psychology paper 4 Flashcards
clinical psychology definition
the study of mental health and mental health conditions/disorders.
It aims to diagnose, explain and treat mental health conditions/disorders.
Deviation from social norms
A social norm is an unwritten rule about what is acceptable within a particular society . According to this definition, a person is seen as abnormal if their behaviour violates these unwritten rules about what is acceptable.
Strength of social norms
+ a strength is that it is flexible dependent on situation and age. A social norm is to wear full clothing whilst out shopping, but a bikini is acceptable on the beach. It is also socially acceptable to drink milk of a bottle with a teat if your a baby, but not as an adult.
+ Helps society, following social norms means that society is predictable.
Weakness of social norms
- the idea of cultural relativism. Social norms differ between cultures and what is considered normal in one culture may be abnormal in another. For example, in 75 countries homosexuality is still illegal and found abnormal, however in the rest its normal. There is no global standard for defining behaviours as abnormal and therefore abnormality is not standardised.
- Social norms also exist within a time frame, and therefore change over time. Behaviour that was once seen as abnormal may become acceptable and vice versa. Drink driving was once acceptable, but now its socially unacceptable.
Failure to function adequately
An individual is considered abnormal if they are unable to cope with the demands of everyday life and live independently in society.
To be classified as abnormal, a person’s behaviour should cause personal suffering and distress because of their failure to cope.
Rosenhan and Seligman (7 criteria for defining abnormality)
- Suffering (discomfort, stress?)
- Maladaptiveness (engage in behaviours that make life difficult them rather than being helpful)
- Irrationality (unable to communicate in reasonable manner)
- Unpredictability (does the person act in ways that are unexpected by himself or other people)
- Vividness (does the person experience things that are different from most people?)
- Observer discomfort (acting in a way that is difficult to watch, embarrasing?)
- Violation of moral standards (habitually break the accepted ethical and moral standards of the culture?
+AO3 7 criteria for defining abnormality
+ Considers the subjective experience of the patient. It focuses on the individual and how they are managing in everyday life from their perspective, so if someone feels as though they are struggling, they will be deemed abnormal and get help.
+ Behaviour is observable. Failure to function adequately can be seen by others around the individual because they may not get out of bed in the morning or be able to hold a job down. This means that problems can be picked up by others and if the individual is incapable of making a decision or helping themselves others can intervene.
- AO3 7 criteria for defining abnormality
- Too much focus on the individual. It is argued that abnormal behaviours may not be a problem for the individual, but may be for others around them. For example, someone my be abnormally aggressive and not be worried about it, but their family and friends may feel it is extra.
- Everyday life varies. The ability to cope with everyday life depends on what is seen as normal everyday life. This varies within and across cultures. Some body clocks mean that individuals do not rise until midday, but they function well at other times. Culturally it is not unusual to have siestas, but to others it can be seen as abnormal. This means that the definition is not clear.
Statistical infrequency AO1
- A behaviour is seen as abnormal if it is statistically uncommon or not seen very often in society. Therefore, abnormality is determined by looking at the distribution of a particular behaviour within society.
For example, the average IQ is approximately 100 and 65% of the population have an IQ in the region of 85 to 115.
Statistical infrequency AO3 +
+ Applicability, the statistical approach helps to address what is meant by normal in a statistical context. It helps us make cut off points in terms of diagnosis.
Statistical infrequency AO3 -
- Misdiagnosis. Certain behaviours are statistically common, for example, approximately 10% of the population will experience depression at some point making this behaviour normal. Certain behaviours such as high IQ are statistically uncommon and therefore considered abnormal despite their desirable nature.
- Labelling an individual as abnormal can be unhelpful. For example, someone with a low IQ will be able to live a happy life without distress to themselves or others. Such label may contribute to a poor self image or become an invitation for discriminiation.
- Subjective. The decision of where to start the abnormal classification is subjective. Who decides what is statistically rare and how do they decide? For example, if an IQ of 70 is the cut off point, how can we justify saying someone with 69 is abnormal, and someone with 70 normal.
Deviation from ideal mental health AO1
Jahoda suggested that abnormal behaviour should be defined by the absence of particular characteristics. In other words, behaviors which move away from ideal mental health.
6 principles of ideal mental health
- having a positive image of yourself with a strong sense of identity
- being capable of personal growth and self actualisation
- being independent of others and self regulating.
- having an accurate view of reality, understanding it.
- being able to integrate and resist stress
- being able to master your environment (love, friendships, work and leisure time)
AO3 + ideal mental health
+ strength of this definition takes a positive and holistic view. The definition focuses on positive and desirable behaviour, rather than considering just negative and undesirable behaviours. The definition considers the whole person, considering a multitude of factors that can affect their health and well being. Therefore, a strength of the deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality is that it is comprehensive, covering a broad range of criteria.
AO3 - Ideal mental health
- One weakness of the deviation from ideal mental health definition is the unrealistic criteria proposed by Jahoda. There are times when everyone will experience stress and negativity, for example, when grieving following the death of a loved one. According to this definition, these people would be classified as abnormal, irrespective of the circunstances which are outside of their control. With the high standards set by those criteria, how many need to be absent for diagnosis to occur must also be questioned.
Diagnosis (DSM ICD)
- before diagnosing have to look at 4Ds
Devience
Disfunction
Distress
Danger
Clinical interview
- clinical interview is a process of evaluating a patient by gaining important personal information about them regarding their health.
1. structured
2. semi structured
3. unstructured
- AO3 CI
- its self reporting, they might lie, social desirability
- clinician asking leading questions
- focus too much on one set of symptoms which can lead to misdiagnosis
- clinician needs experience and to know how to use the criteria from DSM and ICD
DSM V
- manual divided into 3 section
1. instructions for use
2. all the information required to make the classification of the key mental health disorders
3. provides additional assessment measure to help diagnose individuals who may be from a different cultural background to the clinician.
+ AO3 DSM ICD
+ Hoffman used a computer to give a structured interviews to prison inmates patients who had been diagnosed with either alchochol abuse or cocain dependence using the DSM IV, the diagnosis were consistent, meaning its a reliable method to use.
+ Brown tested the reliability and validity of DSM IV diagnosis for anxiety and mood disorders and found that reliability was good to excellent.
+ DSM contains descriptions, symptoms and other criteria for diagnosing mental disorders. It provides a common language for clinicians to communicate about their patients and establishes consistent and reliable diagnosis that can be used on mental disorders.
+ Schizophrenia diagnosis is highly consistent using both the DSM V and ICD 10. Startirous found a very high kappa value of 0.86 using the ICD 10. This is important because it suggests that the descriptors in the DSM V and ICD 10 are detailed enough to allow clinicians to distinguish this condition with others which increases relibaility.
- AO3 DSM ICD
- Ward found that 2 psychiatrists gave inconsistent diagnosis due to a range of factors, subjectivity of the psychologosts, classification system and patient factors.
- Gurland discovered that clinicians in the USA were more likely to diagnose schizophrenia compared to UK. Initially, they thought it was a difference in clients presentation of symptoms, but it was clinicians themselves who differed in culture, experience and training which affected the interpretation of symptoms and it lead to misdiagnosis of the same condition.
- However, PTSD is often wrongly diagnosed and not reliable as it overlaps with other diagnosis.
