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Defining Abnormal Behavior, Part I January 11, 2012 PSYC 2340: Abnormal Psychology Brett Deacon, Ph.D.

Defining Abnormal Behavior, Part I January 11, 2012 PSYC 2340: Abnormal Psychology Brett Deacon, Ph.D. Announcements. No class next Monday 1/16 – MLK day Course website is here : http:// www.uwyo.edu/psychology/faculty/psyc%202340%20abnormal%20psychology.html

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Defining Abnormal Behavior, Part I January 11, 2012 PSYC 2340: Abnormal Psychology Brett Deacon, Ph.D.

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  1. Defining Abnormal Behavior, Part IJanuary 11, 2012PSYC 2340: Abnormal PsychologyBrett Deacon, Ph.D.

  2. Announcements • No class next Monday 1/16 – MLK day • Course website is here: http://www.uwyo.edu/psychology/faculty/psyc%202340%20abnormal%20psychology.html • Rosenhan article paper due February 1

  3. Paper Assignment, Due 2/1 • From the syllabus: • “Write a minimum three-page paper (typed, double-spaced, 12-point font) that describes how the study was conducted, the results of the study, and your personal reaction to the study. Be sure to address the following issues raised by the study in your paper: (1) how diagnoses were made, (2) the effects of being labeled with a diagnosis, and (3) the effects of being a patient in an institution like those described in the study. The paper is worth a maximum of 10 points and is due in class on Wednesday, February 2nd.” • You do not need a title page, reference page, or abstract • I do not expect your paper to be in APA format

  4. Abnormal Psychology in the News • Francis Galton (1822-1911) and eugenics: better living through selective breeding? • “The possibility of improving the race of a nation depends on the power of increasing the productivity of the best stock” (1901) • Proposals included: (a) encouraging marriage between selected classes of men and women, (b) encouraging earlier marriage between them, and (c) providing healthy conditions for their children

  5. Abnormal Psychology in the News • Eugenics was highly popular in the US, England, and Germany • Eugenics and desire to preserve the “purity” of the “Aryan race” led to persecution of Jews during World War II • Preserving the purity of the American gene pool: sterilization laws

  6. Abnormal Psychology in the News • ABC News story: “N.C. to Compensate Victims of Sterilization in 20th Century Eugenics Program” http://news.yahoo.com/n-c-compensate-victims-sterilization-20th-century-eugenics-141035445--abc-news.html • “North Carolina will become the first state to compensate victims of a mass sterilization program that targeted poor minorities in a 20th century eugenics program, offering a $50,000 a person….The state sterilized more than 7,600 people in North Carolina from 1929 to 1974….At some point in the century, more than half of the states in the U.S. had similar programs that allowed for the sterilization of those the government deemed unfit to procreate….When most programs began in the early 1930s, this usually meant those in institutions for mental illness or mental retardation, but over the decades criminals, the blind, the deaf, the disabled, alcoholics, those with epilepsy and ultimately the rural poor on welfare would fall under the umbrella of "unfit to procreate.“….In all, 65,000 Americans were sterilized before the last program was shut down in the early 1980s.

  7. “If you talk to God, you are praying. If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.”-Thomas SzaszThere is a fine line between ‘hobby’ and ‘mental illness’.” -Dave Berry

  8. What is Abnormal? • What is a psychological “abnormality?” • How does it differ from “normal” psychological experience? • How blurry is the distinction between normality and abnormality? • What is a “mental disorder,” and how do we know it when we see it? • What criteria can we use to distinguish psychological normality and abnormality?

  9. Case Example #1: Mike Mike has always been an extreme perfectionist and accepts nothing less than outstanding performance on every academic assignment. He nearly always earns the top grade in his classes and has never received a B in his life in any class or on any exam. He plans on applying to medical school after graduating and is very likely to gain admission into a top program. He experiences high anxiety prior to, during, and immediately after taking exams. He worries that he will not perform up to his high standards, that other students will realize he isn’t as smart as they think he is, and that his professors will realize this as well. He seeks treatment for test anxiety.

  10. Case Example #2: Lisa Shortly after the birth of her first child at age 27, Lisa became bothered by frequent, distressing, unwanted thoughts about harming her daughter. Particularly distressing thoughts concerned slitting her daughter’s throat with a knife, suffocating her in bed with a pillow, and drowning her in the bathtub. Lisa believed that the presence of these thoughts meant that she was crazy and unfit to be a mother, and she also worried about acting on the thoughts and harm her baby. She called her obstetrician and revealed these thoughts, and was subsequently hospitalized in a psychiatric unit for 2 days. She is eventually diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and seeks treatment.

  11. Case Example #3: Frank Frank is 50-year-old, single man who lives alone in an apartment in a large city. He hoards objects which he finds valuable in some way. His apartment, car, and four storage lockers are almost entirely filled with “junk.” He spends a great deal of time “dumpster diving” to acquire objects. Upon discovering an object that is “perfectly good” and “not worn out” he feels compelled to care for it until it is returned to its rightful owner. He believes wastefulness is unforgivable and that because objects have “spirits” it is disrespectful to discard them or to not take them into his home. Once he has acquired an object he cannot bring himself to throw it away. Faced with the looming threat of eviction, he seeks treatment. (Video clip)

  12. What is Abnormal? • Behavior is unusual (statistically infrequent)

  13. What is Abnormal? • Examples of “abnormal” unusual phenomena: • Mental retardation • Drinking 5+ beers in one sitting every day • Hoarding objects of questionable value • Are these phenomena “abnormal?” • Extremely high intelligence • Drinking 5+ beers in one sitting once a week • Collecting objects of questionable value

  14. What is Abnormal? • Do these individuals have “abnormally” unusual symptoms? • Case #1: Mike (perfectionism, test anxiety) • Case #2: Lisa (thoughts about harming baby) • Case #3: Frank (hoarding)

  15. What is Abnormal? • Behavior that is socially unacceptable, strange, or deviates from society’s standards

  16. What is Abnormal? • Examples of “abnormal” socially unacceptable, strange, or deviant phenomena: • Auditory hallucinations • Extreme lack of interest in sex • Extremely low body weight in anorexia • Are these phenomena “abnormal?” • Self-mutilation • Extremely excessive interest in sex • Homosexuality

  17. What is Abnormal? • Do these individuals have “abnormally” socially unacceptable, strange, or deviant symptoms? • Case #1: Mike (perfectionism, test anxiety) • Case #2: Lisa (thoughts about harming baby) • Case #3: Frank (hoarding)

  18. What is Abnormal? • Behavior causes personal distress or suffering

  19. What is Abnormal? • Examples of “abnormal” personally distressing phenomena: • Phobias • Post-traumatic stress disorder • Depression • Are these “abnormal” phenomena personally “distressing”? • Low body weight in anorexia • Extreme narcissism • Sociopathy (lacking empathy or a “conscience”)

  20. What is Abnormal? • Are these individuals distressed by their symptoms? • Case #1: Mike (perfectionism, test anxiety) • Case #2: Lisa (thoughts about harming baby) • Case #3: Frank (hoarding)

  21. What is Abnormal? • Behavior impairs one’s ability to function adequately in important areas of life

  22. What is Abnormal? • Examples of “abnormally” impairing phenomena: • Panic disorder with severe agoraphobia • Schizophrenia • Autism • Do these “abnormal” phenomena impair one’s ability to function adequately in important areas of life? • Phobias of roller coasters, clowns, elevators, water • Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder • Caffeine dependence • Sociopathy (lacking empathy or a “conscience”)

  23. What is Abnormal? • Are these individuals able to function adequately in everyday life? • Case #1: Mike (perfectionism, test anxiety) • Case #2: Lisa (thoughts about harming baby) • Case #3: Frank (hoarding)

  24. What is Abnormal? • An individual’s perception of reality is faulty

  25. What is Abnormal? • Examples of “abnormal” perceptions of reality: • Auditory hallucinations • Paranoid delusions • Preoccupation with an imagined defect in one’s appearance • Distorted body image in anorexia • Conviction, despite reliable medical evidence to the contrary, that one has an undiagnosed disease

  26. What is Abnormal? • Are these “misperceptions” of reality “abnormal?” • Belief that touching public objects (e.g., toilet seats) will cause you to contract a terrible disease • Belief that others will notice your visible symptoms of anxiety (e.g., blushing, trembling) and negatively evaluate you as a result • Belief that being 10 pounds over your ideal body weight means you are fat and will be judged as unattractive

  27. What is Abnormal? • Are these individuals’ perceptions of reality faulty? • Case #1: Mike (perfectionism, test anxiety) • Case #2: Lisa (thoughts about harming baby) • Case #3: Frank (hoarding)

  28. Abnormality (Finally) Defined • “Mental Disorder” defined: • “A psychological dysfunction associated with distress or impairment in functioning that is not typical or culturally expected”

  29. Mental Disorder • What is a mental disorder? From the DSM-IV: “a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in an individual and that is associated with present distress (e.g., painful symptom) or disability (i.e., impairment in one or more important areas of functioning) or with significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom. In addition, this syndrome or pattern must not be merely an expectable and culturally sanctioned response to a particular event, for example, the death of a loved one. Whatever its original cause, it must currently be considered a manifestation of a behavioral, psychological, or biological dysfunction in the individual. Neither deviant behavior (e.g., political, religious, or sexual) nor conflicts that are primarily between the individual and society are mental disorders unless the deviance or conflict is a symptom of a dysfunction in the individual, as described above.”

  30. Diagnosing Mental Disorders • Key aspects of DSM-IV definition: • Clinically significant (i.e., severe) • Associated with either distress, impairment, or interference with life • Not just a culturally accepted response

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