Chapter 1
Abnormal Behavior in Historical Context
Abnormal Behavior : Myths and Misconceptions
 What’s psychologically normal?
 What’s not?
 How do we describe people with mental illness?
 Lazy, crazy, dumb?
 Weak in character?
 Dangerous?
 Hopeless?
What is a Psychological Disorder?
 Psychological dysfunction
 Breakdown in function
 Cognitive
 Behavioral
 Emotional
What is a Psychological Disorder?
 Distress or impairment
 Individual versus others

Example: mania
 Appropriateness to situation

Example: death
 Degree of impairment
What is a Psychological Disorder?
 Response is not typical or culturally expected
 More or less frequent
 Deviations from “average”
 Eccentricity
 Violation of social norms
What is a Psychological Disorder?
 Accepted DSM-IV-TR definition:
 Behavioral, cognitive, emotional dysfunctions
 Unexpected in cultural context
 Personal distress
 Substantial impairment in function
How Do We Classify Psychological Disorders?
 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
 DSM-IV-TR
 Outlines criteria for disorders
 Prototypes/typical profiles
 Constant revision and modification
 DSM-V
What is a Psychological Disorder?
 New areas of interest for the DSM-V:
 Reevaluating underlying concepts
 Surveys of mental health professionals
 Commonalities in disorders
 Discerning differences in degree
The Science of Psychopathology
 Study of psychological disorders
 Conducted by






Clinical and counseling psychologists (PhD, PsyD)
Psychiatrists (MD)
Psychiatric social workers (MSW)
Psychiatric nurses (MN, MSN, PhD)
Marriage and family therapists (MA, MS, MFT)
Mental health counselors (MA, MS)
The Scientist-Practitioner Framework
 Interaction of clinical work and science
 Consumer of science

Informs practice
 Evaluator of practice

Utilizes science
 Creator of science

Synthesizes both
Historical Conceptions of Abnormal Behavior
 Major psychological disorders have existed
across time and cultures
 Causes and treatment of abnormal behavior
varied widely, depending on context
3 DOMINANT TRADITIONS
 Supernatural
 Biological
 Psychological
The Supernatural Tradition
 Deviance = Battle of “Good” vs. “Evil”
 Etiology- devil, witchcraft, sorcery
 Treatments- exorcism, torture, and crude
surgeries
The Supernatural Tradition
 Mass hysteria
 St. Vitus’ dance
 Tarantism
 Lycanthropy
 Modern examples?
 Emotion contagion
 “Mob psychology”
The Supernatural Tradition
 Other Worldly Causes
 Moon and stars
 Paracelsus
 lunacy
 Modern examples?
 Astrology
The Biological Tradition
 Hippocrates (460-377 BC)
 Father of modern Western medicine
 Etiology = physical disease
 Brain pathology
 Head trauma
 Genetics
 Psychosocial factors
 Stress, family
 Precursor to somatoform disorders
 Hysteria
The Biological Tradition
 Galen (129-198 AD)
 Hippocratic foundation

Galenic-Hippocratic Tradition
 Humoral theory of mental illness
 Etiology = brain chemical imbalances
 Treatments = Environmental regulation
 Heat, dryness, moisture, cold
 Bloodletting, induced vomiting
The Biological Tradition and the 19th Century
 Syphilis and General Paresis
 STD with psychosis-like symptoms
 Delusions
 Hallucinations
 Etiology = bacterial microorganism
 Louis Pasteur’s germ theory
 Biological basis for madness
The Biological Tradition and the 19th Century
 John Grey (1850s)
 American proponent of the biological tradition
 Etiology = always physical
 Treatments = treat as if the person is physically ill
 Rest
 Diet
 Room temperature
 Improved hospital conditions
 Dorothea Dix
The Development of Biological Treatments
 Mental Illness = Physical Illness
 The 1920’s
 Insulin shock therapy –Manfred Sakel
 ECT--Joseph von Meduna
The Development of Biological Treatments
 The 1950’s
 Psychotropic medications
 Increasingly available
 Systematically developed
 Neuroleptics
 Reserpine and psychosis
 Tranquilizers
 Benzodiazepines and anxiety
The Development of Biological Treatments
 The cons of medications
 Unwanted physical side effects
 Addiction/dependence
 Effectiveness
Emil Kraeplin
 Importance of brain pathology
 Developed system of classification
 Mental illness has a “lifecourse” just like a physical
illness
Consequences of the Biological Tradition
 Increased hospitalization
 “Untreatable” conditions
 Improved diagnosis and classification
 Emil Kraepelin
 Increased role of science in psychopathology
The Psychological Tradition: Ancient Contributions
 Plato
 more humane treatment
 relatives should care for the person
 If someone committed a crime when they
were insane, then they shouldn’t be
punished like a normal person.
The Psychological Tradition: Moral Therapy
 Key figures in humanistic reform:
 France
 Philippe Pinel (1745 – 1826)
 Jean-Baptiste Pussin
 England
 William Tuke (1732 – 1822)
 United States
 Benjamin Rush (1745 – 1813)
 Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)
The Psychological Tradition
 Moral Therapy
 “Moral” = emotional or psychological
 Treating patients normally
 Encouraging social interaction
 Focus on relationships
 Individual attention
 Education
Modern Perspectives to Abnormal
Psychology

Psychoanalytic Perspective or
Psychodynamic Model

Behaviorism

Cognitive Perspective
The Psychoanalytic Tradition- Background
 Freudian Theory – Overview
and Development
 Work with patients suffering
from hysteria
 Jean Charcot and hypnosis
 Free association
 Resistance
 Repression
 Psychodynamic Theory
Psychodynamic Theory
 Freud’s theory: Human behavior is ruled by irrational
instincts such as aggression and sex. The major
influence on our behavior is the unconscious.
3 Layers of Consciousness
Layers of Consciousness
Conscious
Preconscious
Unconscious
Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory
 Structure and Function of the Mind
 Id (pleasure principle)
 Ego (reality principle)
 Superego (conscience)
Defense Mechanisms
 Occur when Ego Loses Battle with Id and Superego
 Examples:
 Displacement & Denial
 Rationalization & Reaction Formation
 Projection & Repression
Psychosexual Stages
Stages
Age
Oral
0-18 months
Anal
18 months to three years
Phallic
Three to six years
Latent
Six years to puberty
Genital
Puberty to adulthood
Behavioral Theories of Abnormality
 Classical Conditioning
 Operant Conditioning
(Also two more theories, but we’re not talking about
them today)
 Modeling and Observational Learning
 Observational Learning
The Behavioral Model and the Psychological
Tradition
 Classical Conditioning (Pavlov; Watson)
 Ubiquitous form of learning
 Pairing neutral stimuli and unconditioned stimuli
 Conditioning was extended to explain fear
acquisition
Classical Conditioning
 Before Conditioning:
CS (bell)
US (meat powder)
No CR (no salivation)
 During Conditioning:
CS
signals

UR (salivation)
US
UR
produces
After Conditioning:
CS (bell)
CR (salivation)
produces
Behavioral Model
 Operant Conditioning (Thorndike; Skinner)
 Another ubiquitous form of learning
 Voluntary behavior is controlled by consequences
 Operant Conditioning: R  S
 Classical Conditioning: S  R
Operant Conditioning
 Positive Reinforcement
 Negative Reinforcement
 Punishment
Cognitive Theories of Abnormality
 Types of cognition
 Causal attributions
 Control beliefs
 Learned helplessness
 Dysfunctional assumptions
Some Common Global Dysfunctional
Assumptions
I should be
loved by
everyone for
everything I
do.
I must have
perfect self
control.
Once
something
affects my life,
it will affect it
forever.
It is better to
avoid problems
than to face
them.
I should be
terribly upset
by certain
situations.
The Behavioral Model
 Classical Conditioning

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
 Ubiquitous form of learning
 Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
 Unconditioned response (UCR)
 Conditioned stimulus (CS)
 Conditioned response (CR)
The Behavioral Model
 Classical Conditioning – Concepts
 Stimulus generalization
 Extinction
 Introspection
The Behavioral Model
 Behaviorism
 John B. Watson (1878 - 1958)
 Scientific emphasis
 Objective
 Radical empiricism
 “Little Albert” experiment
The Behavioral Model and Behavior Therapy
 Mary Cover Jones
 Preexisting phobia extinguished by
exposure and modeling
 Joseph Wolpe (1915 -1997)
 Systematic desensitization
 Relaxation
The Behavioral Model - Operant Conditioning
 E.L. Thorndike (1874 – 1949)
 Law of effect: consequences shape
behavior
 B.F. Skinner (1904 - 1990)
 Behavior “operates” on environment
 Reinforcements
 Punishments
 Behavior “shaping”
The Scientific Method and an Integrative Approach
 Defining and studying psychopathology
 Requires a broad approach
 Multiple, interactive influences
 Biological, psychological, social factors
 Scientific emphasis
 Neuroscience
 Cognitive, behavioral sciences