C Axis III General Medical Conditions
On Axis III are listed general medical conditions that may be relevant to the disorder s listed on Axes I and II. The presence of Axis III should not be taken to suggest a mind-brain dualism, with Axes I and II representing problems of the mind in the absence of a physiological basis. On the contrary, mental experience is rooted in the function of the brain. Axis III is included in the DSM to encourage a comprehensive evaluation and a consideration of the various ways in which a general medical...
B Incidence of Reported Sexual Abuse
Incidence refers to the number of reports of a particular phenomenon, usually occurring during a circumscribed time frame. In the United States, there are governmental and nongovernmental initiatives to gather incidence data on child sexual abuse. Illustrative of governmental efforts is a provision in the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, which requires that the federal government collect annual statistics on reports of child maltreatment received by local Child Protection...
F Psychodynamic Family Therapy
In a sense, this is a contradiction in terms, since family therapy is concerned with family systems, and not primarily with the psychopathology of family members. But many of the figures who played major roles in the early development of family therapy came to it from a psychoanalytic background. As far as there is such a thing as psychodynamic family therapy, it seems to be therapy that aims to help family members gain insight into themselves and how they react with each other. See...
A Psychopharmacology versus Behavioral Pharmacology
Within any field different camps develop for a variety of reasons, some historical, some conceptual, some methodologic, and some personal. The study of drugs and psychology is no exception to this truism. Whereas psychopharmacology has come to refer to a broad rubric of issues, methods, and topics, behavioral pharmacology has a narrower focus. This particular sub-field is mentioned here because it is so important to the broader topic and it has made so many contributions to knowledge of drugs...
D Burrhus F Skinner and Operant Conditioning
Burrhus F. Skinner 1904-1990 , extended, modified and perfected Thorndike's reward learning theory as operant conditioning. In Skinner's 1953 book with Lindsley and Solomon, the term behavior therapy was introduced into the psychology literature. Skinner however, had worked with nonhuman animals so that term may have been used in reference to the past work of Mary Cover Jones. It may also have referred to the exciting new, non-Freudian hypothesis of Joseph Wolpe that neurotic fears are learned...
C Maxie C Maultsby Jr and Rational Behavior Therapy RBT
While still a psychiatric resident, Maxie C. Maultsby, Jr., studied briefly with Joseph Wolpe in 1967 and with Ellis for the following 7 years. At the 1975 Chicago National Conference of Rational Emotive and Behavior Therapists, Maultsby described his unique method of psychotherapy called Rational Behavior Therapy, or RBT. Then RBT was and probably still is the only method of psychotherapy that is based on the well-established facts about the mental activities of normal human brains that make...
F Paraphiliacs
Those with paraphilias, or variant sexual desires and practices, sometimes present with sexual dysfunction. Paraphiliacs seeking treatment in this way are almost always male, reflecting the vast preponderance of males over females among paraphiliacs. In their presentation, they often complain of difficulties in non-paraphiliac sexual relationships. For example, a man with a strong shoe fetish might seek help for an inability to obtain or maintain an erection in sex without contact with a...
Coping with Stress
II. Determinants of Coping Responses Coping Cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage stress. Emotion-Focused Coping Coping responses that are geared toward managing one's emotions during stressful episodes. Problem-Focused Coping Coping responses that are geared toward directly changing some aspect of the stressful situation. Relationship-Focused Coping Coping responses that are geared toward managing and maintaining one's social relationships during stressful episodes. Stress Situations that...
C Edward L Thorndike Reward Learning Theory
Edward L. Thorndike 1874-1949 , was the most influential non-Pavlovian American behaviorist in the first three decades of the twentieth century. His popular 1898 book, Animal Intelligence, made him one of the earliest internationally renowned American psychologists. However, his subsequent work had a lasting effect on American psychology mainly because it was the professional ''springboard'' for the research of B. F. Skinner. Skinner was Thorndike's most famous and productive student....
E O Hobart Mowrer and TwoFactor Learning
More than the research and writings of any other single pioneer, behavioral psychologist, those of O. Hobart Mower made contemporary, comprehensive behavior therapy possible. He believed that to be clinically useful, any explanation of human behavior has to pass the human test of empirical common sense. Consequently, Mowrer was intrigued by this paradox Watson was accepted as the quintessential empirical scientist. Yet the basis for Watson's behaviorist revolution against then-contemporary...
A Ivan P Pavlov and Classical Conditioning
Ivan P. Pavlov 1849-1936 , the Russian physician and physiologist, and 1904 Nobel Prize laureate, ser-endipitously discovered classical or respondent conditioning in the late nineteenth century. Here is the standard procedure for producing it. First, select a neutral stimulus and an animal human or nonhuman , for example, a dog. Animals often respond with a startle response to unusual stimuli. So, it is important to make sure that a selected stimulus is really neutral, that is, one the animal...
Assessment of Mental Health in Older Adults
Carolyn M. Aldwin and Michael R. Levenson I. Heterogeneity in Older Populations II. Differentiating between Mental and Physical Health Problems III. Assessing Factors Affecting Mental and Physical Health IV. Assessing Positive Mental Health Age Effects Statistical relationships due solely to the effect of chronological age. Cohort Effects Statistical relationships due primarily to the effect of year of birth, for example, having lived through a particular historical era at a specific age....