APAPPsychologyPsychology

Lecture 1: Intro to Abnormal Psych

What is Abnormal Psychology?

0Abnormal psychology is the application of psychological science to the study of mental disorders.

0 Its also the branch of psychology that is concerned with research into the classification, causation, diagnosis, prevention, and the treatment of psychological disorders or psychopathology.

Terms & Definitions

• Psychopathology- Literally translates into pathology of the mind.

• Psychosis- A general term that refers to several types of severe mental disorder where the individual loses contact with reality.

• Syndrome- A group of symptoms that appear together and are assumed to represent a specific type of disorder.

• Deviant- The behavior is statistically rare and has a very low probability of occurring.

• Insanity- A legal term used to describe the inability to determine right from wrong

Abnormal Behavior

• Behaviors characterized as deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional.

• Behaviors that are personally disturbing or disabling, or culturally so deviant that others judge it as maladaptive, inappropriate, or unjustifiable.

Harmful Dysfunction 0According to Wakefield (1999) a condition should be

considered a mental disorder if, and only if, it meets two criteria:

1. The condition results from the inability of some internal mechanism (mental or physical) to perform its natural function.

2. The condition causes some harm to the person as judged by the standards of the person’s culture.

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV)

• Classification system for mental disorders published by the American Psychiatric Associations

• Used by researchers and mental health practitioners for the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders

• DSM-IV lists seventeen categories or types of mental disorders

DSM-IV Continued

• DSM-IV contains five axes of classification:• Axis I: Clinical Disorders • Axis II: Personality Disorders. Mental Retardation• Axis III: General Medical Conditions • Axis IV: Psychosocial and Environmental

Problems • Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning

References

0Oltmanns, T. F., & Emery, R. E. (2010). Abnormal psychology (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

0Myers, D. G. (2007). Psychology eighth edition in modules (8th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.