1: Basic Concepts Flashcards
What is the statistical perspective on psychological disease based on?
Individual differences and norms.
What is the theoretical perspective on psychological disease based on?
Disease mechanisms.
What do standardised tests allow?
Comparison of a participant with a control sample based n the normal distribution.
When can Z scores be useful?
To compare two or more scores taken from normal distributions, even when the means and SDs are different.
Give 1 advantage of standardised tests.
They area diagnostic.
Give 4 disadvantages of standardised tests.
Collection control data is laborious, the normal distinction may differ depending on characteristics of the sub-population, not all psychological variables are normally distributed, and not all of them are easy to measure.
What do rating scales use as a baseline?
The individual’s own earlier performance.
What are rating scales useful for?
Measuring responses to treatment.
Give 4 advantages of rating scales.
They account for subjectivity, are adequate for monitoring treatment and changes over time, cost less than standardised tests and can be used for non-normally distributed variables.
Give 3 disadvantages of rating scales.
They are not diagnostic, there is risk if operator error, and they rely on self-report.
Give 1 advantage of statistical manuals.
They provide a common language and standard diagnostic criteria.
Give 5 disadvantages of statistical manuals.
There’s no evidence of biological causation, no evidence of reliability, validity or prognostic value, a problem of comorbidity, a risk of stigmatising eccentric people and a risk of medicinal using normality.
What 2 problems do the BPS suggest with not using diagnostic labels?
Hindering research and creating difficulties in interaction in society (e.g. insurance or the law).
Give 2 dissimilarities between mental and physical illness.
There is a traditional distinction between the body and the mind and many mental illnesses don’t have a biomarker.
Give 2 similarities between mental and physical illness.
Mental diseases are of the brain, which is a physical organ and some somatic diseases lack a biomarker too.
What suggests that faulty genes alone do not cause mental diseases?
No concordance rates of 100% have been found.
Give 3 advantages of the genetic model.
Biomarkers mean straightforward assessment, treatment is causal, and guilt is removed.
Give 2 disadvantages of the genetic model.
Suggests a lack of control over one’s own mental health and explains only a few diseases adequately so far.
How does the neuropharmacological model explain mental disease?
Neurotransmitter imbalance.
Give 3 advantages of the neuropharmacological model.
Causal treatments, lack of guilt and biomarkers.
Give 4 disadvantages of the neuropharmacological model.
The cause of imbalances is unknown, treatments are not 100% effective, suggests a lack of control, effects can change over time (and be negative at points), and successfully treatments don’t necessarily prove causality.
How does the cognitive neuroscientific model explain mental disease?
Malfunction of the neural circuits that support psychological functions.
Give 2 advantages of the cognitive neuroscientific model.
It can be diagnostic using functional imaging and uses treatment using brain stimulation.
Give 2 disadvantages of the cognitive neuroscientific model.
The field is in its infancy and there is no evidence for long term effects of this treatment.
