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An Overview of Abnormal Psychology

Introduction
What is abnormal behavior? This question is difficult to answer if we will not
give criteria for what is normal and abnormal. Thus, this module will be dealing with
the concepts and principles of abnormal psychology, the criteria for normal and
abnormal behavior, and determinants of psychopathology. Furthermore, the culture-
bound syndrome will also be discussed.

Student Learning Objectives (SLO)

 Give the meaning of abnormal psychology
 Discuss the criteria for normal and abnormal behavior
 Explain the determinants of psychopathology
 Describe culture bound syndrome

Content
Abnormal Psychology
 Also referred to as Psychopathology (literally: “pathology of the mind”) is the
study of abnormal behavior.
 It is the application of science in the study of mental disorders.
 It is the study of individuals with mental, emotional, and physical pain.

Defining Normality

Normal Behavior – definitions of what is considered normal behavior describe it

as behavior that is socially acceptable to the standards of the society. In short, if
behavior is socially acceptable or conforming to the standards of society, then that
behavior is normal.

Criteria for Normality

1. Normality is average – what is accepted by the majority is considered
normal. A problem in this definition is that not everything that is accepted by the
majority can be considered normal.
2. Normality is social conformity – Anyone who conforms to the standards
of the society is considered normal. Two main problems in this definition put
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consideration to the Problem of Criminality and the Problem of Social Standards.
3. Normality is personal comfort – If a person feels/experiences pleasure
or comfort, then the behavior is considered normal. Likewise, if a person
feels/experiences displeasure or discomfort, then that is considered abnormal. Issues
with this definition include the Problem of Objective and Subjective Symptoms, the
Problem of Individual Reactions to Discomfort, and the Problem of Social
Consequences.
Other definitions for normality:
1. Normality is Ideal
2. Normality is a process

Criteria for Stating what is Abnormal Behavior

1. Cultural Relativism - the view that there are no universal standards or rules for
labeling a behavior as abnormal. Behaviors can only be considered abnormal based
on or relative to cultural norms.
Although there are rejections to the cultural relativist tradition, it is important to
note that culture and gender play an influence on the way abnormal behavior is
expressed and the way they can be treated:
a. Culture and gender may affect how people express their symptoms.
b. Culture and gender may influence people’s willingness to admit certain
behaviors.
c. Culture and gender can determine the types of treatments or interventions
that are deemed acceptable or helpful.

2. Unusualness – behaviors which are considered unusual or deviant are considered

as abnormal behaviors. This is tied to cultural relativism since the culture dictates
what is usual or unusual.

3. Distress – behaviors should be considered abnormal only if the individual suffers

distress and wishes to be rid of the behaviors.

4. Mental Illness – behaviors are not considered abnormal unless they are a part of
a mental illness.

Four D’s of Abnormal Behavior

1. Dysfunction – behavior causes impairment in social and occupational functioning.
This means that the behavior interferes with the person’s ability to form and maintain
relationships or hold a job.
2. Distress – Behaviors and feelings that cause distress to the individual or to others
around him or her are also likely to be considered abnormal.
3. Deviance – deviant and unusual behaviors lead to the judgment of abnormality.
4. Dangerousness – some behaviors and feelings are of potential harm to the
individual, such as suicidal gestures, or to others, such as excessive aggression.
Such dangerous behaviors and feelings are often seen as abnormal.

The accepted definition of abnormality/psychological disorder, used the DSM-5,

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describes behavioral, psychological, or biological dysfunctions that are unexpected in
their cultural context and associated with present distress and impairment in
functioning, or increased risk of suffering, death, pain, or impairment.

Summary of the DSM-5 Definition of Mental Disorders

Historical Perspectives On Abnormality

Throughout history, there have been three theories or models which attempt to
explain the causes of abnormal behavior. First, the Biological Theories saw that
abnormal behavior is similar to physical disease, which is caused by a breakdown of
the systems of the body. Because of that, the cure for abnormal behavior was to
restore bodily health. Second, the supernatural theories saw abnormal behavior as a
result of divine intervention, curses, demonic possession, or personal sin. To rid the
person of such, they turn to religious rituals such as exorcism, confession, and
atonement. Lastly, the Psychological theories saw abnormal behavior as a result of
traumas such as bereavement or chronic stress. In this model, rest, relaxation, and a
change of environment can be helpful.

Biological Tradition
Hippocrates
▪ Father of modern medicine
▪ Abnormal behavior had natural causes, not because of demonological accounts.
▪ He and his associates: Hippocratic Corpus - Suggested that psychological disorders
can be treated like other diseases. Can be caused by brain trauma or genetics.
▪ All problems are caused by imbalance in the body
▪ Treatment is aimed at balancing

Galen
▪ Physician who continued on the work of Hippocrates
▪ Hippocratic-Galenic Approach: HUMORAL THEORY
• Four Humors : Blood, Black Bile, Yellow Bile, Phlegm

The 19th Century

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▪ Syphilis - STD caused by a bacterial microorganism entering the brain. Behavioral
and Cognitive Symptoms include believing that everyone is plotting against you or
that you are God, as well as other bizarre behaviors. Cure for syphilis: penicillin
▪ John P. Grey - Champion of the BT in the US, his position is that the cause of
insanity is always physical, mentally ill patients are to be treated as though they are
physically ill

Supernatural Tradition
Demons and Witches
▪ Supernatural causes of psychological disorders
▪ Work of the devil or Witchcraft
▪ Treatment: Exorcism, Shaving a cross pattern in the hair, or securing sufferers to a
wall near the front of a church
Stress and Melancholy
▪ Insanity was a natural phenomenon, caused by mental and emotional stress, and is
curable
▪ Communal treatment for the insane
▪ Nicholas Oresme
• Adviser to the King of France
• Bishop and Philosopher
• Melancholy is the source of bizarre behavior not demons
Treatment for Possession
▪ AIDS : divine punishment for homosexuality
▪ Exorcism: Reliable, If not, other methods are used such as beating and confinement
▪ Other approaches: Hanging people over a pit full of poisonous snakes or Dipping on
icy water
Mass Hysteria
▪ Large-scale outbreak of bizarre behavior during the Middle Ages wherein people go
out running in the streets, dancing, shout, rave, and jump
▪ They lent support to the notion of possession
▪ Also called Saint Vitus’ Dance and Tarantism
▪ Believed to be a reaction to insect bites
Moon and Stars
▪ Paracelsus - Rejected possession and suggested that the movement of the moon
and
the stars had an effect on human behavior
▪ Lunatic

Psychological Tradition
Plato
▪ He suggested that causes of maladaptive behavior were the social and cultural
influences and the learning that took place in that environment. This belief was a
precursor to modern psychosocial approaches
Moral Therapy
▪ 19th century psychosocial approach to mental disorders
▪ Moral = emotional or mental

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▪ Treating patients as normally as possible
▪ 16th century Asylums

Psychoanalytic Theory
▪ Patients were hypnotized
▪ Anton Mesmer
▪ suggested to his patients that their problem was caused by an undetectable
fluid found
in all living organisms called “animal magnetism,” which could become blocked
▪ Jean Charcot - started the practice of hypnosis as treatment modality
▪ Freud and Breuer:
▪ Hypnosis: Unconscious
▪ Catharsis
▪ Anna O.
Humanistic Theory
Behavioral Approaches

Psychopathology In The Historical Context

▪ Europe in the Middle Ages: “lunatics”, “idiots”
▪ Family, not community responsibility
▪ 1600s to 1700s = insane asylums
▪ Change is societal perspective
▪ Early asylums: human warehouses
▪ 19th Century: Moral treatment movement
▪ Large institutions led to the development of new professions such as
psychiatry
▪ Worcester Lunatic Hospital: A Model Institution
▪ Woodward’s ideas about the causes of disorders represented a combination
of physical and
moral considerations.
▪ Invention of public mental hospitals: systematic observation and scientific
inquiry
▪ Psychiatry as a professional group
▪ Expanded public concern on solving problems of mental disorders
▪ Some misguided and naïve aspects of 19th century psychiatry
– Masturbation leads to mental disorders

PRESENT PERSPECTIVES
▪ Pharmacotherapy - Use of drugs in therapy
▪ Psychotherapy
▪ Problems: Deinstitutionalization
▪ Deinstitutionalization - Move to integrate patients with their communities:
community-based treatment facilities

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• Community Mental Health Center

- Team of social workers, therapists and physicians
• Halfway Houses
- Long-term treatment
- Structured and supportive environment
• Day Treatment Center
- Treatment during the day, live at home during night

Professionals Within Psychopathology

Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
▪ PhD in Psychology
▪ PsyD
Psychiatrists
▪ MD with Psychiatry Residency
Psychiatric Social Worker
▪ Master’s Degree in Social Work
▪ Specialized Practice in Psychiatry
Psychiatric Nurses
▪ Nursing Graduates
▪ Advanced training in psychiatry
Marriage and Family Therapists
▪ Master’s Degree in Counseling
▪ Training
The Present
– Scientific Method
– Integrative Approach
– Scientist-Practitioner Model

DETERMINANTS OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
▪ Behavior is determined.
▪ Determinants of behavior – factors that cause a particular behavior

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Myths and Facts about Mental Illness

The stigma associated with mental illness is now called “sanism.” Just like
racism or sexism, it is a form of oppression and discrimination. And there is a lot of
sanism and misinformation surrounding mental illness still present within our society.
It’s up to us, the mental health community, to educate others and set the record
straight. 
 
Here are some of the common misconceptions people make and what you need
to know.

Myth: Having a mental illness means you are “crazy.”

Fact: It's plain and simple, having a mental illness does not mean you are
“crazy.” It means you are vulnerable. It means you have an illness with challenging
symptoms — the same as someone with an illness like diabetes. While mental illness
might alter your thinking, destabilize your moods or skew your perception of reality,
that doesn’t mean you are “crazy.” It means you are human and are susceptible to
sickness and illness, the same as any other person. 

Myth: People with mental illness are violent and dangerous.

Fact: The unfortunate truth is that individuals with mental illness are more likely to
be victims of violence than perpetrators. There is no reason to fear a person with a
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mental illness just because of their diagnosis.

Myth: People with bipolar disorder are moody.

Fact: Bipolar disorder does not cause mood swings. It causes cycles that last
for weeks or months. People so often throw around the term “bipolar” to describe
the weather. When they say this, it downplays the seriousness of the condition and
creates misinformation about what bipolar disorder actually is. 
 
Bipolar disorder causes you to have episodes where you experience mania (high
energy, rampant thoughts, inability to sleep, grandiose ideas or perspectives, etc.)
and depressive states (feeling very sluggish, sad, suicidal, having low self-esteem,
inability to concentrate, etc.) These extreme highs and lows take turns, but do not
change or swing from moment to moment.

Myth: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is only a military man’s disease.

Fact: PTSD is not just a military man’s disease. Anyone can have PTSD. A rape or

sexual assault victim, a domestic abuse victim, a survivor of a natural disaster,
someone who’s suffered a loss or even a person who did not face any violence or
physical threats themselves directly, but happened to witness someone else who did
(i.e. vicarious trauma). 
 
The symptoms include having flashbacks of that event or events, nightmares/night
terrors, anxiety/panic attacks, taking precautions to avoid reminders or “triggers” of
the event, reacting in a way as if the event is re-occurring, etc.

Myth: Psychiatric medications are bad.

Fact: People tend to believe that psychiatric medicine is harmful. That, or they believe
that psych meds are simply “happy pills” and “an easy way out” for those with mental
illness to avoid dealing with their problems. Again, this is simply not true.
 
Just like any other detrimental medical condition, mental illness is still an illness. For
many with mental illness, medication is necessary, just like it would be for a
diabetic taking insulin. For some individuals with mental illness, medication is needed
for survival. For others, like those who have mild to moderate depression, anxiety, or
ADHD, medication can help ease symptoms, so they can function normally. And
having regular therapy combined with medication can greatly improve one’s quality of
life.

Myth: Seeking help for mental illness will lead to being ostracized and make
symptoms worse.

Fact: I know it’s hard to come out to anyone about having a mental illness, especially
because they’re so commonly misunderstood and people who are unfamiliar with

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mental illness tend to think that people are the way they are because of nature,
personality or attitude. But when you do have the strength, courage and bravery to
open up to someone else, you are working to alleviate the stigma, increase
awareness, empower yourself, grow as a person, and promote understanding of
mental health. So don’t let others perceptions scare you from getting the help
you need.
 
It’s important that we prevent societal constructs from framing people as violent or
“crazy” for having an illness that is beyond their control. 
 
Let's change the world together one step at a time.

Culture Bound Syndromes (Folk Illnesses)

A culture-bound syndrome is a collection of signs and symptoms that is
restricted to a limited number of cultures by reason of certain psychosocial
features. Culture-bound syndromes are usually restricted to a specific setting, and
they have a special relationship to that setting. Because culture-bound syndromes are
classified on the basis of common etiology (e.g., magic, evil spells, angry ancestors),
clinical pictures may vary.

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Assessment and Evaluation

Activity 1. Culture Bound Syndrome in the Philippines
1. Search a study on a specific culture bound syndrome in the Philippines.
In your output, discuss the following:
a. what is that specific culture bound syndrome (causes, symptoms, and
treatment)
b. from what area in the Philippines
c. determinants of behavior
2. Give your realization/insights/feelings about the article. (3-5 sentences only)
3. Write your reference in APA format. See the guide.
APA Citation Guide (7th edition) : Journal Articles
https://columbiacollege-ca.libguides.com/c.php?g=713274&p=5082923

Rubrics: Content – 10points,

Mechanics – 5points,
Originality – 5 points,
Reflection -5points
Total = 25points

Note: The output for the activities will be done in the area of assessment and
evaluation at the specified week in the STCFlip.

References

Argao, R. C. (2018). Introduction to Psychopathology from his compilation of reviewer

Azurin, C. (14, November 2014). Culture Bound Syndrome in the Philippines. Prezi.
https://prezi.com/hchlg4vokjdh/culture-bound-syndrome/

Barlow, D. H. & Durand, V. M. (2015). Abnormal psychology: An integrative approach

(7th ed.). Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Henderson, D., Nhuyen, D., Wills, M., and Fricchione, G. (27 December 2010).
Culture
and psychiatry. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-4377-1927
7.00047-9

Marsella, A. and Yamada, A. (2010). Culture and psychopathology: Foundations,

issues, directions. Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology. 4(2), 103 –115.
https://doi.org/10.1375/prp.4.2.103

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Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2014). Abnormal psychology (6th ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Oltmanns, T. F. & Emery R. E. (2012). Abnormal psychology (7th ed.). Pearson

Education.

Ross, S. L. (2019). Six myths and facts about mental illness. National Alliance on
Mental Health.
https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/October-2019/Six-
Myths-and-Facts-about-Mental-Illness

Prepared: Checked: Approved:

Dr. AUDREE D. ALDAY Dr. JANET T. COMETA Dr. RANDYM. BAJA

Instructor Department Head Dean

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