DEFINITIONS

Question 1

Clinical psychology

Answer 1

Clinical psychology is concerned with abnormal behaviour. It seeks to define what makes a behaviour abnormal and then to diagnose what the problem is so it can be treated. Psychiatrists take a note of the symptoms, duration, general health and any social or psychological problems the patient may have. From this they can decide what disorder the person is suffering from and give them appropriate treatment.

Question 2

Deviance

Answer 2

Clinicians look at the extent to which the behaviour is rare in society. If considered rare enough and deviant from the norm, a clinical disorder may be present.

Question 3

Dysfunction

Answer 3

If the behaviour is significantly interfering with the patient’s life then a mental illness may be present. The clinician should discuss with the patient all aspects of their everyday life to assess the extent to which the problematic behaviour is causing upset to this.

Question 4

Distress

Answer 4

This considers that extent to which the behaviour is causing upset to the individual. It is considered in isolation from the other D’s as the patient may be extremely distressed by their current situation but still able to function normally in other areas of life.

Question 5

Danger

Answer 5

The patients’ behaviour has to be assessed on a scale of severity under two elements: danger to themselves and to others - if either of these is present it may indicate intervention is needed.

Question 6

Schizophrenia

Answer 6

SZ is a psychotic disorder that affects about 1% of the population. It involves loss of contact with reality and typically involves hallucinations and/or delusions.

Question 7

Anorexia

Answer 7

AN means nervous loss of appetite although there is actually no loss of appetite in many cases. It is an eating disorder characterised by persistent low body weight.

Question 8

Reliability

Answer 8

A diagnosis is considered reliable if more than one psychologist gives the same diagnosis to the same individual, so clinicians’ diagnosis of disorders must be consistent with each other.

Question 9

Validity

Answer 9

This refers to the extent to which a diagnosis reflects an actual disorder and therefore enables a suitable treatment to be identified. If individuals with the same diagnosis show different symptoms, the diagnosis has low validity.