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Ch. 1 Abnormal Behavior in Historical Context
a. What defines a Psychological disorder (abnormal)
1. Immediate society is the common comparison for normal
i. i.e. abnormal
2. Feelings, cognitions and behaviors can all be abnormal
i. Can engaged behavior e.t al. that is abnormal be considered normal
b. Biological Traditions
1. Hippocrates: Abnormal behavior as a physical disease
i. Linked abnormality with brain chemical imbalances
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Physiological or biological disease
ii. Galenic – Hippocratic tradition
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Thinking bodily fluids were the functioning grounds for mental
health
o Blood letting
iii. Bolstered the view the mental illness can be linked to physical illness
2. Early traditions – most are still used but have been improved
i. Electric shock
ii. Crude surgery
iii. Insulin
iv. Major/minor tranquilizers
3. Moral therapy
i. Moral: referring to psychological/emotional factors
ii. Main idea: treat patients as normally as possible in normal environments
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Increased social interaction and focused on humane treatment
c. Psychoanalytic traditions
1. Freudian theory of the structure and function of the mind
i. Unconscious
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So primal (anger, sex) that one is not aware
ii. Catharsis
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Bringing unconscious to conscious
iii. Sought after development and personality
2. Structure of the mind
i. ID
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Pleasure
ii. Superego
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Moral principles
iii. Ego
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Rational and logical
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Reality principle
3. Defense mechanisms
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i. Egos attempt to manage anxiety resulting from Id/superego
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Displacement
o Placing anger upon a different stimulus or target
o Typically one without consequence
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Reaction formation
o Having an opposite response to convince ones self they
actually like the anxiety stimulus
Ch. 2 An Integrative Approach to Psychopathology
a. Normalcy Vs. Abnormality
1. The Continuum – all should be considered before and during interventions
treatment
i. The line between adaption and maladaptation is often unclear
ii. All degrees of competence offer value
iii. Context
iv. Pathways
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Depending on the pathology different environment, time or
persons excel or fail differently
o Ex. ADHD struggling during school years but can function
well in the work place
v. Risk, protection and resilience (level of risk &adaptability)
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Within the chance to develop certain disorders
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Resilience means capability to cope well
b. One-dimensional models
1. Explain behavior in terms of s single cause
2. This could be a paradigm, school or conceptual approach
3. Ignored information from other areas
i. Environment
c. Multidimensional models
1. Interdisciplinary, eclectic and integrative
2. “system of influences that cause and maintain suffering
3. Takes information from several sources
4. Major sources of influence
i. Biological
ii. Behavioral
iii. Emotional
iv. Social & cultural
v. Cognitive
d. Stress diathesis model
1. Ex. Cups
i. Genetic vulnerability
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ii. Life events (Stressors and influence)
iii. Disorder level
e. Interaction of genetic and environmental effects
1. Reciprocal gene-environment model
i. Outcomes are a result of interactions between genetic vulnerabilities and
experience
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Depression
o One could have a predisposition and have some stressor
o One could have low predisposition but high level of
stressors
f. Neuroscience contributions
1. Neuroscience shows the role of the N.S within pathology
2. Neuron anatomy
i. Soma – cell body
ii. Dendrites – branches that receive message from other neuros
iii. Axon – trunk of the axon
iv. Axon terminal – where messages are sent from
v. Myelin Sheath – insulation to make electrical impulse to be more efficient
