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Psychology A Level (AQA) > Psychopathology > Flashcards

Psychopathology Flashcards

Paper 1

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1
Q

What are the 4 definitions of abnormality (FINS)

A

Failure to function adequately
Ideal mental health
Norms of society violated (deviation from social norms)
Statistical infrequency

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2
Q

what are social norms specific to

A

The culture we live in - different for each generation

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3
Q

One strength and one weakness of statistical infrequency

A

Strength - Real world application : used in clinical practise both as a part of formal diagnosis and as a way to measure the severity of an individuals symptoms

Weakness - Infrequent characteristics can be positive as well as negative - don’t associate abnormality to be good (high IQ - intelligent and positive)

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4
Q

One strength and one weakness of deviation from social norms

A

Strength - Real world application : Clinical practice - e.g helps define key characteristics of antisocial personality disorder - has value in psychiatry

Weakness - Variability between social norms is different in different cultures or even situations

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5
Q

The three additional signs of failing to function adequately - Seligman and Rosenhan

A
  • A person no longer conforms to standard interpersonal rules - e.g maintaining eye contact or not respecting personal space
  • A person who experiences severe personal distress
  • When a persons behaviour becomes irrational or dangerous to themselves or others
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6
Q

What was the criteria suggested by Jahoda for ideal mental health - there are 8 but try name 4

A
  • No symptoms of distress
  • Rational and can perceive ourselves accurately
  • Self - actualise
  • Can cope with stress
  • Have a realistic view of the world
  • Good self esteem and lack guilt
  • Independent of other people
  • Can successfully work, love and enjoy our leisure
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7
Q

One strength and one weakness for failure to function adequately

A

Strength - Represents a sensible threshold for when people need professional help - treatment and services can be targeted to those who need them most

Weakness - It is easy to label non-standard lifestyle choices as abnormal

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8
Q

One strength and one weakness of deviation from ideal mental health

A

Strength - Highly comprehensive - range of criteria from distinguishing mental health from mental disorder
Weakness - Mental health criterion is culture bound and some aspects may be more applicable to some cultures more than others.

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9
Q

the three types of categories of phobia and related anxiety disorders

A
  • Specific phobia : Phobia of an object such as animal or body part or a situation
  • Social anxiety : Phobia of a social situation such as public speaking or use of a public toilet
  • Agoraphobia : Phobia of being outside or in a public space
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10
Q

the three behavioural characteristics of phobias (PEA)

A

P - PANIC
E - ENDURANCE
A - AVOIDANCE

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11
Q

the three emotional characteristics of phobias

A
  • Anxiety
  • Fear
  • Emotional response in unreasonable
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12
Q

the three cognitive characterisitcs of phobias

A

Selective attention to the phobic stimulus
Irrational beliefs
Cognitive distortions - the perception of a person with a phobia may be innaccurate and unrealistic

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13
Q

DSM - 5 categories of depression (disorders) - 4

A

Major depressive disorder - severe but often short term
Persistent depressive disorder -long term or recurring
Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder - childhood temper tantrums
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder - disruption to mood prior to and/or during menstruation

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14
Q

the three behavioural characteristics of depression

A
  • Activity levels
  • Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour
  • Aggression and self - harm
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15
Q

the three emotional characteristics of OCD

A
  • Anxiety and distress
  • Accompanying depression
  • Guilt and disgust
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16
Q

the three cognitive characteristics of OCD

A
  • Obsessive thoughts
  • Cognitive coping strategies
  • Insight into excessive anxiety - people with OCD know obsessions and compulsions are not rational
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17
Q

the behavioural approach to explaining phobias - two-process model

A

Acquisition by classical conditioning

Maintenance through operant conditioning

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18
Q

2 strengths of the behaviour approach of explaining phobias - 2 process model

A
  • Real world application in exposure therapies (such as systematic desensitisation) - phobias maintained through avoidance of the phobic stimulus - helps identify a means of treating phobias
  • Evidence for link between bad experiences and phobias - Little Albert study : frightening experience can lead to phobia
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19
Q

2 negatives for the behavioural approach to explaining phobias - 2 process model

A
  • Does not account for the cognitive aspects of phobias - e.g irrational beliefs : model does not completely explain the symptoms of phobias
  • Not all phobias appear after a negative past experience - alongside this not all frightening experiences lead to phobias - association between phobias and experiences may not be as strong as expected
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20
Q

What are the 2 different behavioural approaches of treating phobias

A
  • Systematic desensitisation
  • Flooding
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21
Q

What are the 3 processes involved in systematic desensitisation

A
  • The anxiety hierarchy
  • Relaxation
  • Exposure
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21
Q

What are the 3 processes involved in systematic desensitisation

A
  • The anxiety hierarchy
  • Relaxation
  • Exposure
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22
Q

what does reciprocal inhibition mean and what is it apart of

A

Impossible to be afraid and relaxed at one time so one emotion prevents the other.

Relaxation

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23
Q

How does flooding work

A

Rather than systematic desensitisation there is no gradual build up in an anxiety hierarchy and instead flooding involves a immediate exposure often with little way of ‘escaping’.

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24
Q

What might be an ethical issue with flooding

A

It may not be unethical but an unpleasant experience for the client so it is vital that they recieve informed consent for this potentially traumatic experience.

25
Q

Why might flooding be a better option than systematic desensitisation

A
  • More cost and time effective as fewer sessions are required
26
Q

2 strengths of systematic desensitisation

A
  • Evidence base for its effectiveness - Lisa Gilroy et al - arachnaphobia - SD group less fearful than control group
  • SD can help people with learning disabilities - less complex than cognitive therapies and less traumatic than flooding
27
Q

One weakness of flooding

A
  • Highly unpleasant experience - drop out rates higher than SD - therapists as such may avoid this distress and avoid using this treatment
28
Q

What does Becks negative triad include

A
  • Negative view of the world
  • Negative view of the future
  • Negative view of the self
29
Q

What 2 other cognitive vulnerabilities may a person with depression have (Beck) - FIP and NS-S

A
  • Faulty information processing : attend to negative aspects and thoughts of a situation and ignore the positives
  • Negative self - schema
30
Q

Ellis ABC model - what does it stand for

A

A = Activating event
B = Beliefs
C = Consequences

31
Q

2 strengths of Becks theories

A
  • Supporting research for cognitive model of depression : Joseph Cohen et al - measure cognitive vulnerability in teens - higher cognitive vulnerability = later depression
  • Applications to screening and treatment for depression - Cohen et al : allows psychologists to screen young people and identify developing depression in the future and monitor them
    Cognitive behaviour therapy
32
Q

One strength and one weakness of Ellis ABC model

A

Strength :
Real - world application in the psychological treatment of depression - cognitive approach therapy called REBT (Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy) - ABCDE
D - Dispute (empirical disputing - evidence for negative belief and logical disputing - logically following facts)
E - Effect (better effect on behaviour)

Weakness :
Only explains reactive depression and not endogenous depression - some depression is not traceable to past life events and have no ‘activating event’ - model can only explain some types of depression

33
Q

what is the most commonly used psychological treatment for depression (and other mental health issues)

A

Cognitive behaviour therapy

34
Q

what is the cognitive element in cognitive behaviour therapy

A

An assesment in which the client and cognitive therapist work together to clarify the clients problems. - one central task is to discover any irrational thoughts that will benefit from challenge

35
Q

what is the behavioural element in the cognitive behavioural therapy

A

Working to change negative and irrational thoughts and finally put more effective behaviours into place

36
Q

what is Becks cognitive therapy

A

Identify automatic thoughts about the world, the self and the future (the negative triad). Once identified these thoughts must be challenged. As well as challenging the beliefs directly cognitive therapy aims to help clients test the reality of these beliefs.

37
Q

what is Ellis rational emotive behaviour therapy

A

Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) extends the ABC model to an ABCDE model (D stands for dispute and E stands for effect).
The main technique is to identify and dispute (challenge) irrational thoughts.

38
Q

Behavioural activation

A

To avoid a depressed client isolating and avoiding difficult situations a therapist will work on decreasing the client doing this and increase engagement in activities shown to better mood.

39
Q

2 strengths of the cognitive behaviour therapy

A
  • Large body of evidence supporting its effectiveness for treating depression - e.g John March compared the effectiveness of antidepressant drugs and CBT and the highest success rate for improving depression came from a mixture of the drugs and CBT. -
    the treatement is widely seen as the first choice of treatment in public healthcare systems such as the NHS
  • Recent evidence challenges the idea that CBT is unsuitable for clients with learning disabilities - suggesting that the therapy can be used for a wider amount of people than once thought
40
Q

2 weaknesses for the cognitive behavioural therapy

A
  • Lack of effectiveness for severe cases and for clients with learning disabilities (which is disproved in the strengths) - depression may be so servere that clients feel demotivated to engage with cognitive work of CBT , complex rational thinking may be unsuitable with those with learning disabilties
    And as such only suitable for a small range of people
  • Those who partake in the therapy have high numbers of relapse rates (fall back into depression episodes) - CBT may need to be repeated periodically
41
Q

Diathesis stress model

A

Certain genes leave some people more likely to develop a mental disorder but it is not certain

42
Q

Aubrey Lewis - what is the percentage of those with OCD with OCD parents or OCD siblings

A

37% - parents
21 % - sibling

43
Q

candidate genes

A
  • identified genes that create vulnerability for OCD
  • some of these genes are involved with the regulation of the development of serotonin system
44
Q

OCD - Polygenic : What does this mean

A

OCD is not caused by one single gene but by a combination of genetic variations that together significantly increase vulnerability.

45
Q

What 2 genes have been associated with OCD

A
  • serotonin
  • dopamine
  • both are believed to regulate mood
46
Q

what is the term to describe OCD being genetically different in different people

A

Aetologically heterogeneous

47
Q

what is the term to describe OCD being genetically different in different people

A

Aetologically heterogeneous

48
Q

The role of serotonin and OCD

A

The role of the neurotransmitter serotonin (which is believed to regulate mood) . If a person has low levels of serotonin then normal transmissions of mood relevent information does not take place and a person may experience low moods.

49
Q

Impaired decision making systems - OCD

A

This is associated with abnormal functioning of the lateral of the frontal lobes of the brain. The frontal lobes are the front part of the brain that are responsible for logical thinking and making decisions.

There is also evidence to suggest an area called the left hippocampal gyrus is associated wih processing unpleasant emotions, functions abnormally in OCD.

50
Q

one strength and one weakness of the genetic explanations - OCD

A

Strength :
Strongly evidence base ( Monozygotic and dizygotic twins etc)

Weakness :
Also environmental risk factors - genetic explanations only provide a partial explanation for OCD

51
Q

One strength and one weakness of the neural explanations of OCD

A

Strength:
Exisistence of supporting evidence - antidepressants that work purely on serotonin are effective in reducing OCD symptoms (and suggests serotonin also has affects on OCD)

Weakness :
Serotonin - OCD link may not be unique to OCD - many people who experience OCD also experience clinical depression (co-morbidity) - serotonin activity is disrupted in many people with OCD because they are depressed as well.

52
Q

what do drug therapies aim to to decrease or increase

A

Levels of neurotransmitters

53
Q

What is an SSRI

A

Type of antidepressant drug called a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (remember SSRI)

54
Q

what does SSRI work on

A

serotonin system in the brain

55
Q

what does the SSRI prevent from happening

A

SSRI prevents the reabsorption and breakdown and as such effectively increasing levels of the serotonin and thus to continue to stimulate the post synaptic neuron

56
Q

how long (and how often) does a individual need to take an SSRI for an impact on symptoms to take place

A

3-4 months daily

57
Q

what are the alternative drugs for SSRIs in treating OCD

A
  • Tricyclics : An older type of antidepressant - acts on various systems including the serotonin system where it has the same effect as SSRIS , more severe side effects than SSRIs so it is generally kept in reserve for people who do not respond to SSRIs
  • SNRIs (serotonin - noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors) have more recently been used to treat OCD.These are a different class of antidepressant drugs and are a second line of defence for people who don’t respond to SSRIs. SNRIs increase levels of serotonin as well as another neurotransmitter-noradrenaline
58
Q

2 strengths of drug therapy in OCD

A
  • Good evidence for its effectiveness : reduce symptom severity and improve the quality of life for people with OCD
  • Cost effective and non- disruptive to peoples lives (more cost effective than therapy sessions) - drugs popular for people with OCD and doctors
59
Q

2 weaknesses of drug therapies - OCD

A
  • Even if drug treatments are helpful for more people with OCD they may not be the most effective treatments available - behaviour exposure therapies more effective than SSRIs - drugs may not be the optimum treatment for OCD
  • Drugs have potentially serious side-effects (e.g indigestion, blurred vision etc) . Those taking tricyclics may experience more serious side effects. - reduced quality of life as a result of taking drugs and may stop taking them altogether - the drugs cease to be effective

Psychology A Level (AQA) (12 decks)

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