Is he mentally ill?

28 % psychologists who were female in 1978

• 28 % psychologists who were female in 1978

• 52 % female today

• 75 % female undergrad psych majors

• 66 % female psych grad students

Retrospective vs. prospective

• Retrospective vs. prospective

• Case studies—begin with Hans

• Correlational method—can correlations be trusted?

• Epidemiological studies
• Longitudinal studies

• Experimental method

• Control groups
• Random assignments
• Blind designs, placebo treatments

• Quasi-experimental designs

• Concerns remain
• New drug studies without adequate informed consent
• Placebo studies
• Symptom-exacerbation studies
• Medication-withdrawal studies

Etiology

• Etiology

• Necessary—must exist for a disorder to occur
• Sufficient—condition that guarantees the occurrence of a disorder
• Contributory—increases the probability of a disorder
• Time frame
• Distal—in the past
• Proximal—immediate

Diathesis—vulnerability for the disorder

• Diathesis—vulnerability for the disorder

• Stress—proximal stressor

• Protective factors

• Individual
• Family
• Community
• Resilience

• Biopsychosocial viewpoint

Disease or medical model

• Disease or medical model

• Brain anatomy and abnormal behavior—

• 100 billion nerve cells called neurons and thousands of billions of support cells called glia.
• Bottom of the brain—hindbrain—
• Cerebellum—regulates smooth coordinated movement
• Pons
• Medulla—controls heart rate, breathing, digestion
• Midbrain
• Forebrain—
• Hypothalamus—temperature, hunger, thirst, sex
• Thalamus—
• Corpus callosum—connects hemispheres

Over 100 neurotransmitters discovered to date

• Over 100 neurotransmitters discovered to date

• Those most studied with psychopathology

• Norepinephrine—emergency reactions in stressful situations
• Dopamine—schizophrenia and Parkinson’s
• Serotonin—thinking and information processing, anxiety and depression
• Gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA)—anxiety and arousal

• Neurotransmitter imbalances

• Excessive production and release of neurotransmitter
• Dysfunction in deactivation process
• Problem with receptors—abnormally sensitive or insensitive

Genetics

• Genetics

• Genotype
• Phenotype

• Behavior genetics—study of individual differences in beh. that are in part attributable to genetic makeup

• Family history (pedigree) method—we know what % of genes are shared

• Twin method
• Adoption

• Evolution and abnormal behavior

• Viral infections

Temperament—reactivity and self-regulation

• Temperament—reactivity and self-regulation

• Behavioral inhibition seems to be innate

• Biological treatments

• Psychotropic medications
• Electroconvulsive therapy
• Neurosurgery

• Assessing the Biological Model

• Lots of valuable new information
• Treatments bring great relief
• Shortcomings—
• 1) some proponents seem to think that everything can be explained by biological terms
• 2) lots of evidence is incomplete and inconclusive
• 3) biological treatments can produce undesirable side effects

Freud—very deterministic

• Freud—very deterministic

• Structure of the personality:

• Id—comprised of instinctual drives of two types
• Ego—secondary process thinking—reality principle
• Superego—conscience

• Defense mechanisms—control unacceptable id impulses or reduce the anxiety they create

• Repression
• Projection
• Rationalization
• Reaction formation
• Sublimation

Psychosexual stages of development

• Psychosexual stages of development

• Oral—birth to 2
• Anal—2-3
• Phallic—3 to 5 or 6
• Oedipus
• Electra
• Latency
• Genital—After puberty

• How to tap the unconscious?

• Advantages of Freud’s theory…

• 1) Helped establish the field

• 2) Emphasized the importance of childhood for a healthy adulthood

• Disadvantages…

• 1) Hard to Research

• 2) Largely based on case studies

• 19 % of clinical psychologists describe themselves as psychodynamic (Prochaska & Norcross, 2003)

Of course, Freud created his theory over 100 years ago. There have been major updates:

• Of course, Freud created his theory over 100 years ago. There have been major updates:

•