User:Atcovi/Psychopathology/Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 * Abnormal psychology: Scientific study of odd behavior so that we can describ,e predict, and come up with an explanation/change the abnormal behavior to improve functioning.

Terms came and go... with "unstable" in 1250, "madness" in early 1400, "crazy" in the mid 1600s, mental illness before 1900 and recently, "dysfunctional imparied" (late 1900s).

What is psychological abnormality?
Let's look at the "four D's":


 * Deviance: Behavior, thoughts, and emotions that stray away from the standard societal norms. For example, a woman from the Padaung tribe in Burma is obsessed with her neck length for beauty, but no one cares about this in the USA. Or for example, everyone's obsession with wearing a mask during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic can be seen as 'abnormal'.
 * Distress: Before calling something 'abnormal', it should cause distress. The woman in Burma who wants to beautify her neck may be "weird", but she's not in distress/depression over her willingness to beautify herself. On the flip side, a woman who is very scared of going outside and talking to people can be seen as abnormal and distressful.
 * Dysfunction: The abnormal behavior in question causes the person to do less than satisfactory in their day to day activities. They can't get their tasks/home obligations done. So severe OCD falls into this, even mutism/extreme social awkwardness, but NOT lengthening your neck to beautify yourself (within general reason).
 * Danger: The abnormal behavior becomes destructive to theirself or to other people. MOST individuals with psycho disorders are NOT dangerous and NOT violent towards others.

When taking distress and dysfunction out, behaviors such as rock climbing or MMA fighting are NOT psychological abnormalities.

The Elusive Nature of Abnormality
Thomas Szasz, a clinical theorist, said that deviation that society notes as "abnormal", are just "problems of living". Scientists want to take control of the world, so they come up with the term "mental illness". He's basically a conspiracy theorist, but food for thought?

Some modern scientists 'de-emphasize' "illness"/"disorder" when looking at psychology abnormalities, and INSTEAD look at the circumstances + coping challenges that bring certain individuals to treatment.

How do we differentiate an eccentric and a mentally ill person?
For example, someone who, outloud, talks to themself in a public setting - but knowingly is talking to themselve (ie, they don't hear 'voices'). David Weeks found that .02% of the population are eccentrics. For example, Ben Franklin who sit naked in front of a window to feel the air.

Weeks found 15 common characteristics among eccentrics:

Nonconformity, creativity, strong curiosity, idealism, extreme interests and hobbies, lifelong awareness of being different, high intelligence, outspokenness, noncompetitiveness, unusual eating and living habits, disinterest in others’ opinions or company, mischievous sense of humor, nonmarriage, eldest or only child, poor spelling skills.

The reality is, this criteria is subjective. We have to assess definitions (which can be hard to get), individuality, and the context (time).

Abnormality In The Past
- 30% of adults

- 17% children/adolescents

...IN THE USA display serious psychological problems that need professional attention.

Psychopathology is not new, it's been here for centuries (I mean, think about the impact war has on people).

Ancient Views & Treatments
Most people in ancient times blamed abnormal behavior on evil spirits. The human body vs. mind game was basically good vs. evil. This belief originated during the Stone Age. Trephination was a popular way of clearing this out. Excorsims were also used to 'torture' the evil spirit out of the person.

The Medical Shift: Hippocrates
Around 500 BCE, Hippocrates claimed that illness had a natural (biological) cause. He believed it was caused by an imbalance of four fluids: yellow bile, black bile, blood and phlegm.

He believed in internal treatment depending on which liquid had an imbalance, so one may need a quiet life, veggie diet, exersise, or celibacy, to treat the cause.

But with the Middle Ages (500-1350 CE) arriving, mental disorders were reverted to "evil spirits" and exorcism and torture were used quite a lot. Soon, secularism was starting to take over.

The Renaissance & Asylums
From 1400-1700, scientific knowledge started to increase. Johann Weyer is regarded as the founder of the modern study of psychopathology. He believed that the mind could get sick, just like your body! Also, treatment of mentally ill people began to improve. They either stayed with their families or checked out religious shrines dedicated to treating mentally ill folks, including ones in Geel, Belgium.

Asylums were popping up in the mid 16th century due to insane overflow. As they were more mentally ill patients, the worse the asylum's conditions were. Bethlehem Hospital is an example of this.

19th Century: Reform and Moral Treatment

 * French physician Philippe Pinel advocated for kindness with mentally ill patients. English Quaker, William Tuke, agreed as well. He founded the York Retreat, which was a rural estate that provided mentally ill patients country houses and were treated well. Pinel removed prison-like conditions and replaced them with sunny rooms.
 * American physician Benjamin Rush, or the father of American psychiatry, basically made sure the hiring process was more stringent.
 * Dorothea Dix was a schoolteacher who went around preaching how horrific the asylums were, so she played a major role in getting laws/better funding through for them.

Unfortunately, a lot of the hardwork was reversed because...


 * 1) severe money/staff shortages
 * 2) poor recovery rates for conditions
 * 3) overcrowding
 * 4) humane treatment isn't automatically gonna cure the patient
 * 5) prejudice (anti-immigrant mindset, which was majority of the mentally ill patients)

Somatogenic
Abnormal functioning because of physical factors.

This was caused by new bio discoveries. Essentially, Hippocrates views made a comeback. German scientist Emil Kraepelin argued that physical factors (fatigue) can be the cause of mental dysfunction. He found out that syphilis, a physical disease, led to general paresis (which contained mental side effects).

Other methods, such as lobotomies, weren't fruitfal. Even worse, we had Virginian politicians, like Carrie Buck, advocating for sterilization to prevent "idiot breeding".

Psychogenic
Abnormal functioning is rooted in psychological causes.

Hypnotism & Mesmer | Freud & psychoanalysis
Studies of hypnotism brought the psychogenic view back into mainstream science.


 * Austrian physician Mesmer made a clinic in Paris where he treated patients suffering from disorders that didn't seem to have a physical basis. He came up with mesmerism (dark room with music, Mesmer came in with a costume and touched the patient's 'hurt spots' with a special road). After Mesmer died, that's when hypnotism took full force.

Freud came up with psychoanalysis (psychology is psychogenic and is influenced by unconscious processes). Led the way for therapy.

Psychotropic Medications
Pyschotropic medications come in, antianxiety drugs and antidepressant drugs, which lead to less institutionalization.

Modern Day
Despite this, a long way to go when it comes to mental health. More research and theories have been coming in, despite the significant play-down of mental health.

Methods have been used to promote mental health, including addressing poverty and violence within a community. Positive psychology has been on the rise recently (coping mechanisms, positive feelings, optimism, etc.).

Today, we have a number of psychological fields & professions to help us out. Technology can be a hazard, but also a means of getting help. A lot of misinformation is rampant. Today's teenagers spend too much time on the phone/computer than socializing, and are consequently less happy.

Multicultural Psychology
Multicultural psychology deals with how culture, race, ethnicity, gender, and other factors affect behavior/thought. Assess different cultural backgrounds, including culture, race, and gender. Minority groups are a significant group of people in the US.

Insurance companies are huge, but can be expensive. In 2014, the Affordable Care Act came through (which sort of helps, but coverage is still far from equal).