Attachment psychopathology 16 marker Flashcards
Ellis ABC model
– One strength of the ABC model is that it has real application to psychological treatment of depression.
– Ellis approach to depression is his REB model. when therapist vigourously argues with the patient about their irrational thought and helps to change the belief that is making them unhappy.
– There is evidence to support the idea that REB can both change negative beliefs and relieve the symptoms of depression.
- This means that REB has real world value.
Lorenz and Harlow
– One limitation of Lorenz studies is the ability to generalise findings and conclusions from birds to humans.
– The mammalian attachment system is quite different and more complex than that in birds.
– For example in mammals attachment is a two-way process so it is not just the young who become attached to their mothers but also the mammalian mothers show attachment to their young.
– This means that it is probably not appropriate to generalise Loren’s ideas to humans .
– One strength of Harlows research is it important real world application.
– For example it has helped social workers and clinical psychologists understand that a lack of bonding experience may be a risk factor in child development allowing them to intervene to prevent poor outcomes.
– We also now understand the importance of attachment figures for baby monkeys and breeding programs in the wild.
– This means the value of Harlow research is not just theoretical but also practical
Maternal deprivation
– One limitation of the research into maternal deprivation is it has low reliability
– Lewis replicated the 44 thieve studies on a larger sample of juvenile thieves he found that prolonged separation and deprivation did not predict criminal behaviour in youths.
– this cast doubt on Bowlby’s study as it shows there are other factors that can mediate such as poverty, genetics and emotional disturbance.
– one strength of research into maternal deprivation is that it has had a massive impact on the quality of care in institutions
– Historically visitation wasn’t permitted in institutions and hospitals however, it has been discovered that this can be extremely distressing for children
– Psychological insights have provided institutional professionals how to correctly care for the children in the absence of their parents and to reduce negative consequences later in life.
Failure to function adequately
– One strength of failure to function adequately is that it represents a sensible threshold for people who need professional help
– Mind found 25% of the UK experienced mental health problems at any given year of their life however most people press on in the face of severe symptoms threshold gives insight to people who really need help and when somebody is visibly failing to function this is when They seek medical help
The criterion means that treatment can go to those who need it most .
– One limitation of the failure to function adequately is that it is easy to discriminate and label unusual behaviour as abnormal
– in practice it is hard to say when somebody is failing to function or whether their lifestyle choices are deviating from social norms.
– Consider for example people who do not have adresses or a job these people could be failing to functional adequately or they could just be choosing to live off grid
– This means that people who make unusual choices are at risk of being labelled abnormal and their freedom of choice may be restricted
Genetic explanation to OCD
– One strength of the genetic explanation for OCD is the strong evidence base
– There is a lot of sources of evidence one of which is Nestadt who reviewed twin studies and found that 68% of identical twins shared OCD as opposed to 31% of non-identical twins another source of evidence fed the genetic influence of OCD is family studies research has found that a person with a family member diagnosed with OCD is around four times as likely to develop it as someone without.
– These research studies suggest that there must be some genetic influence on the development of OCD.
Early influence of attachment
– One limitation of most research into the influence of attachment is that early attachment is assessed retrospectively
– most research on the link between earlier attachment and later development are not longer tude all research as usually asked adolescent or adult participants about their relationship with their parents and identify attachment type from this.
– This causes validity problems asking questions relies on honesty and accurate perception of the participants. Childhood is hard to know what is being assessed.
This means that the measures of attachment used in most studies may be confounded with other factors making them meaningless .
Statistical and in frequency
– One strength of statistical frequency is it objective measure?
– Statistical frequency is used in clinical practice both as part of formal diagnosis and as a way to assess severity of an individual symptoms
– An example of statistical frequency used in an assessment tool is depression inventory a score of 30 is widely interpreted as indicating severe depression
– This shows that the value of statistical frequency criterion is useful in diagnostic assessment processes.
– One limitation of statistical in frequency is that in frequent characteristics can be desirable as well as negative.
– For every person with an IQ below 70 there was another with an IQ of above 130 yeah we would not think of someone as abnormal for having a high IQ similarly we would not think of someone with a very low depression score as abnormal
– These examples show that being unusual or at one end of the psychological spectrum does not necessarily make someone abnormal.
– This means that although statistical frequency can form part of assessment and diagnostic procedures it is never sufficient as the soul basis for defining abnormality.
Deviation from social norms
– One limitation of a deviation from social norms is the variability between social norms in different cultures and even different situations
– A person from one cultural group may label someone from another group as abnormal using their standards rather than the person standards
– For example the experience of hearing voices would be seen as abnormal however it is seen as the normal in different cultures
– This means that it is difficult to judge deviation from social norms across different situations and cultures
Caregiver infant interactions
– A strength of the research is that it is highly controlled and has good validity
– Observations of interactions are filmed from multiple angles ensuring every fine detail can be analysed
– Babies don’t know or care that they are being observed so behaviour doesn’t change in response to observation
– Therefore the research in this field has good internal validity
– Limitation of research in the field is there a methodological issues when observing children.
– Studies have shown patterns of interaction however what is being observed is merely hand movements or changes in expression.
– It is difficult to be certain what is taking place from the influence perspective whether it is deliberate or not
– Low construct validity because we cannot know for certain interaction has special meaning
The two process model
– One strength of the two process model is its real world application in exposure therapies
– The distinctive element of the process is the idea that phobias are maintained by avoidance of the phobic stimulus. This is important in explaining why people with phobias benefit from being exposed to phobic stimulus.
– Once the avoidance behaviour is presented it ceases to be reinforced by the experience of anxiety reduction and avoidance therefore declines.
– This shows the value of the process model because it identifies a mean of treating phobias
Neural explanation of OCD
– One limitation of the neural model is that the serotonin OCD link may not be unique to OCD
– Many people with OCD also experience clinical depression having two disorders together is called comorbidity depression involves disruption to the action of serotonin. This leaves us with a logical problem when it comes to serotonin as a possible basis for OCD. It could simply be that serotonin activity is disrupted in many people with OCD because they are depressed as well.
– This means that serotonin may not be relevant OCD symptoms
Learning theory of attachment
– One limitation of learning theory explanations for attachment is the lack of support from studies conducted on animals.
– For example Lorenz geese imprinted on the first object they saw the goddess of whether this object was associated with food. Also if we can consider Harlow monkeys there is no support from the importance of food when given a choice Harlows monkeys displayed attachment behaviour towards a soft surrogate mother in preference to a wire one which provided milk.
– This shows that factors other than association with food are important in the formation of attachments
Mono tropic theory of attachment
– One strength of the theory is the evidence supporting the role of social releases
– There is clear evidence that cute baby behaviours are designed to illicit interaction from caregivers
– Braselton found babies trigger interaction with adults Became increasingly distressed and some eventually curled up and lay emotionless
This illustrates the role of social releases in emotional development and suggest that they are important in the process of attachment development
Cognitive approach to treating depression
– One strength of CBT is the large body of evidence supporting its effectiveness for treating depression
– Many studies show that CBT works March compared CBT to antidepressant drugs after 36 weeks 81% of the CBT group and 81% of the antidepressants group were significantly improved so CBT was just as effective when used on its own.
– This means that CBT is widely seen as the first choice of treatment in public healthcare system such as the national health service
