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Abnormal Psychology Study Guide Oltmanns T F Emery R E 2012 Abnormal Psychology 7th Edition Boston Pearson Sorry for some of the formatting It comes out a little weird when combining all past study guides Enjoy and Happy Studying Section 1 All answers come from Class Discussion and the required textbook Topic 1 What is Abnormal Psychology How Do We Study It Chapter 1 specified pages of Chapter 17 Key Terms Objective 1 Objective 2 Abnormal psychology the application of psychological science to the study of the mind Psychopathology the symptoms and signs of mental disorders ex Depressed moods panic attacks bizarre beliefs Mental disorder What criteria are used to determine a mental disorder Mental disorders are defined by a set of characteristic features aka a syndrome The duration of symptoms is also important Impairment in the ability to perform social and occupational roles is another consideration When is someone s behavior considered to be abnormal One way of determining the presence of a mental disorder is by placing principal emphasis on the individual s experience of personal distress Another approach is to define abnormal behavior in terms of statistical norms how common or how rare it is in the common population This approach does not specify how unusual the behavior must be What are the various ways of defining abnormal behavior and what are the pros and cons of the various definitions Harmful Dysfunction o A condition should be considered a mental disorder if and only if it meets the following two criteria Objective 3 1 The condition results from the inability of some internal mechanism mental or physical to perform its natural function In other words something inside the person is not working properly Examples of such mechanisms include those that regulate emotion and those that distinguish between real auditory sensors and those that are imagined 2 The condition causes some harm to the person as judged by the standards of the person s culture These negative consequences are measured in terms of the person s own subjective distress or difficulty performing expected social or occupational roles DSM IV TR Definition of Mental Disorders o Defining Characteristics A behavioral or psychological syndrome groups of associated features hat is associated with 1 Current distress painful symptoms 2 Disability impairment in one or more important areas of functioning 3 A significantly increased risk of suffering death pain disability or an important loss of freedom o Conditions excluded from consideration This syndrome or pattern must not be nearly 1 An expectable and culturally sanctioned response to a particular event such as the death of a loved one 2 Deviant behavior such as the actions of political religious or sexual minorities 3 Conflicts that are between the individual and society such as voluntary efforts to express individuality What does culture have to do with the concepts of mental disorder and abnormal behavior The process by which the DSM is constructed and revised is based on cultural influence The impact of particular behaviors and experiences on a person s adjustment depends on the culture in which the person lives o EXAMPLE The DSM includes the concept of female orgasmic disorder the absence of an orgasm followed by feelings of distress due to the absence In a culture where female sexuality is discouraged this would most likely not cause distress for the individual Objective 4 Objective 5 Many instances where groups representing different social values have brought pressure down on the revision of the DSM o EXAMPLE Homosexuality used to be viewed as a mental disorder Due to pressure by the gay and lesbian community is has now changed Psychologists after much research concluded that because it did not cause distress or seriously impaired social or occupational functioning it would no longer fit into the DSM How common are mental disorder 46 of people will receive a lifetime diagnosis Which disorder is most common Major depression What percent of cases are MILD 40 MODERATE 37 SEVERE 22 What is disease burden It is measured by combining two factors o Mortality o Disability The common measure is based on time o Lost years of a healthy life which might be cause by a premature death compared to a person s standard life expectancy o Living with a disability weighted for severity How does the disease burden of mental disorders compare to that of medical conditions How do mental disorders compare to each other in disease burden Disability produced by major depression blindness or paraplegia Disability produced by schizophrenia quadriplegia Responsible for 1 of all deaths 47 of all disability in economically developed countries like U S Objective 6 Objective 7 28 of all disability worldwide In the combined index mortality disability mental health is 2 in disease burden in developed countries Cardiovascular conditions is 1 cancer is 3 Are there cross cultural differences in mental disorders YES Disorders like schizophrenia show important consistencies in cross cultural comparisons They are found in pretty much every culture social scientists have studied Disorders like bulimia are more specifically associated with cultural factors revealed by prevalence in different parts of the world and changes over generations o Almost 90 of bulimic patients are women o In the U S bulimia s higher in university women than in working women and higher in younger women than older women o Bulimia is much more common in western nations o Cases increased dramatically during the latter part of the 20th century Objective 1 Topic 2 What are Causes of Behavior in general and of Abnormal Behaviors and of Behavior in Particular Chapter 2 Key Terms Attachments selective bonds that develop between infants and their caregivers usually their parents and are theorized to be related to later development Analogous to the process of imprinting which has been observed in animals Attributions perceived causes people s beliefs about cause effect relations Autonomic nervous system The division of the peripheral nervous system that regulates the functions of various bodily organs such as the heat and stomach The actions of the autonomic nervous system are largely involuntary and it has two branches the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems Behavior genetics the study of broad genetic influences on individual differences in normal and abnormal behavior usually by studying twins or other family


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FSU CLP 4143 - Abnormal Psychology

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Exam 3

Exam 3

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Chapter 7

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Test 1

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Notes

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Test 1

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Test 1

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CHAPTER 1

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Anxiety

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Chapter 7

Chapter 7

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Test 1

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Exam 1

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Final SG

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Suicide

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Suicide

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Chapter 1

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