Introduction - Week 1 Flashcards
Eustress
- positive
-energises
-generally short-term - can improve performance
- believed within coping mechanisms (I.E something we can handle)
Distress
-generally feels unpleasant
- often depleted energy
- short-term or long-term
- decreases overall performance
- perceived outside coping mechanisms (I.E something we cannot handle)
- can lead to physical illness/ mental fatigue/ emotional depletion
The bio psycho social model
Biological:
age,gender, genetics
Physiological reactions
Tissue health
Psychological:
Mental health
Emotional health
Beliefs and expectations
Sociological
Interpersonal relationships
Social support dynamics
Socioeconomics
Defining psychological disorder
- personal distress
- violation of social norms
- disability
- dysfunction
What is one characteristic that is used to define a psychological disorder
Personal distress
Do all psychological disorders cause distress
Not all psychological disorders cause distress
Eg, an individual with antisocial personality disorder may treat others cold heartedly and without guilt
- not all distress indicates a psychological disorder
Define disability
A limitation in carrying out an important area of life E.g, work or personal relationships can be characteristic of psychological disorders-now terms”functional limitation” and ‘activity limitation’ more acceptable than disability or handicap
Can phobias/ anxiety cause distresses
Yes, phobias/ anxiety can cause distress and activity limitation E.g, fear of public speaking= unable to achieve their work goals
Behaviours that might violate social norms
Includes ritual behaviour in OCD air engaging with hallucinations in psychosis
What type of people do not typically violate social norms
Highly anxious people do not typically violate social norms
Defining psychological disorders
Through DSM-5
What does DSM-5 define mental disorders as
-occurring within the individual
- involving clinically significant difficulties in thinking, feeling or behaving
- usually involving personal distress of some sort, such as in social relationships or occupational functioning
- involving dysfunction in psychological, developmental, and/or neurobiological processes that support mental functioning
- not a culturally specific reaction to an event
-not primarily a result of social deviance or conflict with society
Define Stigma
Stigma is the destructive beliefs and attitudes held by society that are ascribed to groups considered different in some manner, such as people with psychological disorders
The 4 characteristics of stigma
- a label is applied to a group of people that distinguishes them from others
- the label is linked to deviant or undesirable attributes by society
- people with the label are often seen as different from people with without the label, contributing to us vs them attitudes
- people with the label are discriminated against unfairly
The 4 types of stigma
Public stigma
Self stigma
Stigma by association
Structural stigma
Define public stigma
Negative attitudes held by the general public
Define self stigma
Internalising negative attitudes of others which leads to self limiting behaviour
Define stigma by association
Stigma by being associated with someone who has a psychological disorder
Define structural stigma
When the rules, policies, or practices of social institutions restrict the rights and opportunities for people with psychological disorders
Contributory factors for stigma
- people across history who have psychological disorders tended to experience poor treatment
- terminology can be powerful determinants of stigma E.g, I’m feeling really bipolar today
- psychological disorders remain the most stigmatised of conditions, despite advances in knowledge about psychopathology a
- it is crucial that society recognises and fights such stigma
-clinical psychology tends to address stigmatising conditions more directly than health psychology, but we may return re health behaviours
History of mental illness/stigma
-ancient Greeks and romans
Hippocrates 460-377BC considered mind and body as linked, with health, mental or physical, underpinned by physical bodily changes, in blood, bile, phlegm
- descartes 17th century dualism
-the mind is ‘non-material’, the body is ‘material’, physical matter
Models of health and illness - biomedical
-health is defined as the absence of disease
- any symptom of illness is thought to have an underlying pathology that will hopefully be cured through medical attention
-mechanistic
- reductionist
-objective
- focus on the individual
Critique of the biomedical model
-reductionist. Rigid adherence to this model would lead to dealing only with objective features
- assumes a direct relationship between bodily changes/pathology and outcomes
- the ‘mind’ is considered part of the material stuff. Study of mental processes mapped out physically/neurologically-monkey materialism(objectifiable)
- rejecting the non-visible
- little room for subjectivity
Models of health and illness - biopsy hosocial
- illness can be perceived in two different ways: objectively and subjectively
- illness elicits uniquely the individual responses due to the action of the mind I.E subjective responses
- social cultural and political context of health/illness is crucial
Definition of health. WHO(1947)
State of complete, mental and social well-being and… not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
Critic of WHO’s definition of health
- does not address socio-economic and cultural influences on health, illness and health decisions
-omits the major role of the ‘psyche’ as an influence upon the experience of health and illness - health is not a ‘fixed’ state
Bauman and lay theories of health
Bauman asked patients “what does being healthy mean?” And found 3 main types of responses
What are the 3 types of responses Bauman found in her survey
-that health means a ‘general sense of well-being’
- that health is identified with the ‘absence of supreme of disease’
- that health can be seen in ‘the things that a person who is physically fit is able to do’.
What did she argue that these 3 types of responses were related to
- feeling
- symptom orientation
- performance
What categories of health did Blaxter 1990 identify in their health and lifestyle survey (7)
1) health as not ill. No symptoms
2) Health as reserve, ie come from strong family
3) health as behavior
4) health as physical illness and vitality. Used more often by younger respondents, and often in reference to a male
5) health as psychosocial well-being.
6) health as function. The ability to perform one’s duties
7) a state of being, having, doing (Bennet 2000)
Norman and Fraser self-rated health survey for England . What did they find?
- 79% reported good SRH
- influenced by health behaviours
-smokers had poorer srh, healthy eaters and active people report better srh - BMI has U-shaped relationship
-age-no differences between 16-24s and 25-34s but increased odds of reporting poor health thereafter - ethnicity- compared to the white group, Chinese south Asian were more likely to report poorer health
Summary
- stress and distress can be ‘normal’ responses to challenging circumstances, or they can be associated with psychological disorders
- health is associated with stress and distress
- what we mean by these terms is important as it influences our responses
- stigma exists for both physical and mental health conditions
