In the last decade, developmental psychopathology (DP), which is generally characterized as a scientific discipline whose ultimate focus is to integrate formative science and psychopathology into a comprehensive strategy to theoretical approaches for psychopathological advancement, becoming the prevalent approach for understanding the provenance of mental disorders in children and adolescents. As a result, anyone working in clinical pediatrics should have a rudimentary awareness of DP’s essential ideas. Comprehending psychopathology in one’s formative phases of life, from birth to death, and how it affects psychological health, therapy, diagnostics. As a result, the DP integrated strategy affects theory, diagnosis, evaluation, study, and intervention across various fields concerned with the psychological health and well-being of infants, adolescents, and adults of all ages throughout their developmental lifecycle.
It is critical to remember that genes, environment, and contact can all impact and alter an individual’s psychological health throughout time. For example, all external forces on a growing fetus, including nutrition, trauma, or disease encountered by the expectant mother, might disrupt the genetics of the child’s development before delivery. In addition, the nurse or caregivers manage or mediate the earliest infancy events. As children mature, they deal with more explicit systems such as peer play, schooling, job, social connections, and siblings, all of which impact their mental health and how they engage with particular people or systems (Bernal et al., 2017). The implications of the genetic code and gene function in psychological health are being studied again using technology developments in current epigenetic studies.
In addition to genetic and behavioral impacts on patho-psychology, social interactions play a critical role in an individual’s developmental psychopathology. Individuals and their contextual interactions are evaluated using transformational models. The theory that children affect their growth by influencing the contacts that shape their own requires to advance the aspect of individual activity in evolution (Shadrina et al., 2018). As children get older, they become more involved in their growth and control how they interact with others and their surroundings. Simultaneously, transactional models acknowledge the significant importance of external sociocultural circumstances in restricting or modifying growth (Butcher & Kendall, 2018). Deprivation, discrimination, conflict, training, and various beneficial possibilities are all factors that impact.
To correctly diagnose and treat each client individually, whether medication administration or psychotherapy, skilled practitioners must thoroughly understand their clients’ cultures, beliefs, and socioeconomic class. Cultural differences with the same ailment or psychiatric illness may not have the same symptoms as other ethnicities, so having a strong working understanding and history of the client by studying their culture will help in efficiently diagnosis and treatment them. People recognize and describe physical and emotional problems varies by culture (Cheung & Mak, 2018). While some cultures prefer to seek treatment from a skilled practitioner or psychotherapy, others may seek relief through religious practice or herbal medicines. It’s imperative to remember that some clients may have multiple cultures. Whether this is religion, military career, gender, or ethnicity, experienced practitioners must spend some time learning about the various cultures, even if it involves asking the client directly concerning them (Javanbakht & Alberini, 2019).
In combination with the costs of psychotherapy and behavioral rehabilitation treatment, the expense of psychotropic drugs is a major reason for psychiatric care failures. Those with a socioeconomically disadvantaged standing may be unable to afford or gain access to therapies. The resource scarcity makes it difficult for people in poverty and those stigmatized as having a mental illness to receive adequate care. Lack of health insurance, mobility, and awareness on psychological health and how to seek treatment when required are some of the challenges this demographic faces. As advanced clinicians, it is our responsibility to educate people who are suffering from psychiatric conditions and others in society about mental disease and give resources when they are accessible.
References
Bernal, D. R., Herbst, R. B., Lewis, B. L., & Feibelman, J. (2017). Ethical care for vulnerable populations receiving psychotropic treatment. Ethics & Behavior, 27(7), 582–598. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508422.2016.1224187
Butcher, J. N., & Kendall, P. C. (2018). Introduction to childhood and adolescent psychopathology. In J. N. Butcher & P. C. Kendall (Eds.), APA handbook of psychopathology: Child and adolescent psychopathology (pp. 3–14). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000065-001
Cheung, F. M., & Mak, W. W. S. (2018). Sociocultural factors in psychopathology. In J. N. Butcher & J. M. Hooley (Eds.), APA handbook of psychopathology: Psychopathology: Understanding, assessing, and treating adult mental disorders (pp. 127–147). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000064-006
Javanbakht, A., & Alberini, C. M. (2019). Editorial: Neurobiological Models of Psychotherapy. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 13, 144. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00144
Shadrina, M., Bondarenko, E. A., & Slominsky, P. A. (2018). Genetics Factors in Major Depression Disease. Frontiers in Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00334
Factors that influence psychological development are often attributed to childhood exposure to biological and environmental factors. Psychopathology factors include gender, physiological, developmental, socioeconomics, threat, stress, refugee, overmedication, and access to treatment. Biological and genetic mental illnesses are attributed to gene combination transference. Biological and genetic factors increase the susceptibility to mental illness but are shaped by environmental factors such as exposure to low socioeconomic status and increasing poverty-related stress causing psychological issues.
Puberty is known to cause depression due to the developmental changes the person endures. Gender individualizes the increased risk for disorders such as anxiety and depression, and some risks may be determined by hormonal development. Threats such as trauma, abuse, disasters, and uprooting from another country increase the prevalence of PTSD, which influence negative psychological adjustments. Stress increases the risk of behavioral issues and can be associated with factors such as academics and interpersonal relationships at school with instructors or peers. Access to care and overmedication influence medical factors that increase psychological development, (Butcher, 2018).
Sociocultural factors such as gender, sexual orientation, class, race, and ethnicity influence the development of emotional and behavioral disorders. The rate of depression, self-harm, drug abuse, and mental disorders is higher in people with ethnic backgrounds, non-hetero orientation, low income, and other sociocultural influences. Bias thinking can influence the accuracy of clinical judgment and hinder the appropriate treatment for the patient if a multicultural perspective is not developed, (Cheung, 2018). Understanding early adolescent development of psychological issues increases the ability to acquire a developmental perspective to treat the patient’s lifespan by shaping pathways through multi-level processes (Masten, 2018).
Understanding causative factors and the association of neurological involvement with psychological development is fundamental in selecting the appropriate treatment for the patient. Disorders of brain regions such as the amygdala, cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, thalamus, insular cortex, and frontal cortex cause mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, BPD, and PTSD. Knowledge of how each system will increase the ability to understand how the limbic system, orbitofrontal cortex, insular cortex, and orbital frontal cortex may be responsible for multiple disorders, but the limbic system is definitive to an anxiety disorder, (Jackson, 2018).
Resources
Butcher, J. N., & Kendall, P. C. (2018). Introduction to childhood and adolescent psychopathology. In J. N. Butcher & P. C. Kendall (Eds.), APA handbook of psychopathology: Child and adolescent psychopathology Links to an external site.., Vol. 2. (pp. 3–14). American Psychological Association. https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://doi.org/10.1037/0000065-001
Links to an external site.
Cheung, F. M., & Mak, W. W. S. (2018). Sociocultural factors in psychopathology. In J. N. Butcher & J. M. Hooley (Eds.), APA handbook of psychopathology: Psychopathology: Understanding, assessing, and treating adult mental disorders., Vol. 1 Links to an external site.. (pp. 127–147). American Psychological Association. https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://doi.org/10.1037/0000064-006
Links to an external site.
Jackson, C. E., & Milberg, W. P. (2018). Examination of neurological and neuropsychological features in psychopathology. In J. N. Butcher & J. M. Hooley (Eds.), APA handbook of psychopathology: Psychopathology: Understanding, assessing, and treating adult mental disorders., Vol. 1 Links to an external site.. (pp. 65–90). American Psychological Association. https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://doi.org/10.1037/0000064-004
Links to an external site.
Masten, A. S., & Kalstabakken, A. W. (2018). Developmental perspectives on psychopathology in children and adolescents. In J. N. Butcher & P. C. Kendall (Eds.), APA handbook of psychopathology: Child and adolescent psychopathology., Vol. 2 Links to an external site.. (pp. 15–36). American Psychological Association. https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://doi.org/10.1037/0000065-002
Psychopathology refers to the scientific exploration of abnormal cognition, behavior, and experience that differ from social norms. (Schultze-Lutter et al., 2018). For centuries, research has focused on understanding the exact basis for the development of mental disorders to enhance the effectiveness of their treatment. The development of psychopathology is considered complex and multifactorial encompassing biological, psychological, environmental, social, and cultural factors. The subsequent discussion will elaborate on the aforementioned factors.
Biological Factors
Genetic and neuroscientific studies have demonstrated a correlation between biological factors and psychopathology. Population studies over the past 5 decades have consistently exhibited a heritable component to mental disorders (Sadock et al., 2015). Neuropsychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia and depression have heritable components due to concordance rates between monozygotic and dizygotic twins (Sadock et al., 2015). Similarly, having a parent with a mental disorder increases the risk of subsequent development of psychopathology in the offspring. Additionally, several structural brain changes including atrophy have been found in individuals with psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia (Caspi & Moffitt, 2018). Finally, neurotransmitter abnormalities and dysregulations have been implemented in the causation of mental disorders such as schizophrenia.
Psychological Factors
Psychological factors influence cognitive, behavioral, and socio-emotional development (Isaksson et al., 2021). Experiencing adverse life events during childhood predisposes to the development of psychopathology in adulthood. These adverse events including child abuse and trauma influence stress regulation systems that can lead to depression, PTSD, and anxiety (Isaksson et al., 2021). Similarly, psychological factors impact feelings and the process of thinking throughout life which is associated with diversified cognitive, intellectual, emotional, and personality growth in addition to the perceptual framework (Isaksson et al., 2021).
Social, Cultural, and Interpersonal Factors
Social, cultural, and interpersonal factors principally focus on the interaction between individuals, peer groups, families, and communities (Moleiro, 2018). Several factors including gender, age, religion, culture, socioeconomic status, and literacy levels have been correlated with mental health disparities (Moleiro, 2018). Additionally, social factors have a considerable impact on the treatment of psychopathologies as some patients may choose not to seek healthcare due to fear of social stigmatization. Finally, behavioral and emotional disorders are closely linked to the social world as individuals with these abnormalities act outside the social norms.
References
Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2018). All for one and one for all: Mental disorders in one dimension. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 175(9), 831–844. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.17121383
Isaksson, J., Zetterqvist, V., & Ramklint, M. (2021). Psychological and social risk factors are associated with the development of psychopathology, controlling for biological influence. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 34(6), 600–607. https://doi.org/10.1097/YCO.0000000000000744
Moleiro, C. (2018). Culture and psychopathology: New perspectives on research, practice, and clinical training in a globalized world. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 366. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00366
Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., & Ruiz, P. (2015). Kaplan & Sadock’s synopsis of psychiatry. Wolters Kluwer.
Schultze-Lutter, F., Schmidt, S. J., & Theodoridou, A. (2018). Psychopathology-a precision tool in need of re-sharpening. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 446. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00446
