Psychology2016

582 CHAPTER 14

Chapter Summary

What Is Abnormality?

14.1 Explain how our definition of abnormal behavior
and thinking has changed over time.

• Psychopathology is the study of abnormal behavior and psycho-
  logical dysfunction.


• In ancient times, holes were cut in an ill person’s head to let out
  evil spirits in a process called trephining. Hippocrates believed
  that mental illness came from an imbalance in the body’s four
  humors, whereas in the early Renaissance period the mentally ill
  were labeled as witches.


• Abnormality can be characterized as thinking or behavior that
  is statistically rare, deviant from social norms, causes subjective
  discomfort, does not allow day-to-day functioning, or causes a
  person to be dangerous to self or others.


• In the United States, insanity is a legal term, not a psychological
  term.

14.2 Identify models used to explain psychological
disorders.

• In biological models of abnormality, the assumption is that men-
  tal illnesses are caused by chemical or structural malfunctions in
  the nervous system.


• Psychodynamic theorists assume that abnormal thinking and
  behavior stem from repressed conflicts and urges that are fight-
  ing to become conscious.


• Behaviorists see abnormal behavior or thinking as learned.


• Cognitive theorists see abnormal behavior as coming from irra-
  tional beliefs and illogical patterns of thought.


• The sociocultural perspective conceptualizes all thinking and
  behavior as the product of learning and shaping of behavior
  within the context of family, social group, and culture.


• Cultural relativity refers to the need to consider the norms and
  customs of another culture when diagnosing a person from that
  culture with a disorder.


• The biopsychosocial model views abnormal thinking and
  behavior as the sum result of biological, psychological, social,
  and cultural influences.

14.3 Describe how psychological disorders are
diagnosed and classified.

• The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth
  Edition (DSM-5) is a manual of psychological disorders and their
  symptoms.


• More than one fifth of all adults over age 18 suffer from a mental
  disorder in any given year.


• Diagnoses provide a common language for health care provid-
  ers, but they may also predispose providers to think about their
  patients in particular ways.


• In contrast to categorical approaches to diagnosis, research is
  building related to dimensional assessment of psychopathology
  across brain, behavior, cognitive, and genetic factors.

Disorders of Anxiety, Trauma, and Stress: What,

Me Worry?

14.4 Identify different types of anxiety disorders and

their symptoms.

• Anxiety disorders are all disorders in which the most dominant
  symptom is excessive and unrealistic anxiety.


• Phobias are irrational, persistent fears. Three types of phobias
  are social anxiety disorder (social phobia), specific phobias, and
  agoraphobia.


• Panic disorder is the sudden and recurrent onset of intense panic
  for no reason, with all the physical symptoms that can occur in
  sympathetic nervous system arousal.


• Generalized anxiety disorder is a condition of intense and unre-
  alistic anxiety that lasts 6 months or more.

14.5 Describe obsessive-compulsive disorder and

stress-related disorders.

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder consists of an obsessive, recur-
  ring thought that creates anxiety and a compulsive, ritualistic,
  and repetitive behavior or mental action that reduces that
  anxiety.


• Significant and traumatic stressors can lead to acute stress dis-
  order or posttraumatic stress disorder. The diagnosis differs
  according to duration and onset but includes symptoms of
  anxiety, dissociation, nightmares, and reliving the event.

14.6 Identify potential causes of anxiety, trauma, and

stress disorders.

• Psychodynamic explanations of anxiety and related disorders
  point to repressed urges and desires that are trying to come into
  consciousness, creating anxiety that is controlled by the abnor-
  mal behavior.


• B e h a v i o r i s t s s t a t e t h a t d i s o rd e re d b e h a v i o r i s l e a r n e d
  through both operant conditioning and classical conditioning
  techniques.


• Cognitive psychologists believe that excessive anxiety comes
  from illogical, irrational thought processes.


• Biological explanations of anxiety-related disorders include
  chemical imbalances in the nervous system, in particular
  serotonin and GABA systems.


• Genetic transmission may be responsible for anxiety-related
  disorders among related persons.

Dissociative Disorders: Altered Identities

14.7 Differentiate among dissociative amnesia,

dissociative fugue, and dissociative identity disorder.

• Dissociative disorders involve a break in consciousness,
  memory, or both. These disorders include dissociative amnesia,
  with or without fugue, and dissociative identity disorder.