Abnormal Psychology
Phase 1: Introduction
Source: Barlow, Durand & Hofmann (2018), Comer & Comer (2017), DSM-V, DSM-V-TR
Introduction
o Psychological Disorder – psychological
dysfunction within an individual associated with
distress or impairment in functioning and a
response that is not typical or culturally
expected
▪ Psychological Dysfunction – refers to a
breakdown in cognitive, emotional, or
behavioral functioning
▪ Distress or Impairment – individual is
extremely upset and cannot function
properly
▪ Atypical or Not Culturally Expected –
deviates from the average or the norm of the
culture
o Psychopathology – scientific study of
psychological disorders
o Clinical/Counseling Psychologist – received
Ph.D. and follow a course of graduate-level
study lasting approx. 5 years
o Psy.D. – focus on clinical training and de-
emphasize or eliminates research training
o Ph.D. – integrate clinical and research training
o Psychiatrists – first earn an M.D. in med school,
then specialize in Psychiatry
o Psychiatric Social Workers – earns master’s in
social work as they develop expertise in
collecting information relevant to the social and
family situation of the individual
o Scientist-Practitioners – they may keep up with
the latest scientific developments in their field
and utilize the knowledge in their practice
▪ Evaluate their own assessments and
treatment procedures to see whether they
are effective
▪ Conduct research that produces new
information about disorders or their
treatments, thus becoming immune to the
fads that plague our field, often at the
expense of patients and their families
o Presenting Problem or Present – traditional
shorthand way of indicating why the person
came to the clinic
o Clinical Description – represents the unique
combination of behaviors, thoughts, and
feelings that make up a specific disorder
▪ Clinical – refers both to the types of
problems or disorders that you would find in
a clinic or hospital and to the activities
connected with assessment and treatment
▪ To specify what makes the disorder different
from normal behavior
o Prevalence – How many people in the
population as a who have/had the disorder?
o Incidence – how many new cases occurring
during a given period
o Course – individual pattern of symptoms
▪ Chronic – last a long time
▪ Episodic – likely to recover a few months
only to suffer re-occurrence
▪ Time-Limited – disorder will improve
without treatment in a relatively short
period with little or no risk or recurrence
o Onset – beginning of the disorder
▪ Acute – sudden
▪ Insidious – gradually over an extended
period of time
o Prognosis – anticipated course of the disorder
o Etiology – study of origins, why the disorder
begins
o Ego-Syntonic – behaviors are aligned with your
personal values and self-image
o Ego-Dystonic – actions that are inconsistent
with your ego
History
Supernatural
o During the last quarter of the 14th century,
Roman Catholic Church fought back against evil
in the world that is believed must have been
behind these disorders
o People turned to magic and sorcery to solve
their problems because they also believed that
psych disorders were the works of the devil
and witches
o Treatments include exorcisms, shaving the
pattern of a cross in the hair of the victim’s head
and securing sufferers to a wall near the
church
o Mental depression and anxiety were
recognized as illness, although symptoms such
as despair and lethargy were often identified by
the church as a sin of acedia, or sloth
o Common treatments was rest, sleep, and
health and happy environment (baths,
ointments, and happy environment)
o Nicholas Oresme – suggested that melancholy
(depression) was the source of some bizarre
behavior, rather than demons

Source: Barlow, Durand & Hofmann (2018), Comer & Comer (2017), DSM-V, DSM-V-TR
o Possession is not always connected with sin
but may be seen as an involuntary and the
possessed individuals as blameless
o In the middle ages, if exorcism failed, some
authorities resorted to confinement, beatings,
and other forms of torture as treatment
(hanging people over a pit full of poisonous
snakes
o Mass Hysteria – whole groups of people were
simultaneously compelled to run out in the
streets, dance, shout, rave, and jump around in
patterns as if they were a particularly wild
party (Saint Vitus’s Dance and Tarantism)
o Paracelsus – rejected the notions of
possession and suggested that the movement
of moon and starts had profound effects on
people’s psychological functioning
o Johann Weyer – founder of modern psychiatry;
used compassion and pioneering approach in
treating mental illness in Europe during the
time of witchcraft
Biological
o Hippocrates – Father of Modern Medicine
▪ Hippocratic Corpus (Hippocratic Oath)
▪ Suggested that psych disorders should be
treated like any other disease
▪ Psych disorders might also be caused by
brain pathology or head trauma and could be
influenced by heredity
▪ Brain is the seat of wisdom, consciousness,
intelligence, and emotion
▪ Also coined the word Hysteria to describe a
concept he learned about from the Egyptians
(now Somatic Symptoms Disorders)
▪ Wandering Uterus
o Galen – adopted the ideas of Hippocrates and
developed Humoral Theory of Disorders
a. Blood – heart; sanguine – cheerful and
optimistic
b. Black Bile – liver; melancholic – depressed
and sentimental
c. Yellow Bile – spleen; choleric – apathetic
and chill
d. Phlegm – brain; phlegmatic – hot-tempered
▪ Two treatments: Bloodletting and induced
vomiting
▪ Robert Burton – recommended eating
tobacco and half-boiled cabbage to induced
vomiting
Abnormal Psychology
Phase 1: Introduction
o Chinese focused on the movement of air or
“wind” throughout the body
▪ Unexplained mental disorders were caused
by blockages of wind or the presence of
cold, dark wind (yin) as opposed to warm,
life-sustaining (yang)
▪ Treatment: acupuncture
o Advanced Syphilis – sexually transmitted
disease caused by a bacterial microorganism
entering the brain, include delusions
o General Paresis – psychotic patients
deteriorated steadily, becoming paralyzed and
dying within 5 years of onset
o John P. Grey – believed that the causes of
insanity were always physical
▪ Invented rotary fan
▪ Conditions in hospitals greatly improved
o In the 1930s, the physical interventions of
electric shocks and brain surgeries were often
used
o Manfred Sakel – used large doses of insulin to
convulse and temporarily comatose patients
(Insulin Shock Therapy)
o Benjamin Franklin – discovered that mild and
modest electric shock to the head produced
brief convulsion and memory loss but
otherwise did little harm
o Joseph von Meduna – schizophrenia is rarely
observed to individuals with epilepsy
o Emil Kraepelin – founding fathers of modern
psychiatry
▪ Contributed to the diagnosis and
classification of disorders
▪ Dementia Praecox
Psychological
o Aristotle – emphasized the influence of social
environment and early learning on later
psychopathology
o Moral Therapy – basic tenets included treated
institutionalized patients as normally as
possible in a setting that encouraged and
reinforced normal social interaction
▪ Philippe Pinel and Jean-Baptiste Pussin –
Moral Therapy in Framce
▪ William Tuke – Moral Therapy in England
▪ Benjamin Rush – Moral therapy in US
▪ Dorothea Dix – mental health movement
o Franz Anton Mesmer – suggested to his
patients that their problem was caused by an

Source: Barlow, Durand & Hofmann (2018), Comer & Comer (2017), DSM-V, DSM-V-TR
undetectable fluid found in all living organisms
called animal magnetism
o Jean-Martin Charcot – demonstrated some
techniques of mesmerism were effective with a
number of psychological disorders, and he did
much to legitimize the fledgling practice of
hypnosis
o Freud partnered with Josef Breuer to
experiment different hypnotic procedure and
discovered “Unconscious” mind
o Catharsis – release of emotional material
o Structure of Mind:
▪ Id - pleasure
▪ Ego - reality
▪ Superego – morality
o Defense Mechanisms – unconscious protective
processes that keep primitive emotions
associated with conflicts in check so that the
ego can continue its coordinating function
Humanistic
o Psychosocial Stages: Oral, Anal, Phallic,
Latency, Genitals
o Fixation – if we did not receive appropriate
gratification during a specific stage
o Castration Anxiety – fear of losing penis
o Oedipus Complex – battle of lustful impulses
towards his mother and castration anxiety on
other
o Electra Complex – young girl wanting to
replace her mother and possess her father
(penis envy)
o Neuroses – disorders of the nervous systems
Abnormal Psychology
Phase 1: Introduction
o Anna Freud – Ego Psychology (defensive
reactions of ego, determines our behavior)
o Heinz Kohut – focused on a theory of formation
of self-concept and the crucial attributes of the
self that allow individual to progress toward
health (Self-Psychology)
o Object Relations – study of how children
incorporate the images, the memories, and
sometimes the values of a person who was
important to them (introjection)
o Carl Jung – introduced the concept of collective
unconscious, which is wisdom accumulated by
society and culture that is stored deep in
individual memories and passed down from
generation to generation
o Alfred Adler – created the term Inferiority
Complex
o Free Association – patients are instructed to
say whatever comes to mind without the usual
socially required censoring
o Dream Analysis – therapist interprets the
content of dreams
o Transference – patients come to relate to the
therapist much as they did to important figures
in their childhood
o Countertransference – therapist project some
of their own personal issues and feelings,
usually positive, onto the patient
o Self-Actualizing – highest potential, in all areas
of functioning
o Abraham Maslow – postulated Hierarchy of
Needs
o Carl Rogers – originated Person-Centered
Therapy
o Unconditional Positive Regard – the complete
and almost unqualified acceptance of most of
the client’s feelings and actions
o Empathy – sympathetic understanding of the
individual’s particular view of the world
o Thomas Szasz – societies invented the concept
of mental illness so that they can control
people whose unusual patterns of functioning
upset or threaten social order
o Joseph Wolpe – Systematic Desensitization
o Hans Selye – developed General Adaptation
Syndrome (GAS)
▪ three-stage process that describes the
physiological changes the body goes
through when under stress

Source: Barlow, Durand & Hofmann (2018), Comer & Comer (2017), DSM-V, DSM-V-TR
▪ Stage 1: Alarm – refers to the initial
symptoms the body experiences when
under stress
▪ Stage 2: Resistance – After the initial shock
of a stressful event and having a fight-or-
flight response, the body begins to repair
itself. It releases a lower amount of cortisol,
and your heart rate and blood pressure
begin to normalize.
▪ Stage 3: Exhaustion - result of prolonged or
chronic stress; no longer have energy to
fight stress
Behavioral
o Classical Conditioning – type of learning in
which neutral stimulus is paired with response
until it elicits that response
▪ Unconditioned Stimulus – natural stimulus
▪ Unconditioned Response – natural or
unlearned response
▪ Conditioned Stimulus – newly conditioned
event introduced
▪ Conditioned Response – response from the
conditioned stimulus
▪ Extinction – without CS showed long
enough, the behavior could be eliminated
o Stimulus Generalization – strength of the
response to similar objects or people is usually
a function of how similar these objects or
people are
o Introspection – Edward Titchener; subjects
report their inner thoughts and feelings after
experiencing certain stimuli
o John B. Watson – founder of behaviorism
▪ Little Albert
o Systematic Desensitization – patients were
gradually introduced to the objects or
Abnormal Psychology
Phase 1: Introduction
situations they feared so that their fear could
extinguish
o Operant Conditioning – behavior changes as a
function of what follows the behavior (rewards
or punishment)
▪ B.F. Skinner
▪ Edward Thorndike – Law of effect (behavior
can be strengthened or weakened)
▪ Reinforcement – reward
▪ Shaping – process of reinforcing successive
approximations to a final behavior or set of
behaviors
Genes
o Genes – long molecules of DNA at various
locations on chromosomes, within cell nucleus
o 46 Chromosomes, 23 Pairs, 22 Pairs of
Autosomes, 1 pair Sex Chromosomes
o XX – female, XY – male
o Dominant and Recessive
o Adverse life events can overwhelm the
influence of genes
o Erik Kandel – speculated that the process of
learning affects more than behavior;
environment may occasionally turn on certain
genes
o Diathesis-Stress Model – individuals inherit
tendencies to express certain traits or
behaviors, which may then be activated under
conditions of stress
▪ Diathesis – a condition that makes someone
susceptible to developing disorder
(vulnerability)
▪ The higher vulnerability, the lesser life
stress needed to trigger traits
o Gene-Environment Correlation Model – people
might have genetically determined tendency to
create the environment risk factors that trigger
a genetic vulnerability
o Epigenetics – study how your behavior and
environment can cause changes that affect
your genes work
Neuroscience
o Neuroscience – how the nervous system and
the brain works towards understanding our
behavior, emotions, and cognitive processes
o Central Nervous System – processes all
information received from our sense organs
and reacts as necessary
o Neurons – nerve cells that transmit
information throughout the NS

Source: Barlow, Durand & Hofmann (2018), Comer & Comer (2017), DSM-V, DSM-V-TR
o Dendrites – receive messages from other
nerve cells
o Axon – transmit impulses to other neurons
o Synapses – connections to other neurons
o Action Potentials – electric impulses where
information is transmitted
o Terminal button – end of axon
o Synaptic Cleft – space between terminal button
of one neuron and the dendrite of another
o Neurotransmitters – biochemicals that are
released from the axon of one neuron and
transmit the impulse to the dendrite receptors
of another neuron
▪ Excitatory – increase the likelihood that the
connecting neuron will fire
▪ Inhibitory – decrease the likelihood that the
connecting neurons will fire
o Glial Cells – modulate neurotransmitter activity
Brain
o Brain Stem – lower and more ancient part of
the brain; essential for autonomic functioning
such as breathing, heartbeat, etc.
▪ Hindbrain – contains the medulla, pons, and
cerebellum; regulates many autonomic
activities such as breathing, heartbeat, and
digestion
▪ Cerebellum – controls motor coordination
abnormalities associated with autism
▪ Midbrain – coordinates movements with
sensory input and contains parts of reticular
activating system (contributes to sleep,
arousal and tension)
▪ Thalamus and Hypothalamus – involves in
regulating behavior, emotions, and
hormones
o Limbic System – located around the edge of the
center of the brain
▪ Hippocampus, Cingulate Gyrus, Septum, and
Amygdala
▪ Regulate emotional experiences and
expressions and, to some extent, our ability
to learn and to control impulses
▪ Also involved with the basic drives of sex,
aggression, hunger and thirst
o Basal Ganglia – base of the forebrain, includes
caudate nucleus
▪ Damage involved changing our posture or
twitching or shaking
Abnormal Psychology
Phase 1: Introduction
o Cerebral Cortex – provides us with our
distinctly human qualities, allowing us to look
to the future and plan, to reason, and to create
▪ Left Hemisphere – responsible for verbal
and other cognitive processes
▪ Right Hemisphere – perceiving the world
around us and creating images
▪ Lobes: Frontal, Parietal, Occipital, Temporal
▪ Prefrontal Cortex – area responsible for
higher cognitive functions
▪ HPA Axis – Hypothalamus, Pituitary Gland,
Adrenal Cortex
Peripheral Nervous System
o Somatic Nervous System – controls the
muscles
o Autonomic Nervous System – regulate
cardiovascular system and endocrine system
▪ Sympathetic – fight or flight responses
▪ Parasympathetic – calms the sympathetic
nervous system; rest and digest functions
o Endocrine System – glands produce hormones
that is released to the blood streams
▪ Pituitary – master gland
▪ Thyroid – controls metabolism and growth
(thyroxine)
▪ Parathyroid – controls the levels of calcium
▪ Adrenal – controls metabolism, blood
pressure, sex development, stress
(epinephrine)
▪ Pineal – releases melatonin
▪ Pancreas – creates insulin
▪ Testes – makes sperm and release
testosterone
▪ Ovaries – releases estrogen, progesterone,
and testosterone
Neurotransmitters
o Agonist – effectively increase the activity of the
neurotransmitters
o Antagonist – decrease or block
neurotransmitter
o Inverse Agonists – produces effects opposite to
those produced by the neurotransmitters
o Reuptake – neurotransmitter is released,
quickly broken down and brought back to the
synaptic cleft
o Glutamate – excitatory neurotransmitters that
turns on many different neurons leading to
action
▪ High levels is linked to Parkinson’s,
Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s

Source: Barlow, Durand & Hofmann (2018), Comer & Comer (2017), DSM-V, DSM-V-TR
▪ Low levels is linked to learning and memory
issues
o Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid/GABA – inhibitory
neurotransmitter
▪ Inhibit the transmission of information and
action potential
▪ Benzodiazepines – make it easier for GABA
to attach themselves to the receptors of
specialized neurons
▪ Reduces levels of anger, hostility,
aggression, and perhaps even more
positive emotional states
▪ Decreased GABA activity = mood disorders,
anxiety, schizophrenia, ASD
o Serotonin – regulates our behavior, moods and
thought processes
▪ Low levels = less inhibition and with
instability, impulsivity and the tendency to
overreact, aggression, suicide, and
excessive sexual behavior
▪ High levels = interact with GABA to
counteract glutamate
▪ Selective-Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors
(SSRIs) – affects serotonin more directly
and are used to treat number of
psychological disorder
o Norepinephrine – stimulate at least two groups
of receptors called alpha-adrenergic and beta-
adrenergic receptors
▪ High levels = high blood pressure, arrythmia,
etc.
▪ Low levels = anxiety, depression, ADHD,
headaches, memory problems, etc.
o Dopamine – implicated in the pathophysiology
of schizophrenia and disorders of addiction
▪ Low levels = less motivated
▪ High levels = more competitive, aggressive
and poor impulse control
o Endorphin – relieves pain, reduce stress,
improves well-being
DSM-V
o Idiographic Strategy – tailoring the treatment
based on the information of the client
o Nomothetic Strategy – determining the general
class of problems to which the presenting
problem belongs (classifying the problem)
o Classification – any effort to construct groups
or categories and to assign objects or people to
categories on the basis of their shared
attributes or relations
Abnormal Psychology
Phase 1: Introduction
o Taxonomy – classification of entities for
scientific purposes
o Nosology – taxonomy of psychological or
medical phenomena
o Nomenclature – describes the names or labels
of the disorders that make up the nosology
o 1952: APA first published DSM-I
▪ Includes 106 mental disorders
▪ Distinguished personality disturbance from
neurosis
o 1968: DSM-II
▪ 182 mental disorders
▪ Strived toward an “atheoretical” approach
▪ Homosexuality was referred as Scythians
Disease
o 1980: DSM-III attempted to take an atheoretical
approach to diagnosis, relying on precise
descriptions of the disorders as they presented
to clinicians rather than on psychoanalytic or
biological theories of etiology
▪ DSM-III also specified and written in detailed
manner the criteria for identifying disorder
▪ Precise descriptive format
▪ Multiaxial format (5 Axis)
▪ Clear shift from psychodynamic approach
▪ 265 diseases
▪ DSM-III-R – 292 mental disorders
o 1994: DSM-IV
▪ Distinction between organically based
disorders and psychologically based
disorders
▪ 297 disorders
▪ 5 Axes
o 2000: DSM-IV-TR
▪ TR = Text Revision
▪ Corrected minor errors and improved the
supportive educational material
▪ Mental retardation (now called IDD)
▪ Used to have Autism (now ASD), Asperger’s
Syndrome and Childhood Disintegrative
Disorder
 Abnormal Psychology
Phase 1: Introduction
Source: Barlow, Durand & Hofmann (2018), Comer & Comer (2017), DSM-V, DSM-V-TR
clinician stated the specific reason why it is not
met
o Unspecified disorders – applied when
symptoms do not meet the full criteria and the
clinician chose to not specify the reason to
make more specific diagnosis
o Amok - syndrome or pattern of behavior
acknowledged in southeast Asia (Malaysia,
Philippines, Indonesia) characterized by
sudden outbursts and frenzied violent
behaviors after a period of brooding and quiet
o Equifinality refers to the observation that in any
open system a diversity of pathways may lead
Axis I to the same outcome.
Disorders usually diagnosed in developmental o Multifinality suggests that any one component
age may function differently depending on the
Delirium, Dementia, Cognitive Disorders organization of the system in which it operates
Mental Disorders due to general medical o Mental Status Exam:
condition ▪ Appearance and Behavior – general
Substance-related appearance, facial expressions, gestures
Schizophrenia ▪ Thought Process – flow of speech, tone and
Mood and Anxiety Disorders volume of voice, coherence, content of
Somatoform, Factitious Disorders speech, delusions
Dissociative ▪ Mood and Affect – Mood is over all state,
Sexual and Gender Identity Affect is what we say at a given point
Eating and Sleep ▪ Intellectual Functioning – vocabulary,
Impulse-Control memory, reasoning
Adjustment Disorders ▪ Sensorium – general awareness of the
Other conditions surroundings – date, time, and person
Axis II
Personality Disorders
Mental Retardation
Axis III
General Medical Conditions (Biological)
Axis IV
Psychosocial Problems
Axis V
Global Assessment
o 2013: DSM-V
▪ Removed the Axial System
▪ Designed to usher in a system of
classification wherein mental disorders
exist along spectrum
▪ Strives to be evidence-based Cultural Concepts of Distress
▪ Attempt to eliminate the category Not o Ataque de Nervous – syndrome among
Otherwise Specified (NOS) individuals of Latino Descent, characterized by
o 2022: DSM-V-TR symptoms of intense emotional upset, including
▪ Prolonged Grief Disorder acute anxiety, anger, or grief; screaming;
o Other Specified disorders – applied when attacks of crying; trembling; heat in the chest
symptoms do not meet the full criteria, but the
 Abnormal Psychology
Phase 1: Introduction
Source: Barlow, Durand & Hofmann (2018), Comer & Comer (2017), DSM-V, DSM-V-TR
rising into the head; and becoming verbally and
physically aggressive
o Dhat Syndrome – coined in South Asia
characterized by young male patients who
attributed their symptoms to semen loss
o Koro - acute anxiety and a deep-seated fear of
shrinkage of the penis and its ultimate
retraction into the abdomen, which will cause
death
o Khyal Cap – syndrome found among
Cambodians characterized by panic attacks
o Kufungisisa – overthinking; idiom of distress
and cultural explanation among the Shona of
Zimbabwe
o Maladi Moun – Haiti; sent sickness;
interpersonal envy and malice cause people to
harm their enemies by “sending illness”
o Nervios – among latinos; general state of
vulnerability to stressful life experiences and to
difficult life circumstances
o Shenjing Shuairuo – syndrome composed of
weakness, emotions, excitement, nervous pain,
and sleep
o Susto – distress and misfortune prevalent
among some latinos in US, attributed to a
frightening event that causes the soul to leave
the body and results to unhappiness and
sickness, as well as functioning in key social
roles
o Taijin Kyufusho - an intense fear that one's body
parts or functions displease, embarrass or are
offensive to others
end