Abnormal Psychology: An Integrative Approach - Notes

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Psychological dysfunction is a breakdown in cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning.
Distress occurs when the individual is extremely upset.
Impairment happens when there are difficulties in social or occupational functioning.
Atypical or Not Culturally Expected reactions are those that deviate from the average or violate social norms.
Prototype: A "typical" profile of a disorder, where DSM-5 diagnostic criteria serve as prototypes that allow for variations in symptoms.

Psychopathology: scientific study of psychological disorders.
Involves clinical psychologists, counseling psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric social workers, psychiatric nurses, and other therapists.
Scientist-Practitioner approach: Using scientific methods in clinical practice for diagnosis and treatment. Involves:
- Keeping up with latest scientific developments.
- Evaluating assessments and treatments.
- Conducting research.

Clinical description to specify what makes the disorder different from normal behavior.
- Prevalence: how many people in the population as a whole have the disorder.
- Incidence: statistics on how many new cases occur during a given period.
- Course: the pattern a disorder follows, which can be chronic, episodic, or time-limited.
- Onset: how a disorder begins, either acute or insidious.
- Prognosis: the anticipated course of a disorder, which can be good or guarded.
Etiology which includes:
- Biological dimensions (e.g., genetics).
- Psychological dimensions (e.g., cognitive and emotional factors).
- Social dimensions (e.g., cultural and interpersonal influences).

Supernatural Model: Attributes behavior to external agents like divinities, demons, or spirits.
Biological Model: Focuses on physical and biological causes of abnormal behavior.
Psychological Model: Emphasizes psychological and social factors.

Deviant behavior was seen as a battle between good and evil.
Treatments included exorcism.
Stress and Melancholy: Insanity was considered a natural phenomenon caused by mental or emotional stress.
Mass Hysteria: Large-scale outbreaks

Hippocrates and Galen:
- Proposed that psychological disorders could be treated like other diseases and might be caused by brain pathology, head trauma, or heredity.
- Humoral theory: Related normal brain functioning to four bodily fluids (humors): blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm.
The 19th Century:
- Discovery of the nature and cause of syphilis led to the idea that comparable causes and cures might be discovered for all psychological disorders.
- John P. Grey: Insisted that the causes of insanity were always physical, leading to improved hospital conditions but reduced interest in treatment.
Development of Biological Treatments:
- Insulin shock therapy, electric shock.
- Development of Rauwolfia serpentine (reserpine) and neuroleptics (major tranquilizers).

Emphasized psychological, social, and cultural factors.
Moral Therapy:
- Treating institutionalized patients as normally as possible.
- Encouraging social interaction.
- Providing positive consequences.
Asylum Reform and Decline of Moral Therapy: Factors contributing to decline included increased patient loads, immigration, and belief that mental illness was due to brain pathology.
Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud):
- Structure of the Mind: id, ego, superego.
- Defense Mechanisms: unconscious protective processes.
- Psychosexual Stages of Development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
- Common self defeating defence reactions that Freud saw reflected in Phobic and obsessive symptoms. The symptoms typically show elements of the danger.

Focuses on learning and adaptation in the development of psychopathology.
Classical Conditioning (Pavlov): Learning through association.
Operant Conditioning (Skinner): Behavior is influenced by consequences (reinforcement and punishment).