Psychopathology Flashcards
What is Abnormality?
Behaving in a way in which that is rare,deviates from social norms and ideal mental health and often means the person is unable to function
What is statistical infrequency?
Abnormal behaviour is rare. They are outside the population average so are abnormal. The infrequency of behaviour is determined by a normal distribution curve, with behaviours at either end being considered abnormal
What are examples of statistical infrequency?
Low/High IQ
Schizophrenia
What are the strengths of Statistical Infrequency?
Many mental disorders are statistically rare,1% of population have schizophrenia. Therefore it is an accurate tool for diagnosis
What are the weaknesses of Statistical Infrequency?
Misdiagnosis- some behaviours are statistically common, for example millions of people suffer with depression.
Labelling can be unhelpful-someone with low IQ may experience distress and create a poor body image if told they have a low IQ
Fails to distinguish between desirable and undesirable behaviour- for example, obesity is statistically normal but neither healthy or desirable
Cultural relativism-behaviours that are rare in one culture may be common in another for example, hearing voices is sometimes believed to be connected to hearing God
What is deviation of social norms?
When a person behaves in a certain way that is different from how they are expected to behave, they may be identified as abnormal.
What are the strengths of deviations to social norms?
Many mental disorders go against socially acceptable behaviour-it is not normal for those with OCD to wash their hands until they bleed
What is an example of deviation to social norms?
Homosexuality
What are the weaknesses of deviation to social norms?
Cultural relativism-DSM is almost entirely based on social norms in the west (white and middle class)
Lacks temporal validity-norms change all the time
Behaviour must be considered in context- to be correctly identified as abnormal,so it takes more time
Abnormality may not be classed as abnormal until it reaches a certain point, although the difficulty lies in where the border between normal and abnormal is
What is failure to function adequately?
A person may cross the line between normal and abnormal at the point that they cannot deal with the demand of everyday life- they fail to function adequately
How is FFA measured?
By GAF( Global assessment of functioning) scale. By WHODAS scale
What is GAF?
A high score means they are normal
What is WHODAS?
6 areas of functioning adequately including:understanding and communicating,getting around,self care,getting along with people,life activities,and participation in society. Each individual rates them 1-5
What are the strengths of FFA?
The GAF and WHODAS scale provide objective quantitative analysis of symptoms-reducing the impact of subjectivity,socially sensitive as it takes patients perspective into account.
Face validity-as it makes sense one should address behaviour or thoughts that negatively impact a persons life
What are the weaknesses of FFA?
Subjective- if a patient is experiencing difficulties day to day then they are determined that this behaviour is undesirable. Alternatively, an individual may be unaware that they aren’t coping, especially with disorders such as schizophrenia
Some dysfunctional behaviour can be functional for the individual- for example,eating disorders for models can be beneficial
Cultural relativism-in western society, it may entail not having good personal hygiene or failing at school, but this may not be the case for other cultures
What is deviation from ideal mental health?
Mental health is viewed the same as physical health. Therefore, abnormalities is when a person lacks optimal living which promotes psychological health and well-being
What are the strengths of deviation from ideal mental health?
Face validity as it makes sense that people who don’t have accurate perception of reality are abnormal.
It covers a broad range of concepts- both unusual behaviours and those that cause distress to the suffer
It provides useful guidelines for diagnosing abnormalities.-These is a clear and relatively standardised set of guidelines to be able to identify abnormal behaviour in people
What are the weaknesses of deviation from idea mental health?
Jahodas criteria is too broad- as if one follows jahodas criteria, we would all be listed as abnormal.
The approach is too vague- as there is no clarity in how many of these or to what degree you must be lacking before your vulnerable for a mental disorders.
Reductionist-trying to treat mental illness and physical health in the same way is trying to reduce the complexity of mental illness and could risk medicalising it
Cultural relativism- self actualisation has root in individualist cultures and therefore wouldn’t wear makeup ideal mental health in a collectivist culture
What are the behavioural characteristics for phobias?
Panic
Avoidance
What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?
Anxiety and fear
Responses are unreasonable
What are the cognitive characteristics of Phobias?
Selective attention
Irrational beliefs
What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?
Activity levels
Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour
What are the emotional characteristics of depression?
Lowered mood
Anger
What are the cognitive characteristics of depression?
Poor concentration
Absolutist thinking
