Low mood, Anxiety and Trauma related difficulties Flashcards
What is phenomenology?
The study of lived experience
What did previous Cartesian thinking suggest about a ‘real’ reality and the individual experience of reality?
There’s a distinction between the outer ‘real’ reality and the individual experience of reality (dualism).
Simply = Clear difference between the mind and body
What did previous Cartesian thinking suggest about the mind and body?
They are seperate
What did previous Cartesian thinking suggest about sensation and perception of reality?
They are untrue and are illusions
What did previous Cartesian thinking suggest about understanding reality?
Reality can only be understood through
deductive reasoning
Who was the founder of phenomenology?
Edmund Husserl
What does Phenomenology seek to understand?
Phenomenology seeks to understand the outside world as it is interpreted by and through human consciousness
How do we understand reality according to phenomenology?
By gathering first-person accounts about what it is like to have certain experiences
Researchers put aside assumptions or preconceived ideas
Why should we study phenomenology? List 7 reasons
1) Informs the content of mental health problems (e.g., symptoms).
2) Groundwork for building theory (biological, psychological) – e.g., how do mental health difficulties develop, and how are they maintained?
3) May reveal/inform how psychological and health interventions work.
4) Ensure we are asking the right questions in research.
5) Helps to develop and refine questionnaires or other assessment tools.
6) Promotes understanding and empathy.
7) Places the individual’s experiences at the centre of any intervention (psychological or medical)
What is the main method of studying phenomenology?
Qualitative method
Why do we use qualitative research to study phenomenology? List 2 reasons
1) To explore meaning and experience
2) Tends to be inductive (specific observation becomes generalised conclusion)
What type of data in qualitative research is used to study phenomenology? List 3
1) Language, words and/or images
2) Collection of rich and detailed data
3) Interviews, focus groups etc.
True or False?
Knowledge about mental health difficulties is gathered from “experts by profession” rather than “experts by experience”
False
Knowledge about mental health difficulties is gathered from people with lived experience of these difficulties (“experts by experience” as opposed to “experts by profession”)
What % of adults in Great Britain experienced moderate to severe depression between September and October 2021
16% (approx. 1 in 6)
In a systematic review of depression in university students, prevalence rates (the proportion of a population who have a specific characteristic in a given time period) ranged from… % to …..%
10% - 84.5%
In a systematic review of depression in university students, depression was present in …% of the total (n = 48,650) students studied
30.6%
What is sadness?
An emotional response characterised by feelings of loss, disappointment, disadvantage, grief etc
An emotional response characterised by feelings of loss, disappointment, disadvantage, grief etc
This is known as…?
Sadness
Low mood difficulties are linked to the basic emotion of…?
Sadness
Sadness can have an adaptive (coping) value
True or False?
True
Negative affect and sadness imply the presence of …?
Unmet important goals, values and needs
How can we adapt to sadness? List 2 ways
1) Motivate the avoidance of actions that might lead to future loss (protective)
2) Elicit empathy and comforting behaviour in others, strengthening social bonds
When does sadness become a problem? List 3 signs
1) When sadness is present for a prolonged period of time
2) When sadness is perceived as distressing and uncontrollable
3) When sadness causes disruption to social and occupational functioning, or more generally interferes with the person’s goals and values
What is it like to feel depressed? List 4 changes one might go through when experiencing prolonged low mood and depression
- Affect / Emotional Changes
- Bodily / Physiological Changes
- Behavioural Changes
- Cognitive Changes
How do prolonged low mood and depression affect emotional changes? List 5 effects
- Feel sadness
- Feel guilt
- Feel hopelessness
- Experience other emotions not readily recognisable as a consequence of depression, like irritability or anger
- Feel reduced “hedonic capacity” (i.e., capacity to feel pleasure)
How do prolonged low mood and depression affect bodily/physiological changes? List 5 effects
- Alteration in sleep
- Alteration in eating
- Alteration in the interest in sex
- Loss of energy
- Physical complaints like aches/pains (somatic components)
How do prolonged low mood and depression affect behavioural changes? List 3 effects
- Often (but not always) induce more overt (behaviour that is observable and measurable) behaviours typically associated with intense sadness (e.g., crying)
- Experience reduced activity
- Experience restlessness and agitation
How do prolonged low mood and depression affect cognitive changes? List 3 effects
People with depression may have negative thoughts/beliefs about the self (e.g., decreased self-esteem), the world, and the future.
They can also experience rumination (repetitive thinking or dwelling on negative feelings and distress and their causes and consequences)
They may experience memory and concentration difficulties
What is rumination?
Repetitive thinking or dwelling on negative feelings and distress and their causes and consequences
Repetitive thinking or dwelling on negative feelings and distress and their causes and consequences
This is known as…?
Rumination
What are the 3 psychological theories of low mood and depression?
1) Negative triad
2) Attributional style
3) Rumination
What is the negative triad theory of low mood and depression?
A set of negative views about the self, the world and the future that promote and maintain low mood
A set of negative views about the self, the world and the future that promote and maintain low mood
Which theory implies this?
The negative triad theory of low mood and depression
What is the attributional style theory of low mood and depression?
An internal, stable and global attributional style to make sense of negative life experiences