PSYC 3140 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Dorothea Dix, Gender Dysphoria, Thomas Szasz
PSYC 3140
Chapter 1
Psychopathology: study of abnormal behaviour to be able to describe/predict/explain/change
abnormal patterns of functioning
Defining features:
1. Statistical rarity – rare = more likely to be abnormal (but not always)
2. Distress – more likely to be abnormal if it causes distress (but not always)
3. Dysfunction (cognitive, emotional or behavioural) – on a continuum, is context-specific
4. Deviance compared to cultural norm – is not static! According to DSM-3,
bi/homosexuals = “deviant” via dysphoria (1980s), gender dysphoria likely won’t be in
DSM-6
Statistics also vary greatly depending on the region – North America depression rate >
Korea (factors: geography, culture, diet, self-expectations, etc.). UK has more tolerance
of eccentrics
5. Danger to self or others
“Prototype” = typical case of a disorder with all the symptoms
Etiology: study of origins (of disease)
The supernatural tradition: involves demons/witches, stress and melancholy (depression),
possession (treated by hanging people over a snake pit), and the moon/stars (lunatic – moon
causes craziness)
The biological tradition: involves Hippocrates and Galen (disorders could be caused by disease,
brain damage or genetics. Also created the humoral theory – too much/little of yellow bile,
black bile, phlegm, or blood causes ailments → change environment to restore balance), Fell
out of fashion until the 19th century (due to discovering syphilis (then called general paresis)
and psychiatrist support of John P. Grey (said insanity always has physical causes), treat
patients as physically ill → mental hospitals got overcrowded). Treatments include shock
therapy (depression), opium (sedative), reserpines and neuroleptics (tranquilizers → treat
hallucinations, delusions, aggression), benzodiazepines (anxiety)
Moral therapy (early 1800s, mid 1800s in Canada) = psychosocial model, previously they would
end up often in prison without treatment, instead tried to treat them like normal people →
1850 – “Provincial Lunatic Asylum” opened in Toronto, had good intentions but eventually was
pointless due to overcrowding.
- Also due to Dorothea Dix and her “mental hygiene movement” – showed the
deplorable conditions, tried to make care more accessible which also led to further
overcrowding
Thomas Szasz: 1960, “mental illness is a myth”, has subjective criteria rather than definitive
tests
George Albee: 1998/2000, disagrees with “uncritically” accepting the concept of mental
disease, and using medical model to conceptualize abnormal behaviour
Clarence Hincks = founded Canadian National Committee for Mental Hygiene” in 1918, toured
institutions and found appalling conditions (cupboard/caged woman – left in cupboard for 2
years, people locked in coffins/bound in cotton to sleep). Believed mental illness was treatable
– recovered from depressive episode at U of T
- Objectives of committee
1. Psych exams/care for soldiers (PTSD)
2. Post-war psych screening of immigrants
3. Facilities for diagnosis & treatment of mental disease
4. Adequate care of mentally “deficient”
5. Prevention (innovative – used to think you could «catch» mental illness
- Became CMHA in 1950, helps more than 100,000 Canadians per year, many programs
offered
- Post WW2: Wall was built as “therapy” (free labour) for men, women did laundry and
scrubbed floors
Anton Mesmer: undetectable fluid called “animal magnetism” getting blocked could cause
mesmerisation → father of hypnosis (even if this theory was wrong) → Led to Freud
Freud: unconscious vs conscious mind, catharsis (venting makes you feel better), id (pleasure
principle)/ego (ensures we act realistically)/super ego (the conscience)
Defense mechanisms
- Denial: not accepting some aspect of objective reality which is apparent to others
(“we’re just on a break”)
- Regression: reverting to a younger, less mature way of handling stresses and feelings
(wetting the bed when new sibling born)
- Undo: Trying to reverse a thought or feeling by performing an action that signifies an
opposite feeling than your original thought or feeling **Is an action, compared to
reaction formation which is a feeling
- Displacement: channeling a feeling or thought from its actual source to something or
someone else
- Projection: attributing own unacceptable thoughts/feelings to someone/something else
- Rationalization: justifying one’s behaviors and motivations by substituting “good”,
acceptable reasons for real motivations
- Splitting (very high order): everything is in the world is seen as all good or all bad with
nothing in between
- Sublimation: redirecting unacceptable instinctual drives into personally and socially
acceptable channels
Freudian Stages
- Oral: inability to trust self/others → fear of loving and forming close relationships, low
self-esteem (results from under/overindulgence of needs when 0-1, aka mismatch of
needs)
- Anal stage: inability to recognize/express anger → denial of one’s own power as a
person and lack of sense of autonomy, can cause anal-retentive on anal-explosive
personality
- Phallic stage: inability to fully accept one’s sexuality and sexual feelings → difficulty in
accepting oneself as a man/woman, negative sexual feelings (oedipal and electra
complexes)
Psychoanalytic Therapy
Document Summary
Psychopathology: study of abnormal behaviour to be able to describe/predict/explain/change abnormal patterns of functioning. According to dsm-3, (cid:271)i/ho(cid:373)ose(cid:454)uals = (cid:862)de(cid:448)ia(cid:374)t(cid:863) (cid:448)ia d(cid:455)spho(cid:396)ia (cid:894)(cid:1005)(cid:1013)(cid:1012)(cid:1004)s(cid:895), ge(cid:374)de(cid:396) d(cid:455)spho(cid:396)ia likel(cid:455) (cid:449)o(cid:374)"t (cid:271)e i(cid:374) Statistics also vary greatly depending on the region north america depression rate > Uk has more tolerance of eccentrics: danger to self or others (cid:862)prototype(cid:863) = typical case of a disorder with all the symptoms. The supernatural tradition: involves demons/witches, stress and melancholy (depression), possession (treated by hanging people over a snake pit), and the moon/stars (lunatic moon causes craziness) The biological tradition: involves hippocrates and galen (disorders could be caused by disease, brain damage or genetics. Treatments include shock therapy (depression), opium (sedative), reserpines and neuroleptics (tranquilizers treat hallucinations, delusions, aggression), benzodiazepines (anxiety) Moral therapy (early 1800s, mid 1800s in canada) = psychosocial model, previously they would end up often in prison without treatment, instead tried to treat them like normal people .
