MODELS OF ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR - Irregularities in the Neurotransmitter

system play an important role in the

I. SPIRITISTIC MODEL development of abnormal behavior
patterns.
- ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR: product of remote or
- Targeted by psychiatric drugs in the
supernatural forces
treatment of some disorders such as
- Movement of stars, vengeance of God,
anxiety, depression and
operation of spirits that take possession of the
schizophrenia.
person
- TREATMENT: EXORCISM e.g.
- 17th Century: INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF
a. ACETYLCHOLINE
MENTALLY DISTURBED in ASYLUMS
- Control of muscular contractions and
- PHILIPPE PINEL
formation of memories.
- FATHER OF MODERN PSYCHIATRY
- REDUCED LEVELS for patients with
- Instrumental in the development of a MORE
ALZHEIMER’S DSE.
HUMANE psychological approach to the
care of psychiatric patients b. DOPAMINE
- Regulation of muscular contractions
II. MEDICAL MODEL and mental processes involving
- ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR: BIOGENIC or the learning, memory and emotions.
result of some malfunctioning within the - INCREASED in the development of
body SCHIZOPHRENIA SPECTRUM
- THERAPY: Biomedical Therapy DISORDERS.
a. Psychopharmacology:
: Antidepressants, antipsychotics, c. NOREPINEPHRINE
anxiolytics, etc. - Mental processes involved in learning
b. Electro-convulsive therapy and memory.
c. Psychosurgery - Irregular levels in MOOD DISORDERS

CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON d. SEROTONIN

ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR - Regulation of mood states, satiety
I. BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE and sleep
- Irregular levels for DEPRESSION and
- Abnormal behavior is caused by EATING DISORDERS.
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS, especially the
functioning of the NERVOUS SYSTEM. e. GAMMAAMINOBUTYRIC ACID
A. THE NERVOUS SYSTEM (GABA)
- Fight/ Flight Response; Reaction to
1. NEURONS: nerve cells that transmit Fear
signals or “messages” throughout the - Irregular levels associated with
body. ANXIETY DISORDERS

1.1. NEUROTRANSMITTERS: 2. CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM: master

- Induce chemical changes in receiving control unit responsible for controlling
neurons. bodily functions.

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 2.7 CEREBRAL CORTEX
2.1. CEREBELLUM: “LITTLE BRAIN” - Surface area of the Cerebrum
- Regulates balance and motor - Thinking, planning and
behavior executive center of the brain
- Injury could impair one’s ability to - Seat of consciousness and sense
coordinate movements of self.
(stumbling or loss of muscle tone)
3. PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
2.2. RETICULAR ACTIVATING - Made up of nerves that receive
SYSTEM (RAS) and transmit sensory messages.
- Web-like network of neurons that - Nerves that transmit messages
play an important role in from the brain to the spinal cord
regulating sleep, attention and to the muscles, causing them to
states of arousal/ alertness. contract; to the glands causing
- Depressant drugs reduce RAS them to secrete hormones.
activity causing grogginess or
stupor. 3.1. SOMATIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
- Process sensory information
2.3. THALAMUS
- Relays sensory information 3.2. AUTONOMIC NERVOUS
(tactile and visual stimuli). SYSTEM
- Work with RAS to regulate sleep - Composed of the Sympathetic
and attention. and Parasympathetic Nervous
System.
2.4. HYPOTHALAMUS - Responsible for Fight/ Flight
- Motivational drives and behavior Response towards stress.
such as hunger, thirst, sex,
parenting behavior and B. GENETIC BASIS OF ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR
aggression.
- Regulates emotional response. 1. GENES DO NOT DICTATE BEHAVIORAL
OUTCOMES
2.5 AMYGDALA - Genetics does not account for
- Involved in Pleasure or Fear mental disorders.
Response - Kendler (2005): “We do not have
- Injury or dysfunction can cause and are not likely to ever discover
ANXIETY, AUTISM SPECTRUM ‘genes’ for psychiatric illness.”
DISORDER, DEPRESSION, POST- 2. GENETIC FACTORS CREATE THE
TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER & LIKELIHOOD OR PREDISPOSITION THAT
PHOBIAS CERTAIN BEHAVIOR OR DISORDERS
WILL DEVELOP.
2.6 CEREBRUM - Genes create predispositions that
- Brain’s crowning glory increase the risk or likelihood of
- Higher mental functions such as the development of particular
thinking and problem solving. disorders.

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 - Effect of genes on the body and 1. ID: PLEASURE PRINCIPLE
mind may be influenced by 2. EGO: REALITY PRINCIPLE
environmental factors such as life 3. SUPEREGO: MORALITY
experiences, family relationships, PRINCIPLE
life stress, gender and ethnicity.
c. DEFENSE MECHANISMS
3. MULTIGENETUC DETERMINISM - Presents socially unacceptable
AFFECTS PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER impulses from rising into
- Multiple genes are involved in consciousness.
disorders where genetic factors - Cope with feelings of anxiety,
play a role. guilt, and shame is NORMAL.
- May give rise to abnormal
4. GENETIC FACTORS AND behavior when it causes a
ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCE maladaptive reaction to a
INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER IN situation.
SHAPING OUR PERSONALITIES AND
DETERMINING OUR VULNERABILITY d. STAGES OF PSYCHOSEXUAL
TO A RANGE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
DISORDERS. - Freud believed that the child’s
basic relationship to the world is
II. PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE developed through the first
several years of his life organized
A. PSYCHODYNAMIC MODEL around the pursuit of sensual or
sexual pleasure.
1. PSYCHOANALYSIS (FREUD)
- Roots of psychological problems d.1. ORAL STAGE
involve unconscious motives and - Oral Character: Preoccupied
conflicts that can be traced back to with issues of giving and taking,
childhood. concerned about
independence and
a. STRUCTURE OF THE MIND dependence, extremes of
optimism and pessimism.
1. CONSCIOUS: present awareness - Unusual ambivalence,
2. PRECONSCIOUS: memories that impatience, and continued
are not in awareness but can be used of the oral channel for
brought into awareness by gratification.
focusing on them.
3. UNCONSCIOUS: repository of our d.2. ANAL STAGE
basic biological impulses or - Anal Character: orderliness,
drives. obstinancy, rigidity and hatred
a. THANATOS: Aggression/ to waste.
destruction.
b. EROS: Libido
d.3. PHALLIC STAGE
b. STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY
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 - Identification with parent of the same
sex. 3. INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY (A. ADLER)
- Separation of child from parents. - People are basically driven by
an INFERIORITY COMPLEX and
d.4. LATENCY STAGE the need to compensate for
- Sublimated impulses in non-sexual them.
activities - Powerful drive to achieve
prominence and social
d.5. GENITAL STAGE dominance.
- Start of transition to puberty - HEALTHY PERSONALITY: Striving for
dominance is overpowered by
e. ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR devotion to helping other
- Imbalance among the psychic people.
structures - Efforts to compensate for
- Conflict among the parts of feelings of inferiority by striving to
personality while it protects the self excel in one or more of the
from recognizing the inner turmoil arenas of human behavior.
- Psychological Disorders: Underlying
conflicts that originate in childhood 4. THEORY OF NEUROTIC NEEDS
and are buried in the unconscious. (K. HORNEY)
- Psychosis (Loss of touch with reality): - Stressed the importance of
Result of underdeveloped or parent-child relationships in the
weakened ego that cannot control development of emotional
the urges of the id. problems.
- BASIC ANXIETY: developed when
f. TREATMENT parents are harsh and uncaring.
1. PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC TALKING: reflect - BASIC HOSTILITY: developed by
or bring out the unconscious for children who harbor deep-
repressed or traumatic memories seated resentment towards their
2. DREAM ANALYSIS: interpretation of parents
symbols/ metaphors.
3. FREE ASSOCIATION: Expressing 5. EPIGENETIC PRINCIPLE/ PSYCHOSOCIAL
whatever thoughts come to mind. STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT (E. ERIKSON)
4. TRANSFERENCE: Client transfers - Highlighted the importance of
underlying feelings to the therapist. social relationships and formation
of personal identity.
2. ANALYTIC PSYCHOLOGY (C. JUNG) - Pathology arise from each crises
- Roots of psychological problems exhibited by frustration of being
involve unconscious motives and stuck in a specific stage due to
conflicts that can be traced back unresolved crises.
to childhood
- TREATMENT: Develop DIFFERENTIATED B. BEHAVIORAL MODEL (LEARNING-BASED
SELF that would provide direction to MODEL)
behavior and help develop a - Abnormal behavior is LEARNED in the
person’s potential. same way as normal behavior.
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 - BEHAVIOR is the product of our - People have an impact on their
genetic inheritance and the environment.
environmental or situational - Factors within the person,
influences. (Watson & Skinner) expectancies and values placed on
particular goals.
1. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING - TREATMENT: BEHAVIOR
(I. PAVLOV & J.B. WATSON) MODIFICATION
- Normal behavior involves responding - Systematically applying
adaptively to stimuli, including learning principles to help
conditioned stimuli. people change their
- Acquiring inappropriate and undesirable behavior.
maladaptive fears on the basis of
conditioning cripple our ability to C. HUMANISTIC MODEL (C. ROGERS, A.
function. MASLOW)
- PHOBIAS may be acquired by - People have an inborn tendency
classical conditioning. towards SELF-ACTUALIZATION.
- TREATMENT: Systematic - Recognition and acceptance of
desensitization, gradual exposure, genuine needs and feelings, live
modeling. authentically with meaning and
purpose.
2. OPERANT CONDITIONING - POSITIVE SELF-CONCEPT:
- Normal/Adaptive behavior: developed thru UNCONDITIONAL
Learning response or skills that lead POSITIVE REGARD.
to reinforcement. - CONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD:
- Abnormal/ Maladaptive behavior: accepting the child when they
Developed with the lack of learning behave in the way that parents
opportunities for learning new skills want them to.
and reinforcing Maladaptive - CONDITIONS OF WORTH: Child
Responses. will think of themselves as
- PUNISHMENT: worthwhile only if they behave in
- Not eliminate undesirable certain approved ways.
behavior but suppress it for a - ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR:
moment. DISTORTED SELF-CONCEPT
- Not lead to the development of o Stranger to true self
more desirable alternative o Anxiety manifests when
behavior and encourage feelings and ideas are
withdrawal. inconsistent with the
- Generate anger and hostility distorted self-concept.
rather than constructive learning. o Psychological energy is
- May cross the boundary into directed to continued
abuse. denial and self-defense
3. SOCIAL-COGNITIVE THEORY leading to frustration and
(A. BANDURA, J.B. WATSON, W. dissatisfaction.
MISCHEL)

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 - TREATMENT: CLIENT-CENTERED/ - Childhood experiences involved
PERSON-CENTERED THERAPY in the origins of irrational beliefs,
o Self-Actualization thru the repetition of beliefs in the “here
process of self-discovery and and now” continue to make
self-acceptance; getting in people miserable.
touch with true feelings;
accepting them as one’s own 2. COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS (A. BECK)
and behaving in ways that - Errors in thinking or distortion in
genuinely reflect them. manipulation of information
leading to emotional problems
D. COGNITIVE MODEL (A. ELLIS, A. BECK) and maladaptive behavior.
- Thoughts, beliefs, expectations
and attitudes that accompany or a. SELECTIVE ABSTRACTION
underlie abnormal behavior. - Focus exclusively on parts of
their experience that reveal
their flaws and ignore evidence
of their competencies.
b. OVERGENERALIZATIONS
- Overgeneralize from a few
isolated experiences.
c. MAGNIFICATION
- Blow out of proportion the
importance of unfortunate
- Psychological Disorders are events.
caused by disruption or d. ABSOLUTIST THINKING
disturbance on how information is - Seeing the world in black and
processed. white versus shades of gray.
- TREATMENT: COGNITIVE THERAPY
o Focus on helping individuals with
psychological disorder identify
and correct faulty ways of
thinking.

III. SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

- Abnormal behavior is caused by failures
of society.
- THOMAS SZASZ: THE MYTH OF MENTAL
ILLNESS (1961)
o A psychosocial theorist who denied
1. ABC APPROACH (A. ELLIS) the existence of psychological
- Irrational beliefs lead people to disorders.
catastrophize their o Abnormality is a label society
disappointments. attaches to people whose behavior
- “SHOULD”, “MUST” deviate from accepted social
norms.
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 o The label is used to stigmatize social
deviants.
- Consider socioeconomic status,
ethnicity, race, gender
- Abnormal behavior is caused by social
stressors.

A. SOCIAL CAUSATION MODEL

- People from lower socioeconomic
groups are at greater risk of severe
behavior problems because living in
poverty subjects them to greater
levels of social stress.

B. DOWNWARD DRIFT HYPOTHESIS

- People with problematic behavior
drift downward in social status.

IV. BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE

- Endorsed by the DSM-V
- Contribution of multiple factors as well
as their interaction in the
development of psychological
disorders.

a. DIATHESIS-STRESS MODEL
- Psychological disorders arise from
an interaction of vulnerability
factors and stressful life
experiences.
- DIATHESIS:
o Predisposition to develop the
disorder
o Genetic in nature
o Psychological diathesis:
maladaptive traits and negative
ways of thinking
o Stronger diathesis need lesser
stressor to trigger the disorder.

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