PSY100 Lecture June 9, 2011 ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY

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1 PSY100 Lecture June 9, 2011 ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY Brand New Ancient Wisdom: you have more control than you think The brain structurally becomes thicker in order to accommodate learning in respective areas Affective neuroscience: changing the way that your brain works Richard Davidson: Studied how the brains meditation practitioners functioned through EEG Left to right PFC activation was heavily neurologically happy (<0.4) in practitioner of 30 years The brain is highly capable of being rewired Ex: free-diving people structurally change their physiology days ahead in order to pack more and more oxygen into body through meditation Our normal patterns of thinking Evaluate; people can make intuitive judgments quickly How efficiently can our minds work? Ex: if you let a student watch a short, soundless clip of a professor lecturing, they will be able to predict the kind of professor they are Discrepancy based ; comparison of ourselves and others to standards of comparison closing the gap between two situations Focused on past or future: you can live in the past and the future, in a sense Abstract world that you created in your mind Ex: thinking about the person you went on a date with consider the way the date went and then anticipate future Problem-solving Thinking Mind is a churning mass of activity Yoga- it is difficult to maintain a still mind Normal patterns of thinking are relentless and incessant Jon Kabat-Zinn Sought to frame and market meditation as a stress-reduction program Mindfulness Practice Must be openly receptive to whatever is going on at that moment in time Focused awareness on the present Non-reactive, non-evaluative Nothing is done with thoughts that come up, they are merely observed passively Don t do anything about it accepting thoughts Active practice of acceptance

2 Imagine standing in front of the mirror and look at yourself and you are focused on your most hated flaw You are forcing yourself to stand there and eventually get over it Cognitive therapy had mindfulness practice built in People can pay attention to their thoughts and mind and gain access to consciousness. Approach thoughts with non-reactive stance very much like parent approaching a child Difference from CBT one doesn t try to solve one s problems by practicing mindfulness Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression Why does depression have such a high relapse rate? Ruminative thinking is the key people think about themselves alot Figure out what is wrong with yourself Increased neural nets develop for negative thinking Brain grows to be very good at thinking about what is wrong with you Negative emotions lead to negative thoughts well oiled negative self thinking machine IS RUMINATION THE PROBLEM? Doing mode (performance) vs. Thinking mode (experiential being) The feeling of acceptance is the strengthening of numerous synaptic connection neurological phenomenon The hidden neurology of doing nothing How does it help? Making a decision to face problem, not turn away Act of courage, power, self-control Observation is a very active process Psychopathology Diagnosing someone is human perception process People tell a biased story of their thoughts/ problems Therapist interprets in top-done mechanism, evaluating information at disposal Ex: multiple personality disorder Diagnosis became more popular over the years Is nature changing? Or are our beliefs about MPD changing? different perception What is abnormal psychology? What is the difference between disorder and normal? Ex: What is the difference between OCD vs. Being cautious & detailoriented? Ex: depression vs. Blues?

3 At what point does a characteristic become a disorder? Ex: ADHD 3 key symptoms Inattention Hyperactivity Impulsivity How is this different than the average kid? Self-fulfilling prophecy of labels Labelling a person affects how they see themselves, how they behave, and how others see them Tendency can sometimes be dysfunctional you are not a category Carol Dweck- fixed vs. Growth perspective People limit themselves dramatically by living by their labels selffulfilling prophecy fixed perspective Developed training workshop Control: take kids and put them in educational skill building workshop intervention control Experimental group: into skill building workshop but are given instruction and information that the brain is like a muscles growth mindset Both groups start off the same with poor marks but over time, experimental group brings mark up with brain is a muscle mindset are you telling me that i don t have to be dumb? Rosenhan: on being sane in insane places 8 normal people Complained of hearing voices that said empty, hollow, and thud. diagnosed schizophrenia and admitted in hospital Took 7-52 days to get out of hospital Acted normal after admittance but weren t treated as normal despite behaviour. Doctors interpretations of behaviours and patient recollections are skewed. Evaluating Psychopathology: 3 Macro-criteria DEVIANCE- the person s behaviours or experience outside of social norms? Homosexuality is considered a psychological disorder Many things are deviant and aren t necessarily dysfunctional MALADATPIVE- is it interfering with other normal aspects of life, responsibilities, etc.? Ex: having a religious awakening is maladaptive could quit their jobs to be devoted, etc. PERSON DISTRESS: is the person greatly distressed? Many people feel fine even though they are diagnosed with disorder

4 Three imperfect errors of mental illness look for convergence There is a continuum, not a dichotomy People are hardly on the extremes of the continuum and tend to be near the middle People bounce around; there are some indications of problems and strength Psychological Assessment & Diagnosis Begins with observing behaviour and manner Guided by the DSM (diagnostic statistical manual of mental disorder) Each disorder has a list of symptoms; classic, secondary, and varied symptoms Ex: difficulty of sleep is common in many disorders In order to diagnose, there is a cut-off number of symptoms arbitrarily set rule DSM is a multiaxial system helps people think more systematically Axis 1: clinical syndrome numerous categories guide questions asked, etc. Axis 2: personality disorders & mental retardation look for long standing patterns Axis 3: general medical conditions Axis 4: psychosocial & environmental problems larger context in which the person lives Axis 5: global assessment of functioning Rates of psychopathology Psychological disorders are extremely common, but there is stigma of disorders in society People have an unwillingness to receive help Understanding disorders at multiple levels of analysis Disorders involve a multifaceted system of factors Neurochemical Physiological Cognitive Affective Behavioural Environmental Interpersonal Need to think about the whole picture to truly understand a disorder Structural factors Depression Depression has its hallmarks

5 Negative attributions excessive stability global attribution (overgeneralizing) Results in inability to improve Average duration = 6 months, but range is huge Treating Psychological Disorders Therapists help people become aware of negative cognitions and help them reframe them In schizophrenia, symptoms are highly responsive to family conditions