Archives

by J. Jeyaseelan, Department of Psychology, University of Peradeniya

Happy families - essential for sound mental health

Defining "abnormality" or "pathology" is, in fact, an uphill task. Literally, the word "abnormal" means "away from the norm", and traditionally the term has been used to describe behaviour, which departs from an accepted norm. A.H. Buss (1966) has provided three indicators in order to determine abnormality (pathology).

They are strangeness, which explains social deviance, discomfort, which accounts for suffering and inefficiency, which stands for psychosocial handicaps.

Throughout history there have been individuals who have acted in aberrant ways. For much of the past, abnormality was often explained as possession by evil spirits. Those with mental disorders were commonly seen as degenerates, less than human.

Consequently, common forms of treatment included beatings and imprisonment. This attitude slowly began to change as doctors began to conceive of behaviour as having physical causes. One of the early pioneers in this regard was Phillipe Pinel (1745-1826), a French physician, who ran the Bicetre Asylum in Paris at the end of the eighteenth century.

Pinel saw his patients as ill, suffering from physiological disorders. As a result, the argued for treating them like other patients rather than chaining them in dark cells. By suggesting that abnormal behaviour was like other forms of illness, Pinel's work marked a shift towards more humane and rational treatment.

By his view that mental disorders have physical causes. Pinel helped to introduce what has come to be known as the 'medical model' of abnormal behaviour. Today this approach is closely linked to the biological approach of abnormal behaviour. 

Biological approach

The biological approach to abnormal behaviour assumes that disorders are based on physical causes. At its most extreme, the biological point of view assumes that all maladaptive behaviours are due to a disordered body structure or function. When we talk about the biological influences in abnormal behaviour, genetic factors, the nervous system and the endocrine glands are said to play important roles. Let us examine their roles in determining psychopathology.

Genetic factors: Researchers have found that genetic factors may contribute to such diverse disorders as schizophrenia, depression, criminality and mental retardation. Chromosomal anomalies are likely to produce abnormalities in the brain - the structure, which is largely responsible for bodily functions.

In addition, genes, which are believed to be elementary units of heredity, are said to cause more than 4000 diseases. Evidence also suggests that if both parents are schizophrenic their children stand from a 35 to 65 percent probability of becoming schizophrenic.

Neurological factors: "All mental illness is diseases in the brain," says Wilhelm Griesinger, a German psychiatrist. Evidence shows that various behaviourial deficiencies result from defects in the central nervous system. Several forms of mental illness are due to different types of brian abnormalities.

E.g. the loss of nerve cells, excesses or deficits in chemical transmission between neurons. Furthermore, damage to different areas of the brain may cause psychological deficiencies. For example, damage to the frontal lobe of the brain may manifest itself in such disturbances of behaviour as tactlessness and over talkativeness.

Lesions of the temporal lobe may lead to emotional instability, aggressive behaviour, or problems with regard to learning new information.

Psychodynamic approach

Hormonal factors: Hormones circulate through blood and affect growth, emotional reactions, sexual urges and energy levels. For example, testosterone hormone is linked to aggressive behaviour. Epinephrien and Norepinephrine secreted by the adrenal glands are active are active in emotional arousal and sleep. So hormonal deficiencies can affect the normal bodily and mental conditions.

It is also said that deficiencies in Pituitary and Adrenal glands may spell pathological difficulties with regard to coping with stress, as the said glands are actively involved in reacting to stress. The psychodynamic theories view maladaptive symptoms as arising from intrapsychic conflicts: that is, as being caused by conflicting motives, drives, impulses and feelings held within various components of the mind. According to its chief proponent Sigmund Freud, central to psychodynamic theory is the postulated existence of the unconscious whose processes and functions are inaccessible to the individual's conscious awareness or scrutiny.

Behavioural approach

One of the functions of the unconscious is thought to be that of a repository for traumatic memories, feelings, ideas, wishes and drives that are threatening, anxiety-provoking or socially or ethically unacceptable to the individual. These mental contents may at some time be pushed out of the conscious awareness but remain actively held in the unconscious. Later, perhaps in adult life, some event or situation in the person's life may trigger the abnormal discharge of the dammed-up emotional energy in the form of neurotic symptoms.

Such symptoms can be the basis of neurotic disorders such as anxiety disorders, obsessional disorders and depressive disorders. relationships, cultural and environmental factors in the formation of mental disorders.

The behavioural model of abnormality looks at behaviour itself as a problem. Using the principles of the learning theories, such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning, behaviour theorists see both normal and abnormal behaviours as responses to a set of stimuli. Most important theories in this area arose out of the work of the Russain Physiologist Ivan Pavlov, and other American psychologists such as E.L. Thorndike, C.L. Hull, J.B. Watson, E.C. Tolman and B.F. Skinner.

Classical Conditioning of Abnormal Behaviour: abnormal behaviours can be acquired through classical conditioning, 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 elicit the same response to both events. Abnormal behaviours can come about through the process of classical conditioning.

Consider a child who has had a painful session with a dentist. He may subsequently have an unrealistic dread of men in white coats or of any kind of drill. Some fears or anxieties may come about because of accidental classical conditioning. E.g. a child who has been bitten by a dog may fear all dogs, and through generalization, other types of animals as well.

Operant Conditioning of Abnormal Behaviour: behaviourists also claim that many abnormal behaviours develop as a result of operant conditioning, a process of learning in which behaviour that leads to satisfying consequences or rewards is likely to be repeated. For instance, some people may learn to abuse alcohol and drugs because initially such behaviours brought feelings of calm, comfort or pleasure. Others may exhibit bizarre, psychotic behaviours because they enjoy the attention they get when they do so.

Social Learning Theory; Modelling of Abnormal Behaviour: According to Social Learning Theorists, modelling, a process of learning in which an individual acquires responses by observing and imitating others plays a role in the acquisition of pathological behaviours.

For example, a famous study carried out by Albert Bandura and his associates (1963) concluded that aggressive behaviours could be acquired through modelling.

(To be continued)

www.crescat.com

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries

Produced by Lake House
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager