Psychopathology and Individual Differences

Definition: Abnormal psychology studies the causes, treatment, and consequences of psychological disorders, including depression, anxiety, and psychoses.

Criteria for Defining Abnormality:
- Statistical Deviance: Abnormal behaviors are extreme, rare, or unique compared to typical behaviors.
- Social Norm Approach: Definitions of appropriate behavior vary based on cultural context (e.g., different attitudes towards alcohol).
- Personal Distress: Considers individual suffering; however, not all abnormalities result in distress.
- Maladaptiveness: Behaviors impacting daily tasks (e.g., anxiety disorders).
- Mental Illness Approach: Integrates physical and psychological factors, focusing on specific symptoms.

Hippocrates: Linked psychological and physiological disorders.
Plato: Attributed disorders to intrapsychical conflicts.
Supernatural Explanations: Early theories considered mental illness as influenced by non-empirical forces.
Nolen-Hoeksema (2001): Harsh punishments for perceived possession, like burning alive.
Psychopathology's Evolution: Developed as a discipline in the 20th century; moral treatment advocated by Philippe Pinel.

Somatogenic (Wilhelm Griesinger): Brain pathology is the primary cause of mental disorders.
Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Theories (Freud): Focuses on the unconscious mind's role in mental health.
- Symptoms as compromises between conscious and unconscious forces.
Behaviorism: Centers on observable behavior rather than thoughts; emphasizes conditioning.
- Key figures: Watson, Pavlov, Skinner.
Cognitive Approaches: Explore how personal beliefs and interpretations impact emotions and behaviors.
- Bandura's self-efficacy concept; Ellis’s Rational Emotive Therapy for irrational beliefs.
Biological Approaches: Includes neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, and neurotransmitter functions.
- Example: Serotonin and dopamine's roles in mood and psychosis.

Definition: Mental illnesses arise from biological, psychological, environmental, and social factors.
- Diathesis-Stress Model: Suggests inherent vulnerabilities manifest under stress.

Idiographic: Emphasizes individual manifestation of mental illness.
Nomothetic: Uses established categories to diagnose and classify disorders.
Diagnostic Frameworks:
- ICD: International Classification of Diseases.
- DSM: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, defines core symptoms and necessary durations.

Schizophrenia:
- Characterized by lack of insight, severe thinking/perception impairment, hallucinations, and delusions.
- Types: Catatonic, Hebephrenic, Paranoid, Residual, Undifferentiated.
- Treatment: Antipsychotics, cognitive therapy.
Affective Disorders:
- Depression: Persistent low mood, lack of joy, suicidal thoughts.
- Mania: Elevated mood, overactivity, psychotic symptoms; treated with lithium.
Anxiety Disorders:
- Experience of high anxiety; phobias lead to avoidance of stimuli.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Characterized by repetitive obsessions and compulsive rituals.
Eating Disorders:
- Anorexia and Bulimia: Preoccupation with body image; anxiety related to food and weight.
Personality Disorders: Consistent patterns of thoughts and behaviors impacting day-to-day functioning; classified into clusters (A, B, C) based on behavior types.
- Cluster A (Odd/Eccentric): Paranoid, Schizoid, Schizotypal.
- Cluster B (Dramatic/Emotional): Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic.
- Cluster C (Anxious/Fearful): Avoidant, Dependent, Obsessive-Compulsive.

Relationships between personality traits (OCEAN) and specific disorders such as Borderline PD, Antisocial PD, and others.

Understanding psychopathology involves an integration of historical perspectives, various psychological theories, and modern approaches to treatment and diagnosis.