Abnormal pschology

Abnormal psychology

DEFINITIONS

1. Deviation from social norms

X. Change over time (homosexuality) X. Subjective - open to opinion  X. Depends on context - (nazi's) X. Cultural relativity  X. Social control (Thomas Szasz 1961 - if poeple are doing unwated things -label)

       2. Failure to Function adequatley :

• Personal distress
• Maladaptive behaviour
• unprediactability
• Irationality
• violation of moral and standards

X. Abnormaility isnt always accompanied by dysfunction X. Very subjective and unclear

       3. Deviation from ideal mental health (lack of:)

• Positive attidues about oneself
• self actualisation
• personal autonomy
• accurate perception of reality
• resistance to stress
• ability to adapt to enviroment
• Mainly focuses on diagnoses and treatment

X. Ovrdemanding criteria - very few poeple have all six all the time  X. Cultural relevance X. Contextual - changes over time  X. Subjective  

THE MEDICAL MODEL

Pathology can be understood as the effect of some singular cause - as in the concept of deisese some pathological agent is disturbing the homestasis of the entire organism (Cicchetti 1984, p.3)

• The most used and accepted approach in the west
• Mental disorders are biological in cause
• Treated in the same way as physical illnesses

Illnesses are due to:

• Genetics
• Infection
• problems in brain chemistry

Examples of Sz being biologically caused :

• KENDLER 1985:People are 18X more likely to develop sz if its already in the family (Genetics)
• BARR 1990: Children more likely to develop sz if Mothers got the flu when pregnant (infection)#
• REYNOLDS 1992 - sz is caused due to Increased activity of doopamine receptors neurotransmission - post mortems 1970 showed increased numbers of D2 receptors in people with SZ -(Symptoims of sz including akathasia and dystonia also found to be related to dopamine)

Treatment usually involves

• Drugs / pharmacuetical treatment / ECT

DRUGS

Anti psychotics

• used to treat sz and sevre disorders
• e.g chlorprozamine - first generation
• a -typical anti psychotyics releasesd in 1990s
• e.g clozapine and Risperdal
• side effcets include spasams, seizures, imobility
• clozapine can cause  agranulocytosis (loss of the white blood cells that fight infection)
• doses are administered by doctors

Good?

• seen as a revelation in the 1950's - altyernative to restraints
• relieve symptoms
• allow poeple independance - poeple can function in everyday life

Bad?

• do not solvce the problem only mask it
• can be seen as a medical straight jacket in hospitals
• treatment failiures occur in 1 in 6 patients - (Emsley et al., 2013)
• do not work for everybody
• relapse and sicontinuation is common
• treatment discontinuation is estimated in 74% of patients (lieberman 2005)

Diagnoses is typically carried out through the DIAGNOSTIC STATICTICAL MANUAL

• assumes poeople people exhibit symptoms
• symptoms can be categorized
• normal can be distinguished from abnormal

history:

• DSM I released in 1952
• Introduced as a diagnostic classification tool
• provides diagnostic crieteria and descriptions used widely by medical and mental health proffessionals

DSM is constantly changing

• DSM I reffered to menatl disorders as "reactions"
• DSM II - released in 1968 reffered to them as illnesses
• Homosexulaity was in it as a disorder up until 1973…