Area 1: mental health

Question 1

what is the supernatural explanation of mental illness?

Answer 1

abnormal behaviour was attributed to witchcraft religion and demonic possession. people believed it was a punishment from wrongdoing.

Question 2

what are treatments of mental illness due to the super natural explanation?

Answer 2

saying prayers
immersing in holy water
exorcisms
persians- good deeds

Question 3

what is the humoral theory of mental illness?

Answer 3

hippocrates believed it was due to 1 of the 4 humors being out of balance each which made up personality. 4 are black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood. eg excessive black bile= depression

Question 4

what are treatments for mental illness due to the humoral explanation?

Answer 4

clinicians would purge the patient by sing emetics or laxatives and in extreme cases blood letting/ leeches to drain blood.

Question 5

what is the psychogenic approach of mental illness?

Answer 5

mental illness is due to psychological factors in late 19th century. Freud stated mental illnesses where due to unconscious processes in brain

Question 6

what are treatments for mental illness due to the psychogenic approach?

Answer 6

psychoanalysis where free association takes place and therapist tries to tap into patients unconscious mind.
talking therapies such as counselling

Question 7

what is the somatogenic approach of mental illness?

Answer 7

dominant view of 20th century. mental illness was due to abnormal brain structure and levels of neurotransmitters also explained by inherited genes. ‘medical model

Question 8

what are the 4 definitons to define abnormality?

Answer 8

statistical infrequency
deviation from social norms
failure to function adequately
deviation from ideal mental health

Question 9

what is statistical infrequencey?

Answer 9

people who score around the mean are seen as normal however those outside of this mean range are seen as abnormal. devaiton form a statistically determined norm are classsed as abnormal.

Question 10

what is deviation from social norms?

Answer 10

social norms- acceptable behaviour set by social group.
anyone who behaves differently is classed as abnormal what is classed as abnormal will depend on gender, age, culture - this is a social construct.

Question 11

what is failure to function adequately?

Answer 11

not being able to cope with everyday living eg washing, eating, going to work. this causes distress and suffering for the individual and others being the individual may not be distressed and lack awareness anythingis wrong, but this is distressing for others

Question 12

what is deviation from ideal mental health?

Answer 12

Jahoda said physical illness looks for absence of ‘good’ health such as temperature or skin colour. so we should do the same for mental health. came up with characteristics for good mental health such as high self esteem, accurate perception if reality, autonomy (independence)

Question 13

what are psychoses?

Answer 13

disorders where patients lose touch with reality

Question 14

what are neuroses?

Answer 14

disorders that involve anxiety or disturbance

Question 15

how are classification systems used?

Answer 15

they check individuals sympotms gainst a checklist to see which disorder best fits their symptoms. however this relies on self report

Question 16

what is the ICD?
(international statistics classification of diseases)

Answer 16

produced by WHO and used in europe
has both mental and physical disorders with 21 chapters each have several categories
chapter 5- mental disorders
f30-39 = mood effective
f20-29 = shizotypical

Question 17

what is the DSM?

Answer 17

based upon classification system in WW2
only contins mentall illnesses and produced by APA (american). has lots of changes due to research removing types of autism

Question 18

how was the old DSM organised?

Answer 18

mutli axial
1- principal disorder
2- personality disorder
3- medical problems
4- psychosocial stressors
5- level of function

Question 19

how is the new DSM organised?

Answer 19

section 1- introdueces new style dsm and how it can be used
section 2- 20 categories of disorder = criteria
section 3- assessment tools for specific disorders and discussions about culture concepts of disorders to reduce bias

Question 20

what is the background of rosenhan?

Answer 20

1960’s- massive antipsychiatry movement critizising medical model of mental health with a view that psychiatric treatment can be often more damaging than helpful to patients. distrust in psychiatrists

Question 21

what is the aim of rosenhan?

Answer 21

diagnosis of insanity is based on characteristics of patients or context in which patients are seen. test validity and reliability of research

Question 22

what is the aim of study 1 of rosenhan?

Answer 22

to see if group of people presenting themselves as having a disorder would be diagnosed as insane by staff at psychiatric hospitals

Question 23

what is the sample of rosenhan’s study 1?

Answer 23

patients and staff at 12 hospitals in 5 different states in America. NOT PSEUDOPATIENTS!

Question 24

what is the research method of rosenhan’s study 1?

Answer 24

research method- participants/ covert observation

Question 25

what is the procedure of rosenhans study 1?

Answer 25

pseudo patients gave a false name and went to hospital appointment complained about hearing voices saying hollow, thud, empty. they had a spread of occupations. (common symptom of schizophrenia, not common words).

Question 26

how did pseudo patients act once admitted in study 1 of rosenhan?

Answer 26

after admitted pseudo patients acted normal displaying no symptoms and had to convince staff they were sane and displayed exemplary behaviour. they were able to take notes and record behaviour as the staff thought it was just them displaying abnormal behaviour.

Question 27

results of rosenhan study 1?

Answer 27

all 8 pseudo patients admitted, all but 1 got a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
all were eventually discharged with diagnosis of schizophrenia in remission. they remained in hospital for 7-52 days.
no patients were suspected by staff, however 35/118 suspected they weren’t real patients

Question 28

what did rosenhan find about labelling?

Answer 28

normal behaviours were seen as a symptom of disorder such as queuing up for lunch early.

Question 29

what did rosenhan find about powerlessness in mental hospitals?

Answer 29

no privacy for example toilets had no doors, medical records could be accessed by ANY staff. this led to overwhelming feeling of powerless and found it hard to initiate contact with staff and less freedom

Question 30

aim of Rosenhans study 2?

Answer 30

to see if psychiatrists would be under cautious with diagnosis rather than overcautious after being told about the mistaken diagnosis in study 1.

Question 31

sample of study 2 of rosenhan?

Answer 31

staff in 1 psychiatrist hospital who were informed of the results in study 1. which they found hard to believe

Question 32

research method of rosenhans study 2?

Answer 32

questionare

Question 33

procedure of rosenhans study 2?

Answer 33

informed that during next 3 months 1 or more pseudo patients would attempt to be admitted into hospital but no patients were actually presented.
staff were asked to rate all patients who sought admission using a 10-point scale were 1 and 2 =high confidence patient was a pseudo patient

Question 34

results of rosenhans study 2?

Answer 34

over 3 months judged to be pseudo patients were 41 by at least 1 staff member
23 by one psychiatrist
19 by one psychiatrist + one other staff member

Question 35

What happened in study 3 of rosenhan?

Answer 35

in 4 of hospitals pseudo patients carried out a mini experiment to see if staff behaved differently towards patients compared to an individual asking similar questions in a non-clinical environment of Stanford university.

Question 36

procedure of study 3 of rosenhan?

Answer 36

pseudo approached staff member and said, ‘excuse me can you tell me when I will be presented in a staff meeting?’. staff member approached at busy uni campus and asked a simple question such as ‘do you know where ____ is?’.

Question 37

results of study 3 of rosenhan?

Answer 37

only 4% of pseudo got an answer from a psychiatrist. 0.5% from a nurse. 88% of occasions nurse moved away completely ignoring patients. 14 requests at uni acknowledged and responded but when asked where to find psychiatrists response was down 78%.

Question 38

conclusions of study 1 rosenhan?

Answer 38

diagnosis not valid- psychiatrist failed to distinguish the sane from insane.
diagnosis is reliable- all patients diagnosed with same disorder psychiatrist inclined to call a healthy person sick than a sick person healthy (over cautious)

Question 39

conclusions of study 2 rosenhan?

Answer 39

staff were calling a sick person healthy to avoid calling a healthy person sick. this make us consider the overlaps between sane and insane – one is not entirely different from the other. Rosenhan comments how if we cannot attribute behaviour to some external cause then we tend to attribute it to the individual, in this case a disorder.

Question 40

what conclusions in regards to labels did rosenhan make from his study?

Answer 40

when given a label of having a disorder, this affects other people’s perceptions of that individual and their behaviour.
Once a person is labelled as abnormal, all their other characteristics and behaviours are interpreted according to that label. Behaviour’s are likely to be determined by the situation rather than the individual.

Question 41

what is an affective disorder?

Answer 41

a mood disorder which has a significant effect on individuals emotional state

Question 42

what are some examples of an affective disorder?

Answer 42

depression
manic episodes
bipolar
seasonal affective disorder

Question 43

what is the incidence of depression?

Answer 43

1 in 5 people, 1 in 20 at any 1 time
more common in people 20-30 and 30-40
twice as many females are diagnosed than men as are more likely to report
happens across all cultures affects aprox 120 million

Question 44

how many symptoms does someone need to be diagnosed with depression?

Answer 44

mild depression two of the three key symptoms listed below plus another two symptoms (other)
four or more symptoms in total would be considered moderate depression
seven or more is severe.

Question 45

how long should symptoms last for depression?

Answer 45

Symptoms should be present all or most of the time and should persist for longer than 2 weeks

Question 46

what are the 3 key symptoms of depression?

Answer 46

Low mood: Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day
Loss of interest and pleasure: no interest of pleasure in all, or almost all activities most of the day
Reduced energy levels: making them lethargic. They then withdraw from work, school or social life, severely can’t get out of bed.

Question 47

what are the other symptoms associated with depression?

Answer 47

Changes in Sleep Patterns/ behaviours
Changes in Appetite levels
Decrease in Self confidence eg some people are very self –loathing
Reduced concentration and attention
ideas of guilt and unworthiness
bleak and pessimistic views of the future
ideas of self harm or suicide.

Question 48

what is a psychotic disorder?

Answer 48

when someone loses touch with reality and is usually characterized by abnormal perception and thinking

Question 49

what is the prevalence of schizophrenia?

Answer 49

1% of the population- 51 million people affected by it worldwide
tends to develop in early adulthood and males are more likely to be diagnosed than females,
Roughly around 25% of patients have one episode and then recover

Question 50

what are the subtypes of schizophrenia?

Answer 50

Paranoid schizophrenia (powerful delusions & hallucinations – positive symptoms)
Hebephrenic which involves mainly negative symptoms

Question 51

how long should symptoms of schizophrenia be present for to be diagnosed?

Answer 51

one clear cut symptom sometimes two of more if less clear cut should be present for a period of one month

Question 52

what are positive symptoms of schizophrenia?

Answer 52

behaviours are exaggerated or ‘added’ to normal behaviours
Hallucinations: sensory experiences such as hearing voices or seeing something that is not there.
Delusions: Irrational beliefs such as thinking you are someone famous (grandeur) or believing you are being persecuted

Question 53

what are negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

Answer 53

reduced motivation to carry out a range of activities
speech Poverty- reduced amount of quality of speech
social isolation
lack of interest

Question 54

what are cognitive deficits?

Answer 54

where a persons thought process is altered for example
Disorganized thought or speech: jumping between thoughts due to loose associations between concepts or words
Thought insertion: Believing your thoughts are being placed there by someone else.

Question 55

what are anxiety disorders?

Answer 55

characterised by irrational feelings of anxiety and fear, often about things that will happen in the future. Those who have anxiety disorders often have physiological reactions

Question 56

what are some examples of anxiety disorders?

Answer 56

General anxiety disorder, Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and Phobias.

Question 57

what are phobias?

Answer 57

characterised by strong persistent and irrational fear of an object, situation or activity.
The fear is out of proportion to the risk that the object or situation presents. and the individual may take extreme measures to avoid contact with the phobic object or situation and extreme reactions at the mere thought of an object.
The behaviour could be considered clinical phobia when it interferes with normal life.

Question 58

what are symptoms of phobias?

Answer 58

persistent fear or avoidance of a specific object or situation
Two symptoms present together from a list of 14 symptoms including, pounding heart, sweating, trembling, dry mouth, nausea, fear of dying etc.
significant emotional distress due to the avoidance or the anxiety symptoms which are excessive or unreasonable and are restricted to the feared situations.