ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
SPRING 2017
*look out for thinking critically and getting help textbook sections*
Chapter 1: EXAMPLES AND DEFINITIONS OF ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR
Mental Health Professions:
Psychiatrists are licensed to prescribe medication
Psychologists are the only ones who can collect and study numerical data
Social work tends to be more focused on a commitment to action than on a body of
scientific knowledge – schools, hospitals, etc.
Methods for Scientific Study of Mental Disorders:
Hypothesis: any new prediction
Null hypothesis: alternative to the experimental hypothesis and predicts that the
hypothesis isn’t true.
Try to prove null hypothesis wrong – burden of proof
History of Mental Health Treatment:
Hippocratic tradition – viewed disease and as one unitary concept – did not
distinguish between mental disorders and other types of illness
o Blood-letting, purging, and other “heroic” and painful/extreme treatments
Asylum was created during the 1600s and 1700s to house the mentally disturbed –
reinforced the idea that the community as a whole should be responsible for their
care.
o Change in economic, social, and demographic conditions – served in heavily
populated cities because of an increase in urbanization
Lessons:
Our own values and beliefs influence the ways in which we define, think about, and
treat mental disorders
Scientific research is important!!
Definitions of Abnormal Behavior and Mental Disorder:
- Symptoms: thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that indicate a mental disorder
, o On their own, most symptoms wouldn’t be of concern
o Consider frequency and duration
o Consider maladaptation or disruptive effect these symptoms have on
life/relations
- Syndrome (or disorder): a group of symptoms that appear together and are
assumed to represent a specific type of disorder
- Personal Distress
o But you can also be distressed without having a disorder
- Statistical Norms: consider frequency of specific condition in general population
o But some statistics don’t consider cultural or group norms
o Just because something is frequent doesn’t mean it doesn’t cause impairment
Binge drinking
o When you are on one end of the bell curve, it could be a good thing (high IQ
for example)
Olympic athletes
o doesn't specify at what extent does a behavior become problematic, need to
know more context
- Social Norm Violation: behavior that breaks social norms
o But just because something is not mainstream doesn’t mean it is problematic
(Lady Gaga Meat Dress)
o Our norms change over time and place
- Exclude:
o Predictable responses to stresses
o cannot stem from social deviance or the problems that the person has with
society
- Harmful Dysfunction – Wakefield
o A condition is a mental disorder only if:
Results from the failure of some internal mechanism to perform its
natural function
Causes harm to the person (distress on an everyday basis) as judged
by the standards of the person’s culture
Definition causes issues because we don’t necessarily know what is
function and dysfunctional; also creates a binary; how do we know
what makes something tilt the scale over the abnormal
- DSM 5: Classification of Disorders
o Disorders are identified by their symptoms
o Causes of disorders (etiology) often unknown
, o Depend on observations and descriptions rather than ideas about causes
(doesn’t matter what caused the depression; just the fact that there is
depression)
o Evidence based on self-report, peer/family-reports, and observation
o See table 1.1 in textbook Defining Characteristics of Mental Disorders
- Mental Disorder versus Abnormal Behavior
o If a person has a mental disorder, they will automatically display abnormal
behavior
o Some people have abnormal behavior and no mental disorder
o Some people have mental disorders but no observable abnormal behaviors
(phobias)
- Classifications
o Provides common nomenclature
Informs treatment choice
Terminology for mental health professionals
Decides how to treat patient
o Can lead to stigma/stereotypes about disorder
Role of Culture:
- Cultural Relativity
o Etic Perspective (outsider)
Culture-general or universal orientation
Assumes universal principals can be applied to all cultures
Terms or facts that apply to all cultures
o Emic perspective (insider)
Culture-specific
Involved understanding from perspectives of those in the culture
Uses culture-specific criteria
o Consider who gets to decide what is abnormal and normal
o Example: hormones released in teenagers are the same but their behaviors
and responses to the hormones are different across cultures
o Example: American satire story about basic ritual of brushing teeth in the
morning; can be seen as absurd from the outsider
- Zeitgeist
o Drapetomia: disease set by African slaves by running away
o Homosexuality: disorder in 1st and 2nd DSM
o Gambling Disorder: added to substance related disorders in DSM 5
o Culture isn’t static; definitions of abnormal changes over time and place
- Cultural Influence on Prevalence
SPRING 2017
*look out for thinking critically and getting help textbook sections*
Chapter 1: EXAMPLES AND DEFINITIONS OF ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR
Mental Health Professions:
Psychiatrists are licensed to prescribe medication
Psychologists are the only ones who can collect and study numerical data
Social work tends to be more focused on a commitment to action than on a body of
scientific knowledge – schools, hospitals, etc.
Methods for Scientific Study of Mental Disorders:
Hypothesis: any new prediction
Null hypothesis: alternative to the experimental hypothesis and predicts that the
hypothesis isn’t true.
Try to prove null hypothesis wrong – burden of proof
History of Mental Health Treatment:
Hippocratic tradition – viewed disease and as one unitary concept – did not
distinguish between mental disorders and other types of illness
o Blood-letting, purging, and other “heroic” and painful/extreme treatments
Asylum was created during the 1600s and 1700s to house the mentally disturbed –
reinforced the idea that the community as a whole should be responsible for their
care.
o Change in economic, social, and demographic conditions – served in heavily
populated cities because of an increase in urbanization
Lessons:
Our own values and beliefs influence the ways in which we define, think about, and
treat mental disorders
Scientific research is important!!
Definitions of Abnormal Behavior and Mental Disorder:
- Symptoms: thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that indicate a mental disorder
, o On their own, most symptoms wouldn’t be of concern
o Consider frequency and duration
o Consider maladaptation or disruptive effect these symptoms have on
life/relations
- Syndrome (or disorder): a group of symptoms that appear together and are
assumed to represent a specific type of disorder
- Personal Distress
o But you can also be distressed without having a disorder
- Statistical Norms: consider frequency of specific condition in general population
o But some statistics don’t consider cultural or group norms
o Just because something is frequent doesn’t mean it doesn’t cause impairment
Binge drinking
o When you are on one end of the bell curve, it could be a good thing (high IQ
for example)
Olympic athletes
o doesn't specify at what extent does a behavior become problematic, need to
know more context
- Social Norm Violation: behavior that breaks social norms
o But just because something is not mainstream doesn’t mean it is problematic
(Lady Gaga Meat Dress)
o Our norms change over time and place
- Exclude:
o Predictable responses to stresses
o cannot stem from social deviance or the problems that the person has with
society
- Harmful Dysfunction – Wakefield
o A condition is a mental disorder only if:
Results from the failure of some internal mechanism to perform its
natural function
Causes harm to the person (distress on an everyday basis) as judged
by the standards of the person’s culture
Definition causes issues because we don’t necessarily know what is
function and dysfunctional; also creates a binary; how do we know
what makes something tilt the scale over the abnormal
- DSM 5: Classification of Disorders
o Disorders are identified by their symptoms
o Causes of disorders (etiology) often unknown
, o Depend on observations and descriptions rather than ideas about causes
(doesn’t matter what caused the depression; just the fact that there is
depression)
o Evidence based on self-report, peer/family-reports, and observation
o See table 1.1 in textbook Defining Characteristics of Mental Disorders
- Mental Disorder versus Abnormal Behavior
o If a person has a mental disorder, they will automatically display abnormal
behavior
o Some people have abnormal behavior and no mental disorder
o Some people have mental disorders but no observable abnormal behaviors
(phobias)
- Classifications
o Provides common nomenclature
Informs treatment choice
Terminology for mental health professionals
Decides how to treat patient
o Can lead to stigma/stereotypes about disorder
Role of Culture:
- Cultural Relativity
o Etic Perspective (outsider)
Culture-general or universal orientation
Assumes universal principals can be applied to all cultures
Terms or facts that apply to all cultures
o Emic perspective (insider)
Culture-specific
Involved understanding from perspectives of those in the culture
Uses culture-specific criteria
o Consider who gets to decide what is abnormal and normal
o Example: hormones released in teenagers are the same but their behaviors
and responses to the hormones are different across cultures
o Example: American satire story about basic ritual of brushing teeth in the
morning; can be seen as absurd from the outsider
- Zeitgeist
o Drapetomia: disease set by African slaves by running away
o Homosexuality: disorder in 1st and 2nd DSM
o Gambling Disorder: added to substance related disorders in DSM 5
o Culture isn’t static; definitions of abnormal changes over time and place
- Cultural Influence on Prevalence
