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Valdosta State University |
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Valdosta State University |
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Abnormal Behavior Review Sheet
I. What is abnormal behavior?
a. Difficult to define
l. definition changes across time, societies and cultures
2. all disturbed people show normal beh.s, and normals disturbed
3. context in which beh. occurs is used to eval. if it's normal
b. Four approaches used to define abnormal beh.
1. Statistics: normal curve; approx. 5% severe, 10% less severe and 12% "normal with adjustment problems". About 67% normal. This is the approach used by psychiatrists and psychologists
2. deviation from cultural norms. Subjective; very real; beh. patterns considered ab.by a culture may not be & vice versa.
3. deviation from the ideal model of mental health. No one can agree about what "ideal" mental health is (see I.a. above)
4. failure to function adequately: if a person is meeting their own needs, and the needs of those they are responsible for, and not violating the rights of others or laws, we have no right to call them abnormal and force trt. on them.
b. Why categorize abnormal behavior?
l. originally (and still) to facilitate communication between professionals
a. helps patients and their families feel less alone
2. required for 3rd party payments (psychological services cost!)
3. correct diagnosis of the disorder helps pinpoint the trt. to use
4. a good categ. system helps identify areas of needed research (trt.s, etiologies, and new categories)
c. Primary problem with categorizing abnormal behavior
l. Naming as explaining fallacy (e.g., the name-a noun-becomes the "cause" of the abnormal behavior; logic error)
II. Why did professionals drop DSM-II and adopt DSM-III?
a. See the DSM-III supplement
III. Some disorders
a. somatoform: Psychological problems manifest themselves as disrupted physical functioning.
b. psychosomatic: psychological problems disrupt physical functioning and produce tissue damage.
c. organic disorders: physical problems (general categories below) produce psychological ones l. physical truama; genetic disorders; drugs; diseases
d. schizophrenia: loss of contact w. reality; disturbed thought; hallucinations (sensing stuff not there) and/or delusions (maintaining a belief in the presence of contradictory evidence) l. disorganized: inappropriate affect for one's age/situation
2. catatonic: reality too painful; stuporous (stereotyped postures & lethargic) to agitated (infrequently)
3. paranoid: highly developed system of delusion (usually of persecution or grandeur)
4. undifferentiated: catchall for those that don't fit into the other three categories.
e. paranoia: severe delusions; may function normally otherwise.
f. disassociative disorders: person retreats inward from reality (reality is painful)
1. fugue states; somambulism; multiple personality; amnesia
g. affective disorders: major disruptions in mood/emotions/affect 1. bipolar: alternates between agitation and depression 2. chronic depression: usually depressed
3. episodic depression: usually normal with infrequent periods of severe depression.
h. anxiety: low-to-high grade uneasiness or fear.
l. General-low grade fear not triggered by any specific event.
2. Phobia-high grade fear triggered by a specific event; the fear experienced is far out-of-proportion to any real fear warranted by the event.
3. Panic-high grade fear not triggered by any specific event.
4. Obsessive-compulsive-recurring, unwanted, inappropriate thoughts that one must act out.
IV. Mental Health Professionals who can deliver psychological services
a. psychiatrists: physicians (licensed by the state); M.D.s
b. psychologists (licensed by the state); Ph.D.s or Ed.D.s or Psy.D.s
l. clinical-trained to treat severely disturbed clients 2. counseling-trained to treat normal people with adj. problems
c. social psychotherapists; MSWs.