ABNORMAL

PSYCHOLOGY: AN
INTRODUCTION

MEGA MINDS PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW CENTE

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
The study of psychopathology is
a search for the reasons why
people behave, think, and feel in
unexpected, sometimes odd, and
possibly self-defeating ways
psychopathology. The field concerned with the nature and
development of mental disorders.

STIGMA
Unfortunately, people who have a
mental illness are often
stigmatized
Reducing the stigma associated
with mental illness remains a
great challenge for the field
stigma. The pernicious beliefs and attitudes held by a
society, ascribed to groups considered deviant in some
manner, such as people with mental illness.

STIGMA FOUR CHARACTERISTICS

DISTINGUISHI
NG LABEL IS
APPLIED
LABEL
REFERS TO
UNDESIRABLE
ATTITUDES
PEOPLE WITH
THE LABEL
ARE SEEN AS
DIFFERENT

STIGMA

PEOPLE WITH
THE LABEL
ARE
DISCRIMINATE
D AGAINST

Defining Mental Disorder, DSM-5

Definition
The disorder occurs within the individual
It involves clinically significant difficulties
in thinking, feeling, or behaving
It involves dysfunction in processes that
support mental functioning
It is not a culturally specific reaction to
an event (e.g. death of a loved one)
It is not primarily a result of social
deviance or conflict with society

DEFINITION / EVALUATION OF
MENTAL DISORDERS
In evaluating whether a behavior is
part of a mental disorder,
psychologists consider several
different characteristics:
- personal distress
- disability
- violation of social norms
- dysfunction

PERSONAL DISTRESS
A persons behavior may be
classified as disordered if it causes
him or her great distress
Personal distress also characterizes
many forms of mental disorders
But not all mental disorders cause
distress
- antisocial personality disorder

DISABILITY
impairment in some important area of
life (e.g., work or personal
relationships)
- example: alcohol use disorder (social
and occupational disability)
disability alone cannot be used to
define mental disorder, because some,
but not all, disorders involve disability
- example: bulimia (control of weight
gain by binging and purging, but does
not involve disability)

VIOLATION OF SOCIAL
NORMS

In the realm of behavior, social

norms are widely held standards
(beliefs and attitudes) that people
use consciously or intuitively to make
judgments about where behaviors
are situated on such scales as good
bad, rightwrong, justified
unjustified, and acceptable
unacceptable
Behavior that violates social norms
might be classified as disordered

VIOLATION OF SOCIAL
NORMS
Behavior that violates social norms
might be classified as disordered
- example: the repetitive rituals
performed by
people with obsessive-compulsive
disorder
Yet this way of defining mental disorder
is both too broad and too narrow
Issue of social norms of different
cultures

DYSFUNCTION
Mental disorders could be defined as
harmful dysfunction (Wakefield,
1992)
a value judgment (harmful)
an objective, scientific component
the dysfunction
A judgment that a behavior is
harmful requires some standard, and
this standard is likely to depend on
social norms and values

DYSFUNCTION
Dysfunctions are said to occur when an
internal mechanism is unable to
perform its natural functionthat is, the
function that it evolved to perform
Still, the dysfunction component of
Wakefields definition is not so easily
and objectively identifiable in relation to
mental disorders
internal mechanisms involved in mental
disorders are largely unknown; thus, we
cannot say exactly what may not be

 DSM definition of dysfunction refers

to the fact that behavioral,
psychological, and biological
dysfunctions are all interrelated
i,e., the brain impacts behavior, and
behavior impacts the brain; thus
dysfunction in these is interrelated

Key Characteristics in the

Definition of Mental Disorder

 Each characteristic tells us

something about what can be
considered mental disorder, but no
one by itself provides a fully
satisfactory definition

A BRIEF HISTORY OF
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
Since the beginning of scientific
inquiry into mental disorders,
supernatural, biological, and
psychological points of view have
vied for attention

SUPERNATURAL VIEWPOINT
More supernatural viewpoints included
early demonology, which posited that
people with mental illness are
possessed by demons or evil spirits,
leading to treatments such as exorcism
demonology. The doctrine that a persons abnormal
behavior is caused by an autonomous evil spirit.
exorcism. The casting out of evil spirits by ritualistic
chanting or torture

BIOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT
Early biological viewpoints originated
in the writings of Hippocrates
It is believed he described the
symptoms of tertiary syphilis in
Ancient Greece

 After the fall of Greco-Roman

civilization, the biological perspective
became less prominent in western
Europe, and demonological thinking
gained ascendancy, as evidenced by
the persecution of so-called witches

ASYLUMS
Beginning in the fifteenth century,
people with mental illness were often
confined in asylums, such as
Bethlehem (bedlam corruption of
Bethelem)

ASYLUMS
Treatment in asylums was generally poor
or nonexistent until various
humanitarian reforms were instituted
Philippe Pinel and the (supposed) freeing
of patients at Le Bictre (later, it was found
that a former patient and orderly, Jean-Baptiste Pussin,
initiated this move)

Pinel did the same thing at La Salptrire

asylums. Refuges established in western Europe in the fifteenth
century to confine and provide for the mentally ill; forerunners of
the mental hospital.
moral treatment. A therapeutic regimen, introduced by Philippe
Pinel during the French Revolution, whereby mentally ill patients
were released from their restraints.

 The nineteenth and twentieth

centuries saw a return to biological
explanations for mental illness
Developments outside the field of
psychopathology, such as the germ
theory of disease and the discovery
of the cause of syphilis, illustrated
how the brain and behavior are
linked

 Early investigations into the genetics

of mental illness led to a tragic
emphasis on eugenics and the
enforced sterilization of many
thousands of people with mental
illness
Such biological approaches to
treatment as induced insulin coma
and lobotomy eventually gave way to
drug treatments

 electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). A treatment that

produces a convulsion by passing electric current through
the brain; despite public concerns about this treatment, it
can be useful in alleviating profound depression.
general paresis. Infection of the central nervous system
by the spirochete Treponema pallidum, which destroys
brain tissue; marked by eye disturbances, tremors, and
disordered speech as well as severe intellectual
deterioration and psychotic symptoms.
psychoactive medications. Prescribed chemical
compounds for example, Prozachaving a psychological
effect that alters mood or thought process.

PSYCHOLOGICAL
VIEWPOINTS
Psychological viewpoints emerged in
the nineteenth century from the work
of Charcot and the writings of Breuer
and Freud

PSYCHOLOGICAL
VIEWPOINTS
Freuds theory emphasized stages of
psychosexual development and the
importance of unconscious
processes, such as repression and
defense mechanisms that are
traceable to early-childhood conflicts

PSYCHOSEXUAL
DEVELOPMENT
Oral (incorporative/aggressive)
Anal (retentive/expulsive)
Phallic (Oedipus complex [M];
Electra complex [F])
Latency
Genital

DEFENSE MECHANISMS
Primitive Defense
Mechanisms:
Denial
Regression
Acting Out
Dissociation
Compartmentalization
Projection
Reaction Formation
More Mature Defense
Mechanisms:
Repression
Displacement
Intellectualization
Rationalization
Undoing

Mature Defense Mechanisms:

Sublimation
Compensation
Assertiveness
(Source: http://psychcentral.com)

Other Defense Mechanisms:

Rationalization
Splitting
Suppression

 Therapeutic interventions based on

psychoanalytic theory make use of
techniques such as free association
and the analysis of transference in
attempting to overcome repression
so that patients can confront and
understand their conflicts and find
healthier ways of dealing with them

cathartic method. A therapeutic procedure to relieve emotional

suffering introduced by Breuer and developed further by Freud in
the late nineteenth century, whereby a patient recalls and relives
an earlier emotional catastrophe and re-experiences the tension
and unhappiness.
free association. A key psychoanalytic procedure in which the
analysand is encouraged to give free rein to his or her thoughts
and feelings, verbalizing whatever comes into the mind without
monitoring its content. The assumption is that over time,
repressed material will come forth for examination by both
analysand and psychoanalyst.
interpretation. In psychoanalysis, a key procedure in which the
psychoanalyst points out to the analysand where resistance exists
and what certain dreams and verbalizations reveal about impulses
repressed in the unconscious; more generally, any statement by a
therapist that construes the clients problem in a new way.
transference. The venting of the analysands emotions, either
positive or negative, by treating the psychoanalyst as the
symbolic representative of someone important in the past.

 Later theorists such as Carl Jung and

Alfred Adler made various modifications to
Freuds basic ideas and emphasized
different factors in their perspectives on
therapy
analytical psychology. A variation of Freuds psychoanalysis
introduced by Carl Jung, focusing less on biological drives and more
on factors such as self-fulfillment, the collective unconscious, and
religious symbolism.
collective unconscious. Jungs concept that every human being
carries within the wisdom, ideas, and strivings of those who have
come before.
individual psychology. A variation of Freuds psychoanalysis
introduced by Alfred Adler, focusing less on biological drives and
more on such factors as peoples conscious beliefs and goals for
self-betterment.

BEHAVIORISM
Behaviorism suggested that
behavior develops through classical
conditioning, operant conditioning,
or modeling
B. F. Skinner introduced the ideas of
positive and negative reinforcement
and showed that operant
conditioning can influence behavior

behaviorism. The school of psychology originally associated with

John B. Watson, who proposed that observable behavior, not
consciousness, is the proper subject matter of psychology.
Contemporary behaviorists do use mediational concepts, provided
they are firmly anchored to observables.
classical conditioning. A basic form of learning, sometimes
referred to as Pavlovian conditioning, in which a neutral stimulus is
repeatedly paired with another stimulus (called the unconditioned
stimulus, UCS) that naturally elicits a certain desired response
(called the unconditioned response, UCR). After repeated trials,
the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) and
evokes the same or a similar response, now called the conditioned
response (CR).
law of effect. A principle of learning that holds that behavior is
acquired by virtue of its consequences.
modeling. Learning by observing and imitating the behavior of
others or teaching by demonstrating and providing opportunities
for imitation.
negative reinforcement. The strengthening of a tendency to
exhibit desired behavior by rewarding responses in that situation
with the removal of an aversive stimulus.
operant conditioning. The acquisition or elimination of a response
as a function of the environmental contingencies of reinforcement

 Behavior therapists try to apply

these ideas to change undesired
behavior, thoughts, and feelings
The study of cognition became
widespread in the 1960s
Appraisals and thinking are part of
cognitive therapy
Albert Ellis was an influential theorist
in cognitive therapy
Source: Kring, et. al., Abnormal Psychology, 12th edition, 2014

behavior therapy. A branch of psychotherapy conceived

narrowly as the application of classical and operant
conditioning to the alteration of clinical problems but more
broadly as applied experimental psychology in a clinical
context.
rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT). A cognitive
restructuring behavior therapy introduced by Albert Ellis and
based on the assumption that much disordered behavior is
rooted in absolutistic, unrealistic demands and goals, such as,
I must be universally loved.
systematic desensitization. A major behavior therapy
procedure that has a fearful person, while deeply relaxed,
imagine a series of progressively more fearsome situations,
such that fear is dispelled as a response incompatible with
relaxation; useful for treating psychological problems in which
anxiety is the principal difficulty.