Ch 2 Paradigms

Sunday, January 21, 2018 10:33 PM

Thomas Kuhn
Ø Subjective factors as well as our human limitations enter into the conduct of scientific inquiry
Ø It is difficult to remain objective

Paradigm
Ø A conceptual framework or approach within which a scientist works
Ø It has a set of basic assumptions, a general perspective that defines how to conceptualize and
study, methodology, interpretation, etc.
Ø Has implications on how scientists operate
Ø Specify what problems to investigate and how they will conduct investigation

Paradigms in psychopathology
Ø Has important consequences for the way clinicians define, investigate, and treat
psychopathology

The Genetic Paradigm

Shenk: Every day in every way you are helping to shape which genes become active. Your life is
interacting with your genes.

Ø Genetic paradigm guided discoveries regarding human behavior since early 20th C
Ø "nature via nurture"
○ Researchers learning how environmental influences shape which of our genes are
turned on/off and how genes influence our bodies and brain

Ø Genes - carriers of genetic info (DNA) passed from parents to child

Ø Human genome project
○ 2001: said that there are 30,000 genes
○ 2008: reduced to 20,000 to 25,000 genes
○ Number of genes not important
○ But sequencing of genes and expression makes humans unique
Ø Gene expression - the process in which proteins switch on and off other genes
○ Not that if you have gene X, you will get X
○ How genes interact with environment MATTERS

Ø Psychopathology is polygenic
○ SEVERAL GENES which turn themselves on/off as they interact with environment is
genetic vulnerability
○ We DEVELOP mental illness through interaction of our genes with environment

Ø Heritability - extent to which variability in a particular behavior in a population can be

accounted for by genetic factors
○ Range from 0.0 to 1.0 -- higher number, greater heritability
○ Relevant only for a large population of people

Ø Environment factors also important in genetic research

○ Shared environment factors - things that members of a family have in common
○ Nonshared/unique environment factors - believed to be distinct for among members of
the family
○ Behavior genetics suggest that nonshared/unique environment experiences have more
to do with dev't of mental illness

Ø Approaches in genetic paradigm

○ Behavior genetics - study of degree to which genes and environmental factors influence
 behavior
§ Genotype - physical sequence of DNA; cannot be observed
□ Not a static entity
§ Phenotype - observable behavioral characteristics (such as level of anxiety)
□ Changes over time
□ Product of interaction between genotype and environment
§ Study by Turkheimer: how genes and environment may influence IQ
□ BUT heritability depends on environment
□ Variability in IQ attributed more to environment
○ Molecular genetics - seek to identify genes and their functions
§ Alleles - different forms of a same gene
§ Polymorphism - difference in DNA sequence on a gene that has occurred in a
population
§ Promoters - involved in gene expression
§ Transcription factor - they recognize promoters

§ Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) - differences between people in a single

nucleotide in the DNA sequence of a particular gene
§ Copy number variations (CNVs) - abnormal copy of one or more sections of DNA
□ May be present in single or multiple genes
□ Can be additions or deletions

§ Knockout studies - particular gene is knocked out of animal's system to

manipulate genes and observe behavior

Ø Gene-environment interaction - a given person's sensitivity to environmental event is

influenced by genes
○ Serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT) has polymorphism
§ Some people have 2 short alleles, 2 long alleles, etc
§ Individuals having short-short or short-long combinations of 5-HTT gene AND were
maltreated as children --->> more likely to have major depressive disorder
Ø Epigenetics - study of how environment can alter gene expression/function
○ "above or outside gene"

Ø Experiment with rats

○ Pups born to mothers who were low in LG-ABN behavior but raised by mothers high in
LG-ABN (through cross-fostering adoptee method)
○ Pups became low in stress reactivity and exhibited high LG-ABN style
○ Grandpups also became low in stress reactivity and became high LG-ABN mothers
○ Suggests environmental effect
§ However later study showed transmission was due to triggering an increased
expression of gene among adopted offspring (increase expression of
glucocorticoid receptor)

Ø Reciprocal gene-environment interactions

○ genes may predispose us to seek environments that increase risk for developing
particular disorder
○ Dependent life events
Ø Evaluation
○ Important -- many ways in which genes might be involved in psychopathology
○ Challenge is to specify how genes and environments reciprocally influence one another

Neuroscience Paradigm

Ø Mental disorders are linked to aberrant processes in the brain

○ Anxiety disorders may be related to defect w/in ANS causing person to be easily aroused
etc
 Ø Neurons and neurotransmitters
○ Neuron - has cell body, dendrites, terminal buttons, axons
○ Nerve impulse - generated when neuron is stimulated at its cell body or dendrites
○ Synapse - small gap between terminal ending (pre) and cell membrane (post)
○ Neurotransmitters - chemicals that allow neurons to send signal across synapse
○ Receptors
○ Reuptake
Ø Some neurotransmitters implicated in psychopathology
○ Serotonin and dopamine - may be involved in depression, mania and schizophrenia
○ Norepinephrine - communicate with sympathetic nervous system
§ involved in producing high arousal
§ May be involved in anxiety disorders
○ Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)
§ inhibits nerve impulses
§ May be involved in anxiety disorders
Ø Some theories
○ Disorder may (?) be caused by too much or too little of a particular neurotransmitter
○ Possibility that neurotransmitter receptors are at fault
§ Delusions and hallucinations of schizophrenia may result from overabundance of
dopamine receptors
○ When cells fire more frequently and they release second messengers
§ Second messengers help neurons adjust receptor sensitivity
§ Antidepressants may be effective due to ability to impact second messengers
○ Agonist
○ Antagonist
○ Glial cell - not only interact with neurons but also help control how neurons work

Structure and function of brain

Ø Meninges envelope the brain
Ø Corpus callosum connects between two hemispheres
○ Frontal lobe
○ Parietal lobe
○ Temporal lobe
○ Occipital lobe
○ Prefrontal cortex
Ø Gray matter (cortex)
○ Convoluted, has ridges called gyrus/gyri and depressions between them are called
sulcus/sulci or fissures
Ø White matter
○ Made up of large tracts of myelinated fibers
Ø Basal ganglia - help regulate starting and stopping motor and cognitive activity
Ø Ventricles - filled with cerebrospinal fluid
Ø Thalamus - relay station for all sensory except olfactory
Ø Brain stem
Ø Cerebellum (vestibular)
Ø Subcortical structures (called limbic system) - support visceral and physical expressions of
emotion and expression of appetitive and thirst, hunger, mating, defense etc
○ Anterior cingulate
○ Septal area
○ Hippocampus
○ Hypothalamus (metabolism, temp, perspiration, blood pressure, sleeping, appetite)
○ Amygdala - important for attention to emotionally salient stimuli and memory of
emotionally relevant events
Ø Pruning - synaptic connections begin to be eliminated

Neuroendocrine system
 Ø HPA (Hypothalamus Pituitary Adrenal cortex) Axis
○ Central to body's response to stress
○ Process:
§ Hypothalamus releases corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)
§ CRF communicates with pituitary gland
§ Pituitary releases adrenocorticotropic hormone which travels via blood to the
adrenal glands
§ Adrenal cortex (outer layer of adrenal glands) secretes cortisol
Ø Cortisol - stress hormone

Autonomic nervous system

Ø Innervates endocrine glands, heart, smooth muscles etc.
Ø Sympathetic nervous system
○ Fight or flight
Ø Parasympathetic nervous system
○ Calm down

Neuroscience approaches to treatment

Ø Antidepressants increase neural transmission (e.g. Prozac)
Ø Benzodiazepines effective in reducing tension associated with anxiety disorders by stimulating
GABA
Ø Antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia reducing the activity of neurons
Ø Stimulants

Evaluation
Ø Caution against reductionism
○ View that whatever is being studied can and should be reduced to its most basic
elements

Cognitive Behavioral Paradigm

Influences from behavior therapy

Ø Notion: problem behavior is likely to continue if reinforced
○ Source of reinforcement (getting attention, escaping tasks, sensory feedback etc) has
been identified, treatment is tailored to alter consequences
Ø Time-out
○ Person is sent for a period of time to a location where positive reinforcers
Ø Operant techniques
○ Systematically rewarding desirable behavior
Ø Behavior activation (BA) theory
○ Engage in tasks that provide opportunity for positive reinforcement
○ Exposure
§ Anxiety will extinguish if person can face object or situation for long enough
without harming
§ Sometimes in vivo (real-life situations)
§ More effective than imagine exposure
○ Imagine exposure - used to address fears such as rape, trauma, contamination etc.

Cognitive science
Ø Cognition - mental processes of perceiving, recognizing, judging, reasoning
Ø This science regard people as active interpreters of a situation
○ Must fit into schema (cognitive set) but if not, schema must reorganize to fit the new
information
Ø Study of attention
○ Through stroop task
○ Interference
The role of unconscious
Ø Implicit memory - person can be influenced by prior learning
Ø Reflects efficiency and automaticity of the brain
○ Brains have developed capacity to register information for later use

Cognitive behavior therapy

Ø Incorporates theory and research
Ø Cognitive restructuring - term for changing a pattern of thought
Ø Aaron Beck's cognitive therapy
○ Based on idea that depressed mood is caused by distortions in the way people perceive
life experiences
○ Goal: provide people with experiences that will alter negative schemas
Ø Others:
○ Dialectical behavior therapy
○ Mindfulness based cognitive therapy
○ New treatments focus on spirituality, values, emotion, acceptance

Evaluation:
Ø Focus more on current determinants
Ø Distinctive: thoughts are given causal status -- thoughts are regarded as causing the other
features of the disorder

Factors that cut across paradigms

Emotion and psychopathology

Ø Emotions influence how we respond to problems/challenges
○ Exert widespread influence -- central
○ 85% of psychological disorders include disturbances in emotional processing
Ø Emotions - short lived states (seconds, minutes, or hours)
○ Also known as affect
○ Moods are emotional experiences that endure for a longer time
Ø Components of emotions
○ Expressive/behavioral
§ Facial expressions of emotion
○ Experience/subjective feeling component
§ How someone reports his/herself in response to some event
○ Physiological
§ Changes in body, such as those in autonomic nervous system
Ø Important to consider which components are affected in mental illnesses
Ø Ideal affect - the kinds of emotional states a person wants to feel
○ Western value happiness
○ Easter cultures value calmness

Sociocultural factors
Ø Eskimo's nuthkavihak - symptoms include not talking to oneself, refusing to talk, delusional
Ø Yoruba's were encompasses similar symptoms
Ø Hikikomori

Interpersonal factors
Ø Quality of relationships influences different disorders
Ø Researchers have looked for ways to measure not only closeness but also degree of hostility
○ Problem solving interactions of family members to capture key dimensions
Ø Object relations theory
○ Stesses importance of long-standing patterns in close relationships that are sharped by
ways people think and feel
Ø Attachment theory
 ○ John Bowlby (theory) and Mary Ainsworth (experiment on attachment for infants)
○ Attachment style of an infant to his/her caregiver can set the stage for psychological
health or problems later in life
Ø Relational self - the self in relation to others
○ People describe themselves differently depending on what other close relationships
they have been asked to think about
Ø Interpersonal therapy
○ Emphasize importance of current relationships in person's life and how problems in
these relationships can contribute to psychological symptoms
○ Patient identifies feelings about his/her relationships and express these feelings
○ Four interpersonal issues
§ Unresolved grief
§ Role transitions
§ Role disputes
§ Interpersonal or social deficits - not being able to begin a conversation with
unfamiliar person etc.

Diathesis-stress: integrative paradigm

Ø Links genetic, neurobiological, psychological, and environmental factors
Ø Model that focuses on interaction between predisposition toward disease (diathesis) and
environmental or life disturbances (stress)
Ø Diathesis - constitutional predisposition toward illness
Ø Stress - generally refers to some noxious or unpleasant environmental stimulus that triggers
psychopathology
○ Stressors such as major traumatic events
○ Mundane happenings such as car breakdowns
Ø Psychopathology is unlikely to result from the impact of any single factor
Ø Data gathered by researchers holding different paradigms are not contradictory but merely
reflect different levels of description