at an early stage of development

How Do Other Psychodynamic Explanations Differ from Freud’s?

• Self-theorists: Emphasize the role of the self- our unified personality
• Basic human motive: Strengthen the wholeness of the self
• Object Relations Theory: People are motivated mainly by a need to have relationships with other
• Severe problems in parental relationships may lead to abnormal development

Psychodynamic Therapies

• Free Association: Patient describes any thought, feeling, or image that comes to mind
• Therapist interpretation
• Resistance: An unconscious refusal to participate fully in therapy
• Transference: The redirection toward the psychotherapist of feelings associated with important figures in a patient’s life
• Dreams: Thought to be the “royal road to the unconscious”
  • Manifest Dream Content: Consciously remembered dream
  • Latent Dream Content: Dream’s symbolic meaning
• Catharsis: The reliving of past repressed feelings in order to settle internal conflicts and overcome problems
• Working through: Facing conflicts, reinterpreting feelings, and overcoming one’s problems
• Short-term Psychodynamic Therapies: Patients choose a single problem to work on with the therapist
• Relational Psychoanalytic Therapy: Therapists should also disclose things about themselves to establish more equal relationships with patients

The Cognitive-Behavioral Model

• Emphasizes behavior, the ways it is learned, and the thinking that underlies behavior

The Behavioral Dimension

• Classical Conditioning: Learning by temporal association
• Modeling: Observing and imitating others
• Operant Conditioning: Learning through consequences (reinforcers and punishments)

The Cognitive Dimension

• Ellis and Beck say we can best explain and treat abnormal functioning by focusing on cognitions
• Some people may have inaccurate and disturbing assumptions and attitudes
• Illogical thinking processes (ex: overgeneralizing)

The Cognitive-Behavioral Interplay

• Social Anxiety Disorder: A psychological disorder in which people fear social situations
• Individuals regularly perform avoidance and safety behaviors
• Treatment: Exposure Therapy: Fearful people are repeatedly exposed to the objects / situations they dread

The Humanistic-Existential Model

• Stresses the role of values and choices

Rogers’ Humanistic Theory and Therapy

• Humanists: Human beings are driven to fulfill their potential for goodness and growth
• Client-Centered Therapy: Clinicians try to help clients by conveying acceptance, accurate empathy, and genuineness. Developed by Carl Rogers
• Those who receive unconditional positive regard early in life are likely to develop unconditional self-regard
• Those who don’t acquire conditions of worth (standards that tell them they are acceptable only when they conform to certain guidelines)

Gestalt Theory and Therapy

• Gestalt Therapy: Clinicians actively move clients toward self-recognition and self-acceptance. Developed by Fritz Perls
• Role-playing
• Self-discovery

Existential Theories and Therapy

• Existentialists: Human beings must have an accurate awareness of themselves and live meaningful lives in order to be psychologically well adjusted
• Many people become overwhelmed by the pressures of present-day society and overlook their freedom of choice to avoid responsibility for their decisions
• Dominant emotions: anxiety: frustration, boredom, alienation, depression
• Existential Therapy: People are encouraged to accept responsibility for their lives and for their problems

The Sociocultural Model: Family-Social and Multicultural Perspectives

• Sociocultural model looks to social and cultural forces as the keys to human functioning

How Do Family-Social Theorists Explain Abnormal Functioning?

• Family-Social Perspective: Focuses on an individual’s family and social interactions
• Social labels and roles
  • Labeling theory: People eventually adopt / accept the labels that society gives to them
  • Labels influence the way people view you
• Social Networks
  • Ties were found between deficient social connections and psychological dysfunction
  • People’s online relationships tend to parallel their offline relationships
• Family Structure and Communication
  • Family Systems Theory: The family is a system of interacting parts who interact with each other in consistent ways and follow rules unique to each family
  • The structure and communication patterns of some families force individual members to behave in a way that otherwise seems abnormal
  • Enmeshed Structure: Members are grossly overinvolved in each other
  • Disengagement: Rigid boundaries between members

Family-Social Treatments

• Group Therapy: A group of people with similar problems meet together with a therapist
• Self-help Groups - same, but without the direct leadership of a clinician
• Family Therapy: Therapist meets with all members of a family, points out problem behaviors and interactions, and helps the whole family to change its ways
• Couple Therapy / Martial Therapy: Therapists work with two individuals in a long-term relationship
• Cognitive-Behavioral Couple Therapy
• Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy
• Community Treatment: A treatment approach that emphasizes community care
• Community Day Programs
• Residential Services
• Key principle is prevention
  • Primary: Goal is to prevent psychological disorders altogether
  • Secondary: Identifying and treating psychological disorders in the early stages
  • Tertiary: Goal is to provide effective treatment as soon as it is needed so disorders don’t become long-term problems

How Do Multicultural Theorists Explain Abnormal Functioning?

• Multicultural Perspective: Emphasizes an individual’s culture and its shared beliefs, values, and history
• Culture-sensitive Therapies: Approaches that are designed to help address the unique issues faced by members of cultural minority groups
• Gender-sensitive Therapies: Approaches geared to the pressures of being a woman in western society

Integrating the Models: The Developmental Psychopathology Perspective

• Biopsychosocial theories: Explanations that attribute the cause of abnormality to an interaction of genetic, biological, emotional, behavioral, cognitive, social, and societal influences

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