Mental health topic 3 Flashcards
What is the classical conditioning explanation of phobias?
The pairing of an unconventional stimulus with a conditional response leads to conditioned response - Associate a bad thing with the phobic item
Watson and Rayner - made little albert afraid of rats, despite previously having no fear of them y repeated pairings of a loud noise with a white rat.
Outline the positive reinforcement explanation for phobias
The comfort or attention received when slight fear is shown reinforces the behaviour, and worsens the fear
Outline the negative reinforcement explanation for phobias
Someone with a fear avoids the item, this reduces the anxiety and this reinforces the fear, turning it into a phobia.
Outline the social learning theory explanation for phobias
Behaviours such as OCD could be seen by a child in the parents and imitated, leading to the child deal with challenges in unhealthy, ineffective ways.
Outline albert Ellis’ proposal of faulty cognitions
He proposed that irrational thoughts could have and sustain mental disorders and behaved that faulty cognitions can be summarised as:
- I must be outstandingly competent, or I am worthless
- Others must treat me considerately, or they are absolutely rotten
- The world should always give me happiness, or I will die
Outline the cognitive explanation of mental illness
Mental illness arises from irrational thinking - suggests there are maladaptive thinking patterns in childhood as we acquire information about the world
What is dichotomous reasoning in terms of faulty thinking?
All or nothing thinking, the world is viewed as black of white
what is overgeneralisation in terms of faulty thinking?
viewing unfortunate events as part of a new ending defeat or struggle
What is filtering in terms of faulty thinking?
Gaining greater considerations to negative aspects, while ignoring or downplaying positive ones.
What is catastrophization in terms of faulty thinking?
Feeling that a situation/outcome is/will be far worse than it actually is or turns out to be.
According to Beck, what are the three main dysfunctional beliefs in people with depression which form a cognitive triad?
I am worthless or flawed
Everything I do results in failure
The future is hopeless
Outside of the cognitive triad, summarise Beck’s explanation for mental illness
Early experience forms dysfunctional beliefs which may then be triggered by adverse life incidents and which advocate the underlying assumptions; From then on, incoming information is processed with a negative bias, resulting in all the emotional, cognitive and behavioural symptoms of depression
Outline the treatment of the psychodynamic explanation of mental illness
aims to bring unconscious conflict and emotions into the conscious mind so that they can be resolved, for example through dream analysis, free association, projective tests
Outline the Ego defence mechanism and how it relates to mental health
used to prevent our conflicts from damaging us by overuse or inappropriate use can lead to disturbed behaviour
Denial can result in depression or anxiety
Repression may cause a person to act unconsciously motivated by the repressed memory
Outline the psychodynamic explanation of mental illness in terms of the three aspects of personality
Conflicts between the id, ego and superego can create anxiety or guilt depending on whether we satisfy the id’s demands or not
A weak or ineffective ego could result in the Id not being controlled. May lead to loss of contact with reality as the person is unable to identify where their desires end and reality begins
An overly strong superego can lead to damaged relationships, depression or suicide
How does the research by Szaz relate to reductionism-holism?
Holistic - more so than the medical model because it looks at all the different factors that influence mental illness - critical of the medical model for being reductionist
How does the research by Szaz relate to social sensitivity?
Highly controversial view - could be quite unsettling for people with the illness to hear it described as a myth
stigmatises people with mental health issues and makes them seem like they are making it up
Doesn’t take into account that many people who have the illnesses have gotten better from drugs.
How does the research by Szaz relate to ethnocentrism?
Focuses on the US healthcare system, so this may not apply to different healthcare systems
Says that mental illness is a social construct because it is based on society’s expectations of behaviour
Doesn’t take into account other cultures where the medical model doesn’t exist
But because it is a theory, not a study it could apply to any country with a medical model
How does the research by Szaz relate to usefulness?
Useful - looks at a broader view of mental illness - broader range of explanations - empowering people with mental illnesses - makes them think that they have more control over their illness
Focuses on the whole person as an individual rather than just their illness.
Encourages people to seek out alternative treatments
Not useful - No empirical evidence as it is just his theory
Could make people feel invalidated and could discourage people from getting treatments that might help them
Governments may not have the funds to support alternative treatments
What is Aversion therapy?
The creation of an unpleasant association like nausea in alcohol addiction
A drug called am amatiz can be used to make people sick
repeated pairings will result in a learned response of aversion to alcohol
What is flooding?
Present large quantities of the feared object directly - the immediate fear response caused by adrenaline is not sustainable and will eventually calm down by itself. The feeling of calm will then be associated with the feared object
What is a problem with flooding as a method of treating phobias?
It can cause panic and reinforce the phobia rather than extinguish it, especially if the person is allowed to leave the situation before their adrenaline levels have naturally reduced.
Outline the research by McGrath - Lucy
Lucy was a 10 year old girl with a phobia of loud noise, balloons and party poppers
By teaching her to imagine herself playing with her toys at home, over the course of 10 sessions she gradually reduced her fear from a self rating of 7/10 down to 3/10 for balloons popping
Outline systematic desentisation (not the stages)
The process teaches a person to gradually confront their fear, it is carried out in stages and the patient practices relaxation techniques at each stage to calm themselves down after an anxiety inducing stimulus is introduced.
What are the three stages of systematic desensitisation?
- Patient builds a hierarchy of stimuli which cause anxiety e.g look at picture, hold picture, see real item
- PAtient is taught deep muscle relaxation or to imagine themselves somewhere pleasant
- Therapist takes patient step-by-step through their hierarchy - relaxation techniques are used until patient does not feel anxious, then they move to the next stage.
What is Rational Emotive Therapy?
Client helped to understand how irrational and unhelpful beliefs are contributing to their illness, and helped to identify an alternative way of processing a situation which should in turn change their behaviour.
Outline the ABCDE of RET
A - Activating event (the phobic stimulus)
B - Beliefs (About the Stimulus)
C - Consequences (the actions to avoid stimulus)
In therapy the aim is to add:
D - Disputing (questioning the irrational beliefs)
E - Effects (Reconstructed thoughts hopefully helping the person to cope)
Outline the usefulness of flooding
Quicker than other methods and has been shown to be effective
However, it avoids looking at the causes of the behaviour in the first place
May cause more harm than good - could reinforce the Phobia
Outline the usefulness of RET
Long, expensive process, but shown to be effective
Outline the usefulness of aversion therapy
Quick and works in some cases but could easily be misused (e.g. conversion therapy)
How do the Behavioural applications link to ethics?
All cause some harm - but for the patients own good? - They all have informed consent, no deception, competence - not really looking at the cause of the negative behaviour
Flooding the only one with no withdrawal as this would ruin the treatment
How does RET link to Ethics?
Can withdraw by just not going - not harmful, no deception, no issues with consent, hope there was competence
Outline The behaviourist explanation for mental health in terms of Psychology as a science
Is quite scientific - Because tends to use controlled lab experiments - can control cause and effect - can observe the behaviour makes it more objective, reliable and falsifiable
Outline The behaviourist explanation for mental health in terms of Psychology as a science
Is quite scientific - Because tends to use controlled lab experiments - con control cause and effect - can observe the behaviour makes it more objective, reliable and falsifiable
Outline The behaviourist explanation for mental health in terms of reductionism - holism
reductionist - says everything is learnt - reducing mental illness to a stimulus response
Outline The behaviourist explanation for mental health in terms of free-will - determinism
Determinism - environment - don’t have a choice of who you’re around and how they act when younger
Free-will - some choice in what parents can do for their children and what environment you put yourself in
How do the Alternative explanations of mental illness relate to Usefulness
All have effective treatments that work
But behaviourist is reductionist
Cognitive is less scientific
Psychodynamic has no evidence the treatments work - subjective interpretation
Outline The Cognitive explanation for mental health in terms of Psychology as a science
Can’t measure people’s thoughts - can’t be objective or falsified - irrational thoughts - difficult to measure scientifically as you have to rely on self report
Outline The psychodynamic explanation for mental health in terms of Psychology as a science
very subjective - Freud not at all scientific
Subjective interpretation of what patients say
Difficult to falsify as the unconscious mind isn’t observable
Couldn’t do in an experiment setting - no replicability or reliability
Outline The cognitive explanation for mental health in terms of reductionism-holism
Reductionist - reduces behaviour to information processing systems as key factor
Holistic - Beck doesn’t discard genetics - stress diathesis
Outline The psychodynamic explanation for mental health in terms of reductionism-holism
Holistic - all aspects of mind and talks about interaction of biological factors and environmental factors
Reductionist - only focuses on the unconscious mind
Outline The cognitive explanation for mental health in terms of free-will - determinism
Determinist - thoughts caused by childhood experiences and genetic aspects
Free-will choice of how your thought affect you
treatment focuses on retraining yourself to think differently
Outline The psychodynamic explanation for mental health in terms of free-will - determinism
Determinist - early experiences affect your behaviour - oedipus complex
Behaviour is determined by the unconscious mind, which you’re not aware of - more difficult to exercise free will
Free-will - treatment is your choice - the type and whether to get it
What were the conclusions of szasz’ research?
The medicalisation and politicisation of psychiatry over the past 50 years has led to a dehumanised model of care
mental illness should be regarded as a metaphor; a fiction
The moral legitimacy of psychiatry should be rejected as it involves violating human liberty
Give a brief outline Of the research by Szasz
In 1960s, Szasz published a book ‘The myth of Mental illness’, challenging the medical model - he rejected the image of patients as passive victims of biological events, and believed that psychiatry was coercive and involved a denial of human rights.
Outline Szasz’ challenge of the use of insanity defence in court
Believes that assuming all people are inherently good, and that bad actions only occur due to mental illness, has implications for human freedom. This denies them the responsibility for wrong foing and liberty from oppression by the mental health system
the person as the sufferer loses their importance - it is the illness that is to be treated
Outline Szasz’ Opinion of psychiatrists
They become like jailers - imprisoning people in a system and denying them their right to seek, accept and reject medical diagnosis and treatment - they have too much power - alone are qualified to categorise, label and treat the person
Outline szasz’ opinion on the relationship of mental and physical illness
Mental illnesses that have a physical cause are just undiagnosed physical illness. - ‘mental illness’ is the judgement of some people about the socially unacceptable behaviour of others
