Developmental psychopathology
According to this model, psychopathology is best understood using a lifespan development approach. It considers how the negotiation and attainment of earlier developmental tasks affects people’s capacities to manage later tasks (e.g. Cicchetti, Rogosch & Toth, 1994). In other words, people may travel down one of many paths; their success or failure at various junctures along the way determines the subsequent path that they follow. So earlier deficits in functioning may leave us unprepared to successfully negotiate subsequent related situations, putting us at even greater risk for psychopathology. For example, a young girl who is harshly and chronically criticized by her parents may develop low self-esteem and the expectation that people will not like her, which puts her at risk of becoming depressed. She may then have difficulty making friends in school because she is afraid of rejection. She may feel lonely and undesirable, her withdrawal leading to actual rejection by her peers, continuing her risk for depression. But if this young girl has a teacher who treats her with warmth and care and helps her learn how to make friends, her risk for depression might be reduced. This is because she is acquiring important skills that have the potential to change the course of her subsequent development. For each disorder we will look at its symptoms and the course it takes. Then we will consider its causes, both biological/genetic and psychosocial, and the factors that affect its course. Prevalence rates (i.e. the cross-sectional proportion of occurrences of the disorder in the population) for various disorders.
According to this model, psychopathology is best understood using a lifespan development approach. It considers how the negotiation and attainment of earlier developmental tasks affects people’s capacities to manage later tasks (e.g. Cicchetti, Rogosch & Toth, 1994). In other words, people may travel down one of many paths; their success or failure at various junctures along the way determines the subsequent path that they follow. So earlier deficits in functioning may leave us unprepared to successfully negotiate subsequent related situations, putting us at even greater risk for psychopathology. For example, a young girl who is harshly and chronically criticized by her parents may develop low self-esteem and the expectation that people will not like her, which puts her at risk of becoming depressed. She may then have difficulty making friends in school because she is afraid of rejection. She may feel lonely and undesirable, her withdrawal leading to actual rejection by her peers, continuing her risk for depression. But if this young girl has a teacher who treats her with warmth and care and helps her learn how to make friends, her risk for depression might be reduced. This is because she is acquiring important skills that have the potential to change the course of her subsequent development. For each disorder we will look at its symptoms and the course it takes. Then we will consider its causes, both biological/genetic and psychosocial, and the factors that affect its course. Prevalence rates (i.e. the cross-sectional proportion of occurrences of the disorder in the population) for various disorders.
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