Alternatives To The Medical Model

Question 1

Szasz beliefs

Answer 1

• mental illness isn’t real, it either comes from a physical cause or is just a personality trait
• the medical model has been validated by the government and entrenched in law to protect the patient ‘from himself and others’
• The medical model is inhumane, and we should look more at the socio-economic and psychoanalytic explanations more
• psychiatrists should not even deprive people of the freedom to take their own lives

Question 2

Assumption of behaviourist explanation of mental illness

Answer 2

Dysfunctional behaviour is learned in the same way as any other behaviour through the processes of classical conditioning, operant conditioning and social learning theory. Is a result of nurture.

Question 3

How can classical / operant / social learning theory explain mental illness

Answer 3

SLT - imitating adults who show symptoms
Operant - person has fear of lifts, unpleasant fear is removed when they take the stairs
Classical - someone with agoraphobia may associate being outside with humiliation

Question 4

Watson and Rayner research

Answer 4

Little Albert
Previously had no response to white rat, but when associated with a loud noise the fear was transferred to the white rat and then other objects like a Father Christmas beard

Question 5

Strengths of behavioural explanation

Answer 5

+ research generally replicable
+ classical and std look at the cause
+ less socially sensitive as it gives more control
+ evidence by Watson and Rayner’s little Albert
- reductionist to only focus on nurture
- samples can be unrepresentative
- under this explanation, biological treatments like SSRIs may not work

Question 6

Assumption of cognitive area

Answer 6

Assumes mental disorders are a result of faulty thought processes such as cognitive biases and negative self-schemes (ideas about the world)

Question 7

Albert Ellis research

Answer 7

Some people with depression or anxieties may set high and unrealistic goals that make them feel like failures
They are over concerned with other peoples opinions
“I must get all A+”

Question 8

Cognitive behavioural therapy

Answer 8

Talking therapy which aims to change the faulty thought processes in the present rather than focusing on the past
This therapy teaches patients how to identify distorted cognitions to help distinguish between their own thoughts and realities
Hoffman found it effective for treating depression

Question 9

Beck’s negative cognitive triad

Answer 9

Aaron Beck
Identifies 3 main thoughts that someone with depression may have
Self, world and future

Question 10

What might faulty thinking include

Answer 10

Arbitrary inferences - drawing negative conclusions based on insufficient evidence (“my boyfriend hasn’t texted me back, he must be cheating”)
Selective abstraction - focussing on negative aspects (“my day was shit I dropped my sandwich”)
Overgeneralisation - drawing sweeping conclusions based on a single incident (“they didn’t laugh at my joke they must hate me”)
Catastrophising - exaggerating a minor setback (“I might fail this test so I’ll be homeless and jobless forever”)
Black and white thinking - seeing everything as success or failure, no in between (“my friend is perfect and I am worthless”)

Question 11

Strengths and weaknesses of cognitive area

Answer 11

+ useful - cbt
+ most people can benefit from cbt
- not falsifiable as cognition is difficult to measure
- can be subjective
- reductionist, ignore biology
- not a quick fix

Question 12

Psychodynamic explanation assumption

Answer 12

Assumes mental disorders are a results of inner conflict of the mind and childhood experiences

Question 13

Parts of personality

Answer 13

ID - pleasure, impulsive, selfish. Present from birth.
Ego - decision making and reality, reasons between the two
Superego - moralistic and imposes guilt

Question 14

How can psychodynamic explanation explain schizophrenia and depression

Answer 14

Schizophrenia - a weak ego that can’t contain the ID may cause the individual to return to a child-like state and lose touch of reality
Depression - if the ego gives in to the ID, we can feel guilt from the super ego

Question 15

Psychodynamic defence mechanisms

Answer 15

Denial - refusing to accept a traumatic event can cause anxiety and depression
Repression - suppressing a thought so it remains in the subconscious can result in phobias and other mental health issues later

Question 16

Techniques used in psychotherapy

Answer 16

Free association - involves getting patients to talk out loud about the given topic
Dream analysis - Freud believed dreams are representative of real desires

Question 17

Psychotherapy strengths and weaknesses

Answer 17

+ more holistic than other explanations
+ deterministic but therefore predictable
+ can explain adult behaviour as a result of childhood experience
- not scientific as not falsifiable
- treatment is not a quick fix and doesn’t work for all disorders
- not easy to access unconscious

Question 18

What is flooding

Answer 18

Exposing a patient to their worst fear. At first anxiety is heightened but then goes down and stops patient avoiding it. Unethical as it can evoke anxiety

Question 19

What is systematic desensitisation

Answer 19

Patient and therapist make a fear hierarchy where they rank patients fears
Patient is taught relaxation techniques
Once patient feels comfortable with each stage, they move on to the next
Studied by McGrath

Question 20

What is aversion therapy

Answer 20

Based on classical conditioning
Makes patient associate behaviour with negative result
E.g. shock therapy

Question 21

What is a token economy

Answer 21

Based on operant conditioning to increase good behaviour and decrease bad. Patient in hospital rewards items that can be exchanged for rewards.

Question 22

Strengths and weaknesses of systematic desensitisation

Answer 22

+ can be effective in reducing agoraphobia symptoms
+ no withdrawal symptoms
+ no side effects
+ patient consents
- expensive and time consuming
- may not be effective
- reductionist, may need other treatments too