PSYB32H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Intellectual Disability, Medical Prescription, Brain Fever
Document Summary
Chapter 1: introduction: definitional and historical considerations, and. Psychopathology field concerned w/ the nature and development of abnormal behaviour, thoughts and feelings (mental disorders) Identified by using several components/characteristics: statistical infrequency, violation of norms, personal distress, disability or dysfunction and unexpectedness. Is that behaviour abnormal in the general pop. Normal curve (bell-shaped curve) places majority of ppl in the middle and fewer ppl in either extreme. A normal person does not deviate much from the avg. (middle part) Used to diagnose mental retardation - <70 iq is one tell tale sign. But criminals violate norms but aren"t studied in abnormal psych and a highly anxious person (studied in abnormal psych) doesn"t violate social norms. Ex. found in ppl w/ depression and anxiety disorders but not in psychopaths (have no guilt) and narcissists (love themselves) Not all forms of distress (ex. pain, child birth) belong to this field.
