PSYC 410 Abnormal Psychology Exam 1 Study Guide Spring 2015 Compiled by Benny Harris I Chapter 1 Abnormal Psychology Past and Present Psychopathology maladjustment emotional disturbance and mental illness are all terms associated with or synonyms for abnormal psychology The Four D s 1 Deviance behavior thoughts and emotions are deemed abnormal when they differ markedly from a society s ideas about proper functioning 2 Distress behaviors ideas or emotions must cause distress before considered abnormal 3 Dysfunction abnormal behavior may interfere with daily functioning and every day activities 4 Danger behavior that is consistently careless hostile or confused to oneself or others contrary to stigma most people that show signs of anxiety depression and bizarre thinking generally pose no immediate threat to themselves or others Abnormal psychology the scientific study of abnormal behavior in an effort to describe predict explain and change abnormal patterns of functioning Clinical Practitioners role is to detect assess and treat abnormal patterns of functioning Norms explicit and implicit rules for proper conduct Culture history values institutions habits skills technology and arts of a group of people values and acceptable behavior can shift over time and may vary from culture to culture judgments of abnormality depend on specific circumstances and norms Thomas Szasz clinical theorist that argues the concept of mental illness is invalid defines abnormalities as problems of living not something wrong with a person believed that people invented the concept of mental illness to better control or change people that may display behavior that upsets general social order Treatment Therapy a procedure designed to change abnormal behavior into more normal behavior include three essential features 1 A sufferer who seeks relief from the healer 2 A trained socially accepted healer whose expertise is accepted by the sufferer and his or her social group 3 A series of contacts between the healer and the sufferer through which the healer often with the aid of a group tries to produce certain changes in the sufferer s emotional state attitudes and behavior Treatment Therapy Case Study Example Bill Bill is observed in February where his social anxiety affects almost every aspect of his life and then later examined in July when he has positive social support and has been promoted as well as meeting someone he is interested in Symptoms that were displayed previously had evaporated by July which could ve been affected by many factors Any improvement such as social relationships job status etc could have contributed to Bills improved mental state however would not be considered treatment or therapy Carl Rogers Therapists are not in agreement as to their goals are aims they cannot agree as to what constitutes failure It seems as though the field is completely chaotic and divided Rogers comments on the differences of clinical professionals and why the field of abnormal psychology is so subjective and relies on so many different factors for treatment and therapy methods 30 of adults and 19 of children adolescents in the U S display serious psychological disturbances and are in need of clinical treatment Ancient Views Concluded societies probably attributed abnormal behavior or mental illness to evil spirits or demons Trephination operation in which a stone or other instrument was used to cut away a circular section of the skull to release evil spirits that may have been causing the problem Humors according to the Greeks and Romans bodily chemicals that influence mental and physical functioning Shaman priest that may recite prayers plead with evil spirits insult the spirits or perform magic make loud noises or concoct bitter potions exorcism or whipping and starving a person were more extreme forms of treatment Modern pressures Eco anxiety anxiety that stems from worrying about the environment treated with ecopsychology Crime phobia anxiety that stems from crime especially armed violence and violence that may occur in schools Terrorism terror anxiety of terrorism is especially on the rise in the U S after the 2001 terror attacks on the world trade center especially regarding public transportation Cyber fear fear of cyber knowledge deficiency and the failing of technology and computers as well as cyber terrorism and identity theft via the internet Asylums institutions whose primary purpose was to care for people with mental illness first asylum founded in Spain in the early 15th century Lycanthropy people thought they were possessed by wolves or other animals Tarantism disorder where people would suddenly start jumping dancing and convulsing Johann Weyer first physician to specialize in mental illness believed mind was as susceptible to illness as the body was Gheel in Belgium forerunner of today s community mental health programs world s first colony of mental patients that demonstrated the positive effects of love and care to mental health patient health outcome Moral treatment a nineteenth century approach to treating people with mental dysfunction that emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful treatment State hospitals state run public mental institutions in the United States Somatogenic perspective the view that abnormal psychological functioning has physical causes Emil Kraepelin argued that physical factors such as fatigue are responsible for mental dysfunction and established the first modern system for classifying abnormal behavior one important discovery in this field was that and organic disease syphilis led to general paresis which involves both mental and physical components of paralysis and delusions of grandeur Psychogenic perspective the view that the chief causes of abnormal functioning are psychological Friedrich Anton Mesmer developed treatment called mesmerism which involved a dark room filled with music and touching the patient s body with a rod in specific areas which wearing colorful clothing term mesmerized and hypnotism Eugenic sterilization solution of controlling mental illness by the elimination of individual s ability to reproduce Psychoanalysis either the theory or the treatment of abnormal mental functioning that emphasizes unconscious psychological forces as the cause of psychopathology Psychotropic medications drugs that mainly affect the brain and reduce many symptoms of mental dysfunctioning Deinstitutionalization the practice begun in the 1960 s of releasing