- How would you characterize ancient viewpoints on psychopathology? What was trepanation
- In the ancient viewpoint, psychopathology was seen as “supernatural forces”. Individuals with physical or mental disorders were shunned and abandoned. Children were subjected to harsh treatments. Early treatment centers were mostly connected to religious charities. Overall, there was high levels of mortality, neglect and abuse.
- What was the approach towards psychopathology in the Middle Ages? What was Bethlem Hospital and why was it important?
- During the European middle ages, Restraint and solitary confinement in asylums were common. Bedlam was one of the oldest mental asylum. It was overcrowded and under staffed, they turned the asylum into a human zoo in literal means to receive funding. Common treatments were bloodletting, vomiting, strapping and restraint.
- How did John Locke and Jean Marc Itard’s philosophies differ from those that came before (e.g., Descartes)? How did this change in thought impact attitudes towards people with disorders?
- John Locke shifts towards individual identity, development, empiricism, and sensory experiences, Itard’s experience with the wild boy of Averyron highlights shift towards treating children.
- What was the Treatise on Madness and why was it important?
- William Battie published Treatise on madness in 1758, FIRST BOOK OF PSYCHIATRY. He was one of the main drivers to take more humane approaches to treat the mentally ill.
- What were the two initial psychological perspectives on psychopathology?
- Psychoanalytical theory: Symptoms caused by inborn, unresolved, unconscious desires, related to childhood development.
- Behaviorism: Evidence based treatment ties to learning. Classical conditioning.
- What were some of the advances in the fields of psychiatry and psychology during the late 1800s and early 1900s that advanced the established those fields?
- Compound microscopes, anatomy and surgery, first vaccine for smallpox, bacteriology and sterilization, and pseudoscience mesmerism.
- What were some of the initial legislative acts that helped pave the way for comprehensive legislation for the education of children with disabilities (4) ? What were the key legal decisions Brown v Board of Education (Topeka) and Mills v. Board of Education of the District of Columbia, and why were they important?
PL 85-905: Caption Films Acts `1958: Required accessible film captions.
PL 86-158: Training of professional personnel Act of 1959’: provides professional training for working with people who have intellectual disability.
Elementary and Secondary Education PL 89-10 and State Schools Act PL 89-313 of 1965: provided direct grant support to children with disability.
Handicapped Children’s Early Education Assistance Act of 1968 (PL 90-538): directly funded experimental SpEd preschool and elementary programs.
- Brown vs Board of Education: (1954) U.S supreme court decided that it was unlawful to discriminate against a group for arbitrary reasons. The court determined that education was characterized as a fundamental function of government that should be afforded to all citizens on an equal basis.
- Mills v. Board of Education of the district of Columbia (1972): Established the responsibility of states and localities to educate children with disabilities.
- What is PL 94-142 and why is it important?
PL 94-142: stands for Public Law 94-142 (1975). It is important because it reauthorized individuals with Disabilities Education Act IDEA in 1990. This falls under the Education law. This act required all public schools accepting federal funds to provide equal access to education and one free meal a day for children with physical and mental disabilities.
- What is a diagnosis and a classification and how are they different from one another?
- Diagnostic criteria: the collection of signs and symptoms used by doctors to diagnose and treat a patient’s condition.
- Classification criteria: the standardized definitions of a condition mainly used to create uniform group of patients for clinical research.
- What are some potential challenges or risks in labeling a disorder?
-Potential challenges or risks of labelling a disorder does not include temporary or normal cultural reactions, they fail to account in individual differences, can cause cluster of negative attitudes or belief leading to prejudice or discrimination, may lead to increased psychological distress and some labels may prejudice towards invasive treatments, and even result in loss of freedom.
- What is a mental disorder? What are key characteristics for defining behaviors and thoughts as a disorder or maladaptive?
“A mental disorder is characterized by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotional regulation, or behaviour. It is usually associated with distress or impairment in important areas of functioning.” (WHO)
“The ADA defines a person with a disability as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity. This includes people who have a record of such an impairment, even if they do not currently have a disability.”
Key characteristics to define mental disorders are: Impairment, distress and increased risk of suffering or harm.
- What are competence, resilience, risk factors, and protective factors? How do they interact with one another? What are equifinality and multifinality?
Competence: The ability to exert control over one’s life, cope with specific problems effectively and make changes to one’s behavior and environment.
Resilience: The ability to ADAPT to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal factors.
Risk factors: Increased possibility or likelihood that a disease or disorder will subsequently develop in an individual associated by a defined behavior genetics, psychological , or environmental component.
Protective factors: Contributory factors such as self-confidence, world view, availability and quality of social resources including support network, and coping strategies.
- Equifinality: in any open system, a diversity of pathways may lead to the same outcome; different early experiences and processes may lead to similar outcomes
- Multifinality: any one component within a system may function differently, depending on the conditions; similar behaviors may lead to multiple outcomes
- What is a developmental task? What is a developmental pathway? How are they different?
A developmental task is defined as any of the fundamental physical, social, intellectual, and emotional achievements and abilities that must be acquired at each stage of life for normal and healthy development. They can also be thought of as milestones individuals should have achieved at each stage of their development.
A developmental pathway is defined as the sequence, timing, and progression of particular behaviors and possible relationships between behaviors over time. They help to describe the course and nature of normal and abnormal development and account for environmental factors such as risk factors, competence and resilience.
What is the developmental psychopathology viewpoint (definition, focus, assumptions, etc.)?
Through the lens of developmental psychopathology viewpoint, psychopathology is the result of adaptational failure. It is the failure to master/ accomplish developmental milestones.
Focus: They emphasize the role of developmental processes (language, socialization), encompass medicine and behavior equally and instead of categories, the focus of developmental pathways based on biological (genetic) probability and risk and protective factors.
Assumptions:
1. Abnormal development is multiply determines, and must consider multiple influences, and events as part of developmental pathway.
2. Child and environment are interdependent, reciprocal, influencing each other: interactions are called transactions and consider both positive and negative influences.
3. Theories of child development are characterized by continuity and discontinuity.
According to the developmental psychopathology viewpoint, what is the cause of childhood disorders?
The cause of childhood disorders according to the viewpoint of developmental psychopathology is: the product of failure to obtain core developmental competences, which lead to progressive veering from normal developmental trajectories, and an accumulation of behavior patterns considered maladaptive in most contexts.
- What causes psychopathology according to the biological viewpoint?
Though lens of biological viewpoint, psychopathology is a result of disruptions or maladaptive development in the brain and nervous system.
- What is a developmental cascade?
Developmental cascade: the cumulative consequences for development of many interactions and transactions occurring in developing systems that result in spreading effects across levels, among domains at the same level and across different systems or generations.
- What is the role of genetics in psychopathology ?
Genetic code provides a blueprint that influences shape over time through the growth, strengthening, weakening and pruning of neural pathways. The genetic contributions are : gene-environment interactions, behavioral genetics and molecular genetics.
- What influencers further affect brain/neural development?
These include genetics, maturity, neuroanatomy, biochemical and hormonal interactions and environmental factors (disease and trauma).
- What is epigenesis?
Epigenetics is the study of heritable chemical modifications to DNA that alter gene activity without changing nucleotide sequence. Epigenetic abnormalities have been linked to etiology of many diseases and mental disorders.
- Name three major neurotransmitters and their functions.
Dopamine: mood, attention disorders and schizophrenia
Norepinephrine: facilitates emergency and alarm reactions.
Serotonin: regulates information and motor coordination related to regulatory disorders
- What is neural plasticity and how does it shape development? What influencers impact neural plasticity?
Neuroplasticity is the ability of the nervous system to change in response to experiences or environmental stimulation.
- What is the endocrine system and how can dysfunctions within this system cause psychopathology? Give an example with specific organs.
- Adrenal glands: epinephrine and cortisol (stress)
- Thyroid: thyroxine (energy metabolism and growth)
- Pituitary: several including estrogen and testosterone
- Define and contrast emotion reactivity and regulation.
Emotional reactivity: individual differences in the threshold and intensity of emotional responses.
Emotional regulation: The ability of an individual to modulate an emotion or set of emotions; which typically increases across lifespan.
