SOCW-6090 & 6361-W1-Discussions:Impact of Mainstream Focus on Psychopathology and Diagnosis

Discussion 1: Impact of Mainstream Focus on Psychopathology and Diagnosis

Diagnosis and the description of mental health issues have recently become ubiquitous in the media. One of the reasons for this new emergence of the topic of mental health in the mainstream media is because of worldwide traumatic events. Many tragic events covered in the media are centered on one or two individuals who have committed acts of violence. Unfortunately, most of these individuals have had a history of mental illness. This aspect of the tragedy then becomes the focus of analysis within the media. From this point of reference, reporters and journalists educate the public on mental health issues. However, these tragedies could be an opportunity to educate the public about the facts related to mental illness. Unfortunately, the media discussions about mental illness often result in attaching a stigma to mental illness and to the population suffering from mental illness.

As a clinical social worker, you need to be aware of the impact of the entry of psychopathology and diagnosis in mainstream public discourses. You also need to think about how the media could help eliminate or mitigate the stigma attached to mental illness in the mind of the general population.

· Post an explanation of your thoughts on how psychopathology and diagnosis have entered mainstream public discourse.

· Then explain the potential negative and positive impact of this mainstream discourse on those living with a psychiatric diagnosis.

· Briefly explain the DSM-5’s organization and its dimensional approach to diagnosing and its possible impact on society’s view of mental disorders.

· Be sure to include specific examples to the mainstream media (e.g., television or magazine reports, television shows) in your post.

Support your post with specific references to the resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

References (use 3 or more)

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

“Preface” (pp. xli–xliv)

Krueger, R. F., & Bezdjian, S. (2009). Enhancing research and treatment of mental disorders with dimensional concepts: Toward DSM-V and ICS-11. World Psychiatry, 8(1), 3–6.

Read more ...

Social Pschology Quiz 3: Fundamental Nature and Structure of the Olympics

There are 16 questions on the exam: 3 essay questions, 2 short answer questions, and 11 multiple-choice questions.

1. TCO 5. There has been a bumper crop of politicians who have been revealed to be less than upstanding citizens. John Edwards, a former senator who was in the running for the 2008 presidential nomination, and who said family values were at his core, was revealed to have had an affair with a campaign worker, at the same time his wife was battling cancer. Similarly, New York governor Eliot Spitzer, a married, moralizing crusader for laws against sexual tourism, was caught in an escort service "sting", and forced to resign. These are only two of several recent examples of politicians who have celebrity status, and flaunted the social norms of decency.

Apply the course concepts of the dark side of self-esteem and moral hypocrisy to this type of behavior. What do you conclude about people who behave in such a way? Hint: Explicitly use each concept by name and also give a one sentence definition of it before explaining how the concepts apply to these people.

(Points : 41)

Question 2. 2. TCO 6. The Beltway sniper attacks in the Washington D.C. area, in 2002, completely transfixed American consciousness for the three weeks in October, when a pair of armed killers roamed through the Capital region, ambushing and killing 10 people, and wounding three others. As time progressed and law enforcement officials were having little luck in solving the case, tensions and apprehensiveness spread far beyond the area where the killings were concentrated. Even though there was never any hard evidence that the killers were headed in their direction, the citizens of towns and cities a hundred miles away were terrorized by the notion that the killers were about to show up in their communities.

Discuss this with respect to the effects of suggestibility that Myers writes about in Chapter 6. Be specific as to what aspects of suggestibility apply to the case.

Read more ...

Early Childhood Research Proposal: PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT A Changing Body and Brain

chapter outline
· PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

· A Changing Body and Brain

· Skeletal Growth

· Brain Development

· Influences on Physical Growth and Health

· Heredity and Hormones

· Nutrition

· Infectious Disease

· Childhood Injuries

· Motor Development

· Gross-Motor Development

· Fine-Motor Development

· Individual Differences in Motor Skills

· COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

· Piaget’s Theory: The Preoperational Stage

· Advances in Mental Representation

· Make-Believe Play

· Symbol–Real-World Relations

· Limitations of Preoperational Thought

· Follow-Up Research on Preoperational Thought

· Evaluation of the Preoperational Stage

· Piaget and Education

· ■ SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION Children’s Questions: Catalyst for Cognitive Development

· Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

· Private Speech

· Social Origins of Early Childhood Cognition

· Vygotsky and Education

· Evaluation of Vygotsky’s Theory

· ■ CULTURAL INFLUENCES Children in Village and Tribal Cultures Observe and Participate in Adult Work

· Information Processing

· Attention

· Memory

· The Young Child’s Theory of Mind

· Early Childhood Literacy

· Early Childhood Mathematical Reasoning

· ■ BIOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT “Mindblindness” and Autism

· Individual Differences in Mental Development

· Home Environment and Mental Development

· Preschool, Kindergarten, and Child Care

· Educational Media

· Language Development

· Vocabulary

· Grammar

· Conversation

· Supporting Language Development in Early Childhood

For more than a decade, my fourth-floor office window overlooked the preschool and kindergarten play yard of our university laboratory school. On mild fall and spring mornings, the doors of the classrooms swung open, and sand table, easels, and large blocks spilled out into a small courtyard. Alongside the building was a grassy area with jungle gyms, swings, a playhouse, and a flower garden planted by the children. Beyond it lay a circular path lined with tricycles and wagons. Each day, the setting was alive with activity.

The years from 2 to 6 are often called “the play years,” since play blossoms during this time and supports every aspect of development. Our discussion opens with the physical attainments of early childhood—growth in body size and improvements in motor coordination. We look at genetic and environmental factors that support these changes and at their intimate connection with other domains of development.

Then we explore early childhood cognition, beginning with Piaget’s preoperational stage. Recent research, along with Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and information processing, extends our understanding of preschoolers’ cognitive competencies. Next, we address factors that contribute to early childhood mental development—the home environment, the quality of preschool and child care, and the many hours young children spend watching television and using computers. We conclude with the dramatic expansion of language in early childhood.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
image1 A Changing Body and Brain
In early childhood, body growth tapers off from the rapid rate of the first two years. On average, children add 2 to 3 inches in height and about 5 pounds in weight each year. Boys continue to be slightly larger than girls. As “baby fat” drops off further, children gradually become thinner, although girls retain somewhat more body fat than boys, who are slightly more muscular. As Figure 7.1 shows, by age 5 the top-heavy, bowlegged, potbellied toddler has become a more streamlined, flat-tummied, longer-legged child with body proportions similar to those of adults. Consequently, posture and balance improve—changes that support gains in motor coordination.

Individual differences in body size are even more apparent during early childhood than in infancy and toddlerhood. Speeding around the bike path in the play yard, 5-year-old Darryl—at 48 inches tall and 55 pounds—towered over his kindergarten classmates. (The average North American 5-year-old boy is 43 inches tall and weighs 42 pounds.) Priti, an Asian-Indian child, was unusually small because of genetic factors linked to her cultural ancestry. Hal, a Caucasian child from a poverty-stricken home, was well below average for reasons we will discuss shortly.

FIGURE 7.1 Body growth during early childhood.
During the preschool years, children grow more slowly than in infancy and toddlerhood. Chris and Mariel’s bodies became more streamlined, flat-tummied, and longer-legged. Boys continue to be slightly taller, heavier, and more muscular than girls. But generally, the two sexes are similar in body proportions and physical capacities.

Skeletal Growth
The skeletal changes of infancy continue throughout early childhood. Between ages 2 and 6, approximately 45 new epiphyses, or growth centers in which cartilage hardens into bone, emerge in various parts of the skeleton. X-rays of these growth centers enable doctors to estimate children’s skeletal age, or progress toward physical maturity (see page 121 in Chapter 4 )—information helpful in diagnosing growth disorders.

By the end of the preschool years, children start to lose their primary, or “baby,” teeth. Genetic factors heavily influence the age at which they do so. For example, girls, who are ahead of boys in physical development, lose teeth earlier. Environmental influences also matter: Prolonged malnutrition delays the appearance of permanent teeth, whereas overweight and obesity accelerate it (Hilgers et al., 2006 ).

Diseased baby teeth can affect the health of permanent teeth, so preventing decay in primary teeth is essential—by brushing consistently, avoiding sugary foods, drinking fluoridated water, and getting topical fluoride treatments and sealants (plastic coatings that protect tooth surfaces). Another factor is exposure to tobacco smoke, which suppresses children’s immune system, including the ability to fight bacteria responsible for tooth decay. Young children in homes with regular smokers are at increased risk for decayed teeth (Hanioka et al., 2011 ).

Unfortunately, an estimated 28 percent of U.S. preschoolers have tooth decay, a figure that rises to 50 percent in middle childhood and 60 percent by age 18. Causes include poor diet and inadequate health care—factors that are more likely to affect low-SES children. About 30 percent of U.S. children living in poverty have untreated dental caries (National Institutes of Health, 2011 ).

Brain Development
Between ages 2 and 6, the brain increases from 70 percent of its adult weight to 90 percent. At the same time, preschoolers improve in a wide variety of skills—physical coordination, perception, attention, memory, language, logical thinking, and imagination.

By age 4, many parts of the cerebral cortex have overproduced synapses. In some regions, such as the prefrontal cortex, the number of synapses is nearly double the adult value. Together, synaptic growth and myelination of neural fibers result in a high energy need. In fact, fMRI evidence reveals that energy metabolism in the cerebral cortex reaches a peak around this age (Huttenlocher, 2002 ; Nelson, Thomas, & de Haan, 2006 ). Synaptic pruning follows: Neurons that are seldom stimulated lose their connective fibers, and the number of synapses gradually declines. By age 8 to 10, energy consumption of most cortical regions diminishes to near-adult levels (Nelson, 2002 ). And cognitive capacities increasingly localize in distinct neural systems, reflecting a developmental shift toward a more fine-tuned, efficient neural organization (Tsujimoto, 2008 ).

EEG, NIRS, and fMRI measures of neural activity indicate especially rapid growth from early to middle childhood in areas of the prefrontal cortex devoted to various aspects of executive function. These include inhibition of impulses, attention, memory, and planning and organizing behavior—capacities that advance markedly over the preschool years (Bunge & Wright, 2007 ; Durston & Casey, 2006 ). Furthermore, for most children, the left cerebral hemisphere is especially active between 3 and 6 years and then levels off. In contrast, activity in the right hemisphere increases steadily throughout early and middle childhood (Thatcher, Walker, & Giudice, 1987 ; Thompson et al., 2000 ). These findings fit nicely with what we know about several aspects of cognitive development. Language skills (typically housed in the left hemisphere) increase at an astonishing pace in early childhood, and they support children’s improved executive function. In contrast, spatial skills (usually located in the right hemisphere), such as giving directions, drawing pictures, and recognizing geometric shapes, develop gradually over childhood and adolescence.

Differences in rate of development between the two hemispheres suggest that they are continuing to lateralize (specialize in cognitive functions). Let’s take a closer look at brain lateralization in early childhood by focusing on handedness.

A 5-year-old illustrates gains in executive function, supported by rapid growth of the prefrontal cortex, as she engages in an activity that challenges her capacity to attend, remember, and plan.

Handedness.
Research on handedness, along with other evidence covered in Chapter 4 , supports the joint contribution of nature and nurture to brain lateralization. By age 6 months, infants typically display a smoother, more efficient movement when reaching with their right than their left arm. This difference, believed to be biologically based, may contribute to the right-handed bias of most children by the end of the first year (Hinojosa, Sheu, & Michael, 2003 ; Rönnqvist & Domellöf, 2006 ). Gradually, handedness extends to additional skills.

Handedness reflects the greater capacity of one side of the brain—the individual’s dominant cerebral hemisphere —to carry out skilled motor action. Other important abilities are generally located on the dominant side as well. For right-handed people—in Western nations, 90 percent of the population—language is housed in the left hemisphere with hand control. For the left-handed 10 percent, language is occasionally located in the right hemisphere or, more often, shared between the hemispheres (Szaflarski et al., 2012 ). This indicates that the brains of left-handers tend to be less strongly lateralized than those of right-handers.

Read more ...

Personality Chapter for General Psychology Class Online

Personality Chapter

Someone insults you and you spend the next two hours imagining the things you could have (or should have) said to humiliate them. According to Freud, you are engaging in free association.

Select one:

True

False

The BEST kind of personality test is one that is _______.

Select one:

a. reliable, but not necessarily valid

b. valid, but not necessarily reliable

c. neither reliable nor valid

d. both valid and reliable

Jenny is 15 years old. She is capable of mature sexuality, is able to postpone gratification, and handle responsibility. According to Freud, she is in the phallic stage.

Select one:

True

False

Johnny is 8 years old. He likes to play with other little boys, but has no interest in playing with little girls. According to Freud, he is in the latency stage.

Select one:

True

False

According to Hippocrates, if my temper is out of control, I need to check the balance of my green bile.

Read more ...