Summary Psy 3604 - Exam 1 Study guide

PSY 3604: Intro to Abnormal Psychology, Section 002
Exam 1 Study Guide

 Abnormal Psychology Overview
o Elements of abnormality
 Subjective distress
 Maladaptiveness
 Statistical deviancy
 Violation of societal norms
 Social discomfort
 Irrationality
 Unpredictability
 Dangerousness
 Points to Remember:
 Different abnormalities may entail different elements
 Current definitions rely of suffering, maladaptation

o Advantages and disadvantages of classifying mental disorders
 DSM as classification tool
 Descriptive and concrete
 Provides a common language
 Allows us to structure information in an efficient manner
 Defines the domain of what is considered to be pathological
Disadvantages
 We lose detailed personal information about the person with the
disorder
 Can facilitate stigma, stereotyping, and labeling.
 Fear of being discriminated against may lead some people to avoid
seeking treatment.

o Cultural differences in what is abnormal
 Societal norms and expectations in reference to which abnormality is
defined
 Way disorders presented by individuals
 Variation in the way different cultures describe distress ( no word for
‘depressed’ in native American culture).
 Certain form of culture-specific psychopathology

o Prevalence of mental disorders
 Mental health epidemiology
 Epidemiology: the study of the distribution of diseases, disorders, or
health related behaviors in a given population.
 Prevalence: the number of active cases in a population during any given
period of time. Typically expressed in percentages.
 Point prevalence: the estimated proportion of actual, active cases of a
disorder in a given population at a given point in time.

,  1-year prevalence: the total number of cases of a health-related state or
condition in population for a given year.
 Lifetime prevalence: The proportion of living persons in a population who
have ever had a disorder up to the time of the epidemiologic assessment.
 Incidence: occurrence (onset) rate of a given disorder in a given
population.
 Tend to be lower than prevalence figures because they exclude preexisting
cases.
 Comorbidity: occurrence of two or more identified disorders in the same
psychologically disordered individual.

o Common forms of treatment
 Psychotherapy
 Medication
o Approaches used to gather information about mental disorders
 Case study: an in-depth examination of an individual or family that draws from a
number of data sources, including interviews and psychological testing.
 Can be subject to bias because the writer of the case study selects what
information to include and what information to omit.
 This means that the conclusions of a case study have low generalizability.
 Self-report data: data collected directly form participants, typically by means of
interviews or questionnaires.
 People may not be very good self-reporters of their own subjective states
and experiences.
 Direct Observation: Method of collecting research data that involves directly
observing behavior in a given situation.

o Unresolved issues related to classifying and defining “abnormal”
 Categorization of increasing numbers of people as mentally ill
 How broadly should abnormality be defined?
 Financial interest of mental health professionals to benefit from inclusive
definitions


 Historical and Contemporary Views of Abnormal Behavior
o Interpretations of abnormal behavior throughout history
 Key people, definitions, classifications:
 Greeks and Romans
o Physical account (temperament is determined by 4 bodily
fluids)
o Hippocrates
 Father of modern medicine
 Denied that deities and demons intervened in the
development of illnesses.