Understanding Abnormal Behaviour

Defining Abnormal Behaviour

• Abnormal behaviour is identified when at least one of these conditions is present: deviance from social norms, maladaptive behaviour impacting daily life, and prolonged personal distress.

Theoretical Approaches to Psychological Disorders

• The biological perspective attributes psychological disorders to internal, organic causes, focusing on the brain, genetics, and neurotransmitters.
• The medical model views psychological disorders, defining them as diseases.
• The APA describes abnormal behaviour as a mental illness impacting thoughts, behaviours, and interactions.
• The psychological perspective links disorders to experiences, thoughts, emotions, and personality traits.
• The sociocultural approach attributes disorders to social, economic, technological, and religious factors, emphasizing societal influences.
• Cultural norms can sometimes be oppressive, prejudicial and limiting.
• Culture-specific disorders consist of:
  • Amok is a sudden outburst of anger potentially leading to violence
  • Taijin Kyofusho is an intense fear of social interactions
  • Koro is an irrational and terrifying belief about the retraction of genitalia.
• The biopsychosocial model integrates biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors, viewing no single aspect as more significant.
• The vulnerability-stress model suggests pre-existing conditions increase the risk of developing psychological disorders, examining gene-environment interactions.
• The DSM Classification System offers up-to-date descriptions for psychological disorders.
• DSM criticisms:
  • Overemphasis on biological factors
  • Focus on weaknesses which leads to stigma
  • Reliance on social norms
  • Overabundance of disorder categories
  • Loosened diagnostic standards
• Autism Spectrum Disorder involves impaired social skills and communication, along with repetitive behaviours and limited interests.
• Somatic Symptom Disorder involves excessive thoughts and feelings about physical symptoms.
• Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

Anxiety and Anxiety-Related Disorders

• Anxiety disorders involve disproportionate, uncontrollable fears that disrupt daily life.
• Anixiety disorder symptoms include:
  • Motor tension
  • Hyperactivity
  • Apprehensive expectations
• Common types of anxiety disorders include
  • Generalized Anxiety Disorder - Characterized by persistent anxiety for at least six months without a specific cause. - Biological Factors: GABA deficiency, respiratory and sympathetic nervous system abnormalities - Psychological Factors: Harsh self-standards, negative thoughts when stressed - Sociocultural Factors: Overly strict parents, history of uncontrollable traumas
  • Panic Disorder - Characterized by reoccuring terror without warning or a known reason. - Leads to palpitations, shortness of breath, chest pains, trembling, sweating, dizziness, and helplessness. - Biological Factors: GABA, norepinephrine, and serotonin deficiencies, irregular hormone regulation, and certain physical illnesses. - Psychological Factors: Learned associations that high CO2 concentrations is fear, generalizing stress to fear. - Sociocultural Factors: Women are more likely to have panic attacks then men.
  • Specific Phobias - Characterized by irrational and persistent fear of a specific thing or situtation. - Specific phobias may develop through learned associations, neuroticism, observations, evolution, and experiences.
  • Social Anxiety Disorder - Characterized by the the intense fear of humiliation in social situations. - SAD may lead to panic attacks - SAD can come from genetic disposition, neural circuitry, abnormal oxytocin levels, parenting styles
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) - Characterized by anxiety-provoking thoughts. - May lead to urges to perform repetitive, ritualistic behaviors. - Obsessions are recurrent thoughts. - Compulsions are recurrent actions to neutralize the obsessive thoughts. - Can come from genetic disposition, low levels of serotonin and dopamine, high levels of glutamate, and overactivation of parts of the brain. - Learning avoidance: the organism learns to make a particular response where an unpleasant stimulus is avoided completely.
  • OCD-Related Disorders - Hoarding disorders - Excoriation disorders (skin picking) - Trichotillomania (hair pulling) - Bodily dysmorphic disorder
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Characterized by exposure to a traumatic event that overwhelms a person's ability to cope - Vulnerability to PTSD can come from history of trauma, cultural background, genetic predisposition - Symptoms are flashbacks, avoidance of emotional experiences, anxiety, difficulties with concentration, impulsivity, irritability

Disorders Involving Emotion and Mood

• Depressive Disorders cause an unrelenting lack of enjoyment in life.
• Major Depressive Disorder involves a significant depressive episode that lasts for at least 2 weeks.
  • Symptoms include constant depression, reduced enjoyment, changes in weight or sleep, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness, concentration problems, and suicidal thoughts
• Persistent Depressive Disorder is a long term less extreme and depressive mood, lasting over 2 years.
• Factors of Depressive Disorders include:
  • Biological Factors: Abnormal serotonin and norepinephrine transporter genes, decreased prefrontal cortex activity.
  • Psychological Factors: Learned helplessness, rumination tendencies.
  • Sociocultural Factors: Low socioeconomic status, alcoholism, gender more common in women
  • Additional Factors: Neurotransmitter regulation issues, genetic influences, brain function variations, pessimistic attributional styles.
• Pessimistic Attributional Style explains negative events as internal, stable, and global. Optimistic describes them as external and unstable.
• The behavioral approach states depression can derive from prolonged stress where one lacks control.
• Bipolar Disorder causes extreme mood swings and episodes of mania.
  • Bipolar I involves manic episodes with hallucinations.
  • Bipolar II involves hypomania, a less extreme euphoria.
  • Decreased cerebral cortex activity is decreased in depression, but increased during mania.
  • Other Factors: High levels of norepinephrine and glutamate, low serotonin, and a history of trauma or abuse.

Dissociative Disorders

• Dissociation is a psychological state of disconnection from immediate experiences.
• Dissociative disorders are characterized by a sudden loss of memory or identity, often occurring under extreme stress/shock and dissociating the conscious awareness.
• Dissociative Amnesia involves substantial memory loss due to extreme psychological stress, with forgotten aspects of identity.
• Dissociative Identity Disorder involves presence of multiple distinct identities, each with unique memories, and behaviors, caused by abuse.

Schizophrenia

• Psychosis causes a fundamental removal of a person's perceptions and thoughts from reality.
• Schizophrenia: is characterized by unusual thought processes.
• Schizophrenia Symptoms:
  • "Positive" Symptoms: Hallucinations (sensory experiences without real stimuli), delusions (false beliefs), disordered thoughts, unusual movement/mannerisms
  • "Negative" Symptoms: Social withdrawal, behavioral deficits, flat affect, lacking emotion.
  • Cognitive Symptoms: Executive functioning deficits. Biological causes: Enlarged brain ventricles, smaller and lower prefrontal cortex activity, increased dopamine, glutamate abnormalities, prolonged heavy drug use.
• Psychological causes:Stress and vulnerability is how biological risks and experiences producing a disorder.

Personality Disorders

• Personality Disorders are patterns of thinking and behaving maladaptively to others.
• There are 10 types of personality disorders
  • Paranoid PD: Paranoia, suspiciousness, and deep distrust
  • Schizoid PD: Lack of interest in relationships with people
  • Schizotypal PD: Socially isolated and prone to odd thinking
  • Antisocial PD: Failing to conform to social norms, deceitfulness, impulsivity, irritability, recklessness, feeling a lack of remorse - Can derive from low activation of prefrontal cortex and low levels of autonomic nervous system arousal
  • Borderline PD: Instable affect, unstable self/identity, feelings of emptiness, negative interpersonal relationships, self-harm - Dialectical Behaviour Therapy treats BPD by accepting what happened and coming to terms with facts. - Can derive from sexual or physical abuse, beliefs that one is innately unacceptable, Splitting of thinking with either or terms.
  • Histrionic: High attention seeking dramatic lively and flirtatious people.
  • Narcissistic: Self-aggrandizing and overly dependent on the evaluations of others.
  • Avoidant PD; Prone to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and shame.
  • Dependent PD; Dependent on others for emotional and psychological needs
  • Obsessive-compulsive PD: Conforming rigidly to rules

Suicide Prevention

• When helping someone contemplating suicide, it is isimportant to directly ask about it, listen supportively, take every threat seriously, and encourage seeking professional help.

Suicide Factors

• Suicide factors include:
  • Biological Factors: Low serotonin levels, poor physical health
  • Psychological Factors: Psychological disorders, traumatic experiences, substance abuse.
  • Sociocultural Factors: Culture of honour, Colonization, forced adoptions, residential schools, forced relocation.
• Joiner’s Interpersonal Theory: Suicidal desire comes when social needs are unmet, and one builds a tolerance for pain.

Psychological Disorders and Wellness

• Psychological disorders can increase the risk of people being physically ill, obese, sedentary, smoke often, or have illusory correlation.

Approaches to Treating Psychological Disorders

• Clinical psychology integrates theory and science to prevent and treat psychological disorders, with psychotherapy.
• Psychotherapy: is used to get individuals recognize and overcome problems. Strategies include: talking, interpreting, listening, rewarding, and modelling.
• The medical model: looks at disorders like diseases requiring biological or biomedical therapies that change bodily functions to reduce symptoms.

Ways to treat psychological disorders

• Psychological Approach:

  • Diagnosing disorders requires training to develop expertise in diagnosing disorders, administering psychological assessments, and performing therapy
  • This is accomplished by clinical psychologists, psychiatrist, counselling psychologist, school psychologist, social workers, psychiatric nurse, occupational therapist, pastoral counsellor, and counsellors

• Biological Approach:

  • The biological approach is completed by Psychiatrists because only they can prescribe medications
  • Some psychologists complete extra training to be able to prescribe medications

Psychotherapy

• Psychotherapy can be effective for treating numerous disorders.
• Psychotherapy effectiveness can improve disorders in 2 to 3 years with 12 to 14 sessions.
• Empirically Supported Treatment: States for a given psycho disorder, treatment should be based on the body of research best suited for the disorder. - Critique that dictating what therapists can creates less flexibility and not clear evidence. - Research should consider judgements, client characterisics, culture, and preferences.

Factors for effective therapy

• Therapeutic Alliance: is a relationship of respect and cooperation that has a greater alliances.
• Therapist: needs good character
• Client: success is determined by the quality of clients' participation
• This process depends on if the process is insight versus if the process is focused on symptoms and skills.

What are Psychodynamic Therapies

• Psychodynamic therapy places stress the important of the conscious, the interpretation by therapists, the role of early childhood experiences in individual development
• The goal is to understand what the conflict that underlie the problem.
• Psychoanalysis: Uses Freudian techniques of analyzing an individual's unconcious thoughts with Free Association.
• The key aspect of the therapeutic alliance from a psychoynamic perspective; client relating to the analyst that important relatinoships.
• Some contemporary phycodynamic are now more conscious and relationships.

What are Humanistic therapies

• Hummanistic therapies emphasize clients self healing and encouraging clients to undertand themselves.

• Client-Centred therapy: Helps clients identify and understand heir own genuine feelings and become congruent with themself.

• In CCT, Reflected speech is used. Client's feeling are mirrored back to the the client.

• Humanistic therapies three elements to grow: Positive regard, empathy, and genuineness.

Behaviour

• This therapy used learning to reduce maladaptiv behaviour with behavioral and social theories through overt symptoms and actions to help change behaviour.

Humanisitc therapies compared

• Psychodynamic:

  • Unconcious
  • Past
  • Childhood
  • Sex

• Hummanistic

  • Conciousness
  • Present
  • Current realationships
  • Self fulfillment

Techniques used in behavioural therapies.

• Classical Conditioning Techniques: - This technique is Systematic Desensitization. a way of treating anxieties where client associate relaxed state with that feeling, - Aversive conditioning where a bad habit will be assioated with that pairing
• Operant Conditiong techniques. - Replace a bad unhealthy habit with a healthy operant codition.
• Cognitive Therapies - Employs cognitions with issues and focuses on solving those causes. - Directive vs nondirective.
• Behavioural therapy: Has clients brings automatics thoughts, recognizes logical errors, and challenge accurancy. Logical errors include perceiving world as harmful of limited examples. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: To has a directive approach to identify clients' autmoatic thoughs. Self efficacy: Believes that someone can produce positive outcomes.

What is integrative therapy

• Combination of techniques from different therapies based on the therapist judgement
• Can involve diletical behaviour therapy; early childhood impacts clients homework and has sessions.

Biological therapies

• Treats psychological disorders by altering bodily function

• Common: Electroconvulsize, drug, and psychosurgery.

• Anxiety drugs: Has ppl calmer with bendizopines to re active the NT. Also has beta blockers.

• Electro Shock and Antidespress drugs are for regulated for: Tricyclics and and teracyclics MOA inhibiters for norepinephrines SSRI

• Side effects: Insomia anxiety, orrhea Lithium is also used for bipolar disorder for: Stabilizinz Mood by influence NE and serotonin.

• Antipsychotics: used to eliminate hallucinations Neurolieptics: block dopamine used to help involuntary movements. A Typical, a influence of dopamine with metabolic syndromes. Electrconvulsive SHock therapy for PTCD to help severe depressio. In some case: Deep brin Stimulation or Psychosurgey is used to altere the brain. Psychosurgery: INvolvee removal of brain tissue to improve adjustment

Socialcultural Treatment/Approaches.

• Socialculturaal therapy's approach: a system of Relationship with influenced by social and culture
• Group therapy: To bring individuals that share a disorder

Group setting Feature

• Informational: To give to each member
• Universality: That they are not alone Altruism: That each member can provide support
• Family Skills: to develop
• Interpersonal skills

Family therapy

• A group therapy for the family.
• Technique
• Validation: Undesterading each feelng Reframing: Helps frame problems as family problems not individuals
• Structure: Change Family structure not individual
• De triangle: Switch attention aweay
• Couple therapy for the relationship.

Self help Support group

• Help individuals that gets together so they can talk topics of common interest.
• To provide support
• Social skill
• Model Support to concreate

Community Health

• A belief that a individual should live amoung those that they were with.
• De institutionalization the ACT; to help community thrive.

Cross Cultural Competatce

• Help find a therapist as issues

Why Ethnicity matters

• The same race as the client creates success. helping health. Well Being therapy: Encourage help. Help recogzine that you good feel.