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Chapter 1: Looking At Abnormality
Abnormal Psychology (PSYCH-55 )
Chaffey College
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Definitions and Objectives ● What is abnormality? ● Historical perspective of abnormality. ● Modern perspective of abnormality. ● Modern mental health care ● Professionals in abnormal psychology. ○ Abnormal Psychology: Scientific study of psychological disorders ○ Psychopathology: Psychological disorders characterized by symptoms that cause mental, emotional, and physical pain. What is Normal & Abnormal
Barking like a dog Constantly washing hands Making a shrine to dead spouse
Refusing to eat for days Slapping a child Driving a nail through your hand
*Behavior needs to be based on the CONTEXT in which it is preformed. Defining Abnormality 1. Degree of Impairment - Needs diagnostic criteria - What MOST professionals use for labeling abnormal 2. Disfunction in psychological, biological, or developmental 3. Discomfort/disability important areas of life 4. Cultural Relativism - Behavior isn’t socially deviant in religion, politics, or sexuality - Cultural relativists argue that: No universal standard/rules exist for labeling behaviors abnormal. Standard 1: Degree of Impairment ● Behaviors are abnormal if there is 4D’s: ○ Dysfunction from normal, everyday life ○ Personal distress ○ Deviance from <normal= behavior ○ Dangerous to self or others ● Diagnostic Criteria is Possible ○ Based off of the dysfunctional behavior one could predict future behavior/response to treatment ■ What the majority health professionals use Standard 2: Dysfunction
● Is the behavior dysfunctional? ○ Rare = abnormal/dysfunctional ○ Typical = normal/healthy ● What is the cutoff for <dysfunctional?= ○ It is subjective ■ Who? What? How? Is it arbitrary? ● Some rare behaviors are harmless ○ Eccentric - Polar Bear Clubs Standard 3: Discomfort or Disability ● Does it cause the person discomfort; do they want to be rid of it? Does the person see themselves as disabled? ○ Behaviors are only abnormal if the person is suffering due to the behavior ○ People may not be aware of their problems ○ Behaviors may harm others Standard 4: Cultural Relativism ● No universal standards/rules for labeling a behavior as abnormal ○ Behaviors are abnormal relative to cultural norms ■ Example: Co-sleeping ● Gender Roles ○ Expectations of how men and women should behave ● Allows us to consider the environment in which the person lives as they believe that there are different definitions of abnormality across different cultures ● Conflicts between an individual and society are not counted as psychological disorders unless they reflect a dysfunction in the individual ○ Used to justify oppressing/mistreating entire groups of people ○ Creats difficulties in classification What Causes Abnormality? ● Biological ○ Genetic and environmental influences on physical functioning ● Psychological ○ Disturbances in thoughts and/or feelings ● Sociocultural ○ Influences of friends, family, and institutions ■ Example: Family dysfunction, discrimination, stigmas Historical Perspectives ● Supernatural - Diving intervention, curses, demonic possession, and personal sin ○ Cure = religious rituals, exorcisms, confessions, and atonement ● Stone Age - Supernatural, evil spirits ○ Exorcisms ○ Trephination
○ Pavlov and Watson - Classical conditioning ○ Thorndike and Skinner - Operant conditioning ● Cognitive - Role of thoughts on emotions and behaviors ○ Bandura - self efficacy ○ Ellis and Beck - Irrational thoughts Modern Mental Health Care: Patient’s Rights Movement ● Patients will recover and live full lives if they are integrated in the community ○ Support of community-based treatment facilities ● Led to ○ Deinstitutionalization ○ Community mental - healthy movement Modern Mental Health Care: Managed Care ● All necessary services for an individual are coordinated by a primary care provider ○ Coordinate services for medical problems ○ Prevent potential medical problems ● Solves some of the problems of deinstitutionalization ○ But... mental health is often not covered ● Managed care tries to organize health care and coordinate services for existing medical problems and prevent future problems Professionals in Abnormal Psychology ● Psychiatrists ● Clinical Psychologists ● Clinical Social Workers ● Psychiatric Nurses ● Marriage and Family Therapists Psychological Methods ● Correlation ○ Negative Correlation (-) ○ Positive Correlation (+) ○ -1 to +1 - closer to one the stronger the relations ● Survey designs ● Experimental designs Psychological Methods: Scientific Approach ● Experimental Design ○ Independent variable ■ What scientists manipulate ○ Dependent variable ■ What scientists measure ● Experimental Groups ○ Get treatment
● Control groups ○ Do not get treatment ● Placebo Condition ○ Get fake treatmen
Chapter 1: Looking At Abnormality
Course: Abnormal Psychology (PSYCH-55 )
University: Chaffey College
