Abnormal Psychology. William J. Ray

illness as a disorder involving the brain, it is only within the past 125 years that scientific support began to clarify this position.

      Biological treatment for psychological disorders usually involves psychotropic medications, which have been expanded and improved over the past 60 years. Where medications have not been effective, other techniques are sometimes used, including ECT, TMS, and DBS.

      There are currently three broad perspectives for the psychological treatment of mental disorders: the psychodynamic perspective, the existential-humanistic perspective, and the cognitive behavioral perspective. They were developed somewhat independently and often in opposition to one another. Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, however, there was a movement to determine the effectiveness of psychological treatments in a scientific manner. Researchers and clinicians began to focus more on approaches and principles for which there was scientific evidence of effectiveness. This led to developing effective treatments for particular disorders and greater integration of techniques from the three different approaches as well as from other perspectives.

      Study Resources

      Review Questions

      1 Why do stigmas arise in regard to mental illness? What impacts do stigmas have on individuals with psychopathology as well as their families, communities, and society as a whole?

      2 Three major themes—behavior and experience, neuroscience, and the evolutionary perspective—are presented as giving us important perspectives for thinking about psychopathology. What are some of the ideas each of these perspectives offers?

      3 What levels of analysis are important to consider in understanding psychopathology? What are the advantages of considering multiple levels and taking an integrated approach?

      4 This chapter states that “considering psychopathology from evolutionary and cultural perspectives goes beyond the traditional psychological and physiological considerations.” What arguments does the author put forth to explain the importance of these two perspectives in asking critical questions that need to be answered? Do you agree?

      5 What are the five critical characteristics to be included in answering the following question: What is psychopathology?

      6 How does reading about the experiences of individuals with mental illness inform our understanding of the nature of psychopathology?

      7 Describe how mental illness was understood in each of the following historical periods and how that understanding was advanced: ancient Greece and Rome, the Renaissance, and the 1700s to 1900s. Give examples of the individuals and ideas critical to each period.

      8 How were individuals with mental illness treated during different historical eras? Who were some of the people who played a critical role in advancing treatment?

      9 Descartes created a mind–body distinction that science since that time has had to address: How can a material body including the brain be influenced by an immaterial process such as the mind? How can a thought influence a cell in the brain? How would you handle the mind–body problem?

      10 What we now know about the structure and function of the human brain and nervous system has developed across many times and places. Bring together in a model the pieces you consider important to your current understanding of the human brain and nervous system.

      11 Describe the contributions of the following individuals from different perspectives to the field of psychological treatment as a whole: Sigmund Freud, Hans Strupp, Carl Rogers, Leslie Greenberg, B. F. Skinner, Albert Bandura, and Aaron Beck.

      For Further Reading

      Andreasen, N. (2001). Brave new brain. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

      Beck, A. (1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental, and theoretical aspects. New York, NY: Harper & Row.

      Beck, J. (2011). Cognitive behavioral therapy (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

      Cheney, T. (2008). Manic. New York, NY: William Morrow.

      Darwin, C. (1859). On the origin of species by means of natural selection. London, UK: John Murray.

      Freud, S. (1966). Project for a scientific psychology. Standard Edition, 1, 281–397. (Original work published 1895)

      Kandel, E. (2005). Psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and the new biology of mind. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publications.

      Kandel, E. (2012). The age of insight: The quest to understand the unconscious in art, mind, and brain, from Vienna 1900 to the present. New York, NY: Random House.

      Kottler, J. (2006). Divine madness: Ten stories of creative struggle. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

      Nasar, S. (1998). A beautiful mind. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

      Pribram, K., & Gill, M. (1976). Freud’s “project” re-assessed. New York, NY: Basic Books.

      Skinner, B. F. (1974). About behaviorism. New York, NY: Random House.

      Strupp, H., & Binder, J. (1984). Psychotherapy in a new key. New York, NY: Basic Books.

      Key Terms and Concepts

       abnormal psychology 3

       behavioral and experiential perspective 5

       behavioral perspective 31

       classical conditioning 32

       client-centered therapy 30

       cognitive behavioral perspective 33

       cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) 34

       cultural perspective 9

       emotion-focused therapy 30

       evolutionary perspective 6

       existential-humanistic perspective 29

       extinction 32

       hierarchical integration 20

       levels of analysis 6

       mindfulness 31

       natural selection 21

       neuroscience perspective 6

       observational learning (or modeling) 33

       operant conditioning 33

       psychoanalysis 29

       psychodynamic perspective 28

       psychopathology 3

       reinforcement 33

       sexual selection 21

       signs 22

       stigma 5

       symptoms 22

       syndrome 22

       variation 21

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      2 Neuroscience Approaches to Understanding Psychopathology