Psychological Problems p1 Flashcards
Delusions
Believing something that isn’t true (government are spying on you).
Negative and Positive Factors of Schizophrenia
Negative:
-thoughts or behaviour the individual had before the illness (lowered mood, social withdrawal).
Positive:
-changed behaviour or thoughts (hallucinations/delusions).
Catatonic Behaviour
A group of symptoms that usually involve a lack of movement and communication.
Discrimination
A stigma that has been acted upon (a behavioural issue).
Self-fulfilling prophecy
When someone behaves in a way an assumption about them expects them to behave.
Prevelance
How common something is.
Mental Health as a Continuum
Suggests there are degrees in mental health which we may fluctuate between.
Incidence
Refers to the number of NEW cases.
Stigma
A mark of disgrace with a particular circumstance, quality, or person (a cognitive issue).
Tandoc’s Study sample (depression)
-854 students across four uni courses in journalism from USA were INVITED via email and going to their classes
-736 students actually participated in survey
- 68% (500) female
- 32%(235) male average age 19
-78% (574) white americans
= all used facebook for average 2h
Criticisms of Tandoc’s Study
- reductionist = failed to consider the complex nature of depression, reducing the explanation to an outdated evolutionary view, rather than considering the holistic view that depression can be caused due a wide variety of factors
- social desirability bias = due to self report ,participants could have underplayed their use of social media, level of envy and their experience of depression -> invalid results effecting validity
- culturally biased = well educated journalism students USA -> factors may influence how much facebook is used and how they deal with their feelings
- lack construct validity due to numerical coding = complex behaviour reduced to numbers on a rating scale so may not give a true representation of peoples experiences
- difficult to establish cause and effect = relationship between variables (e.g does facebook use increase envy or does envy draw people to facebook?)
Social Drift Theory (schizophrenia)
Suggests having schizophrenia causes people to become lower class, through disengagement from society which leads to further rejection from society(caught in a downwards spiral, hard to get out).
Daniel et al sample
10 USA schizophrenic patients
- each tested with and without amphetamine (one is placebo)
- given haloperidol 6 weeks prior to stabilize their symptoms
Criticisms of Daniel et al
1) culturally biased
= all from USA and most were white , problematic as schizophrenia rates differ between different ethnicities so ungeneralisable
2) Use of haloperidol to stabilize sample
= could have effected brain activity so becomes an extraneous variable. also harder to establish cause and effect
3) Small sample
- ungeneralisable as not representative
Schizophrenia gender Stats and Symptoms/characteristics
- Equal across genders
- women diagnosed in 30’s
- men diagnosed in 20’s
- 1% prevalence
- Symptoms/characteristics: hallucinations, delusions, catatonic behaviour, disorganised speech
recovery rates of schizophrenia after ten years since diagnosis?
25% fully recover 25% much improved 25% need support 15% hospitalised 10% dead (mainly suicide)
age and ethnicity statistics (schizophrenia)
- schizophrenia is an adult disorder, usually diagnosed before age of 40
- british people of Caribbean and African origin>white people
- Asian origin lower rates than average of diagnosis
hallucinations
the experience of perceiving objects or events that do not have an external source
schizophrenia
a psychotic disorder where people lose their sense of self and reality
neologisms
a new word or phrase of the patients own making often seen in schizophrenia
Tandoc aims
1) To investigate if depression (using social rank theory) could be predicted by FB envy
2) To investigate if FB use can lead to subordinating feelings, which in turn can lead to depression
Tandoc Hypothesis
H1: heavy facebook users feel higher levels of facebook envy than light facebook users (supported)
H2: facebook users with big network of friends tend to feel higher levels of envy than those with small network of friends (not supported)
H3: those who report high envy levels tend to report more symptoms of depression than lower levels of envy (supported)
Tandoc procedure/ how was it measured
Fb use -> rated on a scale 1-5
envy-> rating scales showing how much they agreed with certain statements
depression-> scale called the CES-D
= self report using online surveys. Responses coded into numerical form to be statistically analysed
Tandoc results
H1: supported as results showed heavy facebook users experience stronger feelings of envy
H2: not supported size of facebook user network was not related to envy
H3: supported as those who reported high feelings of envy also reported more symptoms of depression than lower levels of envy (FB was a significant predictor of depression amongst college students)
-FB can LESSEN feelings of depression if it is used positively and does not lead to envy
Tandoc conclusion
- facebook use on its own does not directly lead to depression
- facebook envy can be linked to depression symptoms
- surveillance on facebook depression is mediated by facebook envy
- when envy is controlled , facebook use can lessen depression
- social rank theory is a useful to understand the complex process of depression among college students
subordinating meaning (Tandoc)
feeling envious
feeling below someone
what would the SRT assume about Tandoc et al study
It would assume that if we get jealous of other people we see on Facebook for being ‘better’ than us, would lead to depression as we would have suffered a ‘loss’. Therefore taking on a lower social rank to ‘protect ourselves’
Daniel et al aim
To investigate on schizophrenic patients ,if amphetamine had an affect on dopamine levels in the pre-frontal cortex and regional cerebral blood flow during WSCT.
Daniel et al method
-Double blind lab experiment (both experimenter and patient unaware whether placebo has been given)
- given haloperidol 6 weeks prior to stabilize symptoms
- repeated measures
- IV = amphetamine or placebo
- DV = score of WSCT
- five given BAR task first, five given WSCT first (each participate in each)
each given amphetamine/placebo
- SPECT scan while performing
Daniel et al results
- Participants who had amphetamine (more dopamine) performed better on WSCT
- no difference in two groups completing BAR test
Daniel et al conclusions
1) amphetamine seemed to have had reduced blood flow to brain but still improved performance on cognitive task
2) supports previous research that found dopamine is important in cognitive tasks
3) suggests some problems with schizophrenic and prefrontal cortex may be treated with drugs
4) amphetamine appeared to enhance the ability of the cortex to focus activity in response to WSCT
dopamine
A neurotransmitter that helps suppress random brain activity and focus on tasks
amphetamine
Increases dopamine activity alongside cognitive tasks which require cognitive processing
Daniel et al background
Research focuses on schizophrenia and high dopamine levels however, some research found it may be low dopamine levels that cause the problem
prefrontal cortex; Low levels of dopamine/low cognitive activity
therefore… If we increase the amount of dopamine in the frontal regions of the brain, these cognitive problems should improve
Daniel et al hypothesis
- Problems in the prefrontal cortex may be linked to not enough dopamine sending messages to the next neurotransmitter
- if we increase the amount of dopamine in the frontal regions of the brain this should also increase the activity in the prefrontal cortex
Characteristics of Schizophrenia
catatonic behaviour disorganised speech hallucinations delusions negative symptoms thought disturbances
Schizophrenia
A psychotic disorder where people lose their sense of self and reality
