Chapter 1 Abnormal Behavior in Historical Context Myths and Misconceptions About Abnormal Behavior y No Single Definition of Psychological Normality y No Single Definition of Psychological Abnormality Differences across time Cross cultural differences Involves multiple dimensions areas of functioning y Many Myths Are Associated With Mental Illness Weak in character Dangerous to self or others Mental illness is a hopeless situation y y y y y Approaches to Defining Abnormal Behavior Does Infrequency Define Abnormality Does Suffering Define Abnormality Does Strangeness Define Abnormality Does the Behavior Itself Define Abnormality Should Normality Serve as a Guide Toward a Definition of Abnormal Behavior y Psychological Dysfunction Breakdown in cognitive emotional or behavioral functioning y Distress or Impairment Difficulty performing appropriate and expected roles Impairment is set in the context of a person s background y Atypical or Unexpected Cultural Response Reaction is outside cultural norms Definition of Abnormal Behavior cont Figure 1 1 The criteria defining a psychological disorder The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual DSM IV y Widely Accepted System for Classifying Psychological Problems and Disorders y DSM Contains Diagnostic Criteria for Behaviors That Fit a pattern Cause dysfunction or subjective distress Are present for a specified duration And for behaviors that are not otherwise explainable Approaches to the Scientific Study of Psychological Disorders y Mental Health Professionals The Ph D s Clinical and counseling psychologists The Psy D s Clinical and counseling Doctors of Psychology M D s Psychiatrists M S W s Psychiatric and non psychiatric social workers MN MSN s Psychiatric nurses The lay public and community groups y United by the Scientist Practitioner Framework Dimensions of the Scientist Practitioner Model y Producers of Research y Consumers of Research y Evaluators of Their Work Using Empirical Methods Dimensions of the Scientist Practitioner Model cont Figure 1 3 Three major categories make up the study and discussion of psychological disorders y y y y Scientist Practitioner and Clinical Description of Abnormality Description Aims to Distinguish Clinically Significant Dysfunction from Common Human Experience Describe Prevalence and Incidence of Disorders Describe Onset of Disorders Acute vs insidious onset Describe Course of Disorders Episodic time limited or chronic course Causation Treatment and Outcome in Psychopathology y What Factors Contribute to the Development of Psychopathology Study of etiology y How Can We Best Improve the Lives of People Suffering From Psychopathology Pharmacologic Psychosocial and or Combined Treatment Development y How Do We Know That We Have Alleviated Psychological Suffering Study of treatment outcome The Past Historical Conceptions of Abnormal Behavior y Major Psychological Disorders Have Existed In all cultures Across all time periods y The Causes and Treatment of Abnormal Behavior Varied Widely y Three Dominant Traditions Include Supernatural Biological and Psychological The Past Abnormal Behavior and the Supernatural Tradition y Deviant Behavior as a Battle of Good vs Evil Deviant behavior was believed to be caused by demonic possession witchcraft sorcery Treatments included exorcism torture beatings and crude surgeries y Outer Force Views Were Popular During the Middle Ages y Few Believed That Abnormality Was an Illness on Par With Physical Disease The Past Abnormal Behavior and the Biological Tradition y Hippocrates Abnormal Behavior as a Physical Disease Hysteria The Wander Uterus y Galen Extends Hippocrates Work Humoral theory of mental illness y Blood Sanguine Black Bile Melancholy Phlegm Sluggishness Yellow Bile choleric hot tempered Treatments remained crude Foreshadowed modern views linking abnormality with brain chemical imbalances The Past Consequences of the Biological Tradition y Mental Illness Physical Illness y The 1930 s Biological Treatments Were Standard Practice Insulin shock therapy ECT and brain surgery i e lobotomy y By the 1950 s Several Medications Were Established Examples include neuroleptics i e reserpine and minor tranquilizers The Past Abnormal Behavior and the Psychological Tradition y The Rise of Moral Therapy The practice of allowing institutionalized patients to be treated as normal as possible and to encourage and reinforce social interaction Philippe Pinel Benjamin Rush and others y Reasons for the Falling Out of Moral Therapy Immigration and Mental Hygiene movement led to an influx of patients y Emergence of Competing Alternative Psychological Models The Past Abnormal Behavior and the Psychoanalytic Tradition y y y y Freudian Theory of the Structure and Function of the Mind The Mind s Structure Id pleasure principle illogical emotional irrational Ego reality principle logical and rational Superego moral principles keeps Id and Ego in balance Defense Mechanisms When the Ego Loses the Battle with the Id and Superego Displacement transferring a feeling onto a less threatening object Denial refusal to acknowledge some aspect of experience Rationalization conceals true motivation through elaborate explanations Reaction formation substitutes feelings behaviors for the exact opposite of the unacceptable ones Projection falsely attributing one s unacceptable feelings to another Repression blocks disturbing wishes thoughts etc from conscious experience Sublimation directs potentially maladaptive feelings into socially acceptable behavior Freudian Stages of Psychosexual Development Oral anal phallic latency and genital stages The Past Abnormal Behavior and the Psychoanalytic Tradition cont Figure 1 4 Freud s structure of the mind Later Neo Freudian Developments in Psychoanalytic Thought y Anna Freud and Self Psychology Emphasized the influence of the ego in defining behavior y Melanie Klein Otto Kernberg and Object Relations Theory Emphasized how children incorporate introject objects Examples include images memories and values of significant others objects y Others Developed Concepts Different from Those of Freud Carl Jung Alfred Adler and Erik Erickson y The Neo Freudians Generally De emphasized the Sexual Core of Freud s Theory y y y y y From Psychoanalytic Thought to Psychoanalysis in Therapy Unearth the Hidden Intrapsychic Conflicts The Real Problems Therapy Is Often Long Term Techniques Include Free Association and Dream Analysis Examine Transference and Counter Transference Issues