Abnormal Psych Chapter 3 Notes PDF

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Chapter 3: Clinical Assessment, Diagnosis, and Research in Psychopathology 1. Assessing Psychological Disorders a. Clinical Assessment: Systematic evaluation and measurement of psychological, biological, and social factors in a person presenting with a possible psychological disorder. b. Diagnosis; Process of determining whether a presenting problem meets the established criteria for a specific psychological disorder. c. Key Concepts in Assessment i. Reliability; Degree to which a measurement is consistent- for example, over time or among different raters. ii. Validity; Degree to which a technique measures what it purports to measure. iii. Standardization; process of establishing specific norms and requirements for a measurement technique to ensure it is used consistently across measurement occasions. This includes instructions for administering the measure, evaluating its finding, and comparing these to data for large numbers of people. d. Mental Status Exam; relatively coarse preliminary test of a client’s judgment, orientation to time and place, and emotional and mental state; typically conducted during an initial interview. e. Behavioral Assessment; Measuring, observing, and systematically evaluating (rather than inferring) the client’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the actual problem situation or context. i. Self-monitoring; Action by which clients observe and record their own behaviors as either an assessment of a problem and its change or a treatment procedure that makes them more aware of their responses. Also known as self-observation. f. Psychological Testing i. Projective Tests; Psychoanalytically based measure that presents ambiguous stimuli to clients on the assumption that their responses can reveal their unconscious conflicts.Such tests are inferential and lack high reliability and validity. ii. Personality inventory; self-report questionnaire that assesses personal traits by asking respondents to identify descriptions that apply to themselves. iii. Intelligence Testing 1. Intelligence quotient (IQ); Score on an intelligence test estimating a person’s deviation from average test performance. g. Neuropsychological Testing; assessment of brain and nervous system functioning by testing an individual’s performance on behavioral tasks. i. False positive; Assessment error in which pathology is reported (that is, test results are positive) when none is actually present. ii. False negative; Assessment error in which no pathology is noted (that is test results are negative) when one is actually present.

h. Neuroimaging; Pictures of the Brain i. Neuroimaging; sophisticated computer-aided procedure that allows non intrusive examination of nervous system structure and function. i. Psychophysiological Assessment; Measurement of changes in the nervous system reflecting psychological or emotional events such as anxiety, stress, and sexual arousal i. Electroencephalogram (EEG); Measure of electrical activity patterns in the brain, taken through electrodes placed on the scalp. 2. Diagnosing Psychological Disorders a. Idiographic strategy; A close and detailed investigation of an individual emphasizing what makes that person unique. b. Nomothetic strategy; Identification and examination of large groups of people with the same disorder to note similarities and develop general laws. c. Classification; Assignment of objects or people to categories on the basis of shared characteristics. d. Taxonomy; System of naming and classification in science e. Nosology; Classification and naming system for medical and psychological phenomena. f. Nomenclature; In a naming system or nosology, the actual labels or names that applied. In psychopathology these include mood disorders and eating disorders. g. Classification i. Classical categorical approach; Classification method founded on the assumption of clear-cut differences among disorders, each with a different known cause. Also known as pure categorical approach. ii. Dimensional Approach; Method of categorizing characteristics on continuum rather than on a binary, either or, or all-or-none basis. iii. Prototypical approach; system for categorizing disorders using both essential, definining characteristics, and a range of variaton on other characterisitcs. iv. Comorbidity; Presence of two or more disorders in an individual at the same time. v. Labeling; Applying a name to a phenomenon or a pattern of behavior. The label may accquire negative connotations of be applied erroneously to the person rather than the persons behavior....