Psychopathology Flashcards
DSM [definition]:
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders
book of mental illness lol
Deviation from Social norms [definition]:
[3]:
- Abnormal behaviour is seen as non-compliance to social rules.
- Anything that violates these unwritten rules is abnormal
- Deviates from socially acceptable behaviour
Statistical infrequency [definition]:
[2]:
- Abnormality is defined as those behaviours that are extremely rare
- Behaviour that is only found in very few ppl be abnormal
statistical infrequency [example]:
Having first bby before 20 or over 40
deviation from social norms [example]:
paedophilia.
Deviation from social norms AO3- Temporal validity [3]:
- What is socially acceptable now may not have been socially acceptable 50 yrs ago
- e.g being gay was under sexual and gender identity disorders in DSM
- Thomas Szasz (1974): concept of mental disorders was to simply exclude non-conformists from society
Deviation from social norms AO3- Context
- Judgements on deviance r related to context of behaviour
- e.g u can be half-naked at beach but not in a classroom
- doin that would be regarded as mental disorder
- So social deviance on its own can’t offer complete definition of abnormality
Statistical infrequency AO3- desirability [4]:
- Sum behaviours desirable
- e.g havin IQ over 150 is abnormal but desirable
- Sum ‘normal’ behaviours undesirable [depression]
- U canny distinguish between desirable and un by usin stat infrequency
Statistical infrequency AO3- cultural relativism [3]:
- Behaviours that are uncommon may be stat more frequent in other cultures
- schiz symptom is hearin voices is norm in sum cultures
- So no universal standard for labelling abnormality, go for ideographic
Deviation from ideal mental health (explanation)
[3]:
- Abnormality is defined in terms of mental health
- behaviours that r associated with competence & happiness r normal
- Ideal mental health = positive view of self + resistance to stress + accurate perception of reality
Failure to function adequately [explanation]:
[2]:
- Ppl r judged on their ability to go abt daily life
- If they canny do it and r distressed then they abnormal
Failure to function adequately AO1 [3]:
- Things like eating regularly, washing clothes, going out
- Can be a distress to others not only themselves if abnormal e.g. ppl with schiz
- Not coping with evry day life in normal way is also abnormal
Failure to function adequately AO1- WHODAS [4]:
- DSM has an assessment of ability to function- WHODAS
- Considers 6 areas
- Individuals rate each item on scale of 1-5
- Overall score of 180
What are the areas considered in WHODAS? [6]:
- Participation in society
- Understanding and communicating
- Getting around
- Getting along with ppl
- Self-care
- Life activities
Deviation from ideal mental health- Marie Jahoda
[3]:
- We define physical illness by looking at the absences of signs of physical health
- Jahoda suggest we should look at mental illness the same way
- Conducted a review of what others had written about good mental health and what enables others to be happy
What are Jahoda’s characteristics for deviation from ideal mental health? [6]:
- Self-attitudes: High self esteem & sense of identity
- Personal growth & self-actualisation
- Integration e.g bein able to cope with stress
- Autonomy
- Accurate perception of reality
- Mastery of environment
Mastery of environment [explanation]:
Ability to love, function at work and in interpersonal relationships, adjust to new situations and solve problems
Failure to function adequately AO3- Subjective experience [4]:
+ This definition acc recognises the patient’s SE
+ Allows us to see mental disorder from patient POV
+ Relatively easy to judge objectively cus we can judge abnormality using list of behaviours
+ Therefore has sensitivity & practicality
Failure to function adequately AO3- dysfunctional vs functional [3]:
- Sum ‘dysfunctional’ behaviour can be adaptive & functional for individual & vice versa
- e.g. transvestism is classed as mental disorder but individual likely to regard it as functional
- Failure to distinguish between func and dysfunc shows its incomplete
Ideal mental health AO3- Unrealistic criteria [4]:
- According to this, most of us be abnormal
- IDEAListic & we don’t know how many have to be missin
to be abnormal - Diffficult to measure
- Cool idea bro, not practical tho
Ideal mental health AO3- Optimism [4]:
+ Focuses on +ves rather than -ves
+ Offers alt pov abt desirable not undesirable
+ Had some influence in ‘+ve psych’ movement
+ Therefore +ve influence on humanistic approaches
Phobias [2]:
- an anxiety disorder
- 2.6% of uk had em in 2009
Depression [2]:
- Mood disorder
- 2.6% of uk had it in 2009
OCD [3]:
- Obsessive Compulsive disorder
- Anxiety disorder
- 1.3% of uk had it in 2009
The two-process model [2]:
- Orval Hobart Mowrer (1947)
- Proposed model to explain how phobias are learned
What is stage 1 in Mowrer’s two-process model?
Classical conditioning
What is stage 2 in Mowrer’s two-process model?
Operant Conditioning
Two-process model- classical conditioning [2]:
- Phobia is acquired through the association between a NS and an Unconditioned Stimulus
- Eventually it becomes a conditioned stimulus
Lil Albert classical conditioning equation [3]:
- NS = white rat UCS = loud noise
- NS + UCS = UCR (fear)
- CS= Rat CR= Fear CS= CR
Two-process model- Operant conditioning [3]:
- Operant maintains phobia
- Phobia is rewarding cus staying away from fear stimuli reduces fear
- Increases likelihood of behaviour
Social learning for phobias [2]:
- Phobias are acquired thru the modelling the behaviour of others
- e.g seeing mum scared of spider may lead to child copying or having similar behaviour
The behavioural approach in explaining phobias AO3-
Research support [3]:
+ Watson and Rayner (1920)
+ Used classical conditioning to make lil Albert fear rats
+ Shows that You learn the fear thru association
The behavioural approach in explaining phobias AO3- Incomplete [4]:
- If NS is associated with scary experience then = phobia which isn’t always true
- Di Nardo et al (1988)
- Not everyone bitten by dog scared of dog
- Suggests it only works if ppl have genetic vulnerability so theory incomplete
The behavioural approach in explaining phobias AO3-
2 process ignores cognitive [3]:
- Cognitive aspects to phobias that canny be solely explained by behaviourism
- Cognitive = irrational thoughts = anxiety = phobia
- but cognitive better cus practical applications (CBT)
The behavioural approach in explaining phobias AO3-
Biological preparedness [4]:
- Seligman (1970) argues we have bio preparedness to develop certain phobias than others
- cus they were adaptive in our evolutionary past
- e.g fear of high places is led to survival
- Behavioural doesn’t explain that so incomplete
What are the behavioural treatment methods for phobias? [2]:
- Systematic desensitisation
- Flooding
Flooding =
Phobia completely tackled in one longass session
Systematic desensitisation =
Patient gradually exposed to fear stimuli till they feel better
How to systematic desensitisation [5]:
- Patient taught how to relax muscles completely
- Therapist & Pt make a desensitisation hierarchy
- Pt slowly works way thru desensitisation hierarchy
- Once pt has mastered one step they move onto next
- Patient overcomes fear
How to flooding [2]:
- Patient taught how to relax muscles completely
2. Patient overcomes fear
Joseph Wolpe’s systematic desensitisation components [3]:
- Counterconditioning
- Relaxation
- Desensitisation hierarchy
Counterconditioning [3]:
- Pt is taught new association that counters of association
- Associate phobic stimulus with relaxation instead of fear
- This reduces anxiety
Relaxation [3]:
- Therapist teaches pt relaxation techniques
- When we are anxious we breath quick so slowin down helps relax
- Also progressive muscle relaxation (1 muscle at a time)
Systematic desensitisation ao3- effectiveness [4]:
+ SD has been proven success for a range of phobias
+ Mcgrath et al reported 75% pt’s respond to SD
+ Key to success is ACC contact / in vivo techniques
+ This demonstrates the effectiveness of SD
Systematic desensitisation ao3- appropriateness [4]:
- Not appropriate for all phobias
- Ohman et al suggests
- SD less effective when phobias have underlying evolutionary/ survival components
- Suggests it can only be used for some
Flooding ao3- practicality [3]:
+ more practical as less time consuming
+ Means more patients can be treated cus less time spent on one
+ more ppl able to go back to work
Flooding ao3- not for everybody [3]:
- can be highly traumatic procedure
- pt’s told this before but might still quit
- this means they aren’t acc getting treated
Systematic desensitisation and flooding ao3- [3]:
- They treat the fear symptom of the phobia not cause
- only observable/ measurable symptoms treated
- CBT may be more appropriate cus it would treat the faulty cognition
What are the types of biological explanations for treating OCD? [2]:
- Genetic explanations
- Neural explanations
What are the genetic explanations for treating OCD? [3]:
- COMT gene
- SERT gene
- Diathesis-stress
What are the neural explanations for treating OCD [2]:
- Abnormal levels of neurotransmitters
- Abnormal brain circuits
The COMT gene [3]:
- COMT involved in producing of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT)
- COMT regulates production of dopamine
- COMT gene is more common in OCD pt’s than non
The SERT gene [3]:
- SERT affects transport of serotonin = lower lvls of it
- Lower lvls of serotonin linked to OCD
- Ozaki et al found mutated ver of gene, 6/7 ppl had OCD
Diathesis-stress [3]:
- SERT linked to other disorders so can’t be only gene
- Genes create vulnerability
- Other factors/ stressors affect what condition develops or if it even develops
Abnormal levels of neurotransmitters [4]:
- High lvls of dopamine = OCD
- Szechtman et al found that animals given high lvls of dope cus drug had stereotypical OCD movements
- Low lvls of serotonin = OCD
- Antidepressants that increase the rate of dope reduce OCD symptoms so
Abnormal brain circuits [2]:
- Several areas of the frontal lobes of the brain are thought to be ab in ppl with OCD
- This is supported by PET scans of pt’s with OCD
In a normal brain circuit [2]:
- Caudate nucleus suppresses signals from OFC
- OFC sends to thalamus abt potential hazards
In an abnormal brain circuit [3]:
- Damaged caudate nucleus fails to suppress signals from OFC
- So ‘minor’ worry signals are sent to thalamus which sends signals back to OFC
- This creates a worry circuit
What does OFC stand for?
Orbitofrontal cortex
Biological explanations for OCD AO3- research support [4]:
+ Menzies et al (2007)
+ Used MRI to see brain activity of OCD & immediate family w/o OCD
+ OCD pts & family had less grey matter in brain including OFC
+ Supports cus diff r inherited and may lead to OCD
Biological explanations for OCD AO3- Real-world applications [3]:
+ Development may lead to be able to screen for disorders prenatal and it can be aborted
+ Gene therapies can also be involved to turn off faulty genes to avoid disorders
+ Reduces ppl with OCD
Biological explanations for OCD AO3- Two-step process be better [4]:
- Neutral stimulus is associated with anxiety = OCD
- Maintained cus anxiety stimuli is avoided
- Behavioural treatment like response prevention improves symptoms of OCD
- so more appropriate
Biological explanations for OCD AO3- testability [3]:
+ Testable by neuroscience research
+ So there is evidence for genetic and neurotransmitter involvement
+ Makes it more reliable explanation for OCD
Drug therapies for OCD [4]:
- Antidepressants: SSRIs
- Antidepressants: tricyclics
- Anti anxiety drugs
- D-cycloserine
Antidepressants- SSRIs [4]:
- Selective Serotonin Re-uptake inhibitors
- Increases level of serotonin
- It inhibits the reabsorption of sero so it stays in cleft & can still stimulate receptor
- Reduces anxiety
Anti-depressants- Tricyclics [3]:
- Tricyclic clomipramine = 1st antidepress used for OCD
- Blocks the transporter mechanism that reabsorbs serotonin & noradrenaline
- More neurotrans in the synapse, means continued stimulation of neuron
Tricyclics +/- [2]:
+ Targets more than one neurotransmitter
- Greater side effects so only used if SSRIs not effective
Anti-anxiety drugs [4]:
- Benzodiazepines (xanax, diazepam)
- SLows down CNS by GABA neurotrans
- GABA binds to receptors which increases flow of Cl⁻
- Cl⁻ ions make it harder for neuron to be stimulated by other neurotransmitters, slowing down CNS = relaxed
D-Cycloserine [2]:
- Reduces anxiety
- Antibiotic for tuberculosis that enhance GABA neuron
What do GABA do? [3]:
- Increases flow of Cl⁻by ions
- Makes it harder for neuron to be stimulated other neurotransmitters
- This slows down CNS
Biological approach for treating OCD AO3- effort
[3]:
+ Requires lil input from user in terms of time & effort
+ CBT requires pt to attend regular meetings and a lot of thought into tackling their problem
+ This be difficult for pts with busy lives so drug better
Biological approach for treating OCD AO3- Cheap [3]:
+ Drug therapies cheaper for health service cus they require little monitoring (one consultation n go)
+ This means that more pts can be treated
+ Therefore drug therapies more economical than psych therapies
Biological approach for treating OCD AO3- Side effects [3]:
- Soomro et al (2008) found that
- Nausea, headaches & insomnia are common for SSRIs
- Although not severe still enough to make certains stop taking it, means its not treating them
Biological approach for treating OCD AO3- Long lasting [4]:
- Not a long-lasting cure
- Maina et al (2001)
- Pts relapse within a few weeks of drug being stopped
- Means it only helps in short term tbh
