Development & Health
Abnormal Psychology
Lecture 1: Psychopathology; introduction
A mental health professional is a scientist-practitioner. A scientist practitioner is a:
consumer of science by enhancing the practice
evaluator of science by determining the effectiveness of the practice
creator of science by conducting research that leads to new procedures useful in practice
Psychopathology = the study of abnormal thoughts, behavior and feelings
Some disorders have a timeframe to develop them, and also a time frame where you can learn
how to cope with them. It is really important to be able to be afraid.
Life-span developmental perspective: some things that are normal at a certain age or stage, are
not normal at another.
Equifinality = the same outcome can be arrived at from different origins
Multifinality = the same origin can end up at different outcomes
Every fifth person has had a diagnosis or has a diagnosis of a mental disorder. It is not
abnormal to have a disorder. Mental disorders are the major reasons for disabilities.
Mental health accounts for 13% of the world disease burden.
Anxiety as a disorder starts really early, this is why we often see anxiety as the driving force
of many other mental disorders. Once you’ve had one disorder, you are much more likely to
get another one. The best predictor for getting a disorder, is having a disorder.
Woman have a much higher risk to develop anxiety and depression.
,How can we define a psychological disorder?
The dangers of the ‘medical model’
Focus on internal instead of external causes, mainly mono causal models
Not enough emphasis on the own responsibility of the patient
Focus is more directed to therapy than prevention, fighting against the disease instead of
health-advancement
Preference for ‘biological/somatic’ therapies
Mental disorders are much more complex than we can define them.
If your think about normal and abnormal, the key word in there is ‘norm’. What is the norm?
Abnormal means deviating from the norm.
60% of the people have a mental disorder, so it is more normal to have a disorder than not to
have it.
Abnormal behavior often violates the social norms of a given culture. We really try to define
psychological disorders without the use of social norms, but we are social. The violation of
norms explicitly makes abnormality a relative concept. Criminals and prostitutes violate
social norms, but would not fall within the context of abnormal psychology.
Behavior or feelings may be abnormal if it creates great distress but not all distressed people
are mentally ill.
Does the behavior impair an individual’s ability to function in life?
Problem: some individuals with an actual diagnosis, live functional lives. Some do not
function, but we have no diagnosis. Thus, several factors need to be taken into account to
determine what is abnormal and can accordingly be considered as psychopathology.
DSM-definition
1. A mental disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in
an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects dysfunction in
the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental
functioning.
, 2. Mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress in social,
occupational, or other important activities.
3. Socially deviant behavior and conflicts that are primarily between the individual and
society are NOT mental disorders.
Lecture 2: Etiology
Kraepelin - defined mental disorders. He designed the nature-historical model. He said that all
mental disorders were caused by biological agents. You are born with a mental weakness that
will later express itself.
Freud – the importance of the first 5 years. He discovered that the childhood is a very
important fase. He was very important at looking at the first few years.
read his book
Multidimensional models of abnormal behavior
Major influences:
- Biological
- Behavioral
- Emotional
- Social and cultural
- Developmental
- Environmental
Development of mental disorders as a process of change and development
- Dispositional factors Vulnerabilities. Happen around birth and the first few years as
a child. These are not biological factors.
- Provoking factors Triggers who trigger the disorders. Usually some kind of
stresses. As humans it is much more important how you experience those triggers,
than how many triggers there are.
- Maintaining factors
Abnormal Psychology
Lecture 1: Psychopathology; introduction
A mental health professional is a scientist-practitioner. A scientist practitioner is a:
consumer of science by enhancing the practice
evaluator of science by determining the effectiveness of the practice
creator of science by conducting research that leads to new procedures useful in practice
Psychopathology = the study of abnormal thoughts, behavior and feelings
Some disorders have a timeframe to develop them, and also a time frame where you can learn
how to cope with them. It is really important to be able to be afraid.
Life-span developmental perspective: some things that are normal at a certain age or stage, are
not normal at another.
Equifinality = the same outcome can be arrived at from different origins
Multifinality = the same origin can end up at different outcomes
Every fifth person has had a diagnosis or has a diagnosis of a mental disorder. It is not
abnormal to have a disorder. Mental disorders are the major reasons for disabilities.
Mental health accounts for 13% of the world disease burden.
Anxiety as a disorder starts really early, this is why we often see anxiety as the driving force
of many other mental disorders. Once you’ve had one disorder, you are much more likely to
get another one. The best predictor for getting a disorder, is having a disorder.
Woman have a much higher risk to develop anxiety and depression.
,How can we define a psychological disorder?
The dangers of the ‘medical model’
Focus on internal instead of external causes, mainly mono causal models
Not enough emphasis on the own responsibility of the patient
Focus is more directed to therapy than prevention, fighting against the disease instead of
health-advancement
Preference for ‘biological/somatic’ therapies
Mental disorders are much more complex than we can define them.
If your think about normal and abnormal, the key word in there is ‘norm’. What is the norm?
Abnormal means deviating from the norm.
60% of the people have a mental disorder, so it is more normal to have a disorder than not to
have it.
Abnormal behavior often violates the social norms of a given culture. We really try to define
psychological disorders without the use of social norms, but we are social. The violation of
norms explicitly makes abnormality a relative concept. Criminals and prostitutes violate
social norms, but would not fall within the context of abnormal psychology.
Behavior or feelings may be abnormal if it creates great distress but not all distressed people
are mentally ill.
Does the behavior impair an individual’s ability to function in life?
Problem: some individuals with an actual diagnosis, live functional lives. Some do not
function, but we have no diagnosis. Thus, several factors need to be taken into account to
determine what is abnormal and can accordingly be considered as psychopathology.
DSM-definition
1. A mental disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in
an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects dysfunction in
the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental
functioning.
, 2. Mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress in social,
occupational, or other important activities.
3. Socially deviant behavior and conflicts that are primarily between the individual and
society are NOT mental disorders.
Lecture 2: Etiology
Kraepelin - defined mental disorders. He designed the nature-historical model. He said that all
mental disorders were caused by biological agents. You are born with a mental weakness that
will later express itself.
Freud – the importance of the first 5 years. He discovered that the childhood is a very
important fase. He was very important at looking at the first few years.
read his book
Multidimensional models of abnormal behavior
Major influences:
- Biological
- Behavioral
- Emotional
- Social and cultural
- Developmental
- Environmental
Development of mental disorders as a process of change and development
- Dispositional factors Vulnerabilities. Happen around birth and the first few years as
a child. These are not biological factors.
- Provoking factors Triggers who trigger the disorders. Usually some kind of
stresses. As humans it is much more important how you experience those triggers,
than how many triggers there are.
- Maintaining factors
