Abnormal Psyc 301
BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Assumes that disturbances in emotions, behavior, and cognitive processes are: *caused or influenced by &/or abnormalities in the functioning of the body*.: -*Neurotransmitters* are the Chemical substances released from a neuron into the synaptic cleft it drifts across the synapse and is absorbed by the receiving neuron.
Correlational research
looking at relationships between 2 or more variables. X is related to Y.
Qualitative research
*emphasis on words and feelings; * *smaller sample sizes; *relies on categorizing & organizing data into themes or patterns to describe the data; *high level interaction with subjects; *many possible contexts & meanings for different people; *subjective by nature*
Correlation coefficient
-1.0 to 0 to +1.0 -the closer to 0 means little or no correlation. -the closer it moves to +/- 1 the stronger the relationship is. Correlation does *Not* show Causation! Other factors of impact may be the cause.
MENTAL STATUS EXAMINATION
-Appearance -Attitudes. -Behavior. -Mood & affect. -Speech. -Thought processes . -Content of thought. -Perception. -Cognition. -Insight. -Judgment.
Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM
-Classification system. -Diagnostic & Statistical Manual DSM & Internal Classification of Diseases ICD systems. -DSM-5 is the latest version, 2013, of the diagnostic system developed by the American Psychiatric Association. Contains latest in research & theory on psychological disorders. Typically used in mental health settings.
Group experimental designs
-Control groups. -Placebo vs. double blind controls.
Uses of IQ tests
-Overall cognitive evaluation. -Diagnosis of learning disabilities. Determination of giftedness. -Prediction of future academic achievement diagnosis of neurological & *psychiatric disorders* . -Evaluation of the potential of employees.
Prevalence rate
-Overall means existing plus new cases. -Always represented as a percentage. Each specific disorder has a frequency with which that disorder occurs within a population within a certain time period.
Information sought through interviews
-Reasons for being in treatment. -Symptoms. -Health Status. -Family Background. -Life History.
What makes a good psychlogical test?
-Reliability; i.e. consistency -Validity; the extent to which a test measures what it is designed to measure; i.e. an IQ test actually measures intelligence. -Standardization; clearly specifies a test's instructions for administration & scoring, GRE.
Planning the treatment *Test?
-Site. -Modality. -Treatment Plan: The outline for how therapy should take place. -Goals of Treatment. --Immediate goals. --Short term goals. --Long-term goals. --Evaluation.
BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT
-Target behavior. -In vivo observation. Real time, but challenging in terms of time, energy & privacy. -Analog observations. Analogous, it's not in the real setting, but it's observable in context. -Behavioral self-report. It's subjective because the client has to remember & gives their personal account. -Self-monitoring. -Behavioral interviewing.
Tues, Feb 11, 2014 NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT
-Trail Making Tests. -Executive function. -Clock Drawing Test. -Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. -WMS-IV e.g. faces/stories.
5. Separation of neurotransmitter molecules from receptors.
6. Re-uptake of neuro-transmitter to be recycled. 7. Vesicles without neurotransmitter transported back to cell body.
Video on Multicultural Counseling -Karol ctiv.alexanderstreet.com/view/1779195
-Undocumented citizen. -compared to friends who were going to college which sent her on downward spiral. -No sleep/Bi-polar. -Colombian Immigrant Father thinks counseling is a waste of time. Work! -Compared herself again to higher class peers. -Dad had 3 jobs, Mom worked & so did they as kids. -Succeeding in school is Very important to family. -"I've got to graduate, get a great job & provide for my whole family"; so much responsibility to do all this when it's not for herself. External pressure.
Terminal buttons
1. Synthesis of of neurotransmitter & formation of vesicles; the larger circles with neurotransmitters inside. 2. Transport of neurotransmitter down axon.
5 criteria for psychological disorder. 1. Clinical "utility" significance or measurable degree of impairment including Diagnostic validity; able to predict future behavior & response to treatments.
2. Dysfunction in psychological, biological or developmental processes. 3. Significant distress or impairment in significant realms of life. 4. Deviance isn't related to religion, politics or sexuality. 5. Dysfunction between the individual & society Must be a dysfunction WITHIN the individual.
3. Release of neurotransmitters **very important** neurons don't actually touch! They communicate via neurotransmitters!
4. Interaction of the neurotransmitter with receptor, exciting or inhibiting post synaptic neuron.
Positive correlation
A correlation where as one variable increases, the other also increases, or as one decreases so does the other. Both variables move in the same direction.
Negative correlation
A finding that two factors vary systematically in opposite directions, one increasing as the other decreases.
Correlation method
A method in which two variables are observed to determine whether there is a relationship between them. -Used when researchers cannot manipulate or control an experiment.
The purpose of Chapter 4 is to introduce the Biological & psychological model.
A more focused understanding of the Biopsychosocial Model.
dopamine
A neurotransmitter associated with movement, attention and learning and the brain's pleasure and reward system.
Seratonin
A neurotransmitter that regulates mood, appetite, sleep/wake cycle, muscle contraction, appetite, & some cognitive functions including memory and learning.
Biopsychosocial perspective, GEORGE ENGEL
A perspective on psychopathology that emphasizes the biological, psychological, and social factors that contribute to mental illness. -Strong developmental viewpoint that individuals change over time.
Single case experimental design
A type of case study in which a *single subject* is used as his or her own control switching between alternating on off phases of the baseline condition. -*AKA ABAB designs*
Concordance rate
Agreement ratios between people diagnosed as having a disorder & occurrence with *relatives*. -Indicates the percentage of twin pairs or other pairs of relatives who exhibit the same disorder. --even though there is a genetic connection for many disorders *they are not definitive*.
case study
An observation technique in which one person, or a small group of individuals, is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles. -they lack control to make generalizable assumptions about the conditions to a larger population.
Quantitative research
Answers questions that start with *"How Many" or "How Much"*. Data that can in turn be subject to statistical analysis.
?enzymes binding?
Anything like this process
Psychological assessment
Broad range of measurement techniques that provide information regarding an individuals functioning. -The more data we have from multiple assessments the more accurate the diagnosis is. -
2-6-14 Different Modes of Assessment
CHARACTERISTICS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS
Background; Latino, Learning to be a Man or Woman, how it impacts clients willingness, ability to seek help & how they respond to it. Symptoms can exacerbate.
Class/fitting in, Attitude toward help seeking-father disapproves leading to feelings of weakness or shame which impacts how she presents during the counseling session. Might create fracture in relationship with her family.
SELF-REPORT INVENTTORIES
Client fills it out either in office or at home to target different areas clinician is concerned about. -Often focused on assessing symptoms of specific disorders. -Beck Depression Inventory-II, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Brief Symptom Inventory, etc.
Evidence-Based Practice
Clinical decision making that integrates the best available research evidence & clinical expertise in the context of the cultural background, preferences & characteristics of clients. -Scientific evidence that supports the treatment.
Analog
Comparable or similar in certain respects or incremental or sequential information. -e.g. using a driving simulator.
Structured Interview
Consists of a standardized series of questions with predetermined wording & order. -Adults specifically focus on that person. -Child, focuses on the primary care provider about the child.
DIAGNOSIS & CLASSIFICATION:
DIAGNOSES -Need to be reliable & valid.
2-4-14 Tuesday
Diagnosing
Thursday 1-30-14
Experimental Design Results: Independent variable is method of communication. Dependent Variables, how is the IV/differences affect the outcome: *Average* # of glances away from the road. Verbal < 3 times, Texting over 100 & cell phone 12
Placebo effect
Experimental results caused by expectations alone; any effect on behavior, like their condition improves, caused by the administration of an inert substance or condition, which is assumed to be an active agent.
Correlational research is done to
Help identify Hypothesis to do an experiment. -They're easier than experiments. -To Measure the affects before & after treatment.
Direct observation
Hidden camera & recording instances. Recorded amount of glancing away from road: Voice was less than 1, phone was 12 & text was 50
Molecular genetics
How genes translate hereditary information, which expresses as behavior disorders.
Cultural Formulation
Includes the clinician's assessment of the client's degree of identification with their culture. -Culture of origins beliefs about psychological disorder. -Ways in which the culture interprets particular events. -Cultural supports available to the client.
Presenting concerns & Symptoms
Insomnia, mood shifts, Anxiety, Pressure/expectations, guilt & alcohol use.
18 year old Alan, new college student in 1st semester. Other students notice dramatic emotional shifts from very happy to deep despair.
Look at different features: -Differential Diagnosis; find out what his history is personally & in his family.
Methodology
Looking at the bigger picture to ensure that you're not overgeneralizing. -i.e. men not seeking help like going to the doctor so they are less documented or diagnosed.
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES IN ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY
Multidimensional model: Biopsychosocial Model. -Biopsychosocial model of mental illness. --Biological. --Psychological. --Sociocultural. Orientation to understanding: --Causes of human behavior. Treatment of abnormality
What's the difference between a neurological test & Personality test
Neurological tests look for specific cognitive processes that are impairs like memory & processing speed. -Personality testing underlies thought, cognition, feelings & behaviors. Anxious or depressive thinking.
Trail Making Test
Neuropsycological screening tool for cognitive impairments. Executive Function Test that is a measure of motor speed, visual attention, and cognitive flexibility. , -Have to go from point A to two to B to three to C and see the reaction time your ability to do it and error.
Key thing to know*
Neurotransmitters are released into synapse & they cause the neuron to activate or fire; to start over again sending the message on.
Incidence
New Development of a condition in a population in a period of time. -number of new cases.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Overview to understanding abnormal behavior Ch 1
There are two types of correlations
Positive & Negative. -Are they going in the same direction? Positive, diagonal sloping up to rt. -Are they going in opposite directions? Negative, Diagonal sloping down to rt.
Another key* thing to remember is
Sometimes there are left over neurotransmitters that the body recycles. Takes left-overs back up into the neuron to use later. -This is called Re-uptake. **Key**
PERSONALITY TESTING
Projective tests: -Thematic Apperception test (TAT) -Rorschach Inkblot Test Objective tests: -MMPI-2 -PAI -MBTI
AREAS COVERED IN A CLINICAL INTERVIEW
Reason for referral, "What brought you in today?" -Education & work history, "What type of work do you do? What is your educational background? -Current social situation, "Tell me about your family, support system" -Physical/mental health history, "Have you been in counseling before?" -Drug/Alcohol use & current medication. -Behavior observations.
Methods of research in Science
Research Design. -A method to test hypotheses. -Experimental or treatment group. -Control group. -Random Assignment.
GENERAL CRITERIA FOR A PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER
Results from an underlying "disturbance". - psychological, biological, or developmental. Impairment/Disability. -Distress. -Dysfunction. -Outside of cultural norms/deviance/infrequency.
SSRI
Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor. -Inhibit re-uptake into neuron giving it more opportunity to bind to postsynaptic neuron. -Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac are examples of this medication.
Abnormal behavior can best be conceptualized from these perspectives:
Sociocultural, biological & psychological.
Statistical vs. Clinical significance
Statistically significant means the changes are not due to chance; But that doesn't necessarily mean they're meaningful; a significant impact, difference or change! -Statistical significance does not imply clinical meaningfulness. Clinical Significance are results that are clinically meaningful or significant.
Research methods in Abnormal psychology
Supernatural. Early biological. Hippocrates & hysteria.
E.g. Texting & driving
Talking on phone vs. texting & how much that interferes with driving capability. -:3 groups; drivers who talk to passenger, those who talk & those who text.
PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
That impact mental illness; shifting from the brain to the mind: -Psychodynamic Theory. -Behavior Theory . -Cognitive Theory.
Dependent Variable
The behavior influenced by the independent variable. A measurable outcome of experimental manipulation. -what is Quantitatively captured or measured. --The measured change between groups.
Reliability
The degree to which clinicians provide diagnoses *consistently across individuals who have a particular set of symptoms*. -Consistent conclusions.
Validity
The extent & frequency with which a test, diagnosis, or rating accurately & distinctly characterizes a person's psychological status. -A "real clinical phenomena".
All neurons have a constant charge.
They can change from a resting charge to an active charge. The Neurotransmitter is not charged.
Stratify
To separate into different levels or layers -more likely to access people who might not go to clinics.
BASIC COMPONENTS OF RESEARCH
Typically starts with an area of interest and a hypothesis or *educated guesses* about that area of interest. Not all hypotheses are *testable*. Hypotheses in science are formulated so that they are testable. Hypotheses about men and women:
CLINICAL INTERVIEW
Unstructured Interview: Involves a series of open-ended questions inquiring about what kind of symptoms the client is experiencing.
Epidemiological Study
Used to track the course of distinctive causes of death or disease in a population. Think "Epidemic", biology & cultural all added together.
Intersection between culture and symptoms, & between culture & seeking help & how it's going to work.
What are the norms for their culture of origin or group. E.g. Go to church, work, do drugs or alcohol. -Culture highlights symptom presentation.
CONDUCTING RESEARCH IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
What interventions most effectively treat specific psychological disorders? What are the reasons that people develop mental illness? How frequently does a disorder occur in a certain population?
Independent Variable
What's CONTROLLED or manipulated in the experiment between the control group & the treatment group. -What is different or changed in an experiment.
Multiple baseline method
When it's unethical to remove treatment, as in suicide cases, the methods or treatments are applied in AB fashion to determine & measure effectiveness.
Statistical methods
a branch of mathematics that helps to protect against biases in evaluating data.
Laboratory study
a research investigation conducted in a controlled setting explicitly designed to hold events constant. -*Controlled*! -regardless of whether results can be generalized to the real world.
Psychodynamic Theory
a.k.a. psychoanalytic theory; like Freud.
Abnormality
cultural factors play a role in determining what's normal or abnormal. Cultural factors also play a role in understanding expression of symptoms & how the client seeks support. -sex, ethnic groups, class, etc. & express differently when affected by these factors.
Structure of the Neuron
cells communicate though electro-chemical signals. -Signal comes from one neuron & activates the next. -Dendrites . -Cell body. -Axon. --Myelin sheath. -Terminal Branches of axon.
Myelin sheath
covers the axon of some neurons & helps speed neural impulses. Like a computer cord has a cover over the wires. -conducts electricity from point A to point B efficiently.
Terminal Branches of Axon
form junctions with other cells. -Terminal buttons.
Imaging-
functional pictures from a CAT scan vs. Functional pictures that come from PET or fMRI. fMRI can see when parts of brain are activated or woking; engaged in tasks & take pictures of it.
A significant number of individuals who experience depression, sleep problems & appetite issues
have a limited amount, or a deficit, of serotonin. -By having more serotonin it can regulate sleep, appetite & mood. -Feel less depressed. -->SSRI'S Released in 1970's
Manipulation
of Independent variables attempts to establish causal relations.
Axon
passes messages away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, or glands.
Active placebo
placebo that has the same side effects or administration effects as the procedure or drug under investigation so participant can't determine if they're getting the treatment or not.
Dendrites.
receive the signal to activate the neuron & transmits down into the cell body; move through the large structure of Axon,
Correlational design
research design that examines the extent to which two variables are associated. -Statistic represented as +1 & -1.
Cross fostering
research method that studies offspring who were adopted and reared completely apart from their biological parents. -Caveat: The adoptive parent might have a particular disorder or characteristics that influence the development of the disorder in the children.
Standardization
testing conditions that everyone has to meet that are consistent across the board no matter where you take it, who administers it or who is taking it.
IQ test
the average score is 100. If an individual scores higher they are considered above average. If they score below 70 they are considered intellectually disabled, formerly known as retarded.
Prevalence
the ratio or number of people who have ever had the disease or disorder over a given amount of time shown as percentage. Existing plus new cases.
The synapse is
the space between neurons.
We have to be cautious how we advise, making sure not to
violate cultural norms & existing support systems.
A test that is Valid
will measure what it is supposed to measure. -E.g. Intelligence is related to other factors.
