PSYCO105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Disturbing Behavior, Mental Disorder, Personality Disorder
12 Jul 2018
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Psychological disorders
1. Describe the various factors involved in defining behaviour as abnormal, including
issues of labeling, competency, and diagnosis (pp. 601-602).
• 1. The personal values of a given diagnostician
• Could depend on arbitrary and unusual beliefs of the person making judgements, such
as a conviction that women should never work
• 2. The expectations of the culture in which a person currently lives
• 3. The expectations of the person’s culture of origin
• 4. General assumptions about human nature
• 2,3,4 reflect cultural or widespread beliefs about what is appropriate. So their
judgements about what is normal and abnormal can differ depending on the time and
the culture
• 5. Statistical deviation from the norm
• Where deviation from the norm is concerned, an extremely well-adjusted or highly
intelligent person would be judged abnormal
• 6. Harmfulness, suffering, and impairment
• Criterion 6 – Distress, dysfunction and deviance, governs decisions about abnormality
• We are likely to label behaviours as abnormal if they are intensely distressing to the
individual
• Ex. Really anxious, depressed, dissatisfied, little control over reactions, to the point
where it is too intense or long-lasting
• Dysfunctional – either for the individual or society
• Ex. Behaviour interferes with person’s ability to work or to experience satisfying
relationships with other people
• Some behaviours labelled as abnormal because they interfere with the well-being of
society
• Deviance – Some norms are unstated, like for example, you don’t stare deathly at
people on the rear end of the elevator, people can view this as a psychologically
disturbing behavior
• Abnormal behavior – behavior that is personally distressing, personally dysfunctional,
and/or so culturally deviant that other people judge it to be inappropriate or
maladapative
2. Describe historical perspectives on abnormal behaviour, leading up to contemporary
frameworks for diagnosing psychological disorders (pp. 602-609).
Historical perspectives of behaviour
• Belief that abnormal behavior is caused by supernatural forces, goes back to the ancient
Chinese, Egyptians, and Hebrews
• One ancient treatment was based o that bizarre beaviour reflected an evil spirit’s
attempt to escape from a person’s body
• To release the spirit, a procedure called trephination was carried out, which sharp tool
used to make a hole in the skull (got rid of abnormal behavior but lead to death)
• In Medieval Europe, the demonological model of abnormality, said that disturbed
people were either possessed involuntarily by the devil or had voluntarily made a pact
with the forces of darkness
• Killing of witches, was justified on theological groups, and varous diagnostic tests were
done
• Ex. Grab and women’s hands and feet and throw them into the lake or a pond, if
floated, then trouble, but if sunk and drowned, then they are pure
• During 16th and 17th centuries, people with psychological disorders were identified as
witches, hunted down and executed
• Hippocrates suggested that mental illnesses were diseases just like physical disorders
• Believed that the site of mental illness was brain
• General paresis – a disorder characterized in its advanced stages by mental
deterioration and bizzare behavior, resulted from massive deterioration caused by
sexually transmitted disease syphilis
• Behavioural, cognitive and humanistic concepts help give deeper understanding
• Vulnerability-stress model – each of us has some of vulnerability for developing
psychological disorder, given sufficient stress
• The vulnerability or predisposition can have biological basis such as our genotype,
underactivity of neurotransmitter system, ANS problems, or hormonal factor
• Could also be due to personality factors such as low self esteem, or extreme pessimism
• Also environmental factors, such as poverty, or severe trauma, or loss earlier in life
• A predisposition creates a disorder only when stressor combines with vulnerability to
trigger the disorder
Diagnosing psychological disorders
• Classification is first step to finding out causes, going into discussions and treatment
• Classification system has to meet standards of reliability and validity
• Reliability – means that clinicians using the system should show high levels of
agreement in their diagnostic decisions
Document Summary
Psychological disorders: describe the various factors involved in defining behaviour as abnormal, including issues of labeling, competency, and diagnosis (pp. The personal values of a given diagnostician: could depend on arbitrary and unusual beliefs of the person making judgements, such as a conviction that women should never work, 2. The expectations of the culture in which a person currently lives: (cid:1007). The e(cid:454)pe(cid:272)tatio(cid:374)s of the perso(cid:374)"s (cid:272)ulture of origi(cid:374: 4. General assumptions about human nature: 2,3,4 reflect cultural or widespread beliefs about what is appropriate. So their judgements about what is normal and abnormal can differ depending on the time and the culture: 5. Statistical deviation from the norm: where deviation from the norm is concerned, an extremely well-adjusted or highly intelligent person would be judged abnormal, 6. Harmfulness, suffering, and impairment: criterion 6 distress, dysfunction and deviance, governs decisions about abnormality, we are likely to label behaviours as abnormal if they are intensely distressing to the individual, ex.
