Abnormality Flashcards
1
Q
Define Abnormality?
A
It is a psychological or behavioural state leading to impairment of interpersonal functioning
2
Q
Define deviation from social norms?
A
When the behaviour of someone violated accepted social rules and therefore their behaviour is considered abnormal
3
Q
What are the limitations for deviation from social norms
A
Individuals who don’t conform to norms may just be individualistic
May be used as an excuse for influential groups of non-conformists
Social deviancy is related to particular cultures = subjective
Can change with time
4
Q
Define failure to function adequately?
A
The inability to cope with day to day living
Focusing on individual suffering, concentrating on personal experiences associated with mental disorders
5
Q
What are the features of Personal Dysfunction?
A
Personal Distress Maladaptive behaviour Unpredictability Irrationality Observer discomfort Violation of moral standards Unconventionality
6
Q
Describe personal distress?
A
A key feature of abnormality that includes depression and anxiety disorders
7
Q
Describe Maladaptive behaviour?
A
Behaviour that prevents realisation of life goals both socially and occupationally
8
Q
Describe unpredictability?
A
Displaying unexpected behaviours characterised by loss of control such as attempting suicide after losing job
9
Q
Describe irrationality?
A
Displaying behaviour not explicable in a rational way
10
Q
Describe observer discomfort?
A
Displaying behaviour that causes discomfort to others
11
Q
Describe violation and moral standards?
A
Displaying behaviour that breaks expected ethical norms
12
Q
Describe unconventionality?
A
Displaying behaviour that does not conform to accepted rules or standards
13
Q
What is social dysfunction measure by?
A
GAF scale
14
Q
Describe the GAF scale?
A
Series of questions to classify the type and extent of abnormality someone may have before they make certain of a decision - it is used to eliminate or diagnose illness
15
Q
What are the limitations for social dysfunction?
A
Individuals behaviour may cause others distress and thus be perceived as dysfunction - while they feel no distress
The behaviour may be rewarding
Not being able to cope with everyday life may be the cause of mental problems rather than effect
Definitions of inadequate functioning vary between cultures
16
Q
Define deviation from ideal mental health?
A
Failure to meet the criteria for perfect psychological well being
17
Q
Who was the criteria for perfect mental health proposed by?
A
Jahoda
18
Q
What are Jahoda’s 6 criteria?
A
Positive attitudes towards oneself Self actualisation Autonomy Resisting Stress Accurate Perception of reality Environmental mastery
19
Q
Describe positive attitude towards oneself?
A
Having self-respect and positive self-concept
20
Q
Describe self-actualisation?
A
Experiencing personal growth
Becoming everything one is capable of becoming
21
Q
Describe autonomy?
A
Being independent
Self-reliant
Able to make personal decisions
22
Q
Describe resistance to stress?
A
Having effective coping strategies and being able to cope with everyday anxiety-provoking situations
23
Q
Describe accurate perception of reality?
A
Perceiving the world in a non-distorted manner
Having an objective and realistic world view
24
Q
Describe environmental mastery?
A
Being competent in all aspects of one’s life and being able to meet the demands of any situation
25
What are the limitations of ideal mental health?
It is difficult to achieve all 6 simultaneously - most would be judged abnormal at any given time
Quite vague and thus difficult to measure
Western cultures are orientated to individual goals whereas eastern culture is all about collective success (autonomy isn't desirable)
Hard to fully achieve self-actualisation
26
What does the Biological approach state?
Abnormality is due to brain dysfunction and mental illness is analogous to physical illness
27
What are the 3 biological explanations for disorders?
Genetics
Biochemistry
Brain structure
28
What are the different ways testing genetic effect?
Twin studies
Separated twin studies
Adoption studies
Molecular genetics
29
What do twin studies compare?
Monozygotic and Dizygotic twins and if the disorder is genetic there should be higher concordance with Mz's rather than Dz's
30
What is concordance?
It is a measure of similarity
31
What happens in separated twin studies?
Identify the concordance rate between separated MZ twins where at least one has the illness and compare it to the base rate population
32
What happens in adoption studies?
Identify the % of adopted offspring of biological parents with mental illness who develop the same illness, compare it to base rate or concordance rate in a similar sample whose biological parent doesn't have an illness
33
What happens in molecular genetics studies?
They identify the specific genes carried by those with an illness more than by those without the illness
34
What is the overall conclusion from genetic studies?
Moderate to strong effect on the more serious disorders such as bipolar or Sz
There is a weak to moderate effect on less serious disorders such as phobias
There is no evidence to prove that any disorder is entirely genetic - environmental reasons
35
What did Gottesman 1990 find?
Found that for Sz concordance rates were
48% for Mz's
17% for Dz's
36
What did Kendler et al 1992 find?
Found that for Social Phobias concordance rates were
24% for Mz's
15% for Dz's
37
What did Tienari et al 1987 find?
Found that for Sz concordance rates were
7% between adopted offspring and their biological mothers
1.5% of adopted offspring of non-Sz biological mothers
38
What is an issue with adoption studies?
Some adoptive parents might not want to adopt a child with a parent that has a disorder
39
What is an issue with twin studies?
Greater similarities with their environment, Mz's are treated more similarly due to their looks and have identical pre-natal environments
40
What is the diathesis stress model?
It attempts to explain why some are more vulnerable to mental illness than others
41
What did Tienari find that was related to communication?
Through the analysis of the quality of parenting in adoptive parents
Adoptees those with mothers with Sz that developed Sz grew up in homes with poor communication
Among the adoptees with non-Sz biological parents the quality of communication did not predict the development of Sz
42
What is the biochemistry argument?
Psychological disorders can be caused by biochemical abnormalities in the brain
43
What is the dopamine hypothesis?
Sz has been claimed to be a result of excessive levels of dopamine in the brain or sensitivity of dopamine receptors
More recent versions also claim that the locus of dysfunction is pre-synaptic
44
What did Wong et al 1986 find?
Evidence was taken from PET scans and they found that greater dopamine receptor activity was present in those with Sz
45
What has been found from postmortems?
There are high levels of dopamine in the brains of those who suffered with Sz
46
What have studies with benzodiazepines showed?
They mimic the effect of GABA, and are moderately successful in reducing anxiety but it weak evidence for the role of GABA
47
State some overall supporting evaluative points?
Based on scientific disciplines (valid and accepted)
Focuses on objectively measurable features which result in clear, unbiased judgements to be made about causes and effects
Helped create effective treatments
Most humane approach as it does not see the sufferers as responsible
48
State some overall non-supporting evaluative points?
Simplistic and over focus on physical symptoms - neglecting psychological factors
Physical abnormalities associated with it may be effects of mental disorders
Because the physical treatment is based upon the model are effective - lends support to the idea of abnormal conditions having biological cause
49
What is the psychodynamic approach?
This is a psychological approach perceiving mental disorders as arising from unresolved, unconscious childhood disorders
50
Who was the psychodynamic approach proposed by?
Freud
51
What are the 3 elements of Freud's argument?
Model of personality
Defence mechanisms
Stages of psychosexual development
52
What are the 3 elements of the Model of Personality?
Id
Ego
Superego
53
Describe the Id?
An intense, unexpressed anger of contradictory oblivious to reason and morality
54
Describe the Ego?
Developed by about 3 years old and is the reality principle - partly conscious and unconscious as you are aware of desires of the Id and outside world (child learns from consequences)
55
Describe the Superego?
Based on the morality principle - relentless judge and is a voice of society (formed by our experiences with parents who pose restrictions on actions allowed)
56
What is the best element of the model of personality to be strongest?
Ego
It means the person can cope with the demands of the Id and superego
57
What do unchecked Id impulses lead to?
They could become expressed in a destructive or immoral way
58
What does a very powerful superego do?
It might overpower the Id so that the person is deprived of any social pleasure
59
What is libido?
Sexual energy
60
What is a defence mechanism?
Ways of protecting the conscious mind from painful truths, memories, anxieties and desires
61
What is repression?
Pushing unpleasant material into the unconscious
62
What is denial?
The refusal to face the reality of memories, desires, behaviour - denial of the importance
63
What is rationalisation?
Coming up with spurious justification for behavioure
64
What is sublimation?
Diversion of emotions into a socially acceptable activity which allows for the expression of the underlying desires
65
What is projection?
When one's own faults and desires are attributes to someone else, politician using opponent to hide his flaws
66
What is regression?
Behaving in a way reminiscent of children - thumb sucking when stressed
67
What is displacement?
Pushing anxiety or emotion about one thing onto another
68
What is the reaction formula?
Objecting very strongly to an unconscious desire or memory that we become the opposite of what it represents - homophobia are repressed homosexual feelings
69
What are the 5 stages of psychosexual development?
```
Oral Stage
Anal Stage
Phallic Stage
Latency Stage
Genital Stage
```
70
Describe the Oral Stage (1)?
0-18 months
Focus of pleasure is mouth and feeding
Due to the weaning crisis
Fixation leads to thumb sucking, smoking, disordered eating, drinking and high dependency on others
71
Describe the Anal Stage (2)?
18-36 months
Focus of pleasure = anus
Due to toilet training
Fixation leads to obsession with hygiene, OCD and meanness with money or the complete opposite
72
Describe the Phallic Stage (3)?
3-6 years old
Focus of pleasure is genitals
Due to the Electra crisis
Fixation leads to attraction to partners who resemble to opposite sex parent
73
Describe the Latency Stage (4)?
6+ and up to puberty
| The desires are repressed
74
Describe the Genital Stage (5)?
Puberty onward
This is when the sexual desires emerge
Effects of the first 3 stages have their impact
75
What is the major criticism of Freud's argument?
It is unfalsifiable - so ambiguous that they can be twisted to explain any outcome
If the patient thinks that he is saying is true they are gaining insight
If they say its a load of rubbish they are in denial
76
Describe Massie and Szajnberg?
76 ppts followed from birth to 30
Quality of parental relationships assessed in infancy
Traumatic events are recorded
Mental health is assessed at 30 using standard measures
Mental health problems were moderately associated with poor parental relationships and strongly associated with traumatic events in childhood
77
Give some general evaluative points for the psychodynamic approach?
It removes the responsibililty for abnormality from the patient as it is seen as coming from the unconscious
Empirical evidence shows that mentally disordered people have earlier conflict
Model puts blame on bad parenting
Over emphasis on child influences at the expense of adult ones and over emphasis on sexual factors
78
What is the behavioural approach?
A psychological approach perceiving mental disorders as learned behaviour
79
What are the 3 explanations for the biological approach?
Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Social Learning Theory
80
What is a brief explanation for Classical Conditioning?
Learning through association
81
What is an example of Classical Conditioning?
Pavlov's Dog
82
Describe Pavlov's Dog?
The salivation reflex in dogs comes when food does, he was able to train the dos to salivate at the sound of a bell
This was due to him repeatedly ringing a bell when food was brought, thus the salivation
After this the dog salivated at the sound of the bell even without food
83
Describe Watson and Rayner?
Used CC to form an association between a pet rat and a scar noise
Repeatedly banged irons together when Albert played with the rat
The fear of the rat was conditioned due to the fear of the noise everytime he played with it
The fear was also generalised to other fluffly objects such as rabit
84
What is a brief description of Operant conditioning?
Learning through consequences
85
Define positive reinforcement?
Getting something good for performing a specific behaviour in turn makes the beahviour more likely in the future
86
Define Negative reinforcement?
A negative reward, with the removal of something bad and this also makes the behaviour more likely in the future
87
What does a lack of reinforcement usually result in?
Less likely occurence of behaviour
88
How are phobias maintained?
They are maintained through the process of negative reinforcement, people avoid the phobia = drop in anxiety= maintainence of phobia
89
How do you treat phobias?
Behavioural therapies which involved facing up to the object of the phobia
Suggesting that the phobia is maintained by avoiding the object of the phobia
90
Brief description of Social Learning Theory?
Learning through the observation and imitation of others behaviour
91
What did Fearn 1999 find?
Studied young women living in Fiji, before 1995 no western TV by 1998:
78% of women surveyed said they were too fat and eating disorders began to appear
92
What did Nasser 1986 find?
Compared Eygptian women studying in Cairo and London
12% of those in London had eating disorders
0% in Cairo
93
What did Mineka find?
They showed that monkeys are not born with a fear of snaked but young monkeys who observe their parents displaying fears acquire the same fear
94
What is the cognitive approach?
This is the rejection of behaviourist idea that external evens are the sole cause of disorders and that cognitions are involved
95
What does Becks cognitive triad lead to?
It is 3 illogical though processes that lead to irrational, negative emotions and depression
96
What are the 3 elements of the cognitive triad?
Negative self-feelings
Negative feelings about the future
Negative views about oneself
97
What is Ellis' Model?
A - Activating Events
B - Beliefs about those events and onself
C - Consequences
98
Explain Ellis' model?
The activatin event does not cause the diroder, their effect is mediated by beliefs about the event - making people vulnerable to disorders adn the the disorders display various types of irrational thinking which take place automatically
99
What are the 3 types of irrational thinking in depression?
Polarised thinking
Over-generalisation
Catastrophising
100
What did Grazioli and Terry find?
Prospective study of women with high cognitive vulnerability during preganncy are more likley to develop post-natal depression
101
What is the treatment for cognitive issues?
The issue with saying that there is causality with the results of therapy is that the treatment may work even if the theory behind it is false
102
What does ECT stand for?
Electro Convulsive Treatment
103
What is ECT the treatment for?
Mental disorders
104
What are the uses of ECT?
Originally developed to treat Sz but now used to treat depresion
Used more frequently in Sz if patient is at risk to themselves or others
105
What are the aims of ECT?
Abnormal activity of neurotranmiters and or hormones which this shoudl change
The exact mechanism is unclear but the shock seems to disrupt and correct teh faulty activity
106
What is the process of ECT?
Small electric current of aroun 70-130 MV
For 0.5-5 seconds
Induces a mini seizure by producing electrical convulsions in the brain
Several sessions over a number of weeks
Anaesthetic and muscle relaxants have been introduced to prevent bone breaks
107
How can ECT be delivered?
Unilaterally - one side (non-dominant)
| Bilaterally - both sides
108
What did the Sz Cochrane Review find in 2009?
MA of 26 studies with 798 ppts
RCCT
More patients improved with real ECT than sham ECT
ECT group have fewer relaspes in the ST but no evidence for long term effects
109
What did Sakheim find?
60-70% of Sz pateints improved after ECT, these were only in ST about 60% relapsed within first year
110
What did Kho et al find?
MA that ECT is more effective than sham ECT and drug treatments fro severe depression and it ca redce the risk of suicide with patients with severe depression
111
Is ECT appropriate?
Can affect the memory of the patient
Issues with disoreintation
The last resort
112
What are the 3 main psychological treatments?
Psycho-analysis
Systematic de-sensitisation
CBT
113
Explain Psycho-analysis?
A psychodynamic treatment seeking to give patients insight into their disorder
114
What are the 2 types of Psychoanalysis?
Dream analysis
| Free association
115
What is dream analysis?
Images and events of dreams are seen as containing repressed thoughts and desires
The manifest content (what the dream is about0
The latent content (the real meaning)
116
What is free association?
They are encouraged to speak freely without reservation thus revealing a stream of consciousness
They look for signs of resistance
117
What is systematic desensitisation?
Behavioural therapy that modifies phobias by contructing and working through a heirarchy of anxiety-producing stimuli
Impossible to experience 2 opposite emotions of fear and relaxation simultaneously
CC to gradually replace fear with relaxation
Taught deep muscle relaxation
118
Describe CBT?
It is about challenging and restructuring abnormal ways of thinking into useful, rational ones
It emcompasses a number of different therapies
Patients are encouraged to practive models of thinking like the ABC technique
