Abnormal psych: The History of Mental Illness.

Electro-compulsive therapy 

 The treatment involves placing electrodes on the temples, on one or both sides of the patient's head, and delivering a small electrical current across the brain, with the patient sedated or under anesthetic. The aim is to produce a seizure lasting up to a minute, after which the brain activity should return to normal. Patients may have one or more treatment a week, and perhaps more than a dozen treatments in total. Modern ECT is used primarily in the treatment of severe depression, and psychiatrists say it has proved the most effective treatment in many cases, particularly when depression doesn’t respond to drug treatments. It has also been used in some cases of schizophrenia and mania but is no longer recommended.

Cognitive behavioral therapy

Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is a type of psycho-therapeutic treatment that helps patients understand the thoughts and feelings that influence behaviors. CBT is commonly used to treat a wide range of disorders, including phobias, addiction, depression and anxiety.Cognitive behavior therapy is generally short-term and focused on helping clients deal with a very specific problem. During the course of treatment, people learn how to identify and change destructive or disturbing thought patterns that have negative influences on behavior.

Types of cognitive behavioral therapy -->

• Rational Emotive Therapy
• Cognitive Therapy
• Multimodal Therapy

Monomaine oxidase inhibitors

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are one of the oldest classes of antidepressants and are typically used when other antidepressants have not been effective. They are used less frequently because they often interact with certain foods and require strict dietary restrictions. By increasing the amount of monoamines in the brain, the imbalance of chemicals, thought to be important in causing depression, is altered. This helps relieve the symptoms of depression.

Abnormal Psychology: Mental Disorders.

1. Anxiety Disorder : Specific Phobia --> A specific phobia, formerly called a simple phobia, is a lasting and unreasonable fear caused by the presence or thought of a specific object or situation that usually poses little or no actual danger. Exposure to the object or situation brings about an immediate reaction, causing the person to endure intense anxiety or to avoid the object or situation entirely.

Symptoms:-

• Excessive or irrational fear of a specific object or situation.
• Avoiding the object or situation or enduring it with great distress.
• Physical symptoms of anxiety or a panic attack, such as a pounding heart, nausea or diarrhea, sweating, trembling or shaking, numbness or tingling, problems with breathing (shortness of breath), feeling dizzy or lightheaded, feeling like you are choking.
• Anticipatory anxiety, which involves becoming nervous ahead of time about being in certain situations or coming into contact with the object of your phobia. (For example, a person with a fear of dogs may become anxious about going for a walk because he or she may see a dog along the way.)

Requirements for diagnosis:- 


The doctor will begin an evaluation by performing a complete medical history and physical exam. Although there are no lab tests to specifically diagnose specific phobias, the doctor may use various tests to make sure that a physical illness isn't the cause of the symptoms. If no physical illness is found, the patient is referred to a psychiatrist or a psychologist. Psychiatrists and psychologists use specially designed interview and assessment tools to evaluate a person for a specific phobia.A specific phobia is diagnosed if the person's fear and anxiety are particularly distressing or if they interfere with his or her daily routine, including school, work, social activities, and relationships.

Causes:-

The exact cause of specific phobias is not known, but most appear to be associated with a traumatic experience or a learned reaction. Fear can be learned from others, as well. A child whose parents react with fear and anxiety to certain objects or situations is likely to also respond to those objects with fear.

Risk-Factors:-

Environmental factors --> 1) Direct exposure to a traumatic event.
2) Witnessing a traumatic event.
3)Hearing or reading about dangerous situations.
 Psychological factors-->  it is common for individuals with specific phobia to have distortions regarding memories that involve the phobic stimulus. They recall the phobic situation as more dangerous than it really was, or the feared animal larger, faster, or more aggressive than it was in reality. The memory distortions can be supported by impaired beliefs and interpretations attributed to feared objects or situations. The anxiety response experienced during a phobic situation can be maintained or increased by these impaired beliefs and interpretations.
Biological factors--> Although there is relatively little research conducted on the biological factors of specific phobia, there is evidence that specific phobia tends to run in the family.

Affective Disorder: Major Depressive Disorder

Symptoms:-

• Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. .
• Loss of interest in daily activities. .
• Appetite or weight changes. 
• Sleep changes. 
• Anger or irritability. .
• Loss of energy. .
• Self-loathing. 
• Reckless behavior.
• Concentration problems. 
• Unexplained aches and pains. 

Requirements for diagnosis:-

Mental health professionals may administer a screening test such as the Beck Depression Inventory or the Hamilton Rating Scale, both of which consist of about 20 questions that assess the individual for depression. However, most mental health professionals generally diagnose depression based on symptoms and other criteria.

Causes:- 


Genetic, biological, and environmental factors can contribute to its development.Currently, it appears that there are biochemical causes for depression, occurring as a result of abnormalities in the levels of certain chemicals in the brain.

 Risk-Factors:- 

Statistics show that the children of parents who suffer from depression are more likely to develop the disorder themselves. A person has a 27% chance of inheriting a mood disorder from one parent, and this chance doubles if both parents are affected. Studies of the occurrence of depression in twins show a 70 percent chance for both identical twins to suffer from depression, which is twice the rate of occurrence in fraternal twins.Depression is more common in people who have a history of trauma, sexual abuse, physical abuse, physical disability, bereavement at a young age, alcoholism, and insufficient family structure.Fifty percent of people with major depressive disorder experience their first episode of depression at about age 40, but this may be may be shifting to the 30s. Studies find that the rate of incidence is higher among middle-aged people. Major depressive disorder affects 10% of men and 20% of women. Hormonal differences may put women at a higher risk for depression. Hormone levels are influenced by pregnancy, and many women experience depression after giving birth.
 

Errors of Attribution

1. What is the difference between dispositional factors and situational factors?
1.  Dispositional factors --> They are factors that are internal to someone or something and are not necessarily seen, for example your genes or your mood.
    Situational factors -->  Any factor, such as an environmental factor or the equipment a person is using, which contributes to the set of conditions to which a person acts or reacts.

2. Explain and give an example of the fundamental error of attribution.

2. the fundamental attribution error describes the tendency to over-value dispositional or personality-based explanations for the observed behaviors of others while under-valuing situational explanations for those behaviors. 

3. Explain and give an example of the self-serving-bias error of attribution.

 3. A self-serving bias occurs when people attribute their successes to internal or personal factors but attribute their failures to situational factors beyond their control. The self-serving bias can be seen in the common human tendency to take credit for success but to deny responsibility for failure.

4.What does the study by Miyamoto and Kitayama tell us about cultural differences in attribution errors?
4.  Asians cared more about contextual information and relationships than Americans do and recognized previously seen objects more accurately when they saw them in their original settings rather than in the novel settings, whereas this manipulation had relatively little effect on Americans.

Trait Theory of Personality: The Big Five Test

1. What is the primary focus of trait theory of personality?
 Trait theory is focused on identifying and measuring these individual personality characteristics.The trait theory suggests that individual personalities are composed broad dispositions. A trait can be thought of as a relatively stable characteristic that causes individuals to behave in certain ways.

2.Explain the differences between cardinal traits, central traits and secondary traits. 
Cardinal Traits :Traits that dominate an individual’s whole life, often to the point that the person becomes known specifically for these traits.
Central Traits: These are the general characteristics that form the basic foundations of personality.  Secondary Traits: These are the traits that are sometimes related to attitudes or preferences and often appear only in certain situations or under specific circumstances.

3.What are two common criticisms of trait theory?
Poor Predictor of Future Behavior: While we may be able to say, in general that a person falls on the high end or low end of a specific trait, trait theory fails to address a person's state.  A state is a temporary way of interacting and dealing with the self and others.
No Means of Change:  Perhaps because trait theory does little to offer ideas about trait development, it also provides little or no guidance in the changing of negative aspects of a trait. 

4. Identify and briefly explain each of the five dimensions of personality according to McCrae and Costa.

1. Extraversion: This trait includes characteristics such as excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness and high amounts of emotional expressiveness.


2. Agreeableness: This personality dimension includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other prosocial behaviors.


3. Conscientiousness: Common features of this dimension include high levels of thoughtfulness, with good impulse control and goal-directed behaviors. Those high in conscientiousness tend to be organized and mindful of details.


4. Neuroticism: Individuals high in this trait tend to experience emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness.


5. Openness: This trait features characteristics such as imagination and insight, and those high in this trait also tend to have a broad range of interests.

5. What are two strengths of McCrae and Costa's five factor model of personality? 
Objectivity:  Perhaps the biggest strength of trait theory is it's reliance on statistical or objective data.

Ease of Use and Understanding.  Trait theory has been used to develop a number of assessment devices.  It provides an easy to understand continuum that provides a good deal of information regarding a person's personality, interaction, and beliefs about the self and the world.  Understanding traits allows us to compare people, to determine which traits allow a person to do better in college, in relationships, or in a specific career.  

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder treatments.

Cognitive behavioral treatments for PTSD have been found to be very successful in reducing peoples' symptoms.Several different therapies would be considered "cognitive-behavioral" that are regularly used to treat PTSD:

• Exposure Therapy
• Stress-Inoculation Training
• Cognitive Processing Therapy

1- Exposure Therapy --> Over time, people with PTSD may develop fears of reminders of their traumatic event. These reminders may be in the environment.The goal of exposure therapy is to help reduce the level of fear and anxiety connected with these reminders, thereby also reducing avoidance. This is usually done by having the client confront (or be exposed to) the reminders that he fears without avoiding them.

2- Stress-Inoculation Training -->  The basic goal of Stress-Inoculation Training is to help a patient gain confidence in his ability to cope with anxiety and fear stemming from trauma reminders.In SIT, the therapist helps the client become more aware of what things are reminders (also referred to as "cues") for fear and anxiety. In addition, clients learn a variety of coping skills that are useful in managing anxiety, such as muscle relaxation and deep breathing.

3- Cognitive Processing Therapy --> Cognitive-Processing Therapy (CPT) was developed by Resick and Schnicke to specifically treat PTSD among people who have experienced a sexual assault. Like exposure therapy, in CPT, the patient is asked to write about his traumatic event in detail. The patient is then instructed to read the story aloud repeatedly in and outside of session. The therapist helps the client identify and address stuck points and errors in thinking, sometimes called "cognitive restructuring". The therapist may help the patient address these errors or stuck points by having the client gather evidence for and against negative thoughts.

Medication is used with Cognitive-behavioral  therapy to help heal the patient more effectively and faster. The medications are used to bring the patient to the state of mind that allows him to come to terms with their fears and continue with the Cognitive-behavioral treatment.

Memory and Emotion in Real-life: PTSD

Post traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that can occur after a person goes through a traumatic event. Psychiatrists believe that PTSD can only be correctly diagnosed after at least a month has passed since the traumatic event. Before then the condition is considered a post-traumatic stress, but not yet post traumatic stress disorder.

There are 3 main symptoms that help psychiatrist determine whether the person is suffering from PTSD and they are :
               1- The sufferer re-experiences the traumatic incident.
               2- The sufferer displays avoidance, wants to stay away from anything that may possibly
                    remind her/him of the trauma. May also display lack of responsiveness or interest
                    towards everything.

               3- hyperarousal  (EX . irritable all the time or unable to sleep)

Memory and emotion could easily be related to PTSD, When a person experiences a traumatic event their emotions are acting up as their brain tries to process how to deal with it. The terrible memory of the incident will be stuck in his/her mind because it was very emotionally scarring.

Emotion and Memory = Flashbulb Memory?

Brown & Kulik (1977):-

The aim of this study was to investigate whether dramatic, or personally significant events can cause "flashbulb" memories.The procedure was that the psychologists asked the 80 US test subjects a bunch of questions to asses their memory of what happened that day and how they found out about it. It was discovered that Flashbulb memory is more likely to occur when a person is faced with relevant shocking news. They concluded that dramatic events can cause a physiological imprinting of a memory of the event.The weakness when it comes to the study was that the data was collected through questioners,so it couldn't be accurate.

http://www.nickoh.com/emacs_files/psychology/ss_dir/brown_kulik1977.html

Neisser & Harsch (1992):-

The morning after the explosion of the Challenger,106 students were given a memory questionnaire. 21 and a half years later,44 of the students filled out a second questionnaire. A weighted accuracy score was calculated by comparing the two accounts on these elements, using a 3 point scale. The findings showed that memories had in fact dimmed. Of a potential 220 ‘facts’ produced in the original questionnaire, they were partially or completely wrong on 150 of them. They concluded that accuracy is not entirely there or not there at all.



Talarico & Rubin (2003) :-

On September 12 they gave 52 student volunteers a questionnaire about their memory of September 11 and an ordinary event of their choosing from the preceding few days. They then divided the volunteers into three groups, and had each group return for a follow-up questionnaire session after a different amount of time had gone by: 7 days, 42 days, and 224 days. In the follow-up session they were asked the same questions about their memories about both the ordinary event and the flashbulb memory. They found out that the memory of September 11 was much stronger than a memory of a normal day. They concluded that flashbulb memories are like any other memories. One limitation was that the data was collected through a questionnaire so it was impossible to be accurate.

http://pages.slc.edu/~ebj/iminds09/L10-constructive-memory/neisser-harsch.html