Chapter 1: Intro to Abnormal Psychology

1. Maladaptiveness
2. Suffering psych pain
3. Statistical Deviancy
   1. "away from the normal"
      1. Genius? Common cold

         Annotations:

         • 1. Statistically rare but not abnormal 2. very common, still an illness!
4. Violations of the Standards of Society
   1. Driving a nail through your hand?

      Annotations:

      • Normal in Brazil! Depends on what is considered normal in the different societies. Culturally dependant!
5. Social Discomfort
6. Irrationality and Unpredictability
7. Dangerousness
   1. Extreme sports? Snakes as pets?

Annotations:

• Mental disorder is defined as a syndrome that is present in an individual and that involves clinically significant disturbance in behaviour, emotion regulation, or cognitive functioning. These reflect a dysfunction in biological, psychological or developmental processes that are necessary for mental functioning.

1. Pros and Cons of Classification

   Annotations:

   • Pros -provide us with nomenclature - organizing info - more mundane
   • Cons -lose an array of personal information - stigma (people tend to be uncomfortable to disclose their mental illness) - stereotyping -labeling
2. First published in 1952

Annotations:

• What is considered in some cultures as normal is considered abnormal in other cultures. e.g. Scarification in some African tribes
• No word for "depressed" in the language of Native Americans, Alaska Natives and Southeast Asian cultures (Manson, 1995)

1. Culture-specific disorders

   Annotations:

   • Taijin kyofusho in Japan - anxiety disorder; - fear that one's body, body parts or body functions may offend, embarrass or otherwise make others feel uncomfortable; - afraid of blushing, or upsetting others by their gaze, facial expression or body odour (Levine & Gaw, 1995)
   • Ataque de nervios in Latino and Latina individuals (esp. Caribbean) - triggered by divorce or bereavement -crying/trembling/aggressive behaviour etc. -loss of memory about the incident
   • Hearing voices of dead people in Native American tribes is considered normal.

1. Prevalence and Incidence

   Annotations:

   • Epidemiology - the study of the distribution of diseases, disorders or health-related behaviours in a given population. !!! Determining the frequencies of MD.
   • Prevalence refers to the number of active cases in a population during any given period of time. - usually expressed in %
   1. Point prevalence

      Annotations:

      • Refers to estimated proportion of actual, active cases of the disorder in a given population at a given point in time. It is like a snap shot of the disease in time. Prevalence = Number of existing cases on a specific date ÷ Number of people in the population on this date.
   2. 1-year prevalence

      Annotations:

      • We would count anyone who experienced depression at any point in time throughout the entire year. Therefore, it would include people who had recovered before the point of prevalence assessment as well as those whose disorders did not begin until after the point prevalence estimate was made.
   3. Lifetime prevalence

      Annotations:

      • Number of people who have had a particular disorder at any time in their lives (even if they are now recovered)
   4. Incidence

      Annotations:

      • Refers to the number of new cases that occur over a given period of time (typically 1 year). Incidence figures exclude preexisting cases. People who were ill before our starting date would not be included in the data.
2. Comorbidity

   Annotations:

   • Describes the presence of  two or more disorders in the same person.