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ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR

Sue/Sue/Sue Understanding Abnormal Behavior, 10th edition © 2013 Cengage Learning

Chapter One

The Concerns of Abnormal Psychology


What is abnormal psychology? Area of scientific study aimed at describing,

explaining, predicting, and modifying behaviors that are considered unusual or strange

Uses psychodiagnosis: attempts to describe, assess, and systematically draw inferences about psychological disorders

Describe: what are the symptoms?

Explain: what might be the causes? (Multicausality)

Predict: What might happen? How can we prevent?


The Concerns of Abnormal Psychology (cont’d.)


Modifying abnormal behavior Therapy: program of systematic intervention aimed

at improving client’s behavioral, emotional, and/or cognitive state

Determining Abnormality


Psychologists use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) Most widely used classification system

Determining Abnormality (cont’d.)


DSM-V defines abnormal behavior as: “a behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern

that reflects an underlying psychobiological dysfunction, that is associated with distress or disability and is not merely an expectable response to common stressors or losses.” (www.dsm5.org)



Limitations of DSM-V definition DSM definition is quite broad and raises questions

When is a syndrome or pattern of behavior significant enough to have meaning?

What constitutes “present distress” and “painful symptoms”?

What criteria are to be used in assessing symptoms?



Four major means of judging abnormal behavior Distress Deviance Dysfunction Dangerousness

Abnormal Behavior in Context


Culture: shared learned behavior transmitted from generation to generation Powerful determinant of how behavior is defined and

treated

Cultural universality: Origins, processes, and manifestation of disorders are

the same across cultures

Cultural relativism: What is normal/abnormal may vary from culture to

culture

Sociopolitical and Cultural Limitations


Mental illness as a sociopolitical construction Must be sensitive to individual value systems, societal

norms and values, and potential sociopolitical ramifications

Multicultural limitations How does culture affect our understanding of human

behavior?

Sociopolitical and Cultural Limitations (cont’d.)


Two key questions to consider: What is universal in human behavior that is also

relevant to understanding psychopathology? What is the relationship between cultural norms,

values, and attitudes and the incidence and manifestations of behavior disorders?

Frequency and Burden of Mental Disorders


Psychiatric epidemiology: Study of the prevalence of mental illness in a society

Prevalence: Percentage of people in a population who suffer from

a disorder at a given point in time

Frequency and Burden of Mental Disorders (cont’d.)


Lifetime prevalence: The percentage of people in the population who have

had a disorder at some point in their life

Incidence: Onset or occurrence of a given disorder over a period

of time

Frequency and Burden of Mental Disorders (cont’d.)


Cost and burden to society is great: At least 25% of adult Americans and almost 50% of

American children suffer from diagnosable disorder. What might account for the higher prevalence rates

seen in the youth sample?

Stereotypes about the Mentally Disturbed


Mentally ill are frequently stereotyped Common myths:

Mentally disturbed people can always be recognized by their abnormal behavior

Mentally disturbed have inherited their disorder Biopsychosocial model: mental disorder are the result of

an interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors

Stereotypes about the Mentally Disturbed (cont’d.)


More common myths Mental illness is incurable People become mentally ill because they’re weak Mental illness is always a deficit Mentally ill are unstable and potentially dangerous

Historical Perspectives on Abnormal Behavior


Prehistoric and ancient beliefs: Demonology treated by trephining or exorcism

Naturalistic explanations (Greco-Roman): Naturalistic explanations supplanted supernatural Hippocrates believed deviant behavior caused by

brain pathology, the dysfunction of the brain

Historical Perspectives on Abnormal Behavior (cont’d.)


The Middle Ages: Reverted to supernatural explanations

The Dark Ages Mass madness, or group hysteria Witchcraft

The Renaissance: The rise of humanism

Humanism: emphasizes human welfare and the worth/uniqueness of the individual



The Reform Movement: Moral treatment movement: shift to more humane

treatment of the mentally disturbed Philippe Pinel William Tuke Benjamin Rush Dorothea Dix Clifford Beers



What role should spirituality and religion play in mental health care? Spirituality: animating life force or energy of the

human condition that is broader but inclusive of religion

What does research show us about the relationship between religiosity and mental health?

Causes: Early Viewpoints


Biological (organic) view: Mental disorders have a physical or physiological

basis (Griesinger) Kraepelin

Symptoms occur in clusters (syndromes) to represent mental disorders, each with a unique cause, course, and outcome.

Classified mental disorders based on organic causes: metabolic disturbance, endocrine difficulty, brain disease, heredity

Eventually became DSM of APA

Causes: Early Viewpoints (cont’d.)


Biological view gained greater strength with discovery of general paresis, a progressively degenerative and irreversible physical and mental disorder

Lead to Pasteur (germ theory) von Kfrafft-Ebing (infection) Schaudinn (microorganisms)



Psychological view: Mental disorders are caused by psychological and

emotional (not biological/organic) factors Mesmerism and hypnotism The Nancy School: Charcot and hypnotism Josef Breuer and Sigmund Freud: relief by talking

about traumatic experiences Cathartic method: therapeutic use of verbal expression to

release pent-up emotional conflicts



Behaviorism: Psychological perspective that stressed the

importance of learning and behavior in explanations of normal and abnormal development

Stressed conditions that evoke, reinforce, or extinguish directly observable behaviors

Rooted in laboratory science

Contemporary Trends


Diversity/multicultural psychology: Culture, race, ethnicity, gender, age, and socio-

economic class relevant to understand and treat abnormal behavior

Mental health professionals need to: Increase cultural sensitivity Acquire knowledge of diversity Develop culturally relevant therapy approaches

Contemporary Trends (cont’d.)


Dimensions related to cultural diversity: Social conditioning Cultural values and influences Sociopolitical influences Bias in diagnosis



Positive psychology: Study of positive human functioning, and the

strengths and assets of individuals, families, and communities

Optimal human functioning: Subjective well-being, happiness, optimism, resilience,

hope, courage, ability to cope with stress Self-actualization and self-determinism



Changes in therapeutic landscape: The drug revolution (1950’s):

Rapidly and dramatically decreased or eliminated symptoms

Deinstutionalization Prescription privileges for psychologists Managed health care: industrialization of health care,

whereby large organizations in the private sector control the delivery of services



Industrialization of health care has brought about major trends: Business interests are exerting increasing control over

psychotherapy Current business practices are depressing income of

practitioners Psychologists are being asked to justify use of their

therapies Enactment of mental health and substance abuse

parity legislation



Appreciation for research Neuroanatomy:

Role of neurotransmitters in mental disorders Success of psychopharmacology spawned new interest

in brain-behavior relationship Increasing exploration of biological bases of abnormal

behavior Combining drug therapy with psychotherapy Move toward empirically based treatments

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