PYB306 - Exam Questions and Answers(A+ Solution guide)

WK 1: Abnormal Behaviour? - Significant distress/disability (NOT expectable behaviour) -- defined by an official classification system (DSM-5) - Behaviour /way of being causes subjective distress leading to help seeking behaviour - If it deviates from expected statistical norm (an experience most people don't have) - Results from "harmful" dysfunction (cannot perform normal functions) DSM-5 Approach - - Heavily reliant on harmful consequences (signs are things we observe in others, symptoms are reported) -It is not a mental illness if presentation is an expectable response to particular event, is socially deviant behaviour or is conflicts between society and individual - All mental disorders are shaped by cultural factors (but none should be entirely) - Disorders SHOULD occur across cultures DSM-5 - - Tool for identification of various "categories" of mental illness with further illness subcategories developed by APA - Categories are intended to group together similar conditions - Composed of researchers and clinicians for each diagnostic group DSM-5 imperfections: - - Process criticisms (field trials etc) - The lowering of diagnostic thresholds- Introduction of new disorders without clear scientific basis - Failure to test validity - Reification of 'disorders' - Reduced reliability of many disorders Awaiting empirical evidence but it is expected: - Medicalization and stigmatization of normative experiences - Diagnostic inflation and 'false' epidemics Epidemiology: - The scientific study of the frequency and distribution of disorders within a population - Tells us which disorders are most common Aetiology of Mental Illness: 4 types and their causes - Biological: Neurochemistry, genes etc. (medication) Psychodynamic: Early childhood experiences (psychodynamic therapy) Cognitive Behaviour: Social learning (CBT) Humanistic: Frustrations of society (Non-directive therapy) - Integrative model suggest MI may occur as a result of an interaction between many factors (bio, social, economic, psychological, spiritual, environment etc -- biopsychosocial model) Descriptive Psychopathology: Cause - - Diagnosis does NOT imply understanding of cause - Descriptive approach makes classification on S+S presentMost have no defined cause!! Equifinality versus multifinality - Equifinality - different experiences can lead to the same condition Multifinality - the same experience may lead to different outcomes (think 'equal' - same condition, 'multi' - different conditions/outcomes) WK 2: Classification - Categorical approaches assume that the distinctions between categories are qualitative - Does the person have this characteristic or not? Dimensional approaches consider characteristics/qualities as varying along a continuum - How much of this characteristic does this person exhibit? Descriptive or Explanatory? - Diagnosis in psychopathology is descriptive in that it identifies a particular problem present based on a collection of features