psychopathology

Question 1

OCD cognitive Characteristics

Answer 1

• obsessive thoughts, and then becoming irrational because assume worst in everything. Such as not locking the door may trigger compulsions of checking the door constantly but also the thought of an intruder coming in.
  -Coping mechanisms- such as mediation or for a religious person praying, this may appear to be abnormal behaviour

Question 2

OCD behavioural characteristics

Answer 2

• Compulsions to reduce the anxiety they feel, this may be to check the doorknobs or washing hands because the germs give them that anxiety. They also tend to avoid situations which may trigger anxiety. The compulsions are repetitive.

Question 3

OCD emotional characteristics

Answer 3

-Feel constant guilt and disgust about themselves, repeating the act. They may feel constantly anxious around the trigger. OCD is closely related to depresssion because tasks are unenjoyable

Question 4

Biological Explanations to OCD

Answer 4

SERT gene- reduces serotonin and CROMPT gene increases dopamine levels. Genes are involved because 37% of parents had OCD and 21% of siblings. Diathesis stress model, some genes may be expressed depending on environment.
Polygenetic meaning more than 1 gene causes OCD. Steven Taylor found that 230 genes may be involved.

Question 5

The Biological Approach to treating OCD

Answer 5

Drug therapy is used to treat mental health disorders by aiming to increase/decrease levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. Low levels of serotonin are associated with OCD disorder. This is treated using an anti-depressant called Selective Serotonin Reuptake inhibitor. Normally Serotine released from the pre-synaptic nerve is reabsorbed and broken down, however the SSRI inhibits the pre-synaptic nerve meaning that the seronin is absorbed into the post synaptic nerve boasting serotonin. This can be combined with cognitive behavioral therapy.

Question 6

The biological approach to treating OCD A03

Answer 6

-It is proven to be effective, a review of 17 studies showed that SSRI was more effective when compared to placebo group. Reduce by 70% and the other 30% benefitted from CBT Aswell
-Counterpoint is that a study done and found that CBT was most effective along with behavioral therapies according to a systematic review
-Serious side effects include loss of sex drive, blurred vision, aggression etc. 1/10 experience erections, and weight gain, 1/100 become aggressive
-Cost effective and not time consuming

Question 7

The Biological approach to explaining OCD A03

Answer 7

-Research support from twin studies, vulnerable because of genetic makeup, 68% Mz and 31% Dz twin concordance rate, 4 times more likely to develop if family member has OCD not 100% not all genetic- link to how nature side of debate does not consider nurture side,
-Cromer- environmental factors, half OCD clients had experienced trauma in the past
-Animal studies, from mice particular genes more likely to result in repetitive behaviors, but cannot generalize.
-Cause and effect relationship is unestablished. Is it OCD that causes these changes in the brain?

Question 8

Depression Cognitive Characteristics

Answer 8

-Suicidal thoughts
-negative self esteem and views on the world, expect to go badly
-reduced concentration and attention
-irrational thoughts

Question 9

Depression Emotional Characteristics

Answer 9

Continuous Low mood, sadness, feeling empty and worthless, low self esteem
Loss of pleasure, a feeling of loss of control
Anger directed at the self

Question 10

Depression Behavioral characteristics

Answer 10

• Different eating and sleeping patterns (hyper/insomnia) , self harm.

Question 11

Becks Cognitive Theory of depression

Answer 11

3 parts, faulty information processing, negative self schema. Depressed people distort information through cognitive bias, over generalizations and catastrophizing.
Negative self schema- Negative View on the self (self schema) , Negative View on the world and Negative View on the future, negative triad. The person develops depression because of this dysfunctional thinking, maintained by negative schema and cognitive bias’

Question 12

Ellis ABC model

Answer 12

Depression is a cause of irrational thinking. A- activation or event, B, belief or interpretation of an event, C, consequences which come with the event.

Question 13

Cognitive Explanation to explaining depression A03

Answer 13

-A strength to the cognitive explanation is that many effective therapies such as CBT have been developed. These therapies have been used to challenge irrational thoughts and found to be the most effective treatment for depression
-Reductionist
-ignores the biological approach- found that serotonin is associated with depression
-Cause and effect, is it depression that causes the irrational thoughts or the other way around- COUNTERPOINT, bates found that negative thought statements became more depressed- irrational thinking does cause depression
-The cognitive approach blames the patient, this is shown as the patients depression is blamed upon the persons negative thoughts, this could lead to more situational factors being over looked, and the person may feel more guilt and responsible for their feelings

Question 14

Cognitive treatments to depression

Answer 14

CBT, the aim of the therapy is to identify and change negative thoughts. The clients and therapist devise a plan, and try to identify faulty thoughts. the behavioral- is changing and challenging irrational thoughts. Ellis’ Rational Emotive Behavioral therapy- extends ABC To ABCDE, dispute and effect. Challenge irrational beliefs, brink link between negative event and depression, challenging if there is evidence, follows facts, or if it is helpful. Behavioral activation, actively trying to get the client to engage in activities.

Question 15

Cognitive treatments to depression A03

Answer 15

-Research support-research by March, found that CBT was just as effective as antidepressants. After 36 weeks, 81% of antidepressant and CBT group and a combination of both 86% improved, works well as a combination
-CBT- Some people may not be willing to talk about their problems, very suited to certain individuals, even people with severe depression require motivation to go to therapy which they may not have, people with learning disabilities.
COUNTERPOINT to suitability- Lewis and Lewis concluded CBT was as effective when treating severe cases and Taylor et al concluded same for learning disabilities
-CBT treats the cause of depression whereas drugs do not fix the cause.
-Waiting lists for CBT
-Time consuming, approx 25 sessions of CBT needed
-A limitation - relapse rates, Ali et al, 439 clients, 42% relapsed within 6 month, 53% within a year.

Question 16

The two process model

Answer 16

-An explanation for onset and persistent disorders which cause anxiety, such as phobias. This is by operant and classical conditioning

Question 17

Classical Conditioning

Answer 17

-Is learning via association
UCS=UCR
UCS+N=UCR
CS=CR

Question 18

Little Albert A01

Answer 18

-Watson and Rayner studied Little Albert, an 8 month old baby.
-Albert showed no unusual anxiety
–Whenever white rat was present, a loud noise by banging happened.
–Albert displayed fear when he saw the rat and any other thing similar such as rabbits

Question 19

Operant Conditioning

Answer 19

-Learning via reinforcement.
-Positive and negative conditioning
-Negative is avoiding a situation, no anxiety, more likely to be repeated, so phobia is maintained

Question 20

Two process model A03

Answer 20

-RLA- Systematic desensitisation is a behavioural therapy created based upon the two process model. It aims to recondition the phobic stimulus, once the avoidant behaviour is prevented, it can not be reinforced. It identifies the means of treating phobias
-Ignores cognitive aspects, the two process model explains the behavioural side of behaviour, such as avoidance, but there must ne cognitive distortions about that phobias as well, for example, a person may hold an irrational belief about a spider because they think it is dangerous
-Evidence of traumatic experiences- Little Albert, also a study which found around 70% of people to have a fear of dentists had a negative experience with dentistry, compared to control group of only 20%
COUNTERPOINT, some phobias are evolutionary

Question 21

Systematic Desensitisation

Answer 21

Is a behavioural therapy, designed to recondition a phobic stimulus, via the principles of classical conditioning, essentially, a new response is learned, this is called counterconditioning
-Anxiety Hierarchy
-Relaxation techniques, reciprocal inhibitation, it is impossible to feel anxious and relaxed at the same time
-Exposure- the phobic stimulus is exposed to the client

Question 22

Flooding

Answer 22

-Flooding is a behavioral exposure therapy in which is high intense. Its aim is to recondition the phobic stimulus, to show the client that the phobia is harmless. For e.g. a conditioned phobia (a dog) without the unconditioned stimulus (being bitten) means that there is no danger/ fear- this leads to extinction. The person becomes tired of there own fear response.

Question 23

Flooding A03

Answer 23

-One strength of flooding is that it is cost effective.
As little as one session may be required as opposed to many SD sessions.
-One limitation- traumatic- drop out rates are high.
Research found that is much more traumatic then SD
-Ethical issues- do not want to put client under distress, therapist less likely to use therapy

Question 24

Phobia Cognitive Characteristics

Answer 24

-Cognitive distortions- person’s perception of the phobia is exaggerated. For example a spider looks angry and aggressive
-Selective attention to the stimulus

Question 25

Phobia Emotional Characteristics

Answer 25

-High Anxiety levels
-High fear response- immediate emotion

Question 26

Phobia Behavioral Characteristics

Answer 26

-Endurance- the opposite to avoidance , when the person decides to remain in the presence of the stimulus and experience high levels of anxiety
-Avoidance
-Panic- Anxiety, screaming crying

Question 27

Statistical Infrequency

Answer 27

-Statistical infrequency is using statistics to outline what is abnormal and what is normal. What is statistically infrequent is what is abnormal for example, only a small number of people have an extremely high IQ so that is what can be considered to be abnormal

Question 28

Statistical infrequency A03

Answer 28

-Has good real life application
For diagnosis of an intellectual disorder requires an IQ of below 70, the bottom 2%, another example of this would be Becks depression inventory, a score over 30 (top 5%) is widely indicated as severe depression
-Many abnormal characteristics that are abnormal are desirable (higher than 130 IQ) and some abnormal characteristics such as depression
-Some people benefit from the abnormal label but can also cause social sigma

Question 29

Deviation from social norms

Answer 29

When a person behaves in a way which is different to how we expect them to behave. Norms are based upon culture. Very few behavior’s are universally abnormal on the basis they breach social norms. E.G. antisocial personality disorder, a person with this is impulsive, aggressive and irresponsible. According to DSM-5, one symptom of this psychopathy, is the absence of prosocial internal standards associated with conforming to social norms, this is universal in most cultures

Question 30

Deviation from social norms A03

Answer 30

-Cultural and situational relativism, in one culture, homosexuality may not be the norm and in another it is the norm, in one context, wearing no clothes, such as at the beach, it is the norm and in another, in an office, it is not. Cannot be generalized to all possible situations and cultures
-Real life application, Schizotypal PD, stems from antisocial PD, diagnosed on the breaching of social norms- aggression
-

Question 31

Failure to function adequately

Answer 31

-A person may cross the line between abnormal and normal to the point whereby the person becomes no longer able to cope with everyday life, They can no longer function and maintain basic hygiene, nutrition, holding down a job and maintaining friendships
Rosenhan and Selligman pointed out a few more signs:
-No longer conforms to interpersonal rules, such as respecting personal space and maintaining eye contact
-Becomes irrational and dangerous to themselves and others
-Experiences severe personal distress

Question 32

Failure to function adequately A03

Answer 32

• Represents a threshold for help, some people do not seek help until they are unable to function inadequately.
  According to the family mind 25% of people in the UK will suffer a mental health problem at any given year. Referred help.
  -One limitation of Failure to function adequately is that certain lifestyle choices can be labelled as abnormal. For example, choosing not to have a job and out of the ordinary leisure activities can be labelled as abnormal. High risk leisure activities

Question 33

Deviation for ideal mental health

Answer 33

A different way of looking at abnormality is not what is abnormal but what is perhaps normal In other words, looking at what is normal and then identify who deviates from this.
Inevitably, some may overlap with failure to function. Someone who looses a job- either failure to function due to pressure. Or deviates from the social norm

Question 34

Deviation for ideal mental health A03

Answer 34

-it is comprehensive, means that there is lots of different criteria’s, which distinguishes ideal mental health from normal, so that a person has a specific category to focus on. Someone may seek help from a humanistic professional for self actualization, or a medical psychiatrist to look more at the symptoms of a person
- Extremely high standards, one hand, someone ca benefit from looking and trying to improve mental health, on the other hand, it can be disheartening trying to achieve unrealistic expectations

Question 35

Jahoda’s criteria

Answer 35

-we reach Self actualization
-Cope with stress
-we are independent of others
-we are rational and perceive ourselves accurately
-Realistic views on the world