Abnormal Psychology Lecture Notes Week 1 Abnormal Psychology: Past and Present-What is abnormal Psychology?-The scientific study of abnormal behavior in an effort to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning -Workers in the field may be:-Clinical Scientists or Clinical Practitioners “Seeing” Mental Disorders -When diagnosing things like broken bones you can see it, but how do you know if it is a mental disorder?-Mental disorders are not that apparent in pictures as broken bones are in x-rays What is Psychological Abnormality?-Many definitions have been proposed, yet none has won total acceptance -Most definitions, however have certain features in common;-“The Four D’s”-Deviance- Different, extreme, unusual, perhaps even bizarre-objective if by thinking statistically -Distress- Unpleasant and upsetting to the person- more subjective, is the person bothered by it?-Dysfunction- interfering with the person’s ability to conduct daily activities in a constructive way- more objective, the behavior is impairing the individual to carry out anactivity- a metric for what we measure as abnormal -Danger- posing risk or harm- less common of an issue, are instances were danger is posing risk of harm- someone can be depressed and have risk of hurting themselves -While this definition is a useful starting point, it has key limitationsStatistical Deviance?-Think of standard deviation of how different a person is from the norm -Not purely that they are different, but how much they deviate from the standard deviation -How you define what is abnormal, if you look at just statistically its an insufficient picture Deviance-From what?-Statistically Deviant? From behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that differ markedly from a society’s ideas about proper functioning -From social norms -Stated and unstated rules for proper conduct -Rarity alone is not enough -Judgments of abnormality vary from society to society and change over time as norms grow from a particular culture -Homosexuality once included as a disorder in the DSM-Our view of what is “abnormal” has shifted over time. (hoarding recently added to the DSM-5)Distress -According to many clinical theorists, behavior, ideas, or emotions usually have to cause distress before they can be labeled abnormal-whether or not it causes people to upset them -an indicator of stress-Not always the case-Mania- no distress-Psychopathy- no emotion -Children with conduct disorder -Can have abnormality and see the disorder and the person can be okay with it- it’s not sufficientDysfunction-Abnormal behavior tends to be dysfunctional-it interferes with daily functioning -The presence of dysfunction or impairment is often a key to distinguishing “normal” range of behavior, emotion, and thought, from “abnormal”-if have a pattern of behavior that causes you to be upset it can be a problem-what medical professionals focus on the most Danger-Abnormal behavior may become dangerous to oneself or others -Behavior may be consistently careless, hostile, or confused -Although often cited as a feature of psychological abnormality, research suggests that dangerousness is the exception rather than the rule -And dangerousness is very hard to predict -Most people would agree universally that if there is a problem that someone puts themselves in danger there is a mental illness -doesn’t come up much -hard to identify -not particularly and issue for most The Elusive Nature of Abnormality -Ultimately, a society selects general criteria for defining abnormality and then uses those criteria to judge particular cases -Szasz places such emphasis on society’s role that he finds the whole concept of mental illness tobe invalid, a myth of some sorts “mental disorders are nothing more than conditions that society dislikes”->mental illness is a concept of society and not someone not fitting in the roles- the societ doesn’t like the way a person acts -example: Sexual Orientation -Deviations called “abnormal” are only “problems of living”-Societies invent the concept of mental illness to better control or change people who threaten social order-Disapproval alone is not enough -Racism -We disapprove of racism but we don’t diagnose it as a mental illness -Even if we assume that psychological abnormality is a valid concept, we may be unable to apply our definition consistently -Examples:-Diagnosis of alcohol problems in colleges -Issue of abnormality versus eccentricity -In short, although abnormality generally is defined as behavior that is deviant, distressful, dysfunctional,and sometimes dangerous, these criteria often are vague and subjective -Few categories of abnormality are as clear-cut as they seem; most continue to be debated by clinicians What is Treatment?-Once clinicians decide that a person is suffering from abnormality, they seek to treat it-Treatment, or therapy, is a procedure designed to change dysfunctional, distressing, abnormal behavior into more functional, less distressing behavior -once someone is identified as having some mental disorder- we hope that they seek some sort of treatment- medical based or therapy based -All forms of (psychological) therapy have essential features:1. A sufferer (patient) who seeks relief from the “healer” (clinician)2. A trained, socially accepted healer, whose expertise is accepted by the patient and his or her social group 3. A therapeutic alliance- trust the person, if not the treatment isn’t going to help 4. A series of contacts between the healer and the sufferer5. An expectation for improvement -have dimensions, regardless of what somewhat of treatment someone is engaged in- apply in all therapy and medicine- helping ppl to eliminate distress, physical or psychological -Specific versus nonspecific factors -Placebo?- if someone like an expection for improvement- placebo effects very strong How was abnormality viewed and treated in the past?-Despite their differences, most clinicians agree that significant numbers of people need therapy or treatment of one kind or another -In any given year as many as 30% of adults and 19% of children and adolescents in the U.S. display serious psychological disturbances and are in need of clinical treatment*******-In addition, most people have difficulty coping at various times (but does this require treatment?)-Is this the fault of modern society?-Although modern pressures may contribute, they are hardly the primary cause;