Ab Psych Intro and Types
Ab Psych Intro and Types
Ab Psych Intro and Types
1) Definition of abnormality
2) History of Abnormal Psychology
3) Causes of Abnormality
4) Classification of mental disorders – DSM, ICD-10
1 - Definition of Abnormality
Abnormal behavior
– APA Dictionary
● DSM-5, Mental disorder is defined as a,
▪ Most practice & research by clinical psychologists focus on abnormality = mental disorders,
psychiatric diagnosis, or psychopathology.
▪ Through training & professional activities - they become familiar with various forms of
abnormal behavior & the ways it differs from normal behavior.
▪ Before diagnostic categories are put to use by clinicians & scholars, they must be defined:-
A woman
A man A woman making a shrine
kissing slapping a and offerings to
another child her dead
man
husband
A woman
A man A man
refusing to
barking driving a
eat for
like a dog nail through
several days
his hand
Standards For What Is Normal & Abnormal
● Cultural relativism
● Unusualness of behavior
● Discomfort of the person exhibiting the behavior
● Mental illness
● Maladaptiveness
Standard 1: Cultural Relativism
Standard 3: Discomfort
● A behavior is only abnormal if the individual suffers as a result of the
behavior(s) and wishes to be rid of them.
● Some therapists object to the subjective discomfort criterion because
people are not always aware of problems that their behavior may
create for themselves or others.
Standard 4: Mental Illness
● Is the behavior caused by an identifiable disease?
● There is no medical test that identifies this process if it does exist.
Standard 5: Maladaptiveness
• Dysfunction- Does the behavior prevent normal daily
functioning?
● Legal model
○ Violation of law
Definition
●The 4 Ds
○ Treatment/cure.
2- History of Abnormal Psychology
● No documentation
● Incomplete data.
● Classified mental illnesses into – mania, melancholia [profound sadness and despair] &
phrenitis [inflammation of brain - delirium, fever, nausea, drowsiness etc].
● Described Paranoia, Alcoholic delirium, Epilepsy etc.
● Thought cognitive functioning could be restored by balancing the four humors in
body(Body fluids): (Blood, Earth =Black bile, Fire = Yellow bile & Water =
Phlegm).
Plato and Galen (Claudius Galenus)
● Contributed to the Organic explanation of behaviour.
- He was also the first person to say that arteries contain blood.
Treatments The Dark Ages
● Tranquility ● With decline of Roman & Greek
● Moderate exercise civilizations/ rise of Church as
dominant power in Europe,
● Careful healthy diet
demonology makes a
come-back!!
● Treatment- Exorcisms
Mental illness: witchcraft (1300s)
● Bethlehem- became hot tourist spot, where people gawked at London’s mentally ill.
● Treatment- patients were drained of blood & purposely “frightened.”
Rise of Humanism - Emil Kraeplin
Renaissance
● Observed syndromes – a cluster
● New methods for treating the of symptoms representing a mental
illness.
mentally ill.
● Attributed all disorders to 4 causes.
● Johann Weyer = Witches are ○ Metabolic disturbance
mentally ill and not possessed. ○ Endocrine difficulty
- Moral treatment movement. ○ Brain disease
- Suitable mental hospitals and ○ Heredity
asylums - Gave a system to classify mental
disorders.
- Expanded inquiry into the - DSM is based on that system.
causes of mental disorders.
3- Causes of Abnormality
● Difficult to properly explain psychopathology
● Take into account several theoretical perspectives while explaining
behavioural abnormality.
● Multiple causality – combination of theoretical perspectives.
— Huntington’s corea,
Taysachs disease. —-
● Constitutional liabilities
○ Body types – Endomorphic, Ectomorphic, Mesomorphic
● Physical handicaps
○ Deformities – before or after birth
○ Pre-natal conditions – nutritional deficiencies, diseases.
● Physical deprivation
○ Malnutrition – impairs development, lowers resistance, stunts brain growth.
● Brain pathology – affects the CNS
○ Temporary – delirium, drug intoxication
○ Permanent – syphillitic infection to the brain.
Psycho-social Causes
● Refer to interpersonal events that give rise to abnormal behaviour
later in life.
● Psychological influences – stressful life events, gender differences,
faulty thought patterns.
● Social influences – parents, socio-economic status, racial, cultural and
religious backgrounds, interpersonal relationships.
Maternal Deprivation
● Non-axial diagnosis
( www.psychiatry.org/dsm5)
Changes in terminology
● Mental retardation = intellectual disability
● Language disorder - combines DSM-IV expressive and mixed
receptive-expressive language disorders
● Phonological disorder = speech sound disorder
● Stuttering = Childhood-onset fluency disorder
● Depersonalization disorder = Now called depersonalization/derealization
disorder
● Somatoform disorders = Somatic symptom and related disorders
● Feeding disorder of infancy or early childhood = Avoidant/restrictive food
intake disorder
New conditions listed Deleted Disorders
● Hypochondriasis has been
● Social (pragmatic)
eliminated as a disorder
communication disorder, a new
condition for persistent difficulties ● Sleep disorders related to
in the social uses of verbal and another mental disorder and
nonverbal communication. sleep disorder related to a
general medical condition have
● Hoarding disorder is a new
been removed
diagnosis in DSM-5.
● Excoriation (skin-picking)
disorder is newly added to DSM-5
Re-structured Disorders
● Autism Spectrum Disorder encompasses = Previous DSM-IV autistic disorder (autism),
Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive developmental disorder
not otherwise specified.
● Specific learning disorder = combines DSM-IV diagnoses of reading disorder, mathematics
disorder, disorder of written expression, and learning disorder not otherwise specified.
● Subtypes of schizophrenia-paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, undifferentiated, and
residual are eliminated
● Mood Disorders now divided into 2 separate units – Bi-polar and related disorders and
Depressive Disorders
● DSM-5 chapter on anxiety disorders no longer includes obsessive-compulsive disorder or
posttraumatic stress disorder and acute stress disorder
● Panic disorder and agoraphobia are unlinked in DSM-5. Instead to panic disorder with or
without agoraphobia – separate diagnoses.
Sections
● Section 1: Intro to updates, how to use.
R
DSM-5 ➔ DSM-5 is now in effect. DSM-IV should
not be used after 12/31/13.
● Mainly incremental changes from
DSM-IV ➔ DSM-5 is fully compatible with ICD-9
system now in use by insurance
● No more Roman numerals
companies.
● May have online updates in the
➔ DSM-5 also includes ICD-10 codes to be
future (e.g. DSM-5.1) to make it a
implemented 10/1/14.
“living document”
DSM Editors
● DSM-III: Robert Spitzer
● DSM-IV: Allen Francis
● DSM-5: David Kupfer
Problems with DSM-IV Goals for Improving the
Addressed by DSM-5 DSM
● Changes should be based on
empirical research rather than
● High rates of co-morbidity
clinical consensus.
● High use of (Not Otherwise
○ Behavioral science
Specified) NOS category
○ Neuroscience
● Concerns about reliability
○ Molecular genetics
and validity
● Move toward a classification based
on etiology.
DSM-5 Structure
● Section I: Basics
● Section II: Diagnostic Criteria and Codes
● Section III: Emerging Measures and Models
● Appendix
Section I: Basics
● Introduction
● Use of the Manual
● Cautionary Statement for Forensic Use
Section I: Basics: Introduction
● DSM-5 has better reliability than DSM-IV.
● Research to validate diagnoses continues.
● The boundaries between many disorder categories are fluid over the life course.
● Symptoms assigned to one disorder may occur in many other disorders.
● DSM-5 accommodates dimensional approaches to mental disorders.
●DSM-5 provides explicit diagnostic criteria for each mental disorder, supplemented by
dimensional measures when appropriate.
●Many mental disorders are on a spectrum with related disorders that have shared
symptoms.
● Anxiety; Insomnia
● Both cognitive capacity (IQ) and adaptive functioning are assessed with
severity based on adaptive functioning rather than IQ
Communication Disorders is a category in
Neurodevelopmental Disorders that includes:
1. Language Disorder (combines Expressive and Mixed
Receptive-Expressive Disorder)
For the first time, through advances in information technology, public health users,
stakeholders and others interested can provide input to the beta version of ICD-11
using an online revision process. Peer-reviewed comments and input will be added
through the revision period. When finalized, ICD-11 will be ready to use with
electronic health records and information systems.
WHO encourages broad participation in the 11th revision so that the final
classification meets the needs of health information users and is more
comprehensive.
2) Diagnosis and classification of abnormal behavior: DSM V and ICD 10.
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [5th edition], produced by the American
Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) [10th edition, with an
● History of DSM goes back to 1944 when the American Psychiatric Association published a
predecessor of the DSM which was a “statistical classification of institutionalized mental patients” and
“…was designed to improve communication about the types of patients cared for in these hospitals”
● DSM evolved through four editions after World War II into, a diagnostic classification system
to be used by psychiatrists & physicians, but also other mental health professionals.
● Revision of DSM began in 1999 when – APA took up, evaluation of the strengths & weaknesses of the
DSM, in coordination with WHO Division of Mental Health, the World Psychiatric Association, & the
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
● Result =
disorders” along with a realization that the criteria and disorders contained within were
based on current research and may undergo modification with new evidence gathered
“both within and across the domains of proposed disorders” (APA, 2013).
▪ Some disorders = not included within the main body of the document – because they
didn’t have the scientific evidence to support their widespread clinical use.
Key Elements of a diagnosis. DSM 5 (APA, 2013):
● Diagnostic Criteria & Descriptors –
- Diagnostic criteria = Guidelines for making a diagnosis. When the full criteria is
met, mental health professionals can add severity & course specifiers to indicate the
patient’s current presentation.
- If the full criteria are not met, designators such as “other specified” or “unspecified”
can be used.
- If applicable, an indication of severity (mild, moderate, severe, or extreme),
descriptive features, and course (type of remission – partial or full – or recurrent) can
be provided with the diagnosis.
- Final diagnosis = based on the clinical interview, text descriptions, criteria, and
clinical judgment.
● Subtypes and Specifiers –
- Subtypes = “mutually exclusive & jointly exhaustive phenomenological subgroupings within a
diagnosis” (APA, 2013).
- Eg:- Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep arousal disorders – can have either a sleepwalking or
sleep terror type.
- Enuresis is nocturnal only, diurnal only, or both.
- Specifiers = are not mutually exclusive or jointly exhaustive & so more than one specifier can be
given.
- Eg:- Binge Eating Disorder – has remission & severity specifiers.
- Somatic Symptom Disorder – has a specifier for severity, if with predominant pain, and/or if
persistent.
✔ The fundamental distinction between subtypes and specifiers is that there can be only one
subtype but multiple specifiers.
● Principle Diagnosis – [the focus of treatment] Used when more than one diagnosis
is given for an individual.
- It’s the reason for an admission in an inpatient setting or the basis for a visit resulting
in ambulatory care medical services in outpatient settings.
Psychiatrists
Clinical psychologists
Clinical social workers
Psychiatric nurses
Marriage and family therapists