Alternatives To Medical Model Flashcards
What is the behaviourist explanation of alternatives to the medical model
Dysfunctional behaviour is learnt through classical and operant conditioning
Social learning theory — mental disorders are learnt through imitation for example child develops same phobia as parent
How can operant and classical conditioning explain mental illness
Operant — learning through reward and punishment, mental disorders learnt though reinforcement
Classical — help explain where anxiety disorders come from, anxiety disorders are learnt through association e.g dog jump up when younger and this has made you associate dogs with fear
What is the cognitive explanation of mental illness and what treatments are there
Assumes mental disorders are a result of faulty thought processes
BECK - 3 beliefs can be found in someone with depression . Self, future, world
Cognitive treatments try to change the way people think
E.g cognitive behaviour therapy tries to change the negative thought processes to change the behaviour
Is the cognitive explanation deterministic?
Is it reductionist?
Free will - they choose to think negatively about the results
Reductionist - it says negative thoughts are based on faulty thoughts and errors
What is the psychodynamic explanation of mental illness?
What are the defence mechanisms
Assumes mental illness is result of conflicts in the mind and child hood experiences
E.g Freud
Defence mechanisms: DENIAL, overdue of denial can lead to anxiety
REPRESSION, suppressing a thought in the unconscious mind can lead to phobias
How can psychodynamic explain depression and scitzophrenia?
- if the ego gives into the ID you may feel guilty which can lead to feelings of depression
- if a weak ego can’t control the ID there could be a loss of reality to world.
What are the two types of psychotherapy accessing the unconscious?
Free association- where a person speaks freely about a topic
Dream analysis - Freud said dreams are representing our desires, the royal road to the unconscious mind
