2. Causes of Abnormal Behavior

Risk Factors and Causes of Abnormal Behavior

• A necessary cause (X) is a condition that must exist for a disorder (Y) to occur.
• A sufficient cause of a disorder is a condition that guarantees the occurrence of a disorder.
• A contributory cause is one that increases the probability of a disorder developing but is neither necessary nor sufficient for the disorder to occur.

Causes of Abnormal Behavior

• Distal risk factors are causal factors occurring relatively early in life that may not show their effects for many years.
• Proximal (immediate) risk factors are factors that operate shortly before the occurrence of the symptoms of a disorder.

Feedback and Bidirectionality in Abnormal Behavior

In the study of abnormal psychology, it can be challenging to determine with certainty which conditions are causes and which are effects due to the complex and bidirectional nature of mental health disorders.

Diathesis-Stress Models

Combination of diathesis and stress to cause disorder.

• Diathesis: Relatively distal necessary or contributory cause that is not sufficient to cause disorder
• Stress: Response of individual to taxing demands.

Protective factors

Stronger Resilience with:

• Healthy Family environment
• Exposure to stressful experiences that are dealt with successfully
• Emotional intelligence

Perspectives to Understand the Causes of Abnormal Behavior

The Biological Perspective

Four categories of biological factors relevant to maladaptive behavior.

Genetic vulnerabilities

Heredity is important predisposing contributory cause for number of disorders.

The Relationship of Genotypes to Phenotypes

Genotype: Total genetic endowment.

Phenotype: Observed structural and functional characteristics.

Methods for Studying Genetic Influences

Traditional methods:

• Family history method
• Twin method
• Adoption method

More recent methods:

• Linkage analysis
• Association studies

Brain dysfunction and neural plasticity

Subtle deficiencies of brain function are rarely implicated in mental disorders.

Genetic programs for brain development are not as rigid and deterministic as was once believed.

The Developmental Systems Approach

Neuro-transmitter & hormonal abnormalities in brain and CNS

Neurotransmitter imbalances:

• Can result in abnormal behavior
• Created in various ways: overproduction, deactivation, abnormally sensitive or insensitive

5 Most studied neurotransmitter:

• Norepinephrine
• Dopamine
• Serotonin
• Glutamate
• Gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA)

Hormonal Imbalances

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis:

• Messages (CRH) travel from the hypothalamus to the pituitary
• Pituitary releases ACTH, which stimulates cortical part of the adrenal gland, produces epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol
• Cortisol provides negative feedback to hypothalamus and pituitary to decrease their release of CRH and ACTH, which in turn reduces the release of adrenaline and cortisol

Temperament

Temperament:

Child’s reactivity and characteristic ways of self-regulation. Early temperament is basis from which personality develops.

Five Dimensions of Temperament:

• Fearfulness
• Irritability and frustration
• Positive affect
• Activity level
• Attentional persistence and effortful control

The Psychological Perspective

Psychodynamic

Freud theorized that a person’s behavior results from interaction of:

• Id (pleasure principle)
• Ego (reality principle)
• Superego (executive branch)

Newer Psychodynamic Perspectives:

• Ego psychology
• Attachment theory
• Object-relations theory
• Interpersonal perspective

Behavioral

• Classical Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning
• Generalization and Discrimination
• Observational Learning

Cognitive-Behavioral

• Schema: Underlying representation of knowledge that guides current processing of information
• Attributions: Process of assigning causes to things that happen
• Attributional style: Characteristic way in which individual may tend to assign causes to bad or good events

Cognitive Therapy:

• The way we interpret events and experiences determines our emotional reactions to them.
• Clinicians use a variety of techniques designed to alter a client’s negative cognitive biases.

The Social Perspective

Factors with detrimental effects on a child’s socioemotional development.

Early deprivation or trauma

• Depriving essential resources
• Institutionalization
• Neglect and abuse at home
• Separation from parents

Problems in parenting style

A parent–child relationship is always bidirectional:
Parents who have various forms of psychopathology tend to have one or more children at heightened risk for a wide range of developmental difficulties.

Marital discord & divorce

Long-standing marital discord:

• Aggressive behavior
• Poor quality relationships

Divorce:

• Insecurity, rejection
• Delinquency
• Lower educational attainment

Low Socioeconomic Status and Unemployment

In our society, the lower the socioeconomic class, the higher the incidence of mental and physical disorders.

• Children and adolescents from lower socioeconomic status (SES) families tend to have more psychological problems.
• Studies have repeatedly found unemployment to be associated with enhanced vulnerability to psychopathology.

Maladaptive peer relation-ships

• Peer exclusion or abuse
• Proactive and reactive aggression in bullying
• Cyberbullying

Prejudice and Discrimination in Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

Increased prevalence of certain mental disorders may be related to:

• Prejudice against minority groups and women
• Perceived discrimination and self-esteem

The Cultural Perspective

Cultural context of behavior:

• Universal and Culture-Specific Symptoms of Disorders
• Culture: Over-and Undercontrolled Behavior

Universal and Culture-Specific Symptoms of Disorders

Universality of some disorders:

• Certain psychological symptoms are consistently found among similarly diagnosed clinical groups

Sociocultural factors:

• Which disorders develop
• Prevalence, course

Culture: Over- and Undercontrolled Problem

Undercontrolled problem:

• Agression, disobedience, disrespect
• Exhibited by American

Overcontrolled problem:

• Shyness, anxiety, depression
• Exhibited by Thai