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Chapter 1
Introduction and
Historical Review
Abnormal Psychology, Eleventh Edition
by
Ann M. Kring, Gerald C. Davison, John M. Neale,
& Sheri L. Johnson
Psychopathology

Study of the nature, development, and
treatment of psychological disorders

Challenges to the study of
psychopathology:
» Maintaining objectivity
» Avoiding preconceived notions
» Reducing stigma
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Figure 1.1Four Characteristics
of Stigma
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Characteristics of Mental
Disorders

Personal Distress
» Emotional pain and suffering
– Helplessness and hopelessness of depression

Disability
» Impairment in a key area
– Chronic alcohol consumption results in job loss

Violation of Social Norms
» Makes others uncomfortable or causes problems
– Antisocial behavior of the psychopath

Dysfunction
» Wakefield's Harmful Dysfunction
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Figure 1.2 Key Characteristics in the DSM-IVTR Definition of Mental Disorder
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History of Psychopathology

Demonology
» Possession by evil beings or spirits
– Exorcism

Early Biological Explanations
» Hippocrates (5th century BC)
– Mental disturbances have natural (not
supernatural) causes


Three categories: mania, melancholia, & phrenitis
Four humors: blood, black bile, yellow bile, & phlegm
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History of Psychopathology: Dark
Ages

Dark Ages
» Monks cared and prayed for mentally ill

Witches
» Torture sometimes led to bizarre delusional
sounding confessions, e.g., concourse with
demons.
– Historians concluded many of the accused were
mentally ill.
– Little support for that conclusion.
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History of Psychopathology:
Lunacy Trials

Lunacy Trials
» Trials held to determine sanity
– Began in 13th century England
» Municipal authorities assumed
responsibility for care of mentally ill

Lunacy
» Attribues insanity to misalignment of moon
and stars
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History of Psychopathology:
Asylums

Asylum
» Establishments for the confinement and care of mentally
ill
» Priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem (1243)
– One of the first mental institutions
– The wealthy paid to gape at the insane
– Origin of the term bedlam


Treatment non-existent or harmful at asylums
Early medical treatment could be harmful
» Benjamin Rush recommended drawing copious amounts
of blood!
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History of Psychopathology: Pinel’s
Reforms and Moral Treatment

Philippe Pinel (1745-1826)
» Pioneered humanitarian treatment at LaBicetre

Moral Treatment
» Small, privately funded, humanitarian mental
hospitals
– Friends Asylum (1817)
– Patients engaged in purposeful, calming activities (e.g.,
gardening)
– Talked with attendants
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History of Psychopathology:
Dorothea Dix

Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)
» Crusader for prisoners and mentally ill
» Urged improvement of institutions
» Worked to establish 32 new, public
hospitals
» Hospitals staffed with physicians
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Early Foundations: Biological
Approaches

General paresis
» Degenerative disorder with psychological
symptoms
» Caused by syphilis

Since general paresis had biological cause,
other mental illness might also.
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Early Foundations: Genetics


Galton’s work lead to notion that mental
illness can be inherited
Behavioral genetics
» Extent to which behavioral differences are due to
genetics

Eugenics
» Promotion of enforced sterilization to eliminate
undesirable characteristics from the population
» Many state laws required mentally ill to be
sterilized
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Early Biological treatments

Insulin-coma therapy
» Sakel, 1930s

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
» Cerletti and Bini (1938)
» Induce epileptic seizures with electric shock

Prefrontal lobotomy
» Moniz (1935)
» Often led to listlessness, apathy, and lack of some
cognitive abilities
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Early Foundations: Emil Kraepelin
(1856-1926)
Pioneered classification of mental illness
based on biological causes
 Published 1st psychiatry text (1883)
 Mental illness as syndrome

» Cluster of symptoms that co-occur

Proposed two major syndromes
» Dementia praecox
» Manic-depressive psychosis
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Early Foundations: Psychological
Approaches

Mesmer (1734-1815)
» Treated patients with hysteria using “animal
magnetism”
» Early practitioner of hypnosis

Breuer (1842-1925)
» Used hypnosis to facilitate catharsis
» Catharsis
– Release of emotional tension triggered by reliving
and talking about event
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Early Foundations: Freud

Psychoanalytic theory
» Human behavior determined by
unconscious forces.
» Psychopathology results from conflicts
among these unconscious forces.
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Freud’s Structures of the Mind

Id
» Unconscious
» Pleasure principle
– Immediate gratification
» Libido
– Energy of ID

Ego
» Primarily conscious
» Reality principle
– Attempt to satisfy ID’s demands within reality’s constraints

Superego
» The conscience
» Develops as we incorporate parental and society values
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Freud’s Stage Theory of
Psychosexual Development

Oral Stage (birth to 18 mos.)
»

Anal Stage (18 mos. to 3)
»

Pleasure derived from sexual organs
Latency Period (6 to 12)
»

Pleasure derived from elimination
Phallic Stage (3 to 5 or 6)
»

Primary satisfaction from sucking & chewing
Id impulses not a factor
Genital Stage (adulthood)
»
Heterosexual interests predominate
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Fixation and Regression

Fixation
» Too little or too much gratification leads to
fixation at that stage
» When stressed, individual regresses to
earlier stage.
– Behaves in ways that were appropriate at an
earlier age
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Defense Mechanisms
Id, Ego, & Superego continually in conflict
 Conflict generates anxiety
 Defense mechanisms

» Psychological maneuvers used to manage stress
& anxiety

Repression
» Intentional, although unconscious, forgetting
– Memories, impulses, traumatic events
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Table 1.1 Selected Defense
Mechanisms
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Table 1.2 Major Techniques of
Psychoanalysis
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Neo-Freudians

Jung
» Analytical psychology
– Incorporates Freudian and humanistic psychology
» Collective unconscious


Archetypes
Adler
» Individual psychology
– Fulfillment derived from working for the social good

Ego Analysis
» Emphasized individual’s control of environment
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Rise of Behaviorism
John Watson (1878-1958)
 Behaviorism

» Emphasis on learning rather than innate
tendencies
» Focus on observable behavior
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Classical Conditioning

Pavlov (1849-1936)
» Learning through association

Elements of learning
»
»
»
»

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
Unconditioned Response (UR)
Conditioned Response (CR)
Watson & Raynor (1920)
» Classically conditioned fear in Little
Albert
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Operant Conditioning

E. Thorndike (1874-1949)
» Learning through consequences
» Law of Effect

B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)
» Principle of Reinforcement
– Positive reinforcement
 Behaviors followed by pleasant stimuli are strengthened
– Negative reinforcement
 Behaviors that terminate a negative stimulus are strengthened
» Shaping
– Reward a sequence of responses that approximate the final
response
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Modeling

Learning by imitating others’ behavior
» Can occur without reinforcement

Bandura & Menlove (1968)
» Modeling reduced children’s fear of dogs

Behavior Therapy
» Systematic Desensitization
» Aversive conditioning
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Mental Health Professions

Clinical Psychologist
» Ph.D. or Psy.D.

Psychiatrist
» M.D.

Social Workers
» M.S.W.
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COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, New
York, NY. All rights reserved. No part of the
material protected by this copyright may be
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
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