Type:
Solution Manual
Resource:
Abnormal Psychology
Edition:
6th Edition
Author(s):
Gordon L. Flett Nancy L. Kocovski Gerald C. Davidson John M. Neale
Instructor’s Manual to accompany Abnormal Psychology, Sixth Canadian Edition by Flett et al.
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: DEFINITIONAL AND HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS AND CANADA’S MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM
CHAPTER SYNOPSIS While many people are intrigued by the prospect of finding explanations for the causes of abnormal behaviour, explorers in the field of psychopathology must have great tolerance for ambiguity in order to be comfortable with the tentative, often conflicting information available. This text focuses on addressing the study of abnormal psychology using objective rules of science. Societies have different fundamental beliefs, values and social institutions. Canada has evolved a health and mental health care system that is universally available and funded by taxes. Because of these values and the resulting social institution of Medicare, mental patients have access to a relatively advanced level of care. However, Canada is at a critical juncture as in the process of looking at its current health care system and planning for the future through the Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada.
What is Abnormal Behaviour? Definitions of abnormal behaviour involve several components. For example, abnormal behaviour may be defined as statistically infrequent behaviour that falls at the extremes of the normal curve. Abnormality may also be defined as behaviors that violate norms, cause personal suffering, result in disability or dysfunction, or involve an unexpected response to a stressor. No one definition will fit every psychiatric diagnosis or be consistent across every culture.
Focus on Discovery 1.1: The Mental Health Professions A clinical psychologist holds either a Ph.D. degree or a Psy.D. (Doctor of Psychology). Ph.D. degrees involve intensive research training in addition to specialized training in diagnosis and psychotherapy. The Psy.D. places less emphasis on research and more on clinical training. A psychiatrist holds an M.D. and receives the same medical training as other physicians, in addition to a residency in psychotherapy. Because of their medical training, psychiatrists are able to prescribe psychoactive drugs. Recently, debate has arisen regarding the merits of allowing suitably trained clinical psychologists to prescribe psychoactive medications as well. Psychoanalysts have received specialized training at a psychoanalytic institute. Although Freud maintained that a medical degree was not a necessary prerequisite to psychoanalytic training, until recently most psychoanalytic institutes have required an M.D. and psychiatric residency. A psychiatric social worker has a Master of Social Work degree. There are also masters and doctoral programs for counselling psychology, somewhat similar to graduate training in clinical psychology but usually with less emphasis on research.
© Wiley Canada
Ch1, pg. 3
Instructor’s Manual to accompany Abnormal Psychology, Sixth Canadian Edition by Flett et al.
Clinicians are people who, regardless of professional degree, provide diagnostic and therapeutic services to the public. Psychopathologists, in contrast, are a diverse group of people from various disciplines who conduct research into the nature and development of various mental disorders.
History of Psychopathology The doctrine that an evil being may control the behaviour of another person is called demonology. Demons were thought to be the cause of abnormal behaviour in many ancient societies, and various rituals, sometimes tortuous ones, were performed to exorcise them. Hippocrates was one of the earliest proponents of somatogenesis—the belief that something wrong with the "soma" or physical body causes a disturbance in thought and action. This is in contrast to psychogenesis—the belief that the cause has its basis in psychological origins. Although his conception of brain functioning based on the balance of "humours" or fluids in the body was rather crude, Hippocrates' basic premise relating human behaviour to bodily functioning foreshadowed modern thinking. The decline of the Roman Empire and the rise of various religious groups eventually led to a return to concern about demonology. Thousands of men, women and children were tried as witches and subjected to torture and possible execution. For some time the prevailing interpretation has been that all the mentally ill of the later Middle Ages were considered witches. More careful analyses reveal that although some accused witches were mentally disturbed, trials of sane people outnumbered those of the insane. Records of lunacy trials in Britain suggest that the most common explanations for abnormal behaviour were physical illness or injury or emotional shock; only one case was attributed to demonic possession. When leprosy gradually disappeared from Europe during the 15th century, many former leper hospitals were turned into asylums. Despite the inclusion of abnormal behaviour within the domain of hospitals and medicine, conditions in many of the asylums were deplorable. "Treatment" for the insane included drawing large quantities of blood and frightening patients by convincing them of their impending death. Philippe Pinel was among the first to advocate moral treatment of the mentally ill in the late 18th century; he removed the chains of patients imprisoned in his hospital and treated them as sick human beings in need of compassion and understanding, rather than as beasts. However, recent reviews of the records of these hospitals suggest that drugs were the most common treatment used, and most of the patients did not improve or recover. The history of asylums in Canada is a good illustration of the interactions between colonial governments (England and France), religious institutions, legislation and local social conditions that has shaped many of Canada's social programs. The first precursor to 19 th-century asylums was established in Quebec in 1714 and was manned by religious orders. Dorthea Dix played a role in the development of asylums in Canada and is featured in Canadian Perspectives/1.1 (p. 11). The mental hospital in Canada during the twentieth century versus the hospitals of today are discussed in Canadian Perspectives/1.2 (p. 13). Progress in understanding mental illness was fostered by the discovery in the Middle Ages that the long accepted presentation of human anatomy by Galen was incorrect. The ensuing emphasis on an empirical approach to classifying mental disorders and studying their etiology marks the beginning of contemporary thought about psychopathology. Emil Kraepelin, a proponent of the somatogenic hypothesis, pointed out that groups of symptoms, called syndromes, appear together regularly in mental illnesses as in physical ones. His classification system became the basis for the present diagnostic categories (discussed in Chapter 4).
© Wiley Canada
Ch1, pg. 4
Instructor’s Manual to accompany Abnormal Psychology, Sixth Canadian Edition by Flett et al.
The discovery that the germ theory of disease could explain the connection between general paresis, with its deterioration in mental and physical health, and the medical condition of syphilis greatly promoted the somatogenic hypothesis, if one type of psychopathology had a biological cause, then so could others. The search for somatogenic causes has dominated psychiatry well into the 20th century. The psychogenic viewpoint—the belief that mental illness is due to psychological malfunction— appeared in the late eighteenth century. Mesmer believed that hysterical disorders, such as physical incapacities that defied anatomical rules, were caused by magnetic fluids in the body that could be influenced by other people; he used hypnotism to treat such disorders. While Mesmer viewed hysterical symptoms as purely physical, Charcot became convinced that such phenomena were caused by psychological factors; Breuer developed the cathartic method to release the emotional tension presumably underlying the paralysis.
Current Attitudes toward People with Psychological Disorders This section discusses the history of societal attitudes towards individuals with mental illnesses and traces the evolution of Canadian institutions that have helped shape a more compassionate attitude toward this group. In Canadian history several minority groups have faced the negative effects of stereotyping and stigmatization and mental patients are no exception. The twentieth century in Canada saw the rise of large mental institutions and the reduction in their size as chemotherapy (drug therapy) aided with symptom reduction and community mental health care evolved. However, these changes also gave rise to abuse (see a discussion of the CIA involvement in brainwashing experiments at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal, described in Canadian Perspectives 1.3.
STUDENTS SHOULD KNOW . . . Key Points 1.
The textbook takes a scientific approach to understanding abnormal behaviour.
2.
There are a number of components involved in the definition of abnormal behaviour, including statistical infrequency, violation of norms, personal suffering, disability or dysfunction, and unexpectedness.
3.
The different types of professionals involved in the field of mental health, including clinicians from various training backgrounds and psychopathologists.
4.
While there have been differing views on the causes of abnormal behaviour throughout the course of history, the roots of contemporary thought are embedded in the past. The somatogenic viewpoint was first postulated by Hippocrates more than 2,000 years ago, and the psychogenic point of view emerged in the late 18th century. These remain the major points of view regarding the causes of abnormal behaviour.
5.
Abnormal behaviour has been treated differently and sometimes inhumanely in the past. However, past practices were not as inhumane nor are current practices as enlightened as they are sometimes portrayed.
© Wiley Canada
Ch1, pg. 5
Instructor’s Manual to accompany Abnormal Psychology, Sixth Canadian Edition by Flett et al.
6.
Public perception of the mentally ill can have a significant effect on the behaviour and feelings of those suffering from a mental disorder and can profoundly affect public policy.
7.
Canada’s mental health care system is part of an overall system of publicly financed health care called “Medicare.” Currently, a resident of Canada can received the assistance of a physician, psychiatrist, or public mental health facility without charge. While this system is under review and pressure for change, the latest report on the system, the Romanow Report, recommends the continuance of a publicly financed system.
Key Terms abnormal behaviour (p. 2) accountability (p. 23) assessment (p. 4) asylums (p. 8) bedlam (p. 8) Canadian Mental Health Association (p. 18) Cathartic method (p. 14) clinical psychologist (p. 4) clinicians (p. 4) community psychology (p. 28) community treatment orders (p. 13) counselling psychologists (p. 4) deinstitutionalization (p. 26) demonology (p. 5) diagnosis (p. 4) dissociative identity disorder (p. 17) evidence-based treatment (p. 24) exorcism (p. 5) general paresis (p. 13) germ theory (of disease) (p. 13) medicare (p. 23) mental health literacy (p. 20)
© Wiley Canada
moral treatment (p. 9) normal curve (p. 2) prevention (p. 28) prescriptive authority (p 5) provincial psychiatric hospitals (p. 12) psychiatrist (p. 4) psychoactive drugs (p. 4) psychoanalyst (p. 4) psychogenesis (p. 5) psychopathology (p. 1) psychotherapy (p. 4) schizophrenia (p. 16) self-stigma (p. 20) social worker (p. 4) somatogenesis (p. 5) stereotyping (p. 16) stigmatization (p. 16) syndrome (p. 13) trepanning (p. 5) transinstitutionalization (p. 12)
Ch1, pg. 6