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Psychopathology

• Unusual thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are sometimes called psychopathology, abnormal functioning, maladjustment, psychological dysfunctioning, emotional disturbance, or mental illness
• Pathology has become more popular recently because the other terms can alienate people
• Some worry "psychopathology" may suggest illness and medical explanations, which aren't always agreed upon
• Psychopathology is the scientific study of mental difficulties or disorders, including explanations, causes, progression, symptoms, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment
• Clinical scientists systematically gather data to describe, predict, and explain phenomena
• Clinical practitioners use knowledge from clinical scientists to detect, assess, and treat psychopathology patterns

Key Features of Psychopathology

• Defining features are hard to pinpoint
• Commonly cited features are often called the "four Ds"
  • Deviance: differing from the norm, extreme, unusual, bizarre
  • Distress: unpleasant, upsetting
  • Dysfunction: interferes with the person's ability to function
  • Danger: poses a risk to oneself or others
• Judgments of deviance and psychopathology must consider specific circumstances
• Distress is not always present for functioning to be considered psychopathology
• Psychopathology can upset, distract, or confuse people, impacting self-care, social interactions, and productivity
• Danger is often cited, but research suggests it's the exception rather than the rule
• Most people with anxiety, depression, or bizarre thoughts pose no immediate danger

Roles of Society and Culture

• Absence of distress, dysfunction, and danger alone doesn't signify psychopathology
• Norms are stated and unstated rules for proper conduct
• Behaviors, thoughts, and emotions breaking norms may be labeled pathological
• Norms vary from culture to culture
• Thomas Szasz emphasized society's role, considering mental illness a myth
• Societal norms can lead clinicians and the public to minimize or overlook psychological problems Overattention to norms may confuse eccentricities with mental disturbances
• Cultural Humility involves clinical scientists/practitioners examining their beliefs, exploring different cultures, understanding contexts, and responding accordingly

Treatment

• Treatment/therapy is a systematic procedure to change dysfunctional behavior into more functional behavior
• All forms of therapy have these essential features
• A sufferer seeks relief from the healer
• A trained, socially accepted healer whose expertise is accepted
• Series of contacts between the sufferer and healer to produce changes in the emotional state, attitudes, and behavior

Historical Views and Treatments

• In ancient times, disturbed behavior interpreted as evil spirits meant exorcising demons from the body
• Trephination involved cutting a circular skull section to treat severe psychopathology
• Early societies often used exorcism for problematic thoughts/behaviors
• Early Greeks and Romans attributed mental issues to bodily chemicals called humors
• Hippocrates saw pathological behavior as disease from internal physical problems
• Chinese texts linked disturbed mood/behavior to physical pathology and disharmony with nature
• In the Middle Ages in Europe when demonology returned, deviant behavior was seen as evidence of Satan's influence, causing an increase of mass madness and exorcisms
• Medical views revived, and people with psychological disturbances received treatment in medical hospitals
• The Renaissance saw the rise of asylums
• Johann Weyer is considered the founder of the modern study of psychopathology Religious shrines devoted to humane treatment
• Asylums emerged in the 16th century for mental disorder care, but became virtual prisons
• In the 19th century with Moral Reform and Treatment
• Philippe Pinel reformed asylums by treating patients with sympathy and kindness
• William Tuke introduced similar reforms in England using rest, talk, prayer, and manual work
• Moral Treatment, a 19th-century approach, emphasized moral guidance and respect, spread by Benjamin Rush in the U.S. Dorthea Dix raised awareness of humane care
• State hospitals, which are state-run public mental institutions developed in the U.S.

Decline of Moral Treatment

• The speed with which the movement had spread reversed moral treatment
• Serious money and staffing shortages developed along with with declining recovery rates and overcrowding
• Public mental hospitals only provided custodial care/ineffective treatments, becoming overcrowded

Early 20th Century Perspectives

• Somatogenic perspective: psychopathology has physical causes
• Psychogenic perspective: psychopathology has psychological causes
• Emil Kraepelin argued physical factors cause mental dysfunction
• Biological discoveries about the medical condition syphilis and general paresis spurred the rise of the somatogenic perspective
• In the 1950s, effective medications facilitated the somatogenic perspective
• Hypnotism studies revealing its potential led to the psychogenic perspective
• Friedrich Anton Mesmer created mesmerism which was so controversial Mesmer was banished from Paris
• Scientists concluded hysterical disorders were largely psychological in origin, due to hypnotic suggestion
• Psychoanalysis treated psychological dysfunction by emphasizing unconscious psychological forces
• Freud and followers offered psychoanalytic treatment now known as outpatient therapy

Recent Decades and Current Trends

• People with severe disturbances are cared for with psychotropic medications
• Psychotropic medications mainly affect the brain and reduce symptoms of mental dysfunction
• Antipsychotic drugs reduce extremely confused distorted thinking
• Antidepressant drugs lift moods of depressed people
• Antianxiety drugs reduce tensions and worry
• Deinstitutionalization began in the 1960s, releasing patients from public mental hospitals
• Outpatient care is now primary for those with psychological disturbances, though the community health approach left many without lasting recoveries
• People with less severe disturbances were preferred to be treated with outpatient care
• Private psychotherapy involves direct payment for counseling services
• At least 20% of clients enter therapy for milder disruptions
• Outpatient care has programs for specific psychological conditions
• A growing emphasis is put on preventing disorder and promoting mental health through interventions aimed at deterring mental disorders early
• Positive psychology is the study and enhancement of positive feeling, traits, and abilities

Multicultural Psychology

• Seeks to understand how varied races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, languages, and other factors affect behavior, emotion, and thought
• Intersectionality is a multicultural framework combining individual memberships in multiple cultural groups and social identities to shape experiences, opportunities, outlook, and functioning

Influence of Insurance Coverage

• Managed care programs control the nature, scope, and costing of medical/psychological services
• Therapists/clients fear programs shorten therapy and unfairly favor lasting and effective treatments, which poses a special hardship for severe mental illness
• Treatment is therefore determined by insurance companies rather than by therapists

Contemporary Theories and Professions

• To this day, there is no single viewpoint has dominated the clinical field as much as psychoanalytic once did
• Before the 1950s, psychotherapy was only offered by psychiatrists
• After WWII, other groups provided psychotherapy for returning soldiers
• Each specialty conducts its own therapy, but clinicians from various specialties use similar techniques

Technology and Mental Health

• Digital world provides new types of psychological dysfunction, such as social media increase peer pressure and social anxiety in some adolescents
• There is information overload with online information which also leads to misinformation on psychological conditions and their treatment
• Technology can benefit mental through apps or smart watches
• Telemental health uses remote communication techniques to deliver mental health services
• Therapists were changed and empowered during COVID-19 to use telemental health without concern for personal and professional consequences
• Telemental health is predicted to be a permanent part of the clinical field due to its many advantages

The Importance of Research

• Inaccuracy in psychopathology leads to great suffering
• Lobotomies were incorrectly believed to cure schizophrenia and were wrong and irreversible brain damage resulted

Clinical Research

• Research is important is for accuracy
• Thoroughly testing techniques on representative groups lets clinicians evaluate accuracy, effectiveness, and safety
• Clinical researchers discover broad principles/laws of mental dysfunction using the scientific method
• Scientific method is the process of systematically gathering and evaluating information, through careful observations, to understand a phenomenon
• Clinical researchers depend mainly on the case study, correlational method, and experimental method
• Hypotheses are a hunch or prediction that certain variables are related
• Clinical researchers must ensure the rights of both human and animal research participants, and measure elusive concepts like unconscious motives

Case Studies

• Detailed description of a person's life and psychological problems
• Help clinicians better understand or treat individual under discussion
• Can be a source of new ideas and tentative support for theories.
• Can show value in new therapeutic techniques
• Offer opportunities to study unusual problems that don't frequently occur
• Reported by biased observers like therapists who want to see their treatments succeed
• They rely on subjective evidence and provide little basis for generalization
• Case studies are low in internal and external validity Correlational and experimental methods address these limitations

Correlational Method

• Determines how events or characteristics vary together
• Sample should be representative of larger population
• Line of best fit is a line that the data points are as close to it as possible
• When variables change the same way, it is a positive correlation
• When one variable increases as the other decreases, it is a negative correlation
• Variables under study may be unrelated if there's no relationship between them
• Magnitude/strength of a correlation along with direction are important, and numerical results are expressed by statistical terms called correlation coefficients
  • +1 is a perfect positive correlation
  • -1 is a perfect negative correlation
  • 0 is no correlation/relationship
• The closer is is to .00, the weaker the relationship
• If there's less than a 5% probability that a study is due to chance the findings are statistically significant and reflect a true correlation in the larger population
• The merits is that is has higher external validity but lacks internal validity
• Describes relationships but doesn't explain and knowing relationships may help save lives

Experimental Method

• A research procedure in which a variable is manipulated and its effect on another is observed
• Independent variable is the manipulated one
• Dependent variable is expected to change
• Confounds are variables other than independent variable acting on dependent variable, and experimenters must eliminate them
• Studies must include three important features to guard against bias
• Control group aren't exposed to independent variable
• Random assignment
• Masked design

Masked Designs

• A feature of an experiment in which participants do not know if they are in the experimental condition or control condition
• Participants may bias results by trying to please experimenter
• Placebo therapy is a pretend treatment thought to be genuine by participants
• A person may unintentionally transmit to participants in their studies.
• The experimenters themselves can eliminate bias by being unaware
• It is best that both the experimenter and participants are kept unaware in a double-masked design

Alternate Research Designs

• Investigators make use of groups that already exist
• Using existing designs compromises the rule of random assignment, introduces confounds, and helps minimize such issues
• Matched designs match experimental with control participants who are similar on key characteristics

Natural Experiements

• An experiment in which nature manipulates the independent variable
• Natural disaster victims are the participants
• Analogue experiments produce pathological-like behavior in lab participants
• Analogues often use animal participants
• Researchers can never be certain caused in lab mirrors psychological disorders they test.

Single Case Experiements

• Method in which one participant is observed and measured pre and post manipulation of an independent variable.

Longitudinal, Epistemological and Qualitative Studies

• Information is gathered prior to manipulations
• Since experiments rely on one person, researcher can’t be sure that the participant's reaction to the independent variable is typical
• Longitudinal studies observe same participants on repeated occasions in extended timeframe
• Researchers do not manipulate, so pinpointing causes is not possible
• Epidemiological studies measure problem incidence & prevalence in a population
• Incidence is the amount of new cases
• Prevalence is the entire number of cases
• Qualitative: exploratory study where variables are untouched
• Measure relationships between variables
• Quantitative: measure well analyzing information
• Qualitative methods seek out direct perspectives while those findings do not test theories

Mixed Method Designs

• A research tradition combining quantitative and qualitative approaches
• Qualitative generate hypothesis, quantitative tests that
• Findings outpace revealing

Community Based Research

• Affected member share a lab to develop ideas for the end
• Lead important insights and changes
• Reduce disadvantages, organizations help to develop university resources Positive differences towards patrons

Regulations

• Researchers avoid participants in studies Government ensures data with safety with safety issues IRBS - ethics committee, protect rights

Study Rights

• Volunteer to enlist
• Participants know about study ahead of participation Can end participation Benefits outweight risks Information is known

Models of psychopathology

• Models of psychopathology- explain the observations
• Models of psychopathology were often in disagreement with each other.
• Models of psychopathology provide framework and guidance

Biological

• Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors must be understood, including understanding the biological foundation
• Malfunctioning parts of the body can be seen as psychological impacts
• irregularities in certain neurotransmitters (brain chemistry) could cause a mental disorder.
• irregularities in endocrine system (hormone balance) could cause a mental disorder.
• structural problems in the brain (brain anatomy) could cause a mental disorder.
• Irregularities in the brain can be related to certain mental disorders.

Sources of Biological Irregularites

• Genetics and evolution are sources
• Genetic inheritance can be a reason for certain mental illness
• Genes may contribute

Biological Treatments

• Biological treatments are brain stimulation and pyschosurgery
• affect brain and mental function
• Major psychatropic drugs in therapy are anti anxiety drugs
• Avg: 12 15 hours hundred million identified compound
• Brain is used and stimulates medical processments
• Ect: seizure triggered electrode to patients
• Medical treatments and improvements
• Pyschosurgery for brain medical needs
• Treat people for years

Shortcomings of Assessments

• All can be treated as a biological method Biological can produced treatment

Psychodynamic Model

• behaviors are determined by past
• Accidental behaviors
• Central forces shape personality
• Rational thinking/moral standards

Three Central Forces

• Id, ego and superego are excessive and behavior shows dysfunction
• Ids psychological force with need
• Operats reality

Egos Defense Mechanism

• Reduce anger and anxiety
• Supergo for ideas
• Freeze and effect ego

Freuds Ideas

• Human functioning with ideas
• Psychodynamic unifies
• Relation: main key factor in behavior
• Seeks to look at past injuries
• Problems for themselves
• Free thought from image Seems unimportant
• Theropist: resistance change transfer

Dreams

• Conscious dream
• Symbolic meaning
• Overcome
• Problems and examination with clarity

Demand Therapy

• Improve on therapy
• Therapist support problem and work together
• Relational psychoanalytic theory, therapist has equality

Model Assessments

• Functional behavior with disorders Theories applied to all systems
• Can’t explain or fix problem

Cognitive-Behavioral Model

• Psychopathology focuses behavior
• Simple learning and conditioning
• Classical condition: associations
• Modeling: response to observation

Behavioral and Cognitive Dimension

• Treat psycho condition
• Cognition is an important aspect
• Functioning can result with cognitive process
• People that have mental illness look at negative sides to it
• Can’t contribute to it

Exposure and Therapies

• Open mind
• Open to situations Mindfulness meditation Models are used by doctors Cognitive behavior is high researched
• Early life is important Cognitive therapy is narrow at times

Humanistic-Existential

• Focus on major issues
• Self actualize through good growth
• Accurate meaning
• Popular model lost

Humanistic Theory and Therapy

• Life to develop self guard
• Recognzie worth is not loveble with guidelines developed
• Treatment help, understanding of emotions
• Sincere and careful listening with emotion

Spiritual View

• Often correlated with healthy
• Religious clients
• Existential to deal with hiding from responsibilities

Existential

• Therapy for greater value and life
• Reasearch for effectivness
• Abstract ideas with good information
• Tapping for modern issues with modern

Sociocultural

• Sociocultural for perspecitves
• Understanding problems
• Broaden understanding

Labelings and Roles

• Can learn play and learn
• Connection and support
• Support between disorder and relationships
• Online parrell with interactions Theory view system Patterns and interactions: disorders

Internal Theory

• Addressed in four areas to help problems
• Therapist will support them

Therapists Help

• Development skills can help as well Help significant for support With depression
• Group therapy a way to share and help support

More Therapy

• Familial therapy a way to help therapeutic ways
• Effect couples and help understand relation
• Treatment for understanding emotion

Understanding Community

• Improve attitudes Primary, secondary, teritary Attitude is important
• Help improve early stage disorder
• Give effective people with modern to sever help Problems help fix long time with
• Theory with culture Multicultural aspects can improve and influence With their members.
• Severe path commonly affulent