CLPSY - Psychological Perspecitves and Etiology of Disorders Lesson

Learning Targets:

  • Evaluate the strengths and limitations of various approaches to explaining psychological disorders.
  • Identify the positive and negative consequences of diagnostic labels. 

AP psychology course and exam description, effective fall 2020. (n.d.). https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-psychology-course-and-exam-description.pdf

Perspectives and Psychological Disorders

Just as we described personality according to the various schools of psychology, psychological perspectives can be used to describe the reasoning behind the causes of psychological disorders. Overall, psychological perspectives offer different lenses through which to view and understand psychological disorders, and each perspective has its own strengths and limitations. A comprehensive approach to treating psychological disorders often involves incorporating elements from multiple perspectives.

Please refer to the chart below:

Psychological School or Perspective: Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic; Cause of the Disorder according to the perspective: internal, unconscious drives, hidden conflicts from the past Psychological School or Perspective: Humanistic; Cause of the Disorder according to the perspective: Failure to strive to reach one's maximum potential or being out of touch with one's feelings or reality Psychological School or Perspective: Behavioral; Cause of the Disorder according to the perspective: The environment or reinforcement history has caused the behavior Psychological School or Perspective: Cognitive; Cause of the Disorder according to the perspective: Believes that irrational, dysfunctional thoughts or ways of thinking cause psychological distress Psychological School or Perspective: Sociocultural; Cause of the Disorder according to the perspective: Disorders are caused by dysfunctions in society Psychological School or Perspective: Neuroscience; Cause of the Disorder according to the perspective: Biochemical imbalances and genetic predispositions cause the disorders

Watch the video below on Introduction to Mental Disorders.

The Labeling Controversy

"Thud"Before we dig any deeper into psychological disorders, let's take a moment to examine the power of using labels on people with mental illness. In 1973, Stanford University Professor David Rosenhan published the findings of a study he conducted called "On Being Sane in Insane Places". In the study, he assigned pseudo-patients to twelve different mental health institutions across the United States. The participants went to the institutions claiming that they were hearing voices. All twelve were admitted and diagnosed with mental illnesses (all but one was diagnosed with some type of schizophrenia).

After admission, they acted normally and told the hospital staff, they were no longer hearing voices. However, before being released all were forced to admit to having a mental illness and taking antipsychotic drugs. The average stay in the hospital was 19 days. While in the hospital all were treated as if they had the disorder regardless of their actions.

Labels can have both positive and negative consequences, and it is important to keep these factors in mind when employing and interpreting them. The impact of diagnostic labels on individuals and society should be considered by clinicians and researchers, and efforts should be made to promote accurate and compassionate approaches to mental health diagnosis and treatment.

Positive Consequences of Diagnostic Labels

Negative Consequences of Diagnostic Labels

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