Introduction - Week 1

Question 1

Eustress

Answer 1

• positive
  -energises
  -generally short-term
• can improve performance
• believed within coping mechanisms (I.E something we can handle)

Question 2

Distress

Answer 2

-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

Question 3

The bio psycho social model

Answer 3

Biological:
age,gender, genetics
Physiological reactions
Tissue health
Psychological:
Mental health
Emotional health
Beliefs and expectations
Sociological
Interpersonal relationships
Social support dynamics
Socioeconomics

Question 4

Defining psychological disorder

Answer 4

• personal distress
• violation of social norms
• disability
• dysfunction

Question 5

What is one characteristic that is used to define a psychological disorder

Answer 5

Personal distress

Question 6

Do all psychological disorders cause distress

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Define disability

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Can phobias/ anxiety cause distresses

Answer 8

Yes, phobias/ anxiety can cause distress and activity limitation E.g, fear of public speaking= unable to achieve their work goals

Question 9

Behaviours that might violate social norms

Answer 9

Includes ritual behaviour in OCD air engaging with hallucinations in psychosis

Question 10

What type of people do not typically violate social norms

Answer 10

Highly anxious people do not typically violate social norms

Question 11

Defining psychological disorders

Answer 11

Through DSM-5

Question 12

What does DSM-5 define mental disorders as

Answer 12

-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

Question 13

Define Stigma

Answer 13

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

Question 14

The 4 characteristics of stigma

Answer 14

• 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

Question 15

The 4 types of stigma

Answer 15

Public stigma
Self stigma
Stigma by association
Structural stigma

Question 16

Define public stigma

Answer 16

Negative attitudes held by the general public

Question 17

Define self stigma

Answer 17

Internalising negative attitudes of others which leads to self limiting behaviour

Question 18

Define stigma by association

Answer 18

Stigma by being associated with someone who has a psychological disorder

Question 19

Define structural stigma

Answer 19

When the rules, policies, or practices of social institutions restrict the rights and opportunities for people with psychological disorders

Question 20

Contributory factors for stigma

Answer 20

• 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

Question 21

History of mental illness/stigma

Answer 21

-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

Question 22

Models of health and illness - biomedical

Answer 22

-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

Question 23

Critique of the biomedical model

Answer 23

-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

Question 24

Models of health and illness - biopsy hosocial

Answer 24

• 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

Question 25

Definition of health. WHO(1947)

Answer 25

State of complete, mental and social well-being and… not merely the absence of disease or infirmity

Question 26

Critic of WHO’s definition of health

Answer 26

• 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

Question 27

Bauman and lay theories of health

Answer 27

Bauman asked patients “what does being healthy mean?” And found 3 main types of responses

Question 28

What are the 3 types of responses Bauman found in her survey

Answer 28

-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’.

Question 29

What did she argue that these 3 types of responses were related to

Answer 29

• feeling
• symptom orientation
• performance

Question 30

What categories of health did Blaxter 1990 identify in their health and lifestyle survey (7)

Answer 30

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)

Question 31

Norman and Fraser self-rated health survey for England . What did they find?

Answer 31

• 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

Question 32

Summary

Answer 32

• 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