Psychopathology Flashcards
What are 4 types of abnormality?
- Statistical infrequency
- Deviation from social norms
- Failure to function adequately
- Deviation from ideal mental health
Define statistical infrequency?
Statistically rare behaviour would be seen as ‘abnormality’
Define deviation from social norms?
Deviation from society’s moral standards
What is the failure to function adequately?
Inability to cope with day-to-day life caused by psychological distress.
What is deviation from ideal mental health?
Deviation from what clinicians assume to be to neurotypical mental health
What do clinicians consider neurotypical mental health?
PRAISE P - personal growth R - reality perception A - autonomy I - Integration S - Self-attitudes E - Environmental mastery
Evaluation of statistical infrequency?
Positive:
- Obvious and quick to define abnormality
- Real-life application: easy to determine abnormality using psychometric tests
Negative:
- Desirability of behaviour (e.g. high IQ)
- Statistically frequent but still abnormal behaviour (e.g. depression)
- Cultural relativism (statistically acceptable in one culture e.g. marijuana smoking is statistically frequent in Jamaica).
Evaluation of deviation from social norms
Positive:
- Real life application: diagnosis for antisocial personality disorder
Negative:
- Historical issues (temporal validity): pregnant unmarried women were put into mental institutions.
- Cultural issues: Japan - considered insane if you didn’t want to work
Evaluation for failure to function adequately?
Positive:
Patients perspective - attempts to include the subjective experience of the individual
Negative:
- some people engage in behaviours considered harmful - e.g. base jumpers has a high mortality rate.
Evaluation for deviation from ideal mental health
Positive:
- comprehensive: covers a broad range of criteria
Negative:
Cultural relativism - autonomy valued in western cultures, but less so in no-western cultures.
What are emotional characteristics of depression?
- Lowered mood
- Anger
- Lowered self esteem
What are behavioural characteristics of depression?
- Activity level changes
- Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour
- Aggression and self harm
What are cognitive characteristics of depression?
- Poor concentration
- Attending to and dwelling on the negative
- Absolutist thinking (black or white thinking)
What did Beck suggest about cognitive approach to depression?
3 parts:
- Faulty information processing - errors in logic and concentrate on the negative.
- Negative self schemas - negative personal self schemas
- Negative triad - negative view of self, the world and the future.
Evaluation for Beck (cognitive approach towards depression)
Positive:
- Supporting evidence: woman who were cognitively vulnerable were more likely to suffer post-natal depression.
- practical application - used in CBT
Negative:
- Explanation doesn’t cover all aspects of depression e.g. delusion you are a zombie.
What did Ellis suggest about cognitive depression?
ABC model
A- Activating event
B - Beliefs
C - Consequence
Evaluation for Ellis?
Positive:
- Practical application - CBT
- Cognitive primacy - supports idea that cognition causes emotion
Negative:
- Doesn’t explain all aspects of depression - e.g. hallucinations
What is the implications of depression on the economy?
- Increased number of sick days
- Reduced productivity
What approach is taken towards phobias?
Behavioural approach
What is a phobia?
Anxiety disorder that interferes with daily life - may include an irrational fear.
What is the emotional consequences of phobias?
- Anxiety from fear of the phobias
- Unreasonable emotional response
What is the behavioural consequences of phobias?
Panic - crying, screaming and running away
Avoidance - of fear
Endurance - High levels of anxiety of remain in scenario.
What is the cognitive consequences of phobias?
Selective attention - hard to look away from stimulus
Irrational beliefs - social phobia (don’t want to appear weak)
Cognitive distortion - perceptions of the stimulus are distorted.
What is the two process model?
This suggests that phobias are acquired through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning.
How does operant conditioning take place in the two process model?
Avoiding a phobia reinforces avoidance behaviour, maintaining the phobia.
Evaluation for two process model
Positive:
Good explanatory power - major step forward
Negative:
- Not all avoidance behaviour is caused to reduce stress, but just as a feeling of safety.
- Incomplete explanation of phobias - may have evolutionary factors
What are two types of behaviour therapy for phobias
Systemic desensitisation
Flooding
What is systemic desensitisation?
- Gradually reducing phobic anxiety through classical conditioning.
- Creates a new response called “counter conditioning”
What are the positive evaluations for desensitisation?
- Effective - reduced aragnagphobia in 42 patients.
- Suitable for diverse range of phobias
- Not as traumatic as flooding
What is flooding?
- Immediate exposure to a frightening experience.
- No option of avoidance, therefore patient quickly learns that phobic stimulus is harmless.
A patient may also become tired of being frightened therefore leading to relaxation - this is called extinction.
Evaluation for flooding
Positive:
- Cost effective - and much quicker
Negative:
- Less effective
- Highly traumatic
- Symptom substitution - said that another phobia replaces it.
What is OCD? and explain the definition.
Obsessive compulsive disorder
Obsession: persistent thought, idea, impulse, or image that feels intrusive and causes anxiety.
Compulsion: A repetitive mental act that a person feels driven to perform to reduce anxiety.
What are emotional consequences of OCD?
- May feel negative emotions.
- Guilt or disgust.
What are behavioural consequences of OCD?
- Repetitive actions carried out.
- Avoidance of situation that can trigger anxiety
What are the cognitive consequences of OCD?
- Plagued with obsessive thoughts.
- Anxiety
Describe the OCD cycle.
Obsessive thought
Anxiety
Compulsive behaviour
Temporary relief
What approach is for OCD?
Biological
What is the biological approach for OCD?
- Suggests that genetics may be partly involved in the explanation of OCD.
What is a candidate gene in OCD?
A gene that could play a role in the developed of OCD.
What candidate genes could be involved in the development of OCD?
SERT - a neurotransmitter which involves regulating SEROTONIN.
COMT - regulates the production of dopamine.
(dopamine effects motivations and drive)
What is the diathesis model?
Suggestion that people gain a vulnerability towards OCD through genes, but an environmental stressor is also required. e.g. a stressful event such as a bereavement.
Explain “OCD is thought to be polygenic”
This means that OCD’s development is determined by many genes (around 230), and not a single gene.
Define aetiologically heterogenous
a number of different combinations of genes can lead to the illness.
Evaluation of genetic explanations for OCD
Positive:
- Twin studies support this theory
Negative:
- Too many genes involved (as many as 230 genes)
Evaluation for the diathesis model
Positive:
- Considers environmental factors
Negative:
- Difficult to untangle environmental and genetic factors
What are neutral explanations for OCD?
- Abnormal levels of neurotransmitters
- Basal ganglia could be involved (involved in cleaning and safety etc…)
- Orbital Frontal Cortex - increased anxiety
- Thalamus - increased motivation to clean etc…
Evaluation for neurotransmitters as a cause of OCD.
Positive:
- Allows medication to help sufferers.
Negative:
- Drugs aren’t completely effective.
- Time delay between taking drugs and any improvements made anyways.
Evaluation for areas of the brain as a cause for OCD
Positive:
- Advances in technology confirm that OFC may be involved (of overly active)
- Cleaning are “hard-wired” in the thalamus.
Negative:
- Inconsistencies in research in OCD.
What are biological treatments for OCD?
SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)
- prevents reabsorption of serotonin.
can be used alongside CBT (cognitive-behavioural therapy) - drugs may reduces anxiety or depression, making CBT more effective.
SNRIs and NASSAs can also be used alternatively.
Evaluation for drug therapy to treat OCD.
Positive:
- Effective
- Cost effective and non disruptive
Negative:
- Side effects e.g. weight gain, loss of memory.
- Unreliable evidence - not all research published
- Some OCD cases follow trauma.
