implies that any particular influence (behavioral, biological, emotional, social, developmental) contributing to psychopathology cannot be considered out of context.

A set of assumptions and concepts that help scientists explain and interpret observations. Also called a paradigm.

sees physical processes as key to human behavior

emphasizes behavior, the ways in which it is learned, and the thinking that underlies

looks to social and cultural forces as the keys to human functioning

emphasizes an individual’s culture and the shared beliefs, values, and history of that culture

used to explain abnormal functioning during the Middle Ages, for example, borrowed heavily from medieval society’s concerns with religion, superstition, and warfare

looks at people’s unconscious internal processes and conflicts

stresses the role of values and choices

focuses on an individual’s family and social interactions

drugs that mainly affect emotions and thought processes.

(minor tranquilizers or anxiolytics) - help reduce tension and anxiety

help reduce the confusion, hallucinations, and delusions that often accompany psychosis, a loss of contact with reality found in schizophrenia and other disorders.

help improve the functioning of people with depression and certain other disorders

(mood stabilizers) - help steady the moods of those with a bipolar disorder, a condition marked by mood swings from mania to depression

interventions that directly or indirectly stimulate certain areas of the brain

two electrodes are attached to a patient’s forehead, and an electrical current of 65 to 140 volts is passed briefly through the brain.

an electromagnetic coil is placed on or above a person’s head, sending a current into certain areas of the brain. Used in the treatment of depression.

a pulse generator is implanted in a person’s neck, helping to stimulate their vagus nerve, a long nerve that extends from the brain down through the neck and on to the abdomen.

brain surgery for mental disorders

the prehistoric practice of chipping a hole in the skull of a person who behaved strangely.

electrodes are implanted in specific areas of a person’s brain and connected to a battery (“pacemaker”) in the chest.

a surgeon would cut the connections between the brain’s frontal lobes and the lower regions of the brain

believed that three central forces shape the personality and that they operate at the unconscious level, unavailable to immediate awareness.

the psychological force that produces instinctual needs, drives, and impulses.

the psychological force that represents a person’s values and ideals.

the psychological force that employs reason and operates in accordance with the reality principle.

emphasize the role of the self—the unified personality. They believe that the basic human motive is to strengthen the wholeness of the self

propose that people are motivated mainly by a need to have relationships with others and that severe problems in the relationships between children and their caregivers may lead to abnormal development

seek to uncover past traumas and the inner conflicts that have resulted from them.

A psychodynamic technique in which the patient describes any thought, feeling, or image that comes to mind, even if it seems unimportant.

Psychodynamic therapists listen carefully as patients talk, looking for clues, drawing tentative conclusions, and sharing interpretations when they think the patient is ready to hear them

a reliving of past repressed feelings, if they are to settle internal conflicts and overcome their problems

patients choose a single problem—a dynamic focus—to work on, such as difficulty getting along with other people. The therapist and patient focus on this problem throughout the treatment and work only on the psychodynamic issues that relate to it

key principle: therapists should also disclose things about themselves, particularly their own reactions to patients, and try to establish more equal relationships with patients

a process of learning by temporal association in which two events that repeatedly occur close together in time become fused in a person’s mind and produce the same response

a process of learning in which individuals come to behave in certain ways as a result of experiencing consequences of one kind or another whenever they perform the behavior.

a process of learning in which an individual acquires responses by observing and imitating others.

A behavior-focused intervention in which fearful people are repeatedly exposed to the objects or situations they dread.

teaches individuals to pay attention to the thoughts and feelings that are flowing through their minds during meditation and to accept such thoughts in a nonjudgmental way

help clients to accept many of their problematic thoughts rather than judge them, act on them, or try fruitlessly to change them.

Carl Rogers. A warm and supportive approach that contrasted sharply with the psychodynamic techniques of the day. Paid little attention to irrational instincts and conflicts.

skillful listening and restating

instructing clients to act out various roles where clients are encouraged to express emotions fully.

full and warm acceptance for the client

sincere communication

Frederick (Fritz) Perls. Guides their clients toward self-recognition and self-acceptance by challenging and even frustrating the clients, demanding that they stay in the here and now during therapy discussions, and pushing them to embrace their real emotions.

in this one, people are encouraged to accept responsibility for their lives and for their problems.

a therapist meets with a group of clients who have similar problems.

the therapist works with two individuals who are in a long-term relationship.

clients, particularly those with severe psychological difficulties, to receive treatment in familiar social surroundings as they try to recover.

A therapist meets with all members of a family, points out problem behaviors and interactions, and helps the whole family to change its ways.

A therapist meets with all members of a family, points out problem behaviors and interactions, and helps the whole family to change its ways.

consists of identifying and treating psychological problems in the early stages, before they become serious.

provide effective treatment to specific persons who have already developed moderate or severe disorders so that these disorders do not become long-term problems

seek to understand how culture, race, ethnicity, gender, and similar factors affect behavior and thought and how people of different cultures, races, ethnicities, and genders differ psychologically.

the set of values, attitudes, beliefs, history, and behaviors shared by a group of people and communicated from one generation to the next

a framework that examines how each individual’s memberships across multiple cultural groups and social identities

must be paired with another recessive gene to determine a trait, otherwise it won’t have any effect

influenced by many genes, each contributing only a tiny effect, all of which, in turn, may be influenced by the environment

the shape of the DNA molecules that is like a spiral staircase.

an individual’s complete set of genes – consists of more than 20,000 genes

examines the actual structure of genes with increasingly advanced technologies such as DNA microarrays;

examines patterns of genetic control over a range of genes and sums up all the tiny effects across many genes without necessarily telling us which genes are responsible for which effects.

scientists study individuals who have the same disorder, such as bipolar disorder, and also share other features,

can result in intellectual disability (previously called mental retardation) that is present at birth and is caused by the inability of the body to metabolize phenylalanine;

long molecules of DNA at various locations on chromosomes within the cell nucleus

a degenerative disease that causes deterioration in the basal ganglia which produce broad changes in personality, cognitive functioning, and motor behavior

a New Zealand study which found that individuals with at least two copies of long allele (LL) were able to cope better with stress than individuals with two copies of the short allele (SS).

suggested that the very genetic structure of cells may change as a result of learning if genes that were inactive or dormant interact with the environment in such a way that they become active

demonstrated that emotionally reactive monkeys raised by calm, supportive parents were also calm and supportive when raising their own children, thereby influencing and even reversing the genetic contribution to the expression of personality traits or temperaments.

found that children whose parents had schizophrenia and who were adopted as babies demonstrated a tendency to develop psychiatry disorders themselves only if they were adopted into dysfunctional families

demonstrated that calm and supportive behavior by the mothers could be passed down through generations of rats independent of genetic influences, because rats born to easily stressed mothers but reared by calm mothers grew up more calm and supportive.

a condition that makes someone susceptible to developing a disorder. Vulnerability.

hypothesize that people with a genetic predisposition for a disorder may also have a genetic tendency to create environmental risk factors that promote the disorder

hypothesize that both an inherited tendency (a vulnerability) and specific stressful conditions are required to produce a disorder. According to this model, individuals inherit tendencies to express certain traits or behaviors, which may then be activated under conditions of stress.

processes all information received from our sense organs and reacts as necessary. Sorts out what is relevant and what isn’t; consists of the brain and spinal cord.