PSY 245 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Tunxis Community College, Philippe Pinel, Mental Health
8 Dec 2020
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Document Summary
Abnormal psychology: the scientific study of problematic feelings, thoughts, and behaviors associated with mental disorders. Designed to evaluate, understand, predict, and prevent mental disorders and help those who are in distress. Mental disorder: a group of emotional (feelings), cognitive (thinking), or behavioral symptoms that cause distress or significant problems. Three criteria determine abnormal behavior: deviance from the norm, difficulty adapting to life"s demands, and experience of personal distress. Deviance from the norm-> being on one end of the bell curve: cultures differ in how they define what is normal. Experiencing personal distress: hallmark feature of mental disorders, often prompts people to seek treatment. Emotions, thoughts, and behaviors associated with mental disorders are present, to some degree, in all of us; abnormal behaviors exist along a continuum. Dimensions underlying mental disorders: emotions, cognitions, and behaviors (see chart in book) 460bc-476ad: therapeutic environments, healthy diets, exercise, education, massage. 476ad-1453ad: prayer, holy objects, relics, pilgrimages, confinement, exorcism.
