This week I have an abnormal psychology exam so I have been looking over material that I have already covered. One thing I think that is going to be on the test and is interesting is the different historical perspectives of abnormal psychology. Around the period of 500 to 600 B.C. Greek philosophies were created with the thought of a "rational analysis" in the field of psychology. Plato believed that "human beings gained knowledge rationally" and Aristotle believed that human beings "analyzing perceived events can lead to an empirical view on particular events". So it is true that Plato was trying to find the ultimate truth" and Aristotle was trying to find "one's perception of the truth". Hipprocrates (B.C. 460-377) was the father of medicine and he believed that mental health was related to 4 biological problems or humors, which were the imbalance of blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Galen (A.D. 129-198) was a Roman physician who helped to develop Hipprocrates humoral theory of disorders. The biological theory in psychology was treated with different levels of seriousness during the centuries after Hippocrates and Galen. Today in the 19th century it is taken seriously because of the further understanding of the nature and cause of syphilis and because of the influence of the knowledge of American psychiatrist John P. Grey. The Egyptians had discovered today what is known as a somatoform disorder. A somatoform disorder is a disorder where physical symptoms appear to be the result of an organic pathology in which no organic cause can be identified such as paralysis and certain kinds of blindness. I think it is amazing to think about how far back in time psychological research goes and how now some of these concepts from long ago can be relevant to what is understood about psychology in today's day and age.

This week for Abnormal Psychology I started to look over some of the information in chapter 3 because I am pretty sure that there will be an exam coming up soon. I found the part in chapter 3 about neuropsychological testing to be especially interesting. I read about how today there are sophisticated tests that can locate a dysfunction that is occurring within someone's brain and these tests are available to all but can be expensive. Neuropsychological testing measures abillities in areas of reception, expressive language, attention and concentration, memory, motor skills, perceptional ablities, and learning and abstraction so that a profesional in the field of brain sciences can make a educated guess about a person's mental skills and possible dysfunction. One of the more popular tests of neuropsychology among children is the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test, which is a test that is made up of cards that have different lines and shapes and then the child is asked to draw what is seen on the cards. This test has been found to be very useful for psychologists. The Luria-Nebraska Neurpsychological Battery and Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery are popular and advanced tests that are used today and can precisely determine dysfunctions within the brain by assessing many different skills. The Luria Nebraska test has been found to have eighty percent correctness statistically. Neuropsychological tests are used mostly as screening devices and usually go along with other forms of assessment that evaluate what the function of ones own mental health is. I found this to be interesting to read about because today there are many different types of tests that can evaluate a person's brain sometimes though a computer system like a positron emission tomography and there are other tests that are not computerized but are in the form of pictures, cards or other methods. And today it seems to be quite common that people are evaluated through these types of tests if you consider IQ tests or online personality tests and all of the many kinds of computerized tests.

This week in Abnormal psychology we did a writing activity about eating disorders and watched a video about a person who struggled with depression. Two topics that seem to be common and can become very serious. It was an interesting video to watch because it was of a person sitting and talking with a counselor about the details of his experience with depression and taking medicine. I am glad that depression it a treatable issue because it is said that 23 million adults develop depression a year. I have also read that eighty percent of patients with depression show signs of better health within four to six weeks of beginning medication, therapy, going to support groups or a combination of these forms of help. But it is also said that two out of three people suffering from depression do not go out and find the proper treatment. It is also estimated that half of unsuccessful treatments are due to medical non-compliance. Some patients stop taking there medicine at the wrong time due to negative side effects, financial factors, fear of addiction and because of short term improvement which can influence the belief that that continuing treatment is not needed (DBSA,1999). Depression is a common thing and I think that most people understand what it is and because it is so common I think it is a good idea to be aware of the symptoms of depression. The in class video was interesting because the client was insightful into the symptoms of depression which for him were having social and physical problems from medicine.

I recently read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon. This book offers the reader an interesting perspective of the world through the eyes of 15 year old Christopher John Francis Boone who appears to be eccentric to the point of fitting the description of having an autistic or apserger disorder. Seven minutes after midnight Christoper finds that his neighbor Mrs. Shears pet poodle Wellington is laying dead on her own front lawn. Christopher liked Wellington so he makes it a mission of his own to find out who killed Wellington because the police cannot seem to figure it out. Christopher begins to write his own book about his job as being a detective and starts to investigate Wellington's death by questioning his neighbors and finds out an interesting revelation about his mother from neighbor Mrs. Alexander in the process. Christopher is trying to find a place where he will be happy and safe, which leads him on a adventure all around England. Christopher begins to realize that he may not be quite as safe around his father who is hiding a couple of things from him. The book was interesting though out because I was never quite sure what happened to Wellington, Christopher's mother and even what was going to happen to Christopher's pet rat Toby. Christopher is a smart boy who is doing honors level math with the help of Mrs. Gascoyne, his invigilator Reverend Peters and his teacher Siobhan. He also plans on doing honors level physics and he has special talents because he can name the capitals and countries in the world and all the prime numbers up to the number seven thousand and fifty seven. He is an intelligent character for sure but there are certain traits that Christopher has that could lead you to believe that he suffers from an autistic and asperger type disorder. Some of the autistic symptoms are the fact that he does not like people touching him even if it is a police officer or his parents; he also was known to scream when he became frustrated; he thought of Toby the rat to be as important as just about anyone in his life; he lacked a fear of danger because he risked his life for Toby; and he also did not understand various verbal cues or expressions, such as the phrase you are the apple of my eye. He had asperger symptoms because he had a more then average interest in astronomy and puzzles; he talked a lot about math and had great skills in memorization and math. Christopher most likely had an autistic or asperger disorder because he has several of the symptomatic traits that real life autistic and asperger people tend to have.
I though that the different characters in the book were quite realistic. It also seemed to me that just about all the characters in the book were involved in some sort of a conflict or had a potentially realistic type of problem; such as Mr. Shears and Christopher's mothers relationship and even Christopher and his own father having a misunderstanding about Wellington and Christopher's mother. Christopher's parents seem to be realistic because they cared about him like most parents I think would care about there son even though they were having parenting issues. His father was also trying to keep him out of trouble by telling him not to play a detective game. His father would try and make up for when he got frustrated with Christopher by taking him to the zoo, so he was quite sympathetic as well. The ending was good because Christopher had the ability to be around his parents in an enviroment he could deal with. The characters all seemed realistic and the only character who seems to be a bit odd really is Christopher himself.
I really enjoyed this book because it allowed me to have a look into the unique mind of Christopher Boone who sees things a little differently then I expected him too because of his disorder, such as the fact that he believes because the number and color of certain cars he sees will determine how his day is going to turn out. The book had realistic characters and a story that was adventurous, exciting, full of danger, and the lesson of what it is like for an autistic teenage boy and his family going through serious issues in life.