Psychological Disorder - ANSWER: Psychological dysfunction associated with distress
or impairment in functioning and a response that is not typical or culturally expected
Phobia - ANSWER: Psychological disorder characterized by marked and persistent fear
of an object os situation
Prevalence - ANSWER: Number of people with a certain disorder in the total population
at any time
Incidence - ANSWER: Number of new cases of a disorder during a specific period
Course - ANSWER: Pattern of development and change of a disorder over time, could
be chronic, episodic or time-limited
Onset - ANSWER: The way in which a disorder shows itself, could be acute (suddenly)
or insidious (gradually)
Prognosis - ANSWER: Predicted development of a disorder over time
Etiology - ANSWER: Study of origins- why a disorder begins. Includes biological,
physiological and social dimensions
Treatment - ANSWER: If a new drug or treatment is successful in treating a disorder, it
may give insight into the causes of the disorder, however effect does not always imply
cause
Demons & Witches - ANSWER: People blamed abnormal behavior on the evil acts of
entities such as demons & witches, continued into the 15th century
Stress & Melancholy - ANSWER: Reflected the view that psychological disorders were
caused by mental or emotional stress and were curable. Common remedies included
rest, healthy environment, potions etc.
Church condemned certain symptoms of depression and other disorders as sin (acedia)
Charles VI - ANSWER: "The Mad King" French King went insane and killed several
members of his court, people believed this was due to some sort of outside evil power
Treatments for Possession - ANSWER: Exorcisms, confinements, beating, torture,
shock therapy, hydrotherapy, people hung over snake pits
,Mass Hysteria - ANSWER: Large scale outbursts of bizarre behavior. Also known as
Saint Vitus' Dance and Trantism
Also happens in modern day- school example of 17 students and 4 teachers with no
physical abnormalities hospitalized
Emotion Contagion - ANSWER: Experience of an emotion can spread to those around
us
Moon & Stars - ANSWER: Paracelsus ( Swiss physician) suggested that the movement
of the moon & stars had effects on psychological functioning (where the word lunatic
derives from)
Biological Tradition - ANSWER: Belief that psychological disorders are biologically
caused, the mind can influence the body and the body can influence the mind
Hippocrates - ANSWER: Considered the father of western medicine, wrote Hippocratic
Corpus, suggested that psychological disorders could be treated like any other disease.
Thought that disorders could be caused by pathogens or head trauma or be hereditary
Galen - ANSWER: Roman physician who went further into Hippocrates' ideas and
developed the Humoral Theory of disorders, first example of associating psychological
disorders with an internal chemical imbalance
Humoral Theory - ANSWER: Hippocrates believed that normal brain functioning was
related to 4 bodily fluids or humors- blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm. Blood
came from the heart, black bile from the spleen, phlegm from the brain and yellow bile
from the liver. Physicians believed that disease came from too much or too little of one
or more of the humors. Humors related to 4 basic qualities- heat, moisture, dryness and
cold (Greek conception.)
Treatment for Excess Humors - ANSWER: Regulating the environment to increase or
decrease moisture, heat, dryness or cold.
Rest, nutrition
Bleeding/ bloodletting- blood removed form body often by leeches
Induced vomiting
Somatic Symptom Disorders - ANSWER: Disorders in which symptoms such as
paralysis are the result of a problem for which no physical cause can be found. Ancient
societies believed these were only prevalent in women and blamed them in a
"wandering uterus"
Syphilis - ANSWER: In advanced syphilis, a bacterial microorganism enters the brain
and causes delusions of persecution, delusions of grandeur. Patients would deteriorate
steadily, becoming paralyzed and dying w/in 5 years of onset→ in 1825 it was
designated the disease of general paresis
,Patients with malaria recovered more so than others , the fever "burned out" the
bacteria causing the psychosis- disease linked to curable infection
Penicillin late discovered as the cure
John P. Grey - ANSWER: Most influential American psychiatrist of the time. Held that
the causes for insanity were always physical→ therefore, mentally ill patients Should be
treated as physically ill→ conditions in hospitals improved and they became more
humane institutions, however they became so large that individual treatment was often
impossible
Development of Biological Treatments - ANSWER: 1930s electro shock therapy & brain
surgery were often used
Insulin shock therapy used to induce convulsions in patients, many recovered their
mental health but many others died or became comatose
Electroconvulsive therapy→ Hungarian physician Jospeh von Meduna in the 1920s
suggested that induced brain seizures could cure schizophrenia, 6 small shocks
delivered to the brain has been known to cure patients
1950s→ use of sedative medicines were employed
• fauwolfia serpentine (reserpine) & neuroleptics, and benzodiazepines
Hallucinatory and delusional symptoms could be reduced in patients the first time
Consequences of the Biological Tradition - ANSWER: Kraepelin one of the first to
distinguish among various psychological orders noting that they have different ages of
onset, symptoms and causes.
Interest focused on diagnosis and brain pathology
Psychological Tradition - ANSWER: Plato→ thought that the two causes of maladaptive
behavior were the social & cultural influences in one's life & the learning that took place
in that environment.
Precursor to psychosocial treatment→ approaches to the causation of psychopathology,
which focus not only on psychological factors but also the causation of psychopathology
Psychosocial Treatment - ANSWER: Treatment practices that focuses on social and
cultural factors (such as family experience), as well as psychological influences. These
approaches include cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal methods.
Moral Therapy - ANSWER: Psychosocial approach in the 19th century that involved
treating patients as normally as possible in normal environments.
Originated as a system with FrenchFrench psychiatrist Philippe Pinel & his associate
Jean Baptiste Pussin
1833, Horace Mann, chairman of board of trustees of the Worcester State Hospital
reported on 32 patients who had been given up as incurable, were treated with moral
therapy, cured, and released to their families.
Asylum Reform/ Decline of Moral Therapy - ANSWER: After mid-19th century, human
treatment declined.
, After the Civil War, enormous waves of immigrants arrived in the US and increased pt
loads in hospitals→ immigrants were thought not to deserve the same privileges as
native-born Americans so they were not given moral treatments
Dorothea Dix's mental hygiene movement- an unforeseen consequence of a substantial
increase in the number of mental patients→ transition from moral therapy to custodial
care.
Psychoanalysis - ANSWER: School of thought brought about in the 20th century-
Assessment and therapy pioneered by Sigmund Freud that emphasizes exploration of,
and insight into, unconscious processes and conflicts.
Behaviorism - ANSWER: Second school of thought in 20th century associated with
Pavlov, Watson & Skinner-Explanation of human behavior, including dysfunction, based
on principles of learning and adaptation derived from experimental psychology.
Psychoanalytic Theory - ANSWER: Complex and comprehensive theory originally
advanced by Sigmund Freud that seeks to account for the development and structure of
personality, as well as the origin of abnormal behavior, based primarily on inferred inner
entities and forces.Most comprehensive theory yet constructed on the development and
structure of our personalities
The structure of the mind and the distinct functions of personality that sometimes clash
with one another
The defense mechanisms with which the mind defends itself from these conflicts
The stages of psychosexual development that contribute to our inner conflicts
Franz Aton Mesmer - ANSWER: hypnosis. Suggested to his patients that their problem
was caused by an undetectable fluid found in all living organisms called "animal
magnetism" which could become blocked
Had patients sit in a dark room around a large vat of chemicals while extending from it
and touching them. He would ID and tap various areas of their bodies where their
magnetism was blocked, while suggesting strongly that they were being cured.
Strongly opposed by the medical establishment
Freud & Breuner - ANSWER: Experimented with hypnosis in which they were asked to
describe their problems, conflicts & fears.
2 phenomena occurred in patients-
Became extremely emotional as they talked and felt relived and improved after
returning form the hypnotic state.
Gained an understanding of the relationship b/c their emotional problems and their
psychological disorder
Discovered the unconscious mind & its apparent influence on the production of
psychological disorders
Reliving emotional trauma can be therapeutic (catharsis- Rapid or sudden release of
emotional tension thought to be an important factor in psychoanalytic therapy.)
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