_(1).png){kind=logo}
Abnormal PsychologyAnn Kring
Board Exam Reviewer
Nino-Mhar Malana, RPm
Chapter 1
Introduction and Historical Overview As you approach the study of psychopathology, the field concerned with the nature, development,and treatment of mental disorders, keep in mind that the field is continually developing andaddingnewfindings. Stigma refers to the destructive beliefs and attitudes held by a society that are ascribedtogroupsconsidered different in some manner, such as people with mental illness. More specifically, stigma has four characteristics:
1. A label is applied to a group of people that distinguishes them fromothers (e.g., “crazy”). 2. The label is linked to deviant or undesirable attributes by society (e.g., crazypeoplearedangerous). 3. People with the label are seen as essentially different fromthose without thelabel,contributing to an “us” versus “them” mentality (e.g., we are not like those crazy people). 4. People with the label are discriminated against unfairly (e.g., a clinic for crazy peoplecan’tbebuilt in our neighborhood). In 1999, David Satcher, then Surgeon General of the United States, wrote that stigmaisthe“mostformidable obstacle to future progress in the arena of mental illness and mental health”inhisgroundbreaking report on mental illness. Sadly, this remains true more than 10 years later.
Many mental health practitioners and advocates hoped that the more people learnedabouttheneurobiological causes of mental disorders, the less stigmatized these disorders wouldbe. However, results from a recent study shows that this may not be true. People’s knowledge has increased,butunfortunately stigma has not decreased. Defining Mental Disorder The definition of mental disorder presented in the fourth edition of the American diagnosticmanual,theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR), as well as the proposeddefinitionfor the fifth edition of the DSM (DSM-5), which is scheduled for release in May 2013, includesanumberof characteristics essential to the concept of mental disorder, including the following: 1. The disorder occurs within the individual.
_(1).png)