PSY-1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: General Paresis Of The Insane, Psychosis, Distressing
Document Summary
Abnormal behaviour was claimed to be work of the devil. Procedure called trephination drilled hole in skull to release evil spirits. Hippocrates suggested that mental illnesses are diseases just like physical. Believed that site of illness was the brain. Biological emphasis increased after discovery that general paresis (mental disorders deterioration disorder) resulted from brain deterioration. Freud believed that psychological disorders are caused by unresolved conflicts. Disorders that don"t involve a loss of contact with reality (obsessions, phobias, etc. ) called neuroses. Severe disorders involving a withdrawal from reality called psychoses. Vulnerability-stress model everyone has some degree of vulnerability to developing a disorder. Vulnerability can have biological basis, brain malfunction, or hormonal factor. Can also arise from personality factors such as low self-esteem. Vulnerability often only causes disorder when a stressor combines with it to trigger the appearance of the disorder. Three criteria seem to govern decisions about abnormality: We are likely to label behaviours abnormal if they intensely distress an individual.
