PSYC 337 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Nosology, Howlong, Maladaptation
13 Sep 2019
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PSYC 337: Introduction to Psychopathology
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Lecture 1: Introduction – What is Psychopathology?
• What is a mental disorder?
o Medical models/syndromes
▪ Syndrome borrowed from medical models of illness
▪ Medical models have evolved over time
▪ Acknowledge illness as multifactorial/multiply determined
▪ Clinical psychology working to catch up
▪ Diseases were measurable entities
Symptoms travelling together and what symptoms don’t go with
that symptom profile
▪ Mental disorders are categories that exist in the real world – taxon
▪ Mental disorders can present themselves in many different ways
o Definitions and constructs of mental disorders
▪ How to define “mental illness?”
I argue that a disorder is a harmful dysfunction, wherein harmful is
a value term based on social norms, and dysfunction is a scientific
term referring to the failure of a mental mechanism to perform a
natural function for which it was designed by evolution. Thus, the
concept of disorder combines value and scientific components
Wakefield J. (1992). The concept of mental disorder: On
the boundary between biological facts and social values.
American Psychologist, 47(3), 373 – 388.
“Harmful Dysfunction”
Dysfunction – “an organ system performing contrary to its
design”
Importantly, not at the peak of its design
Wakefield argues that the brain is designed to
perform a number of functions
Thinking
Feeling
Emotion regulation
Problems with any of these functions indicates a
disorder
All disorders have a biological component as well as
a social component
Harmful – causing problems in a person’s daily life
Can be perceived by the person or not
perceived by the person
Presumes we understand the function and design of the
brain, personality, emotions, etc
PSYC 337: Introduction to Psychopathology
2
▪ Lillienfeld critique
What is “natural function?”
We don’t know what any of these organisms are designed
to do
Natural selection depends on variability
There has to be variability in any trait for natural selection
Some disorders may represent adaptations, not maladaptation
Example: depression
Adaptative response to outcomes that are not
changeable
No use in putting out energy where it wouldn’t
change anything
▪ Widiger proposal
Mental disorders are constructs
Not something that can be directly measured
Can’t capture these directly
Indirect measure
Multi-modal approach
Many different types of measurements to get an idea of
what these changing constructs may be
Complex, latent structures that are defined in multiple
ways
Will not find a single etiological source for any disorder
Expressed in many different ways
May relate to each other but it might not be very strong
There’s no single definition of the disorder(s)
• Diagnosis and diagnostic systems
o Diagnosis and classification
▪ Purposed of a classification system
Description – highlight critical features of a diagnoses
E.g., schizophrenia – what are the important symptoms
Prediction – may tell you something about course, treatment
response, etiology
Theory – provides a set of postulates about relatively different
elements to one another
Communication – e.g., between clinicians
Easier to communicate if both clinicians have the same idea
of what a disorder is
▪ Five criteria proposed for valid classification of disorders:
Document Summary
Thus, the concept of disorder combines value and scientific components. The concept of mental disorder: on the boundary between biological facts and social values. Dysfunction an organ system performing contrary to its design . Importantly, not at the peak of its design. Wakefield argues that the brain is designed to perform a number of functions. Problems with any of these functions indicates a disorder. All disorders have a biological component as well as a social component. Harmful causing problems in a person"s daily life. Can be perceived by the person or not perceived by the person. Presumes we understand the function and design of the brain, personality, emotions, etc. We don"t know what any of these organisms are designed to do. There has to be variability in any trait for natural selection. Some disorders may represent adaptations, not maladaptation. Adaptative response to outcomes that are not changeable. No use in putting out energy where it wouldn"t change anything: widiger proposal.
