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.