psychological problems Flashcards
synptoms of schizophrenia
- hallucinations
- delusions
- catatonic behaviour
- negative symptoms
- disorganised speech
what are delusions
- false beliefs
what are hallucinations
- false perceptions that can affect the different senses
what is catatonic behaviour
- behaviour ranging from repetitive , frenzied actions to statue like stupor
what is negative symptoms
- absence of normal healthy behaviour
which ethic group / s are more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia
- more diagnosed in people of African / Caribbean origin
- lower in people of Asian origin
prevalence of schizophrenia
1% of population
recovery statistics for schizophrenia
-leads to hospitalisation in approx 15% diagnosed
- 25% fully recover
- 10% dead
what is the biological explanation of schizophrenia
- schizophrenics have too many D2 receptors in their brain
- means more dopamine binds to these receptors & more neurons fire too easily.
- excess dopamine being absorbed
- leads to erratic movement , hallucinations + delusions
how is a schizophrenic brain different to a normal one
- volume of brain is 5% lower
- temporal lobe lack grey matter
- hippocampus smaller than average
- frontal lobe less active due to decreased blood flow
criticisms of biological explanation for schizophrenia
- ignore role of nurture brain still needs to interact with environment to produce symptoms like hallucinations / delusions
- establishing cause + effect-> is brain dysfunction the cause of schizophrenia or just another symptom of it?
explain the social drift theory
- once people have it they began to drift down the social scale
- disengage with society - doesn’t make sense to them anymore
- even if they do want to remain part of society this is hard due to their diagnosis
- rejected by society - discrimination and stigmatism - may lose jobs due to diagnosis
- society may reject the, due to their behavior
- disengagement + rejection from downward spiral - sent in downward cycle in terms of society
criticisms of social drift theory
- problem with cause and effect - does poverty lead to schizophrenia or does schizophrenia lead to poverty
- focuses too much on wider society - ignores role family environment may have in the development of schizophrenia
Daniel et al aim
- investigate activity in the pre frontal cortices of people with schizophrenia
Daniel et al procedure
- to increase dopamine levels they gave half of participants amphetamines & other half placebo - switched next day
- completed WCST on both days
- also used SPECT scan to measure blood Dow to brain
Daniel et al results + conclusion
- Amphetamine increased pre frontal cortex activity during performance of cognitive task
- shows we can reduce negative symptoms by giving dopamine - stimulated drugs
criticisms of Daniel et al
- culturally biased -> participants all from same part of USA & most were white -> rates of schizophrenia differ between ethnicities.
- drug used to stabilize symptoms may have acted as an extraneous variable - could have impacted participants brain activity making it harder to establish cause and effect
symptoms of clinical depression
- low mood
- reduced energy
- disturbed sleep
- ideas / acts of self harm
prevalence of depression
4-10%
who are more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia men or women
- twice as many females diagnosed than men
which ethnic groups are more likely to be diagnosed with depression
- people of Indian / Pakistani origin report suffering more than african origin
what age are you most likely to be diagnosed with depression
- most common in 18-30
- least common under 18
abc model meaning
- irrational thinking leads to depression
a stands for (abc model)
- activating event - something to trigger an irrational thought
b stands for (abc model)
- belief - can be irrational / rational - how the event is interpreted by individual
c stands for (abc model)
- consequences- if the belief is negative / irrational , may lead to negative emotional & behavioral consequences & depression
criticism of abc model
- assumes people have control over their beliefs because the abc model believes in the idea of free will. Depression could be determined by other factors out of our control & therefore depression is not that easy to get rid of
- cause and effect - do irrational beliefs cause depression or are they symptoms of it
Tandoc et al aim
- see whether depression is linked with Facebook use & whether using it lead to feelings of envy
tandoc et al sample
- 736 students from American university
tandoc te al procedure
- questionnaire conducted online - responses in quantitative data
- measures Facebook usage , levels of envy using a rating scale & symptoms of depression
tandoc et al results
- heavy fb users showed stronger feelings of envy
- fb envy was a significant predictor of depression
Tandoc et al conclusion
- no direct relationship between fb and depression
- direct relationship between fb envy and depression
tamdoc et al criticism
- culturally biased -> all from USA -> may influence how fb is used & how they deal with their feelings
- social desirability -> may have underplayed their use of social media + levels of envy - invalid results
