area 3- mental health

Question 1

what does cognitive say mental health is caused by

Answer 1

faulty processing

Question 2

what does Albert Ellis say about cause of depression

Answer 2

(ABC MODEL)
an activating event causes us to have an irrational belief / negative interpretation that leads to a consequence of what they do e.g. withdraw from society.
if this becomes habitual (normal/repeated)- it becomes internalised which means they have depression

Question 3

what did Beck say about depression

Answer 3

depression is a result from systematic negative bias (automatically thinks bad)
believes in the negative triad:
the self-“ I am hopeless”
the future-“ I will never improve”
the world-“the world is cold and dark”
he believes if one changes hopefully the others will change
once depressed- they find evidence to confirm negative thoughts

Question 4

what does Beck say about phobias

Answer 4

attentional bias- focus on looking for threat- so pay extreme attention to situations/objects that produce fear- hypervigilant.
negative appraisal bias- exaggerate risk of danger as they underestimate their ability to cope so develop phobia on harmless situations

Question 5

what does frith say about schizophrenia

Answer 5

cognitive deficit theory- people with schizophrenia are aware of cognitive processes so thoughts that are normally filtered aren’t so takes longer to process, leading to sensory overload

Question 6

what is the non-biological treatment of the cognitive area

Answer 6

cognitive behavioural therapy
change the way the way they think and therefore behave.

Question 7

what are the key assumptions of the behaviourist explanation

Answer 7

behaviour is learnt “used to back up nurture”
reinforcement- reward (desirable outcome)
observable- science exp/observation
environmentally determinism

Question 8

what does behaviourist say about mental health

Answer 8

reinforce a symptom like attention/ time off work- mental health

Question 9

how does social learning theory explain depression/anxiety

Answer 9

observes depressive behaviour from a role model they identify with and imitate their behaviour because of either vicarious reinforcement where they see someone else get a reward of attention so display the same symptoms or direct reinforcement where they get the reward once eg. time off work then display symptoms again to get reward again until this becomes internalised and they develop depression

Question 10

what is/how does operant conditioning explain depression/anxiety

Answer 10

learn from consequence
positive reinforcement- reward
negative reinforcement- avoidance- avoid lift makes feel better so rewards them going up stairs
positive punishment- doing something to benefit someone but may cause them harm.

Question 11

what is evidence that operant conditioning explains depression

Answer 11

Levinson- positive reinforcement of reward is lost causing depression e.g someone dies- positive reinforcement of quality time is lost.

Question 12

explain how classical conditioning explains phobias

Answer 12

UCS- unconditional stimulus (natural- not learned)
UCR- unconditional response (e.g pain)
NS- neutral stimulus same as CS
CS-conditional stimulus (phobia of)
CR- conditional response

Question 13

how does classical conditioning explain phobias - evidence

Answer 13

paired association- associate stimulus with fear response
Watson: little albert- fear of rat as paired with loud noise

Question 14

how does classical conditioning explain depression and evidence to support it

Answer 14

learned helplessness- learn you can’t be helped
Maier- placed dogs in cage and classically conditioned them to receive shock after tone was heard , then placed in a cage with half a wall for them to escape and they didn’t as they had learnt they can’t escape so didn’t even try.

Question 15

what are 2 examples that learned helplessness can be applied to real life

Answer 15

manipulative relationships
school assessment’s- think they aren’t good enough so give up .

Question 16

what are the non-biological treatments of behaviourism

Answer 16

flooding and systematic desensitisation

Question 17

explain how flooding works

Answer 17

extreme therapy with no escape
energy isn’t infinite so will reach a point where anxiety stops and the individual is calm as energy levels dropped , this is creates a new positive association with the phobia

Question 18

explain what systematic desensitisation is and the 4 main stages

Answer 18

gradual therapy that forms new association with fear stimuli and relaxation techniques
1- functional analysis: discussion to find reasons for phobia
2- construction of an anxiety hierarchy: unique to individual as the measure on the scale from least fearful to most fearful
3- relaxation training: breathing exercises and muscle relaxation
4-gradual exposure: start with least threatening, every fear reaction will be followed by relaxation techniques, when no anxiety presented they will go to next stage in hierarchy

Question 19

what are some strengths and weaknesses of behavioural treatments

Answer 19

• time consuming- some people with serious cases would be better on medication
  some objects are too dangerous (flooding)
  various objects- real and photos
  all in controlled environment- science

Question 20

what are the assumptions of the psychodynamic explanation/ concepts and applications

Answer 20

behaviour happens in the subconscious
down to unresolved childhood conflict
personality
idiographic- case study- longitudinal
tripartite of personality/ Oedipus/Electra complex
psychoanalysis: dream analysis/free association

Question 21

explain the tripartite of personality

Answer 21

ID- pleasure principle- animal instincts only
super ego- moral principle- what society expects
ego- reality principle- defence mechanisms:
repression= push it down, displacement= onto something else, regression= go back to less traumatic time

Question 22

how does the tripartite explain depression using an example

Answer 22

depression closely resembles to grief that we loose something real or symbolic but the difference between normal grief and depression is self-hatred
cold parenting:
ID- fight the parent
Superego- don’t do it there will be a punishment
Ego- repress subconscious rage, turning it inwards so self-hatred begins and they believe their not good enough

Question 23

how does the tripartite explain anxiety/phobias

Answer 23

conflict in childhood- first manifested
no superego as that develops at 5
ID - fear response (animal)
EGO- threatened so displaces conflict on neutral stimulus (spider) this represents initial fearful situation

Question 24

example of how tripartite explaining phobias could happen in real life

Answer 24

watching tv show with horses which makes them jump and cry, the ego will displace the crying and fear onto horse so they every time they see horse their subconscious remembers the fearful situation

Question 25

evidence to support tripartite explaining phobias

Answer 25

Ralph little: spider is symbolic of devouring mother, persons fear is actually a displaced fear of being emotionally/psychologically consumed by mother

Question 26

how does the tripartite explain schizophrenia

Answer 26

regression to primary narcissism:
Freud assumed adults with schizophrenia must have experienced harsh environment in childhood (cold parenting)
child copes by regressing to earlier state of development called primary narcissism which is a state before ego was developed so they couldn’t distinguish between fantasy and reality so only concern is to meet own needs e.g cry for food.
this can explain delusions- tug of war between reality and pre-ego ( fantasy)
thought disturbances- ego trying to take control.

Question 27

debates linked to psychodynamic exp for mental health

Answer 27

ind- personality
sit- stressor from childhood
science- not falsifiable/idiographic
psychic det- subconscious
holistic- childhood, personality, conflict, trauma- multiple factors- full picture - personalised therapies- effectiveness of psychotherapy

Question 28

what is the psychodynamic treatment

Answer 28

psychoanalysis:
dream analysis- report their dreams- therapist makes associations between manifest and latent content as their repressed thought are released as the ego is weakened
free association- talk about their life without bweing interupted so uncious thoughts come out without them thinking as unconscious repressed memories of loss in childhood will be resurfaced when triggered in adulthood.

Question 29

what are the assumptions of the humanistic approach

Answer 29

interactionist
rejects science - behaviour is too complex to reduce to one cause - holistic
free will- can decide how to behave
individual- case study
optimistic- concentrate on future not pass and don’t blame others (opposite to psychodynamic)

Question 30

what is the first concept of humanism

Answer 30

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs -
1. physiological needs
2.safety and security
3. love
4.self-esteem
5.self-actualisation

Question 31

what is meant by the words self-actualisation and self-esteem

Answer 31

self-actualisation: reach full potential
self-esteem: measure of how we perceive ourself

Question 32

what is the second concept and who is the theorist behind it

Answer 32

focus on the ‘self’- Rogers
if the self concept (now) is incongruent to the ideal self which means they will have lower self-esteem, portray traits like low mood and therefore depression.

Question 33

what is client centred theory in counselling (treatments)

Answer 33

offer support to journey towards self-actualisation by giving unconditional positive regard which they may not get from friends or family to ‘lower the gap’ and bring the self concept closer to the ideal self, to then improve self-esteem and therefore less depressive symptoms as mood will be boosted.

Question 34

what is meant by self concept, ideal self, congruence and unconditional positive regard

Answer 34

self concept- the now
ideal self- what we want to be
congruence- agreement
unconditional positive regard- love/compliments

Question 35

what is meant by ‘taking responsibility’ in terms of humanism

Answer 35

person can only change congruence if they take responsibility, they can’t if they are in control by others or things

Question 36

what is meant by reduced self-esteem (distortion) in terms of rogers

Answer 36

if the ideal self isn’t brought close to self concept they will protect themselves by defence mechanisms such as distortion that puts the threat on the self concept which mounts up leading to a downward spiral and becomes harder for the ‘now’ to defend against them so makes congruence to threat which means defence mechanisms wont work so self-esteem remains low.

Question 37

what are the key points that explain Szasz

Answer 37

challenges medical model
supports humanism- free will- we choose how to behave, holistic
mental health is a myth
political agenda
social construct

Question 38

explain some of the beliefs Szasz had about mental health
1- disease?
2- blame?
3- political?

Answer 38

1-only diseases can be treated by drugs (e.g. liver failure) and mental health isn’t a disease so shouldn’t be treated with drugs instead his beliefs support psychotherapy as treatment as it is unique to the individual - if people want to say its a disease its a brain disease ( inbalance of something) not mental illness.
2-‘mental patients’ are active players in their own real life drama and not passive victims of psychological processes they can’t control - they put themselves in situations and choose how to behave so don’t ‘blame’ the brain
3- In Amercia the APA vote for what goes in and out of DSM- if more disorders more people will be diagnosed so have to pay for healthcare- Szasz says they manipulate people into taking drugs to ‘treat’ mental illness to get money.

Question 39

what did Szasz say people need to do

Answer 39

stop using words like psychoses, neuroses
reject image of patients as ‘helpless victims’
stop coercive psychiatry- manipulating people to take drugs as it is not bio
challenge medical model
reject psychiatric treatment