Neuropsychology

Question 1

Family Therapy

Answer 1

• Aim is to change maladative family interaction patterns
• Focus = structure of the family system and intervention focuses on disupting dysfunctional patterns.

Question 2

Group therapy

Answer 2

• Advantages: support - sense of belonging, forces the pace, normalises experience: often havent met anyone with same problem, sees client in environmental context and the cost effective and time effective.
• Disadvantages - easy for someone to fall, managing individuals who dont mix well with others and can become club-like.

Question 3

Biological Paradigm - The Medical Model

Answer 3

• Abnormal behaviour as reflecting a biological disorder
• Localised within the brain and involving either brain damage or a disruption of the neurotransmitter processes of the brain
• E.g dopamine pathways serotonin in depression
• Person is seen as a patient and therapies can be physical in nature.

Question 4

Neurotransmitter Interactions

Answer 4

Decreases neural transmission by drug binding to receptors preventing it being activated

Increases neural transmission y blocking reuptake

Increases neural transmission by blocking breakdown of neurotransmitters in synpatic vesicles

Question 5

Antidepressant Medication

Answer 5

• Showed that there are no differences between antidepressant medication and placebo for mild to moderate depression.
• drugs - may mask problem or lead to abuse - physical or psychological dependence and side effects

Question 6

Advantages for combining psychotherapy and medication

Answer 6

• Slightly better results than either method alone in people suffering from severe, long-term depression

More effective than either method alone in treating ADHD, OCD, alcoholism, and panic disorder

For clients too distressed to benefit from psychotherapy

AD - pychotherapy

• effective as drugs for depression, phobias, panic disorder, anxiety
• lower dropout rates from psychotherapy than from drug therapies

Question 7

Neuropsychology and its methods

Answer 7

• Study of behaviour related to neurological bases
• Neuropsychology draws from fields = anatomy, biology, ethology, pharmacology, physiology and philosophy.
• Links between brain & behaviour - cognition, motor abilities, emotional functioning, social functioning
• How individual differences in brain structure/function/connectivity relate to differences in brain behaviour
• How disease, brain injury, and neurodevelopment relate to changes in behaviour.

Question 8

Neuropsychologiy broad cognitive domains

Answer 8

Executive functions
Memory, Language and visuospatial
Attention and processing speed
perception
arousal and alertness

Question 9

Causes of brain dysfunction

Answer 9

• Cerebrovascular accidents (Stroke) - blood supply to parts of the brain, 2nd leading cause of death in Australia
• Traumatic brain injuries
• Neurodegenerative diseases
• Cerebral Ischemia - CA - 80% of strokes, hypoxia and infarction , transient ischemic attack
• Haemorrhage - intracranial bleeding, compresses surrounding tissues, damaging surrounding cells and may cause hypoperfusion.

Question 10

Mechanism of brain dysfunction

Answer 10

Recovery from stroke
- severity and location of initial injury
- quality and speed of medical intervention
- health of remaining issue
- degree to which remaining nervous system can reorganize

Traumatic Brain Injuries
- sudden impact to the brain
- trauma = brain floats in cerebrospinal fluid - the impact shifts the brain bumping against bone and damaging nerve fibres.
- amount of damage depends on the amount of force in the trauma and damage is widespread than with stroke and harder to pinpoint.