Psychological Disorders- Explaining A Disorder Flashcards
Aim of Lewinsohn
To compare the amount of ‘positive reinforcement’ received by depressed and non-depressed patients
Method of Lewinsohn
Quasi experiment
Longitudinal study including self-reports
Participant of Lewinsohn
30 all diagnosed with depression, a disorder different to depression and ‘normal’.
Procedure is Lewinsohn
- pps asked to check mood daily using depression adjective checklist
- pps ticked the ones they felt that day
- then asked to complete the please activity scale rating 320 activities
- ^ rated twice on scale of 3, once for pleasantness once for frequency
Results of Lewinsohn
Positive correlation between mood ratings and pleasant activities
Conclusions of Lewinsohn
There appears to be a link between reinforcement from pleasant activities and mood, but further research needed
What does behavioural approach suggest about disorders?
Learnt through conditioning or imitation
What does a biological approach suggest about disorders?
We may have GENETIC VULNERABILITY to depression and various NEUROTRANSMITTERS may have a role to play in depression
Aim of Wender
To investigate contribution of genetic and environment factors in the aetiology of mood disorders
Participants of Wender
Adoptive and biological relatives of 71 adult adoptees with a mean age of 43.7 who had a mood disorder & 71 afult’s adoptees with mean age of 44 who were psychologically normal.
Procedure of Wender
Psychiatric evaluations of relatives
Results of Wender
There was an eight fold increase in unipolar depression amongst biological relatives and 15 fold increase in suicide among the bio relatives
Conclusions of Wender
There is a genetic link between unipolar depression and suicide
Genetic predisposition to depression
What is cognitive approach saying about disorders?
Different thought processes
ABRAMSON :
1) attribute failure to internal cause or external cause
2)we attribute failure to stable cause or unstable cause
3) attribute failure to global cause or specific cause
internal, stable and global = depressed
Aim of Beck
Understand cognitive distortions in patients with depression
Method of Beck
Self report- clinical interviews
Participant of Beck
50 pps w/depression. 18-48 y/o, average intelligence, working and middle class compared to 34 non-depressed
Procedure of Beck
Face to face interviews
Reports of thought before session and during
Diaries sometimes kept of thoughts and bought to the session
Results of Beck
Certain themes occurred in depressed that didn’t occur in non-depressed e.g low self-esteem, self blame, desire to escape
Regarded themselves as inferior having stereotypical responses to situation
Conclusions of Beck
Patients showed cognitive distortions that weren’t logical or relistic thinking.
Only depression not other disorders
