Introduction to Abnormal

Psychology Psychopathology
Psychological Disorder
Psychological dysfunction within an individual
associated with distress or impairment in functioning
that is not typical or culturally expected.
4 criteria that fully defines abnormality
1. Dysfunction- interferes with daily functioning;
behavior interferes with an individual’s ability to
function in society.
2. Distress- there is a pain, discomfort or suffering
either physically or psychologically; disabling
condition in social, occupational, and other important
activities.
3. Danger- Behavior that becomes dangerous to self or
others.
4. Deviance - deviates from acceptable standards,
norms or values
Scientific study of psychological
disorders. Specially trained professionals
including clinical and counseling
psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric
social workers and psychiatric nurses as
well as marriage and family therapists and
mental health counselors.
Clinical Psychologists
Integrates science, theory and
practice to understand, predict and
alleviate maladjustment, disability and
discomfort as well as to promote human
adaptation, adjustment and personality
development (APA, 1994).
● Master’s Degree and
PhD/dissertation
● Research and applied courses that
train them to analyze real cases, to
conduct, psychological assessment,
diagnosis, treatment plan, and
psychotherapy
● Usually concentrate on a more
severe psychological disorders

Functions
Norms- a society’s explicit and implicit rules for proper Assessment,Psychotherapy,
conduct. Teaching, Supervision, Research,
Consultation, Administration
Culture- a society’s shared rules that govern the
behavior of its members, common history, values, Job Requirements
beliefs, habits, skills, technology, and arts. ● Maturity- “adult” in the
psychological sense, adequate
“The greater the deviation, the more abnormal it is, technical training, adequate
experience, Cultural awareness
talented or eccentric “ (self-reflection and cultural
experiences).
Abnormal ● Master’s Degree and
PhD/dissertation
describes behavioral, psychological or ● Focus on less severe everyday
biological dysfunctions that are unexpected in their concerns (e.g. adjustment and
cultural context and associated with present distress vocational issues) experienced by
comparatively normal individuals
and impairment in functioning or increased risk of ● psychological approach in dealing
suffering, death, pain or impairment (DSM-5). with clients
● school setting

Psychiatrists
● Medical Degree with very minimal
research (biopsychosocial
/biomedical approach)
 ● Conducts assessment through
interview and observation
● Also investigate the nature and
causes of psychological disorders,
often from a biological point of
view, make diagnosis and offer
treatments.
● Emphasize use of drugs or
biological treatments
● Others use psychosocial
treatments as well
Experimental and Social
Psychologists
● Usually focuses on the underlying
causes of a person’s behavior
● Do not conduct assessment and
treatment
Others
Psychiatric Nurses
have a specialized treatment in the
care and treatment of psychiatric patients.
Marital and Family Therapist
has specialized training in marital
and family therapy, Master’s degree
Drug Counselors are
trained in alcohol and drug abuse;
BS or higher
Psychology Law RA 10029
It seeks to regulate the practice of
psychology and psychometrics in the
Philippines to protect the public from
inexperienced or untrained individuals
offering psychological services, and to
nurture competent, upright and assiduous
psychologists whose standards of practice
are excellent and globally competitive.
Licensed Psychometrician
1. Administer, score, interpret and
prepare written reports of
objective personality tests,
structured personality tests
2. Pencil and paper intelligence,
achievement and interest tests
(excluding test and other higher
forms of psychological test)
3. Conducts screening
4. Licensure examination (4 major
subjects)
5. Filipino citizen
6. Good moral character
7. Not connected of any offense,
involving moral turpitude
Classifying Mental Disorder
Classification provides us nomenclature or
naming system through organization and
categorization
Presenting Problem is the problem
presented during intake interview that
made the client decided to ask for
psychological help (e.g. psychological
assessment)
Clinical Description represents the unique
combination of behaviors, thoughts and
feelings that make up a
specific disorder.
Signs and Symptoms
“Sign” and “Symptoms” refer to
specific events. Signs are objective findings
made by the psychologists/ psychiatrists.
Symptoms are subjective complaints given
by the patient during consultation/
interview.
A syndrome is a group of signs and
symptoms that occur together and
constitute a recognizable condition. This is
less specific than “disorder” or “disease”
and what makes up the disorder.
Statistical Data
Epidemiology is the scientific study of the
frequency and causes of disease and other
health related states.
Prevalence tells the percentage of people in
a population that has mental disorder
3 ways to measure
1. Point Prevalence- indicates the
proportion of population that has
had the characteristics at a single
point in time, number of active
cases.
2. Period Prevalence- indicates the
proportion of population that has
had the characteristics at any point
during a given period of time,
typically the last year.
3. Lifetime prevalence- indicates the
proportion of the population that
 has had the characteristics at any modify abnormal behaviour into normal
time during their lives. behaviour.
“drug or psychosocial treatment“
Incidence indicates the number of new
cases in a population over a specific period.
This measure is usually lower since it does
not include existing cases as prevalence
does.
Comorbidity describes when two or more
mental disorders are occurring at the same
time and in the same person.
Sex ratio is the percentage of males and
females have the disorder.
Typical age of onset usually varies from
one disorder to another.

Course of the disorder is its

particular pattern

1. Acute disorder lasts for a short time.

2. Chronic course persists for a long
time, sometimes a lifetime
(e.g. schizophrenia).
3. Time-limited or recovery will occur
after some time regardless of whether
any treatment occurs.
Differences on onset
Historical Conceptions
Acute onset- they begin suddenly
Insidious onset - develop gradually over
of Abnormal Behavior
an extended period
Prognosis - is the anticipated course the 3 major models in the beginning of
mental disorder will take
civilization
1. Good Prognosis - individual will
probably recover
2. Prognosis is guarded - the probable 1. supernatural model
outcome does not look good. 2. Biological model
3. Psychological model
Causation, Treatment, and Etiology
Outcomes Supernatural tradition

Etiology is the cause of the disorder (e.g. 1. SORCERY AND WITCHES

social, Treatment
biological, or psychological) ● Exorcism, religious ritual,
explanations for the disorder which shaving hair with cross design,
need to be understood to identify the securing sufferers to areas near
appropriate treatment. the church.
Treatment is any procedure intended to 2. PUNISHMENT for evil deeds (e.g.
prevalence of HIV among homosexuals
in western societies)
3. CREATIVE THERAPY
● Patients are subjected to
confinement, beatings and
other forms of torture hanging
people over a pit full of
poisonous snakes might scare
the evil spirits out of their bodies
hydrotherapy
● Patients were shocked back to
their senses by applications of
ice-cold water.
4. MASS HYSTERIA
● Saint Vitus’s Dance and
tarantism
● Speculated as due to insect bites
● Emotion contagion or mob
psychology
● The experience of an emotion
seems to spread to those around
us or shared response
● Escalates into full-blown panic,
whole community will be
affected
5. THE MOON AND THE STARS
Suggesting instead that the
movements of the moon and stars have
profound effects on people’s
psychological functioning
● Paracelsus
● Swiss physician (1493-1541)
● Speculated that the
gravitational effects of the
moon on bodily fluids might be a
possible cause of mental
disorders
● Lunatic
The Biological Tradition
Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)
Father of Modern Western
medicine. He suggested that
psychological disorders can be treated
like any other disease. Influenced by
brain pathology or head trauma or by
heredity
Galen – Roman physician, adopted ideas
of Hippocrates
Humoral Theory of disorders-
Hippocratic-Galen approach
● Normal brain functioning was
related to four bodily fluids or
humors: blood (heart), black bile
(spleen) , yellow bile (liver) and
phlegm (brain).
● Disease resulted from too much
or too little of one of the humors.
E.g. too much black bile
(depression)
Humoral Theory first example of
associating psychological disorders
with a “chemical imbalance,”.
Four humors were related to the Greek’s
conception of the four basic qualities:
heat, dryness, moisture and cold.
Personality traits applied
a. Sanguine- (red) someone who is ruddy
(reddish or rosy) in complexion
- Cheerful and optimistic
b. Melancholic (depressive, black bile in
the brain)
c. Phlegmatic personality (humor
phlegm, apathy and sluggishness
(inactive) but can also mean calm under
stress
d. Choleric (yellow bile is hot tempered)
Treatment
Regulating the environment to
increase or decrease the fluid.
King Charles VI
● Physicians moved him to less
stressful countryside to restore
the balance in his humors.
● Rest, good nutrition, and
exercise, two treatments were
developed
● Bleeding or Bloodletting, a
 carefully measured amount of
blood was removed from the
body, often with leeches.
19th century
Advanced Syphilis- behavioral and
cognitive symptoms, sexually
transmitted disease caused by a
bacterial microorganism entering the
brain.
● Delusion of persecution includes
believing that everyone is
plotting against you.
● Delusion of Grandeur - believe
that you are a God.
● Symptoms similar to psychosis
● Psychological disorder
characterized in part by BELIEFS
that are not based in reality
(delusions)
● PERCEPTIONS that are not
based in reality (hallucinations)
● Patients deteriorated steadily
becoming paralyzed and dying
of patients within 5 years of
onset.
● Designated as general paresis
(slight paralysis)
Treatment
● Injection of blood from patients
who suffered from malaria
● High fever “burned out” the
syphilis bacteria
● Not ethically possible today
● Penicillin- ultimate cure for
syphilis
● Malaria cure, “Madness”
John P. Grey
● Champion of biological tradition
in the United States was the
most influential American
psychiatrist.
● 1854- appointed as
superintendent of the Utica
State Hospital in the New York,
the largest in the country
● Editor of the American Journal
of Psychiatry, the precursor of
the current American
● Journal of Psychiatry
Association (APA)
● Insanity were always physical
● Emphasis on rest, diet and
proper room temperature and
ventilation
● Invented rotary fan
● More humane
● End of 19th century institutions
became so large and impersonal
● Downsized through
deinstitutionalization
● Patients were released into their
communities
● Negative effects include an
increase in the number of
chronically disabled patients
homeless on the stress of cities.
Development of Biological
Treatments
● 1930s- physical interventions of
electric shock and brain surgery
and new drugs
● Insulin- occasionally given to
stimulate appetite psychotic
patients
● It also calm them down
Manfred Sakel
A Viennese physician, with
higher dosages patients convulsed and
became temporarily comatose and
gained recovery.
Known as insulin shock therapy
● Abandoned for being too
dangerous often resulting from
prolonged coma or even death
Benjamin Franklin discovered mild and
modest electric shock to the head, a
brief convulsion and memory loss
(amnesia).
● Shock also made strange elation
Convulsion- uncontrollable shaking of
the muscles
Effective drugs for severe
psychotic disorder during 1950’s
Medicinal substances
● Opium (poppies) used as
sedatives
● Rauwolfia Serpentine and
neuroleptics major tranquilizers
helped diminished patients
hallucinations and delusions,
agitation and aggressiveness
● Benzodiazepines - minor
tranquilizers, seemed to reduced
anxiety
● 1970 brand names known as
Valium and Librium were
among the most widely
prescribed drugs in the world.
● Bromides, a sedative drug that
treats anxiety, modest effects
and various undesirable physical
symptoms, largely disappeared
from the scene.
● Neuroleptics had less in
attention due to its side effects
such as tremors and shaking
Consequences of the Biological
Tradition
● Reduced interest in treating
mental patients
● Thought that there is some as
yet undiscovered brain
pathology and were therefore
incurable.
● Interest centered on diagnosis,
legal questions concerning the
responsibility of patients to
their actions during periods of
insanity and the study of brain
pathology itself.
Emil Kraeplin (1856-1926)
● founding fathers of modern
psychiatry
● Lasting contribution was in the
area of diagnosis and
classification.
● Began with biological causes
● Then treatment was based on
humane principles
Psychological Tradition
Plato- two causes of maladaptive
behavior
● Social and cultural influences
and the learning that took place
in the environment.
● E.g. abusive parents, impulses
and emotions overpower reason
● Reeducation, the power of
reason would predominate
Psychosocial Treatment
approaches to the causation of
psychopathology which focus not only
on psychological factors but also on
social and cultural ones as well.
Aristotle
● Philosophers wrote about the
importance of fantasies , dreams
and cognitions and thus
anticipated to some extent of
the development of
psychoanalytic thought and
cognitive science
● Also advocated humane and
responsible care for individuals
with psychological
disturbances.
Moral Therapy
emotional or psychological
factors rather than to a code of conduct
● Major tenet included treating
institutionalized patients as
normally as possible in a setting
that encouraged and reinforced
normal
● social and interpersonal
interaction
 ● Restraint and seclusion were Asylum Reform and Decline of
eliminated
Moral Therapy
Originated with the well-known French
Mid 19th century
Psychiatrist Philippe Pinel (1745-1826)
● Humane treatment declined
and his associate Jean-Baptiste Pussin
● Enormous immigrant arrived in
(1746-1811) - superintendent of the
the US after the Civil War,
Parisian Hospital, La Bicetre
yielding their own populations
● Pinel removed all chains used to
of mentally ill.
restrain patients and instituted
● Unequal treatment between
humane and positive
immigrants and native
psychological interventions.
Americans even there is
sufficient hospital personnel.
La Bicetre and Salpetriere
Instituted humane and socially
facilitative atmosphere that produced
miraculous results

William Tuke (1732-1822) followed

Pinel’s lead in England

Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)

Benjamin Rush (1745-1813)
considered as the founder of U.S.
psychiatry, introduced moral therapy in
his early work at Pennsylvania Hospital
16th century
Asylums (mental hospital) had
appeared
● Asylums became habitable and
even therapeutic
1833
● Horace Mann, chairman of the
board of trustees the Worcester
Hospital
● Incurable 32 patients were
treated with moral therapy,
cured and released to their
families.
● Only 12 out of 100 patients
continued to be violent a year
after beginning treatment
● 40 patients had routinely torn
off any new clothes provided by
attendants
● Only 8 continued this behavior
after a period of treatment.
● campaigned endlessly to reform
the treatment of insanity.
● School teacher who had worked
in various institutions,
● Firsthand knowledge of the
deplorable (terrible) conditions
imposed on patients with
insanity
● And she made it her life’s work
to inform the American public
and their leaders of these
abuses.
● Became known as Mental
hygiene movement
Make sure everyone receives the
needed care including the homeless.
Humane treatment became widely
available in the U. S. institutions
● Acknowledged as the hero of
the 19th century
● Led to increase in the number of
mental patients
● Moral therapy to custodial care
because hospitals were
inadequately staffed
● Reformed asylums and inspired
the construction of mental
 hospitals in the U.S and abroad.

Mid 19th century

Final blow to the practice of
moral therapy. Decision made that
mental illness was caused by brain
pathology and therefore as incurable.

Research Methods
in Psychopathology

CORRELATION
1. Negative Correlation
-1.00, a perfect inverse
relationship in which one variable goes
up as the other goes down
2. Positive Correlation
+1.00 or a perfect relationship in
which as one variable goes up or down
so does the other
3. 0
indicating no relationship at all
4. Correlation does not allow you
to make a causal statement.
KEY CONCEPTS
Independent variable (IV) manipulated
Variable
Control group does not receive the
treatment or is not manipulated
Random Assignment equal chance of
being placed in the control or
experimental group
Dependent variable (DV) one that is
measured
Experimental group does receive the
treatment or manipulation
Placebo Participants’ expectations that
impacts the result of the experiment
Clinical Assessment,
Diagnosis and
Classification Systems
Clinical Assessment
It is the process of collecting
information and drawing conclusions
through the use of observation,
psychological tests, neurological tests, and
interviews to determine the person’s
problem and the presenting symptoms.
Key Concept in Assessment
RELIABILITY is the consistency in the
assessment.
Types of Reliability
● Inter-rater reliability ensures that
two different raters are consistent
in their assessment of patients (e.g.
two clinicians’ diagnosis is the
same)
● Test-retest reliability is the
consistency in the test results given
on different occasions (e.g. MMPI on
Tuesday and then the same test on
Friday have the same result)
The score at test and the score at retest are
correlated with one another.
VALIDITY of the test measures what it says
it measures.
Types of Validity
● Concurrent or descriptive validity –
a new test that measures
depression should have scores that
are highly comparable to the ones
obtained by the BDI and
Hopelessness test).
● Face Validity is when an
assessment tool looks valid (e.g. a
personality test that asks about
how people behave in certain
situations).
 ● Predictive validity is when a tool
accurately predicts what will
happen in the future. (E.g. If a
senior high school did well in the
College Aptitude Test, we would
expect at that point, they should be
doing well in college. If so, then the
SAT accurately predicts college
success.).
STANDARDIZATION
● Make sure that the experience one
patient has when taking a test or
being assessed is the same as
another patient taking the test the
same day or on a different day, and
with either the same tester or
another tester.
● This is accomplished with the use of
clearly laid out rules, norms, and/or
procedures.
● Equally important is that mental
health professionals interpret the
results of the testing in the same
way, or otherwise, it will be unclear
what the meaning of a specific
score is.
METHODS OF ASSESSMENT
OBSERVATION
Naturalistic is the observation in the
natural setting.
Laboratory observation is conducted in a
more controlled or artificial setting. It uses
sophisticated equipment such as videotape
and one-way mirror
Limitation:
Reactivity- change in behavior because
they know they are being observed
CLINICAL INTERVIEW
is a face-to-face encounter between
a mental health professional and a patient
in which the former observes the latter and
gathers data about the person’s behavior,
attitudes, current situation, personality,
and life history.
● Unstructured interview uses open-
ended questionnaire
● Structured interview asks specific
set of questions according to an
interview schedule
● Semi-structured is a pre-set list of
questions, but clinicians can follow
up on specific issues that catch their
attention.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS
assess the client’s personality,
social skills, cognitive abilities, emotions,
behavioral responses, or interests.
Personality inventories ask clients to state
whether each item in a long list of
statements applies to them, and could ask
about feelings, behaviors, or beliefs.
Examples include the MMPI or Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality Inventory and the
NEO-PI-R, which is a concise measure of the
five major domains of personality –
Neuroticism, Extroversion, Openness,
Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness
Neurological tests are used to diagnose
cognitive impairments caused by brain
damage due to tumors, infections, or head
injuries; or changes in brain activity.
● Positron Emission Tomography or
PET is used to study the functioning
of the brain.
● Magnetic Resonance Imaging or
MRI provides 3D images of the
brain or other body structures
using magnetic fields and
computers. It can detect brain and
spinal cord tumors or nervous
system disorders such as multiple
sclerosis.
● Computed tomography or the CT
scan involves taking X-rays of the
brain at different angles and is used
to diagnose brain damage caused
by head injuries or brain tumors.
Intelligence testing determines the
patient’s level of cognitive
functioning and consists of a series
of tasks asking the patient to use
both verbal and nonverbal skills.
ELEMENTS OF A DIAGNOSIS
Diagnostic criteria are the guidelines for
making a diagnosis.
● A principal diagnosis is used when
more than one diagnosis is given
for an individual. It is the reason for
the admission in an inpatient
setting or the basis for a visit
 resulting in ambulatory care
medical services in outpatient
settings. The principal diagnosis is
generally the focus of treatment.
● Provisional Diagnosis – If not
enough information is available for
a mental health professional to
make a definitive diagnosis, but
there is a strong presumption that
the full criteria will be met with
additional information or time, and
then the provisional specifier can
be used.