Mental Health and Wellbeing Flashcards
Normality vs Abnormality
Given CIRCUMSTANCES, is this behaviour “Normal”? “Abnormal”? What about the TIME SPAN of this behaviour?
Normal: We like things that are average
Abnormal: We shun from deviations from average
Statistical Infrequency/Social Norms
If behaviour is deemed as abnormal, but then everyone/ more ppl start to do it, it eventually becomes normality
Sociocultural influences on how normality is viewed, as well as time, eg homosexuality
Personal Suffering
Humans vary in the was they handle things, its subjective
But not all abnormailty leads personal suffering
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychological disorders (DSM)
Naming of all kinds of psychological disorders
Why?
+Name for ur experience
+If there is a name, that means ur not alone in this experience– community
+If there is a name/label, possibilty of treatment?
-“Forcing” ppl in box,stripping of uniqueness, diagnosis becoming identity
-Self-fulfilling prophecy:label causes people to act the way people of that label are considered/expected to act
-Stigma: Image portrayed to fam, friends and urself– shame and dont seek help
Schizophrenia
Eugen Bleuler (1911) coined the term “schizophrenia”: A loss of harmony between various groups of mental functions
Positive Symptoms
What disorder adds to a person (doesnt mean positive things, just means addition)
Negtaive Symptoms
What disorder takes away from person
Delusions of thought (Positive symptoms of schizophrenia)
Insertion: You have thoughts but dont know where theyre coming from, theyre “not urs”, someones put them inside our head
Broadcast: Afraid ppl can hear what ur thinking
Withdrawal: belief that ones throughts are being removed
Control: Anbother entitiy is in control of your thoughts, emotions, reactions etc
Reference: Object/event is trying to tell you smthg, a reference to u. Cld be caused by u too
Anhedonia
Inability to experience pleasure
Alogia (negative symptomps of schizophrenia)
Poverty of speech content– issues with verbal fluency, reduced speech output
Behavioural seclusiveness (negative symptom schizophrenia)
Impaired social interactions
Diagnostic criteria
Criteria of symptoms to diagnose someone with a disorder
Hallucinations
perceptual experience that occurs in the bsencw of external stimulation (auditory hallucinations most common in those with schizophrenia)
Delusions
Beliefs that are contrary to reality and are firmly held even in the face of contradictory evidence (not just “odd belief”, it is clearly absurd)
Paranoid delusions
flase belief that other people or genicies are plotting to harm the person
Grandiose delusions
Belief that one hokds a specila power, uniqze knowldge or is extremely importatn. Belief of urself being smth much bigger eg King, Jesus. Cld result in ur doing v messed up things to prove u r
Causes of Schizophrenia: GENES
Both geenticvulnerability and envornmetal stress are necessary for schizpphrenia to develop, genes dont show entite pitcture
Causes of Schizophrenia: Dopamine Hypothesis
Durgs that increase the levels pf Neurotransmitter dopamine can produce schizoührenia like symptoms whereas those that block dopamine reduce the symptoms. Overabundance or too many dopamine receptorscoupd be cause on onset and maintenance of shcizophrenia
Causes of Schizophrenia : Brain anatomny
sxhizophrenia associated wiht loss of brain tisssue Redution in gray matter
Bipolar Disorder
Common features to schizophrenia and depression.
High and low moods, which can both be disabling.
Mania (extremnely unstable and euphoric mood with excess in energy amd acitvity, reckless behaviour and feeling of invincibility) and Depression (hopelessness, lose interest and pleasure in acitivites etc)
Expressed Emotion and Missattribution
Expressed Emotion: emotions and attitudes expressed by relatives/ caregivers towards a family member with schizophrenia –> being overinvolved, criticism, hostility
Missattribution: Defining person as the illness rather than as “having” the illness and blaming behavioral changes to person on them
Depression
More than sadness:
-dysfunctional, impairing daily life/functioning
-chronic
-outside socially and culturally accepted norms
More common in females:
-Rumination–> women generally internalize issues whereas men generally externalize (eg drug use)
-hormones
Cognitive Theory/ Attribution
(Theories of Depression)
Original behaviorla theory of learned hopelessness
Perceived lack of control over bad events
No matter what I do, this is an uncontrollable (negative) event –> passiveness –> no longer trying –> depression
Attribute negtaive events to themselves : stable, global and internal
whereas someone without depression: unstable, specific and external
Becks Cognitive theory of Depression
Theory of what he believes drives depression
1- Cognitive Triad
(Becks Cognitive theory of Depression)
Negatives views of self, your experiences and future
- Schemata
(Becks Cognitive theory of Depression)
Stable patterns with which we conceptualize the world
Smthg bad happens enough times you start to see and notice a “pattern” and this creates a negative “schemata”
- Faulty information processing /cognitive bias
(Becks Cognitive theory of Depression)
Arbitrary inference: drawing unjustified conclusions
Personalisation: assuming things/comments are direct at oneself (usually negative),even when they arent
Overgeneralisation: seeing things as “always” and “never”
Becks Depression Inventory (BDI)
Not a tool for diagnosis of depression, just a measure of severity
Suicidal Behaviour: Risk factors
Previous attempts
Family history of poor mental health
Personality disorders
Substance abuse
Bipolar disorder:
-unemployed
-Depression (rather than mania
-living alone (lacking social connections)
-male
LGBT
The integrated motivational-volitional model of suicidal behaviour
- Pre-motivational phase:
Environment and life events happen/ are not looking great. Not thinking of suicide just yet - Motivational phase:
Not coping well, problems continue, memory bias, thoughts about future, resilience and attitudes challeneged –> feeling defeated - Volitional phase:
Planning, access to means, impulsivity etc
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
Recurrent obsession which are not pleasurable, knowing that these are unreasonable. Consistently living with these obsessive thoughts despite knowing lengths that they have to go are unreasonable but is a viscious cycle–> behaviour has to be done to reduce anxiety. Behaviours can take up a lot of time and stress, hindering a person from going about their daily life/ activities and functioning
Obsessions vs Compulsions (OCD)
“Obsession” is the unwanted thoughts/concerns that the person has, these are hard to ignore, eg
-concern about dirt and germs
-symmetry concerns
etc
“Compulsions” repetitive behaviours/actions the person feels compelled to carry out eg
-cleaning and washing because concern about germs
-ordering, striaghtening, counting etc because of symmetry concerns
Clearly excessive, causing significant impairment inb social and occupational and other important areas of unctioning
Trichotillomania
Hair pulling disorder
Like a craving
Automatic hair pulling–> person does it without noticing or focusing
Focused hair pulling –> deliberately pulling out hairs, searching for eg “perfect hairs”
Excoriation disorder
Aka compulsive skin picking/ dermatillomania
Similar to trichotillomania
Supernatural model
(Treatments for mental health disorders)
Mental health issues were associated with a person being possessed or controlled by a supernatural being such as a demon or spirit
-Flogging: beating spirit out
-Psychosurgery/ trephining: hole drilled into the skull to release demon
Medical/biological model
(Treatments for mental health disorders)
Psychological illness viewed as having brain-related/biological basis, so there must be a medical answer/treatment to it
Hippocrates makes theory based on body fluids eg
yellow bile associated with anger, irritability
-Asylums: for people who diverge from the norm-> societies unwanted
-Centrifugal force bed: bed to “balance mental and bodily functions”
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): emulates seizure. Symptoms of severe depression subside short term
Transcranical magentic stimulation (TMS): magnetic pulse to brain “switches off” short term the parts of the brainassociated with depression
Medical/biological model–> critique
(Treatments for mental health disorders)
-Self reporting, no actual testing
-few disorders actually have biological basis
Psychological model
(Treatments for mental health disorders)
Mental/psychligical processes are the cuas of mental issues
Psychoananalysis:
Psychological model
(Treatments for mental health disorders)
Developed by Freud
Patient must gain insight into inner conflict–> unconscious must come to surface
Free association: Every fleeting thought is said out loud
Dream analysis: underlying meaning?
Reactions:
-resistance, pateint avoids facing such thoughts
-transference, feelings for siginifcant other transferred to therapist
Humanistic:
Psychological model
(Treatments for mental health disorders)
All people have tnhe cpaacity to grow and develop to heir best self–> this will be faciliated byn a therpist
Client centered therapy:
Client determines goals and pace
Open questions, therpist also shares experiences–> NO diagnoses, criticism, advice etc
Make person feel safe not challenged
Behaviour and cognitive therapy:
Psychological model
(Treatments for mental health disorders)
Challenging the negative thoughts because theyre not helpful, SO therapist tries to help client reconstruct positive thoughts
Aversion therapy: make you feel sick when youre exposed to a certain environemtn/stimulus eg alcohol–> association formed between two so you stop drinking
Exposure therapy
State vs Trait anxiety
State anxiety:
In the moment anxiety, triggered by specific event eg fire alarm
Trait anxiety: personality trait, someone may be more prone than others to become anxious in their day to day
Moderating factors–> increasing
(test anxiety)
factors that increase the negative relationship between text anxeity and performance
1. Evaluative settings
2. Speeded timed conditions
3. Negative feedback
4.Difficulty of task
Moderating factors –> decreasing
(test anxiety)
factors decreasing the relationship between test anxiety and performance (that will make test anxiety affect performance less)
1. Structured setting
2. Social support
3. provision of reassurance
Measuring test anxiety:
Spielbergers Test Anxiety Inventory (TAI)
2 components of test anxiety:
-Affective (emotionality)
–> Getting emotional as a response to the anxiety
eg. feeling jittery, stomach getting upset, nervous
Cognitive component (worry) –> worrying about failing, consequences etc and this can interfer with your performance during the test
Sarasons Test Anxiety Scale
Way of measuring test anxiety
Alternative assessment procedures of test anxiety
-Listing aloud the thoughts you usually have during a test
-Physiological measures: body temp, pulse etc
-Direct behavioral observations eg biting nails, excessive body movement etc
Personal Factors
(Determinants of Test Anxiety)
Distal factors: Increase the LIKELIHOOD of a TA response
-Biological Disposition: genetics plays a role in vulnerability to repond with worry in stressfull situations
Diathesis x Stress model–> its an interaction between genetic factors and the environment
-Primary socializartion: ur caregivers/famliy. Negative parenting style? Aversive? Lack of warmth?
Situational factors
(Determinants of Test Anxiety)
Proximal factors: directly associated with a TA response
1social reference group:
2group reference norms
3competitive environment
4perceived control
- Social reference group and Group reference norms
Situational factors
(Determinants of Test Anxiety)
Social reference group: SELF CONCEPT
How you perceive yourself and your abilities will change depending on how your peers/ people around you are doing
Big fish little pond effect:
eg big fish = high achieviing student, little pond = small school
Group reference norms: BEING COMPARED to others
- Competitive environment
Situational factors
(Determinants of Test Anxiety)
Focusing on development and achievement of other people is negative. Trying to outperform others is not good. Focusing on own mastery is key, dont compare yourself to others
- Perceived control
Situational factors
(Determinants of Test Anxiety)
Having a CHOICE
eg you have to write an essay: do you get to choose 1 out of 5 options or are you given no options?
Allows adjustmenet to external events, giving ownership and sense of control
Self-regulative model of test anxiety based on Self-Referent Executive Function (S-REF) theory
Emotion-Focused:
Test Anxiety Interventions
To reduce physical arousal
On its own, ineffective in reducing test anxiety
Cognitive-Focused:
Test Anxiety Interventions
To reduce worry and irrational intrusive thoughts
-Figuring out source
-Practice positive/optimisitic thinking
-Learn to adjust attention
Works to reduce TA, even better when combined with Emotion-focused
Study skills intervention:
Test Anxiety Interventions
Imrpoving study ans test taking skills
-Time management training
-LEarning to make goals
-creating study plans
-Strategies for test itself
Positive impact on for those with poor study skills and high TA
Yerkes Dodson Law
Some anxiety/ stress / arousal is needed to reach peak performance
Tired and bored < Ideal > stressed and restless
General Adaptation to Stress (GAS) Model –> Response
Stress as a RESPONSE, which is purely physiological, non-specific aka reaction to all kinds of stressor and universal
Model states that there are 3 stages of stress:
1. Acute response–> smth happens/stresso rstimulus and u perceeive it as a threat
2. Defensive mechanisms –> we cope with the stress, it is effort (eg talking to friends, alcohol)
3. Exhaustion –> theres only so much you can handle
Flight or fight response
Amygdala recognizes fear
Sends distress signal to hypothalamus , which acts as a control center that will send signal all over the body
Evolutionary survival mechanism for PHYSICAL danger, however fight or flight has adapted and learned to kick in in situations that arent “life or death”–> eg emotional stressors like public speaking
Stress as a Stimulus
stressors can be live events or demands made by the extenral environment that can stimulate stress–> this will vary depending on the person
Eustress and Distress
Distress: Bad kind of stress that affects performance and can lead to illness and death. Threatening and unpleasant and this stress is a reponse to something that is out of your control
Eustress: Good kind of stress–> change in life is arousing you but it is not a bad event eg new house, new job. Yo have a degree of control so even if your cortisol lvls are higher and youre tired, your performance is still high and good sense of self efficacy
Chronic stressors
Smth that is stressful day to day eg relationship not woirkung, workload, commute etc
Impact of chornic stressors: Youre in the exhaustion phase of the GAS model most of the time can cause burnout and is associated with poorer mental health, sleep and substance use
Transactional Model of Stress
Stress is an interaction/transaction between a person and their environment
Itd an imbalance between situational demands and personal resources
transactional model of stress
- Potential stressor <–> primary and secondary appraisal <–> coping strategies <–> stress response
Cognitive appraisal (interpreting stressors)
Primary appraisal/ interpretation:
Is this stimulus harmful or a threat?
Secondary appraisal
Assess whether you can cope with it? Do I have abilities and resources to cope with this imbalance that has been brought into my life?
- Repressive coping
(Stress coping strategies)
Avoiding/ignoring the stressor hoping it eventually disappears. Maintaining artifically positive viewpoint
- Rational Coping
(Stress coping strategies)
Facing the stressor –> how can i tackle this
-ACCEPTANCE thats its not just gonna go away
-EXPOSURE to stressor and related experiences7thoughts
-UNDERSTANDING the meaning of the stressor and why its stressing you out
- Reframing
(Stress coping strategies)
trying to be creative and adjust how you are appraising/interpreting it in the firsg place. Change the way you look at the stressor
Health Belief Model (HMB)
Why dont all people participate in health screenings?–> Health Belief Model
This model assumes that people will engage in health behaviours to RECOVER/AVOID/CURE illness
Original model included 4 aspects, perceived:
-Susceptibilty: How likley/ssusceptible do you think you are to getting this illness? If you dont think ur susceptible then why would you go
-Severity: How bad is it gonna hit u
-Benefits
-Barriers: is screening accessible? What do I need to do/prep to get a screening
Health Belief Model: Critique
-perceived barriers is the strongest predicotr (so far)
-model assumes everyone has equal access to information (so people may know that they are susceptible and that issue can be severe but they do not have the means because of some kind of barrier or not receiving info)
-Doesnt take into account other motivations that are not related to health
Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA)
The most powerful factor in whether or not we will go trhough with a health behaviour is our INTENTION.
According to this model, there are two principle construxts which motivate our behaviour:
- Behavioural beliefs–> attitude towards the behaviour–> intention–> behaviour
How STRONG are the behavioural beliefs eg do you truly believe eating fruit will help you quite smoking? Will it really make a difference to your habits/life/smoking? If you truly believe then your attitude towards the behaviour changes and you will get the intetion to do it and eventually actually do it
- Normative beliefs –> subjective norms –> intention–> behaviour
What are other people doing? What does society/the people around you expect you to do? Will you be criticized or laughed at if you go through with this behaviour? Does their opinion/how youre perceievd matter to you?
Theory of Reasoned Action: Critique
-model assumes we will make use of all info available to us at that we are completely rationale beings
- model assumes behaviours are all under our intentional control: not every behaviour is equally in our control
-some behaviours reqiure skill, timy, resources, opportnity etc…
Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB)
Elaboration/continuation of Theory of Reasoned Action, 3 predicting factor included: Perceived behavioural control
Control beliefs –> perceived behavioural control –> (intention–>) behaviour
Do we actually believe WE CAN perform this behaviour? Eg overcoming addiction, youre given a list of things you can do to overcome it but do you really think its achievable? The amount of control we perceive ourselves to have can be affected by past experiences (eg tried to overcome addiction but hit an obstacle or continually failed)
Theory of Planned Behaviour : Summary
Measuring the likelihood of pursuing a helath behavioour is influenced by 3 factors:
- Attitude towards behaviour
Eating more fruit and veg is valuable to me - Normative beliefs
Most people I know whos opinion matter to me would approve of this behaviour - Perceived control
I am confident that if i wanted to, I could
Theory of PLanned behaviour: Critique
This model tries to cover everything but it cant
-no guidance/say as to how to change behaviour
-possibly too static (things change with time)
-possibly too rational
Other components should be added? Eg:
-how much REGRET if you go through with behaviour?
-how will you FEEL about yourself?
-does this behaviour line up with how you perceive yourself/your identity?
Transtheoretical Model
The 6 stages of change belong to this theory
Aim to address the intention-behaviour gap, because sometimes you vry much have the intetion of doing smth eg new years resoultions or being sober in october but you dont follow through– why is that?
- Motivational stage: everything that comes before the intention has formed. Everything leading up to getting the intention to do something
- Volitional stage: ends in successful performance of behaviour
These stages are defined by our current intentions and past behaviours and what are the pros and cons of this behaviour? eg are you gonna be miserable every night?
Six stages of change (Transtheoretical Model)
- Pre comtemplation
Living life, engaging in a certain behaviour - Contemplation
Notice this particular behaviour and notice its not a good one – wouldnt it be nice to change this behaviour? - Preparation
talking to people, thinking about how youre going to do it, buying books etc - Action
- Maintenance
- Relapse (but you might go back to the contemplation phase)
Ecological Models
There are multiple levels of influence in our behaviour, and these levels intercat with eachother . We cannot only blame an individual for harmful behaviours
Public policy <–> community <–> individual etc
