Psychological Disorders

Chapter 12

Pages 483-521

Psychopathology• In other words mental disorder or mental

illness• According to the National Institutes of

Mental Health 15.4% of the population suffers from a diagnosable mental health problems

• Another study found that the behaviors of over 56 million Americans meet the criteria for a diagnosable psychological disorder

Changing Concepts of Psychological Disorder

Different Perspectives: Demonological

• The view that abnormal behavior reflect invasion by evil spirits or demons.

• Stone Age humans developed trephining- the practice of putting holes in the skull to provide a passage for demons to get out of the head

continued

• Trephining actually worked- today most would agree b/c people were so afraid they conformed to society.

• Ancient Greeks believed gods punished people by causing confusion and madness except Hippocrates (said Abnormal Behavior caused by something in brain)

continued

• Massachusetts- Many believed ab. Behavior was caused by possession of devil-called these people witches( held responsible for many things ranging from a neighbor’s infertility to a poor yield of crops).

Cures

• An exorcist would pray for you and wave a cross over you at night to send the devil elsewhere…if that didn’t work you were beaten, killed

• In Europe over 200,000 “witches” were killed due to a publishing of manual of how to recognize a witch.

• Salem witch trials

Witch testing

• Water-float test• (pure metals sink to the bottom, impurities

float to surface) suspects who sank were considered pure, those who kept their heads above water were impure.

Historical Roots

• 400 B.C.- Hippocrates declared abnormal behavior had physical causes.

• He taught symptoms of mental disorders were a result of an imbalance among bodily fluids (called humors)

The Four Humors

Humors Origin Temperament

Blood Heart Sanguine (cheerful)

Choler (yellow bile)

Liver Choleric (angry)

Melancholer (black bile)

Spleen Melancholy (depressed)

Phlegm Brain Phlegmatic (sluggish)

Middle Ages

• Superstition eclipsed Hippocrates ideas• Under the influence of the church,

physicians and clergy reverted back to blaming abnormal behavior on demons, witches, and the devil.

• The cure: torture, trephining, execution

The Medical Model

• Ab. Behavior is symptomatic of an underlying illness.

• 2 version of model

*biological

*psychodynamic

The medical model

• Reemerged (from Hippocrates ideas) in the late 18th century

• Diseases of the mind are like any other disease

• Mental diseases have specific causes and therefore must have specific treatments

How did this change view of mental illnesses?

• Torture, executions, etc.. No longer made sense

• Implemented asylums for the insane-initially very therapeutic, later became overcrowded and used as human storehouses

Biological Version

• Ab. behavior reflects biological or biochemical problems

• Term- mental illness• Today- abnormalities in neurotransmitters,

the chemical that “conduct’ messages from one cell in the nervous system to another.

continued

• Syndrome- a cluster or group of symptoms suggestive of a particular order.

• Each mental illness presumably has specific outcome and response to appropriate therapy.

• DNA

continued

• Major advance over demonological perspective—compassion over hatred

• Problem- mental hospital not always best “cure”

• Today- receive treatment while staying in society

Psychodynamic (Freud)Version

• Neuroses(neurotic behavior)- groups of disorders theorized to stem from unconscious conflict

• Abnormal behavior is a symptom of unconscious childhood conflict

continued

• Psychosis- major disorder in which a person lacks insight and has difficulty meeting the demands of daily life and maintaining contact with reality.

• Cure- resolve unconscious conflicts

Criticism of the medical approach

• Too much reliance on doctor• Patients became too passive/dependent on

doctor and/or drug treatments• Little encouragement for the patient to take

part in ‘getting better”

Learning Perspectives

• Ab. Behavior may be caused by the fact that one never got the chance to observe “normal” behaviors and interactions.

• Inconsistent punishments• Subculture reinforces behavior that is not

accepted by majority of population.

The Cognitive Perspective

• Ab. behavior caused by disturbances in how one inputs, stores,manipulates, and retrieves info.

• Disturbances caused by blocking input, faulty storage, retrieval, or manipulation

Social-Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective

• The alternative to the medical model that view psychological disorders as a combination of the social, cognitive, and behavioral perspective.