Introduction (overview of theories)

Question 1

History

Answer 1

• Hippocrates - brain is source of mental disorders
• middle ages 0 conflicts between god and devil
• 16th century asylums
• until 1950s - psychosurgery and ECT
• 1950s - drugs used to alter mood and revolutionised psychiatry

Question 2

The medical model

Answer 2

1. diagnosis using DSMV
2. pharmacological intervention
3. maybe used alongside psychometric treatments

Question 3

Pros of diagnosis

Answer 3

• labelled as a disorder so more treatments available
• common language between doctors and psychologists
• helps suggest the correct level of treatment

Question 4

Cons of diagnosis

Answer 4

• discrete entity vs. dimensional
• co morbidity
• people stereotype and incorrectly believe they are a danger to society
• patient self report may be inaccurate
• interpretation-based criteria
• pharmaceutical industry may be bias in pushing drugs for: sales, money, professional gains
• interest in an increasing sense of abnormality e.g. women have sexual desire problems (seen as abnormal)

Question 5

Cultural differences

Answer 5

• Cochrane (1997) - West Indian immigrants in the UK - most were hospitalised and diagnosed with SCZ than non immigrants
• causes may be a lack of knowledge about the social norms of the immigrants country of origin - e.g. excessive staring may be normal
• or religion - i.e. believing that someone is a God may be reasonable
• Rosenthat and Bervan (1999) - effects of client race on clinical judgement - African American clients, and differences persisted after receiving subsequent information
• social stigma
• attitudes towards mental illness

Question 6

The psychodynamic model

Answer 6

• Freud (1856-1939) - 3 forces - Id, Ego, and Superego
• defence mechanisms
• e.g. repression, projection, regression, displacement
• psychosexual stages, oral, anal, phallic, latency
• treatment - understand unconscious and conflict free association

+ meanginful to meaningless behaviour e.g. Freudian slips
+ support attachment
+ effective with a range of problems e.g. personality and anxiety

• • not cost effective
• -untestable hypothesis
• -falsifiable
• • not generalisable
• • mainly social abuse
• • expensive and time consuming
• • subjective therapy

Question 7

The behavioural model

Answer 7

• learnt behaviour
• CC/OC reinforcement
• flooding
• response retention
• behavioural activation
• function analysis

+ effective for a range of mental health problems

• • simple learning presses
• • reductionist
• -difficult to trace back to learning experiences
• • do not take into account the biological and cognitive models

Question 8

The biological model

Answer 8

• explains psychopathology disorders as being due to: genetics, neuroanatomy, neurotransmitters etc.

+ relevant
+ explains why some people are more likely to get if they are in similar environments
+ scientific evidence to support - can use fMRIs etc.
+ clear indication for treatment

• • reductionist
• • stigma
• • variation

Question 9

The cognitive model

Answer 9

• Ellis and Beck
• psychological problems are the result of acquiring irrational beliefs, a dysfunctional way of thinking and processing information in a biased way
• how you think determines what you do
• development: early experiences –> core beliefs and assumptions –> critical incidence –> thoughts
• maintenance: thoughts feelings behaviour

+ applied to explaining SCZ
+ brief and effective approach to problems
+ evidence based movement in mental health

• • risk of trivialising psychological problems
• • disregarding role of organic factors
• • not taking into account the social context
• • ignores biological
• • biased thoughts

Question 10

The biosocial model

Answer 10

• genetic influence
• biochemical imbalance
• structural abnormalities
• social: poor association, stressful life circumstances, cultural and social inequalities
• psychological: maladaptive learning and coping, cognitive biases, dysfunctional attitudes, interpersonal problems