PSYCH 230 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Abnormal Psychology, Cowboy Boot, Schizophrenia
Document Summary
Scientists must have ways of determining what are abnormal psychological phenomena and what are not. Also what is psychologically healthy and what is not. The first problem is defining what we consider abnormal. Today, disorders are defined by a set of characteristics: A group of symptoms that appear together and represent a disorder. No one symptom is enough on its own. Disorders are persistent sets of behaviors/experiences across time. Lessened ability to perform social and occupational functions. To diagnose, we must observe or get self-report from clients. Technology isn"t here yet to do diagnoses. A lot of differences between people who show that they have a personality disorder. Anything that causes notable subjective discomfort to a person is a disorder. Benefits for people who are distressed so they want to stay distressed. For many problems, the client does not perceive him/herself to be suffering. Not much empathy as an average person.
