Abnormal Psychology: Past and Present

1. Abnormal Psychology: Past and Present What is abnormal psychology? The field devoted to the scientific study of abnormal behavior to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning

2. What Is Psychological Abnormality? �The Four Ds� Deviance � Different, extreme, unusual, perhaps even bizarre (context) Distress � Unpleasant and upsetting to the person Dysfunction � Interfering with the person�s ability to conduct daily activities in a constructive way Danger � Posing risk of harm

3. The Elusive Nature of Abnormality 4 D�s often are vague Few categories of abnormality are as clear-cut as they seem; most continue to be debated by clinicians

4. What Is Treatment? Treatment, or therapy, is a procedure designed to change abnormal behavior into more normal behavior It, too, requires careful definition

5. What Is Treatment? Three essential features: Sufferer seeks relief A trained healer, is accepted by the sufferer (and his or her social group) Healer & Sufferer try to produce certain changes in the sufferer�s emotional state, attitudes, and behavior

6. What Is Treatment? Despite this straightforward definition, clinical treatment is surrounded by conflict and confusion: Lack of agreement about goals or aims Lack of agreement about successful outcome Lack of agreement about failure Are clinicians seeking to cure? To teach? Are sufferers patients (ill) or clients (having difficulty)?

7. How Was Abnormality Viewed and Treated in the Past? Yearly estimates in U.S. residents needing treatment: 30% of adults 19% of children most people have difficulty coping at various times

8. Ancient Views and Treatments Ancient societies abnormal behavior --- evil spirits Cure : trephination and exorcism Stone Age?

10. Greek and Roman Views and Treatments 500 B.C. to 500 A.D. Hippocrates taught that illnesses had natural causes He looked to an unbalance of the four humors His suggested treatment attempted to �rebalance�

11. Europe in the Middle Ages: Demonology Returns 500 � 1350 A.D. Abnormality � good vs. evil Abnormal behavior apparently increased Demonological treatments re-emerged At the close of the Middle Ages, demonology and its methods began to lose favor again

12. The Renaissance and the Rise of Asylums 1400 � 1700 A.D. German physician Johann Weyer believed that the mind was as susceptible to sickness as the body The care of people with mental disorders continued to improve in the positive atmosphere

13. The Renaissanceand the Rise of Asylums Across Europe, religious shrines were devoted to the humane and loving treatment Rise of asylums � institutions whose primary purpose was care of the mentally ill The intention was good care, but because of overcrowding they became virtual prisons

14. The Nineteenth Century: Reform and Moral Treatment 1800 � treatment improved again � care that emphasized moral guidance and humane and respectful techniques U.S. - Benjamin Rush (father of American psychiatry) Dorothea Dix (Boston schoolteacher) were the primary proponents of moral treatment

15. The Nineteenth Century: Reform and Moral Treatment Step Backwards early 1900s Money and staff shortages Declining recovery rates Lack of more effective treatment for severely mentally ill Emergence of prejudice long-term hospitalization became the rule once again

16. The Early Twentieth Century: Dual Perspectives As the moral movement was declining The Somatogenic Perspective Abnormal functioning has physical causes The Psychogenic Perspective Abnormal functioning has psychological causes

17. The Early Twentieth Century: The Somatogenic Perspective Physical factors (like fatigue) are responsible for mental dysfunction Biological discoveries i.e. link between syphilis and general paresis

18. The Early Twentieth Century: The Psychogenic Perspective Hypnotism: Friedrich Mesmer and hysterical disorders Sigmund Freud� s theory of psychoanalysis By the early twentieth century, psychoanalytic theory and treatment were widely accepted throughout the Western world

19. Current Trends Have we come a long way? 43% believe that people bring disorders upon themselves 35% consider mental health disorders to be caused by sinful behavior

20. How Are People with Severe Disturbances Cared For? Since the1950s, New medications: Antipsychotic drugs Antidepressant drugs Anti-anxiety drugs Deinstitutionalization rise in outpatient care

22. What Are Today�s Leading Theories and Professions? Psychoanalytic Biological Behavioral Cognitive Humanistic-existential Sociocultural

24. Research in Abnormal Psychology Research is the systematic search for facts through the use of careful observations and investigations

25. Research in Abnormal Psychology Difficulties: Measuring unconscious motives Assessing private thoughts Monitoring mood changes Calculating human potential Consider culture, race, and gender of Subjects Ethics.

26. The Case Study

27. The Correlational Method

29. The Experimental Method Three Important Variable types: IV DV CV

30. Causal Questions in Clinical Research Does factor X cause a disorder? Is cause A more influential than cause B? Does treatment X alleviate a disorder?

31. The Experimental Method Guard against confounds: A control group Random assignment Blind design