Abnormal Psychology

Throughout Rosenberg and Kosslyn’s Abnormal Psychology, you will

fi nd discussions of “feedback loops,” highlighting the way neurological,

psychological, and social factors interact to contribute to psychopathology.

Feedback Loops icons and Feedback Loops fi gures accompany this coverage.

Feedback Loops Icons

You will see feedback loops icons in the margin of a page next to a discussion of the

feedback loop for a particular psychopathology-related phenomenon.

Feedback Loops Icons

• Make it easy to locate discussions of the interplay of different factors for a specifi c

Ancient Views of Psychopathology

• Indicate with boldfaced initials which factors—Neurological, Psychological, Social—
  are associated with a given psychological disorder.


• Indicate with outer arrows which factors—Neurological, Psychological, Social—are
  directly targeted by a given treatment.


• Indicate with boldfaced initials which other factor(s) are most directly affected—
  through feedback loops—by a particular treatment.

FEEDBACK LOOPS

A Guide to Feedback Loops Art

Researchers have also discovered ethnic differences in how patients perceive

critical and intrusive family behaviors. Among black American families, for

instance, behaviors by family members that focus on problem solving are associ-

ated with a better outcome for the schizophrenic individual, perhaps because the

behavior is interpreted as refl ecting caring and concern (Rosenfarb, Bellack, &

Aziz, 2006). Thus, what is important is not the family behavior in and of itself,

but how such behavior is perceived and interpreted by family members.

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IPT thus is designed to improve current relationships and social functioning in gen-

eral. Although IPT was originally developed to treat depression, the idea behind

IPT for eating disorders is that as problems with relationships resolve, symptoms

decrease, even though the symptoms are not addressed directly by the treatment

(Swartz, 1999; Tantleff-Dunn, Gokee-LaRose, & Peterson, 2004).

How does IPT work? The hypothesized mechanism is as follows: (1) IPT re-

duces longstanding interpersonal problems; and (2) the resulting improvement of

relationships makes people feel hopeful and empowered, and increases their self-

esteem. These changes have four effects: First, they lead people to change other

aspects of their lives, such as disordered eating; second, they lead to less concern

about appearance and weight, and therefore less dieting and bingeing (Fairburn,

1997); third, as relationships improve, people have more social contact and hence

less time to engage in disordered eating behaviors; and fi nally, with less interper-

sonal stress, people don’t need to expend as much effort on coping and have less

need for bingeing and purging to manage their (less frequent) negative feelings.

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