Psychology: Thomas Szasz's Views on Mental Illness

Abnormal Psychology

Thomas Szasz's View

• According to Thomas Szasz, a person should only be treated for mental illness if they consider their symptoms a problem.

Psychopathology

• Refers to problematic patterns of thought, feeling or behaviour that disrupt an individual's sense of well-being, social or occupational functioning.

Psychoses

• Are chronic and severe disturbances that substantially inhibit the capacity to love and to work.
• Can involve a loss of touch with reality (e.g., hearing voices, believing in conspiracy theories).

Psychodynamic Psychology

• Asks three questions to create a set of hypotheses about a patient's personality structure and meaning of their symptoms:
  1. What does the patient wish for and fear?
  2. What psychological resources does the person have at their disposal?
  3. How does the patient experience themselves and others?

Aetiology of Psychoses and Neuroses

• Psychoses result primarily from biological abnormalities.
• Neuroses and personality disorders stem more from environmental experiences.

Cognitive-Behavioural Practitioners

• Integrate an understanding of:
  1. Classical conditioning
  2. Operant conditioning
  3. Cognitive-social perspective

Biological Approach

• Looks for the roots of mental disorders in:
  1. Genetic factors
  2. Brain regions
  3. Brain circuitry

Systems Approach

• Examines the physical and psychological limits of the family and its subsystems.
• Includes looking at family boundaries.

Clinical Syndromes

• Constellations of symptoms that tend to occur together.

Diathesis-Stress Model

• Proposes that people with an underlying vulnerability may develop a disorder under stressful circumstances.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

• Characterized by impulsiveness, inattention, and hyperactivity.

Schizophrenia

• Heritability estimated at 83%.
• Positive symptoms: delusions, hallucinations, loose associations.
• Negative symptoms: blunted emotional response, lack of motivation, socially inappropriate behaviour, and intellectual impairment.

Dopamine Hypothesis

• Suggests that individuals with schizophrenia have excess dopamine in subcortical circuits.

Environmental Variables

• Expressed emotion (criticism, hostility, emotional over-involvement) can contribute to the onset and course of schizophrenia.

Mood Disorders

• Depression is likely to be associated with anxiety disorders.
• Women are more likely to suffer from depression than men.

Cognitive Distortions

• Mechanisms by which a depressed person transforms neutral or positive information in a depressive direction.

Generalised Anxiety Disorder

• Characterized by persistent anxiety at a moderate but disturbing level and excessive and unrealistic worry about life circumstances.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• More likely to develop in veterans with lower IQ.

Panic Disorder

• Characterized by attacks of intense fear and feelings of doom or terror not justified by the situation.

Eating Disorders

• Binge eating disorder is a new disorder included in the DSM-5.

Personality Disorders

• Chronic and severe disturbances that substantially inhibit the capacity to love and to work.
• Examples include borderline, histrionic, and schizotypal personality disorders.

Schizoaffective Disorder

• A diagnostic category used to describe individuals who seem to have attributes of both schizophrenia and psychotic depression.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

• More frequent during the winter months due to lack of sunlight.

Conduct Disorder

• A disturbance of childhood characterized by persistent violation of societal norms and the rights of others.

Schizophrenia Onset

• Most forms of schizophrenia begin in the late teens and early twenties.### Amphetamines and Psychosis

• Amphetamines increase dopamine activity, leading to psychotic-like symptoms such as paranoia and hallucinations in normal people when taken in high doses.

Major Depressive Episodes

• Major depressive episodes typically last about 5 months.

Mania Symptoms

• Symptoms of mania include an inflated sense of self, racing thoughts, and a constant need to talk.
• People during a manic episode are not persistent, and their thoughts and behavior jump from one thing to another.

Bipolar Disorder

• Bipolar disorder is characterized by periods of mania and depression.
• Individuals with bipolar disorder experience both depression and mania.

Psychodynamic Theories of Depression

• Psychodynamic theories of depression focus on motivation, including identification with a depressed or belittling parent or an attachment history that predisposes fear of rejection or abandonment.

Compulsions and Obsessions

• Compulsions include counting, hand washing, and touching.
• Repetitive thoughts are an obsession, not a compulsion.

Substance-Related Disorders

• Substance-related disorders are characterized by continued use of a substance that negatively affects psychological and social functioning.

Personality Disorders

• Borderline personality disorder is more prevalent in women.
• Antisocial personality disorder is more prevalent in men.

Labelling Theory

• Labelling theory suggests that a diagnosis of mental illness is simply a way to categorize individuals whom a society considers deviant.

Psychodynamic Formulation

• A psychodynamic formulation is a set of hypotheses about a patient's personality structure and the meaning of the symptom, used to assess psychopathology.

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy

• Cognitive-behavioural therapists integrate an understanding of classical and operant conditioning with a cognitive-social perspective.

Family Systems Model

• Family systems model suggests that families use homoeostatic mechanisms to preserve equilibrium.

Hallucinations and Schizophrenia

• Hallucinations are perceptual experiences that distort or occur without external stimulus, and are common in individuals suffering from schizophrenia.
• Auditory hallucinations (hearing voices) are the most frequent kind experienced by people suffering from schizophrenia.

Mania

• Mania is characterized by a period of abnormally elevated or expansive mood, during which an individual has an inflated sense of self that reaches grandiose proportions.
• During a manic episode, people generally require less sleep, experience their thoughts as racing, and feel a constant need to talk.

Learn about Thomas Szasz's views on mental illness, including his proposal that mental illness is a myth and its implications on treatment and societal norms.