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第93章 (第1/3页)
He just operates a little different from the
rest of us. Who’s to say who’s wrong?” (Keats, 1966).
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CHAPTER 15
Psychological Disorders
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
On completion of this chapter, students should be able to:
1. Define “normal” and “abnormal”
2. Identify distinguishing differences between normal and abnormal behavior
3. Explain current methods of studying and assessing abnormal behavior
4. Describe the goals of psychological assessment and classification of disorders
5. Explain the use of each axis of DSM-IV-TR
6. Demonstrate a basic understanding of the major types of psychological disorders
7. Explain the theoretical positions from which abnormal behavior is studied
8. Describe the evidence that some abnormal behaviors have a genetic component
9. Name and discuss the types of schizophrenic disorders
10. Suggest some factors that may play causal roles in the development of mental illness
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. The Nature of Psychological Disorders
A. Definitions
1. Psychopathological functioning involves disruptions in emotional,
behavioral, or thought processes that lead to personal distress or that
block one’s ability to achieve important goals
2. Abnormal psychology is the area of psychological investigation most
directly concerned with understanding the nature of individual
pathologies of mind, mood, and behavior
B. Deciding What Is Abnormal
1. DSM-IV-TR provides seven criteria for determining behavior as
abnormal
a) Distress or disability: An individual experiences personal
distress of disabled functioning, producing risk of physical
and/or psychological deterioration or loss of freedom of
action
b) Maladaptiveness: An individual behaves in a fashion that
hinders goal attainment, does not contribute to personal
well-being, or often interferes significantly with the goals of
others and needs of society
c) Irrationality: An individual acts or speaks in ways that are
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irrational or incomprehensible to others
d) Unpredictability: An individual behaviors unpredictably from
situation to situation, as though experiencing loss of control
e) Unconventionality and statistical rarity: An individual violates
norms of socially acceptable behavior in a manner that is
statistically rare
f) Observer discomfort: An individual behaviors such that it
makes others uncomfortable by feeling threatened or
distressed
g) Violation of moral and ideal standards: An individual violates
expectations for how one ought to behave, according to
societal norms
2. No single DSM-IV-TR criteria is, by itself, a sufficient condition to
distinguish all instances of abnormal behavior from normal
variations in behavior
3. Mental disorder is a continuum, that ranges from mental health at
one extreme and mental illness at the other
C. The Problem of Objectivity
1. The decision to declare an individual as psychologically disordered
or abnormal is a judgment about behavior. The goal is to make these
judgments as objective as possible, without bias.
2. Following assignment of the label “abnormal,” others tend to
interpret the individual so designated in a manner that confirms the
judgment as demonstrated by Rosenhan’s “sane in an insane place”
experience
3. Laing posits that labeling as “mad” suppresses the creative, unique
probing of reality by individuals who are questioning their social
context
4. Some psychologists advocate a contextual or ecological model of
schizophrenia
5. Ecological models view abnormality not as the result of a disease
within the person, but as a product of interaction between
individuals and society
6. Abnormality is viewed as a mismatch between the individual’s
abilities and the needs and norms of society
D. Historical Perspectives
1. Historically, people have feared psychological disorders, often
associating them with evil, and imprisoning and subjecting those
affected to radical treatment
a) Hysteria was originally thought to affect only women and to
be caused by a wandering uterus under the devil’s control
2. Emergence of the medical model occurred in the late 1700s, when society
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began perceiving those with psychological disorders as suffering
from illness, rather than as possessed or immoral
a) Pinel was an early developer of a classification system for
psychological difficulties, based on the premise that
disorders of thought, mood, and behavior were somewhat
similar to physical, organic illnesses
b) The first comprehensive classification system of
psychological disorders was created by Kraepelin in 1896
3. Emergence of psychological models, an alternative to the medical model,
focusing on the psychological causes and treatment of abnormal
behavior, emerged from the late 1700s through the 1800s
a) Mesmer proposed that some disorders were due to
disruptions in the flow of a force he called animal magnetism,
and pioneered new techniques eventually to become known
as hypnotism
b) Mesmer’s techniques were adopted by Jean Charcot, who
passed that knowledge to his student, Sigmund Freud
E. The Etiology of Psychopathology
1. Etiology refers to the causal or contributory factors in the
development of psychological and medical problems
2. Two general categories of causal factors:
a) Biological approaches assume that psychological disturbances
are directly attributable to underlying biological factors such
as structural abnormalities in the brain
b) Psychological approaches focus on the causal role of
psychological or social factors as contributing to the
development of psychopathology. Three models
predominate.
(i) Psychodynamic. This model, as developed by Freud,
posited the causes of psychopathology as located
inside the person, holding those factors to be
psychological, rather than physiological
(a) Symptoms are rooted in unconscious conflict,
much of which derives from conflict between id
and superego
(b) Defense mechanisms (repression, denial) can be
effected to avoid pain resulting from conflicting
motives and anxieties
(ii) Behavioral theorists posit abnormal behaviors as
being acquired in the same manner as normal
behaviors-through learning and reinforcement
(a) Focus is on current behavior and current
conditions that may be reinforcing the behavior
(b) Both classical and operant conditioning models
are used to understand the processes that can
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result in maladaptive behavior
(iii) Cognitive perspectives may be used to supplement
behavioristic views
(a) How the individual perceives and thinks about
him- or herself, and his/her relations with others
in the environment are important issues
(b) This approach suggests problems are the result of
distortions in perceptions of the reality of a
situation
(iv) The sociocultural perspective emphasizes the role
culture plays in both the diagnosis and etiology of
abnormal behavior
c) Most recently, the interactionist perspective is becoming
increasingly popular, and is viewed as a product of the
complex interactions between a number of biological and
psychological factors
II.Classifying Psychological Disorders
A. Psychological Diagnosis: The label given to an abnormality by classifying and
categorizing the observed behavior pattern into an approved diagnostic system
B. Goals of Classification
1. A useful diagnostic system provides the following three benefits:
a) Common shorthand language: A common set of agreed-upon
meanings, given that it is imperative that researchers
studying different aspects of psychopathology, or evaluating
treatment programs, can agree on the disorder they are
observing
b) Understanding etiology: Under ideal circumstances, a
diagnosis of a specific disorder should make clear the
cause(s) of the symptoms; this is not always possible with
psychological disorders
c) Treatment plan: Diagnosis should suggest types of treatment
to consider for particular disorders
C. DSM-IV-TR
1. The 4th revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM) classifies, defines, and describes more than 200
mental disorders
2. DSM-IV-TR emphasizes the description of patterns of symptoms and
courses of disorders, rather than etiological theories or treatment
strategies
3. DSM-IV-TR uses dimensions or axes that portray information about
the psychological, social, and physical factors that may be associated
with a psychological disorder
4. Current DSM-IV-TR categories or axes are:
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a) Axis I: Clinical Disorders
(i) These disorders present symptoms of patterns of
behavioral or psycholo
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