Abnormal Psych Exam 1

The scientific study of abnormal behavior in an effort to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning.

A society's stated and unstated rules for proper conduct.

a people's common history, values, institutions, habits, skills, technology, and arts

An ancient operation in which a stone instrument was used to cut away a circular section of the skull, perhaps to treat abnormal behavior.

According to the Greeks and Romans, bodily chemicals that influence mental and physical functioning

a type of institution that first became popular in the 16th century to provide care for persons with mental disorders. most became virtual prisons

A nineteenth-century approach to treating people with mental dysfunction that emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful treatment; ended by money and staff shortages, declining recovery rates, overcrowding, and prejudice

State-run public mental institutions in the United States.

The view that abnormal psychological functioning has physical causes.

The view that the chief causes of abnormal functioning are psychological.

either the theory or the treatment of abnormal mental functioning that emphasizes unconscious psychological forces as the cause of psychopathology

Drugs that mainly affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental dysfunctioning.

the practice, begun in the 1960s, of releasing hundreds of thousands of patients from public mental hospitals

an arrangement in which a person directly pays a therapist for counseling services

interventions aimed at deterring mental disorders before they can develop

the study and enhancement of positive feelings, traits, and abilities

the field of psychology that examines the impact of culture, race, ethnicity, gender, and similar factors on our behaviors and thoughts and focuses on how such factors may influence the origin, nature, and treatment of abnormal behavior

A system of health care coverage in which the insurance company largely controls the nature, scope, and cost of medical or psychological services.

a set of assumptions and concepts that help scientists explain and interpret observations. also called a paradigm. spells out basic assumptions and sets guidelines for investigation

a nerve cell

the tiny space between the nerve ending of one neuron and the dendrite of another

a chemical that, released by one neuron, crosses the synaptic space to be received at receptors on the dendrites of neighboring neurons

a site on a neuron that receives a neurotransmitter

the chemicals released by the endocrine glands into the bloodstream

chromosome segments that control the characteristics and traits we inherit

Psychotropic drugs that help reduce tension and anxiety. Also called "minor tranquilizers" or "anxiolytics"

psychotropic drugs that improve the moods of people with depression

psychotropic drugs that help stabilize the moods of people suffering from a mood disorder. also called mood stabilizers.

psychotropic drugs that help correct the confusion, hallucinations, and delusions found in psychotic disorders

a form of biological treatment, used primarily on depressed patients, in which a brain seizure is triggered as an electric current passes through electrodes attached to the patient's forehead

brain surgery for mental disorders; first lobotomy was in 1930s; considered experimental and only used in extreme cases; a biological treatment

according to Freud, the psychological force that produces instinctual needs, drives, and impulses; guided by pleasure principle; sexual, fueled by libido

According to Freud, the decision-making component of personality that operates according to the reality principle; its defense mechanisms protect us from anxiety

According to psychoanalytic theory, strategies developed by the ego to control unacceptable id impulses and to avoid or reduce the anxiety they arouse

According to Freud, the moral component of personality that represents a person's values and ideals; guided by morality principle; unconsciously adopted from our parents

according to Freud, a condition in which the id, ego, and superego do not mature properly and are frozen at an early stage of development

the psychodynamic theory that emphasizes the role of the ego and considers it an independent force

The psychodynamic theory that emphasizes the role of the self - our unified personality

The psychodynamic theory that views the desire for relationships as the key motivating force in human behavior.

A psychoanalytic technique in which the patient spontaneously reports all thought, feelings, and mental images as they come to mind, even if it seems unimportant

An unconscious refusal to participate fully in therapy.

according to psychodynamic theorists, the redirection toward the psychotherapist of feelings associated with important figures in a patient's life, now or in the past

a series of ideas and images that form during sleep

the reliving of past repressed feelings in order to settle internal conflicts and overcome problems

the psychoanalytic process of facing conflicts, reinterpreting feelings, and overcoming one's problems

A form of psychodynamic therapy that considers therapists to be active participants in the formation of patients' feelings and reactions, and therefore calls for therapists to disclose their own experiences and feelings in discussion with the patients

a simple form of learning

A process of learning in which behavior that leads to satisfying consequences is likely to be repeated.

A process of learning in which an individual acquires responses by observing and imitating others.

A process of learning by temporal association in which two events that repeatedly occur close together in time become fused in a person's mind and produce the same response

a behavioral treatment in which clients with phobias learn to react calmly instead of with intense fear to the objects or situations they dread

the belief that one can master and perform needed behaviors whenever necessary

therapy approaches that seek to help clients change both counterproductive behaviors and dysfunctional ways of thinking

A therapy developed by Aaron Beck that helps people recognize and change their faulty thinking processes; people can overcome their problems by developing new ways of thinking; guide clients to challenge dysfunctional thoughts and try new interpretations; used in treating depression

the humanistic process by which people fulfill their potential for goodness and growth

the humanistic therapy developed by Carl Rogers in which clinicians try to help clients by conveying acceptance, accurate empathy, and genuineness

the humanistic therapy developed by Fritz Perls in which clinicians actively move clients toward self-recognition and self-acceptance by using techniques such as role playing and self-discovery exercises

a therapy that encourages clients to accept responsibility for their lives and to live with greater meaning and value

A theory that views the family as a system of interacting parts whose interactions exhibit consistent patterns and unstated rules.

A therapy format in which a group of people with similar problems meet together with a therapist to work on those problems.

a group made up of people with similar problems who help and support one another without the direct leadership of a clinician. also called a mutual help group

a therapy format in which the therapist meets with all members of a family and helps them change in therapeutic ways

a therapy format in which the therapist works with two people who share a long-term relationship

a treatment approach that emphasizes community care

the view that each culture within a larger society has a particular set of values and beliefs, as well as special external pressures, that help account for the behavior and functioning of its members. also called culturally diverse perspective

approaches that seek to address the unique issues face by members of minority groups

approaches geared to the pressures of being a woman in Western society. also called feminist therapies

explanations that attribute the cause of abnormality to an interaction of genetic, biological, developmental, emotional, behavioral, cognitive, social, and societal influences

an understanding of the behavior of a particular individual

the process of collecting and interpreting relevant information about a client or research participant; collecting relevant information in an effort to reach a conclusion; used to determine how and why a person is behaving abnormally and how that person may be helped; also may be used to evaluate treatment progress

the process in which a test is administered to a large group of people whose performance then serves as a standard or norm against which any individual's score can be measured; needed for an assessment tool to be useful; must do this for administration, scoring, and interpretation; setting up common steps to be followed whenever it is administered

A measure of the consistency of test, research results, or assessment measure; needed for an assessment tool to be useful; a good tool will always yield the same results in the same situation; two main types

the accuracy of a test's or study's results' that is, the extent to which the test or study actually measures or shows what it claims; needed for an assessment tool to be useful; the accuracy of a tool's results; three types

A set of interview questions and observations designed to reveal the degree and nature of a client's abnormal functioning.

a device for gathering information about a few aspects of a person's psychological functioning from which broader information about the person can be inferred; more than 500 currently in use that fall into 6 categories

a test consisting of ambiguous material that people interpret or respond to; require that clients interpret vague and ambiguous stimuli or follow open-ended instruction; mainly used by psychodynamic - ex. Rorschach Test, TAT, sentence completion tests, drawings (DAP) - good for supplementary info, little reliability or validity, may be biased against minorities

A test designed to measure broad personality characteristics, consisting of statements about behaviors, beliefs, and feelings that people evaluate as either characteristic or uncharacteristic of them; usually based on self-reported responses; easier/cheaper/faster than projective tests; objectively scored and standardized; fail to allow for cultural differences in responses; greater validity than projective tests

tests designed to measure a person's responses in one specific area of functioning, such as affect (Beck Depression Inventory), social skills, or cognitive processes; have strong face validity; not all have been subjected to careful standardization, reliability, and/or validity procedures

A test that measures physical responses (such as heart rate and muscle tension) as possible indicators of psychological problems - heart rate, BP, body temperature, galvanic skin response, muscle contraction; polygraph is most popular; require expensive equipment which must be maintained; can be inaccurate and unrealiable

a test that directly measures brain structure or activity; EEG, PET scans, CAT scans, MRI, fMRI; general screening device

Neurological tests that provide images of brain structure or activity, such as CT scans, PET scans, and MRIs. Also called brain scans.

a test that detects brain impairment by measuring a person's cognitive, perceptual, and motor performances; Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test; general screening device

a test designed to indirectly measure a person's intellectual ability; typically comprised of a series of tests assessing both verbal and nonverbal skills; high reliability and validity; highly standardized; could have cultural/language biases

an overall score derived from intelligence tests; Represents the ratio of a person's "mental" age to his or her "chronological" age

a determination that a person's problems reflect a particular disorder; based on existing classification system; use assessment data and the clinical picture

a cluster of symptoms that usually occur together

a list of disorders, along with descriptions of symptoms and guidelines for making appropriate diagnoses

A movement in the clinical field that seeks to identify which therapies have received clear research support for each disorder, to develop corresponding treatment guidelines, and to spread such information to clinicians. Also known as evidence-based treatment.

an effort to identify a set of common strategies that run through the work of all effective therapists

a psychiatrist who primarily prescribes medications

the four Ds; part of the definition of abnormality; has limitations

different, extreme, unusual, perhaps even bizarre; vary depending on culture and circumstances

unpleasant and upsetting to the person

interfering with the person's ability to conduct daily activities in a destructive way; culture plays a role

posing risk of harm to oneself or others; behavior may be careless, hostile, or confused; generally the exception rather than the rule

places such emphasis on society's role that he finds the concept of mental illness to be invalid/a myth; things that are "abnormal" are only "problems of living; society invented the concept of mental illness to better control/change people who threaten social order

- Jerome Frank - a sufferer who seeks relief from the healer - a trained, socially accepted healer, whose expertise is accepted by the sufferer and his/her social group - a series of contacts between the healer and the sufferer, through which the healer tries to produce certain changes in the sufferer's emotional state, attitudes, and behavior

adults in the US who display psychological disturbances in need of treatment per year

children/adolescents in the US who display psychological disturbances in need of treatment per year

regarded abnormal behavior as the work of evil spirits; treatment was to force the demons from the body through trephination and exorcism

believed and taught illnesses had natural causes; looked to an imbalance of the four humors; treatments attempted to rebalance; views 500 BC-500 AD

Church rejected science; abnormality seen as a conflict between good and evil; return of demonology and treatments

demonological views of abnormality declined; rise of asylums

community mental health program; religious shrine devoted to the humane and loving treatment of people with mental disorders

reform and moral treatment; Pinel (France); Tuke (England); Rush and Dix (US); each state had to develop state hospitals that offered moral treatment; century ended with the reemergence of long-term hospitalization

medical perspective; abnormality is an illness brought about by malfunctioning parts of the organism (brain anatomy/chemistry); inheritance; viral infections

certain brain regions associated with particular psychological disorders (Huntington's disease and basal ganglia/cortex)

an impulse is first received by a neuron's dendrites, travels down the axon, and is transmitted through the nerve endings to other neurons

- abnormal activity in certain ones can lead to specific mental disorders - depression is linked to low serotonin and norepinephrine - schizophrenia is linked to high dopamine

mental disorders are sometimes related to abnormal chemical activity; cortisol release is related to anxiety and mood disorders

plays part in mood disorders and shizophrenia

oldest and most famous; based on a belief that a person's behavior (normal or abnormal) is determined largely by underlying psychological forces of which he/she is not consciously aware; abnormality is a result of conflict among these forces

drugs, ECT, psychosurgery

psychoanalysis; seek to uncover past trauma and inner conflicts; therapist is subtle guide; free association; therapist interpretation; catharsis; working through

believes that our actions are determined largely by our experiences in life; concentrates wholly on behaviors and environmental factors; bases explanations and treatments on principles of learning

therapist is teacher; aim to identify behaviors that are causing problems and replace them with appropriate ones; may use classical/operant conditioning or modeling; systematic desensitization

proposes that we can best understand abnormal functioning by looking at the processes that are the center of behaviors, thoughts, and emotions; argues that clinicians must ask questions about assumptions, attitudes, and thoughts of a client; believe abnormal functioning is due to faulty assumptions and attitudes and illogical thinking processes (overgeneralization; stable and global)

combination model

emphasis on people as friendly, cooperative, and constructive; focus on drive to self-actualize through honest recognition of strengths and weaknesses

Emphasis on self-determination, choice, and individual responsibility; focus on authenticity

argue that abnormal behavior is best understood in the light of the social and cultural forces that influence an individual; address norms and roles in society; two perspectives: family-social and multicultural

argue that theorists should concentrate on forces that operate directly on a person, including social labels and roles (diagnostic labels) and social connections and supports; focus on family structure and communication; abnormal functioning within a family makes insane behavior sane in an insane environment

1970s; cohorts came to hospitals reporting auditory hallucinations; diagnosed with schizophrenia; had a hard time overcoming the label once they stopped reporting symptoms

lack of boundaries; contributes to eating disorders

contributes to schizophrenia

group, family, couple, community treatment, prevention work

seeks to understand how culture, race, ethnicity, gender, and similar factors affect behavior and thought, as well as how people of different cultures, races, and genders differ psychologically; believes a person's behavior is best understood when examined within that person's cultural context; prejudice and discrimination faced by many minority groups may contribute to certain forms of abnormal functioning

greater sensitivity to cultural issues; inclusion of cultural models in treatment

- cause of dysfunction: biological malfunction - research support: strong - consumer: patient - therapist role: doctor - key therapy: biological intervention - therapy goal: biological repair

- cause of dysfunction: underlying conflicts - research support: modest - consumer: patient - therapist role: interpreter - key therapy: free association and interpretation - therapy goal: broad psychological change - 15%

- cause of dysfunction: maladaptive learning - research support: strong - consumer: client - therapist role: teacher - key therapy: conditioning - therapy goal: functional behaviors - 10%

- cause of dysfunction: maladaptive thinking - research support: strong - consumer: client - therapist role: persuader - key therapy: reasoning - therapy goal: adaptive thinking - 28%

- cause of dysfunction: self-deceit - research support: weak - consumer: patient/client - therapist role: observer - key therapy: reflection - therapy goal: self-actualization

- cause of dysfunction: avoidance of responsibility - research support: weak - consumer: patient/client - therapist role: collaborator - key therapy: varied - therapy goal: authentic life

- cause of dysfunction: family or social stress - research support: moderate - consumer: client - therapist role: family/social facilitator - key therapy: family/social intervention - therapy goal: effective family or social system

- cause of dysfunction: external pressures or cultural conflicts - research support: moderate - consumer: client - therapist role: cultural advocate/teacher - key therapy: culture-sensitive intervention - therapy goal: cultural awareness and comfort

abnormality results from the interaction of genetic, biological, developmental, emotional, behavioral, cognitive,social, and societal influences; favor diathesis-stress approach; eclectic; 29%

hundreds fall into three categories: clinical interviews, tests, and observations

yields the same results every time it is given to the same people

different judges independently agree on how to score and interpret a particular tool

a tool appears to measure what it is supported to measure; does not necessarily indicate true validity

a tool accurately predicts future characteristics or behaviors; of the most use clinically

a tool's results agree with independent measures assessing similar characteristics or behavior

face to face encounters that are often the first contact between a client and clinician; used to collect detailed info about a client (esp personal history); allows the interviewer to focus on whatever topics they consider most important, depending on their theoretical orientation; may lack validity, accuracy, or reliability; interviews may be biased/make mistakes or clients may be misleading

clinicians ask open-ended questions

clinicians ask prepared questions, often from a published interview schedule; may include a mental status exam

most widely used personality inventory; consists of more than 500 true/false/cannot say self-statements; assesses careless responding and lying; statements describe physical concerns, mood, morale, attitudes toward religion, sex, and social activities, and psychological symptoms; scores range 0-12-; above 70=deviant

systematic observations of behavior; naturalistic, analog, self-monitoring

occur in everyday environments; most focus on parent-child, sibling-child, or teacher-child interaction; generally made by "participant observers" and reported to a clinician; useful for ADD/ADHD; reliability and validity are concerns

conducted in artificial settings; reliability and validity are concerns

people observe themselves and carefully record the frequency of certain behaviors, feelings, or cognitions as they occur over time; look for triggers; can be dishonest (validity problems)

created using all available info; influenced by clinician's theoretical orientation

currently in use; published in 2013; lists approximately 400 disorders; describes criteria for diagnoses, key clinical features, and related features that are often present; requires clinician to provide categorical and dimensional info; has greater reliability than previous editions

the name of the category/disorder indicated by the client's symptoms; clinician must decide whether the person is displaying one of the disorders

a rating of how severe a client's symptoms are and how dysfunctional the client is across various dimensions of personality; for each disorder, various rating scales are suggested

two most frequently diagnosed disorders

misdiagnosis; labeling and stigma; self-fulfilling prophecy

- begin with assessment info and diagnostic decisions to determine a plan - use combination of idiographic and nomothetic info - other factors: theoretical orientation, current research, evidence-based

75% are helped; 5-10% get worse

M.D.

Ph.D, Psy.D, Ed.D

MSW, DSW

various

person avoids anxiety by not allowing painful or dangerous thoughts to become conscious

person refuses to acknowledge the existence of an external source of anxiety

person attributes own unacceptable impulses, motives, or desires to other individuals

person creates a socially acceptable reason for an action that actually reflects unacceptable motives

person displaces hostility away from a dangerous object and onto a safer substitute

person represses emotional reactions in favor of overly logical response to a problem

person retreats from an upsetting conflict to an early developmental stage at which no one is expected to behave maturely or responsibly