Psychopathology Flashcards
discuss deviation from social norms as a definition of abnormality
behaviour that is unexpected or breaks the unwritten (or written) laws of society is defined as abnormal
e.g., anti-social personality behaviour: signs of it is impulsive, aggressive and irresponsible behaviour
. part of the DSM classification is ‘absence of prosocial behaviour’
. how far people deviate from social norms is mediated by the degree of severity and context. if an individual persistently6tf5 deviates from social norms, this may be evidence of psychological disturbance
-: does not allow for a global standard of abnormality since it is culturally relative
. different cultures have different norms so different things will be seen as abnormal
. for example, homosexuality is illegal or seen as abnormal in over 75 countries still
. when looking at mental illness, this means diagnosis is dependent on where you are.
-: can be easily abused
. this definition can be used to maintain a status quo that may not be ethical
. for example, historically in America, slaves who tried to flee captivity, therefore deviating from the social norms, were classed as abnormal and diagnosed with ‘drapetomania’
discuss failure to function adequately as a definition of abnormality
someone is abnormal when they can no longer cope with the demands of everyday life
e.g.,
bad hygiene
bad nutrition
cannot hold down a job
irrational or dangerous thoughts and behaviour
maladaptive behaviour
+ idiographic looks at patient’s experience more, takes into account that abnormality should have an effect on the individual, rather than statistical infrequency and deviation from social norms, that look at the patient relative the the whole population
-: is is possible to be abnormal but still function normally
e.g., people will psychopathy, Ted Bundy
discuss statistical infrequency as a definition for abnormality
abnormality is based on the number of times it is observed in the population
. rare or infrequent behaviour is abnormal
e.g., IQ: those will extremely lower/higher than average IQs will be abnormal
. those in the bottom 2% could be tested for a diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder.
-: more objective than others
. definition purely based on statistics and numbers, meaning there is no risk of observer bias when diagnosing people
e.g., with deviation form ideal mental health, it is hard to determine what an ‘accurate perception of reality’ looks like, meaning it could be more subjective
. the researcher has no input, especially if there is a cut off point for abnormality.
-: hard to decide the ‘cut off’ point for abnormality
. it is hard to decide at what percentage someone should be considered abnormal
e.g., for a happiness questionnaire, if it is decided that the bottom 10% are considered abnormally unhappy, this means that someone in the bottom 11% would not receive any diagnosis or treatment, even if they are abnormal
. this definition can be too rigid
+: infrequent behaviour can be positive
discuss ideal mental health as an explanation for abnormality
absence of good mental health constitutes as abnormal
Jahoda’s criteria for ideal mental health
. accurate perception of reality
. self actualisation
. cope with everyday stress
. self esteem
. independent
. accurate perception of self
-: unrealistic to be meeting all these standards all of the time
. e.g., if someone is grieving they may not be independent but that does not make them abnormal
-: culture bound
. it is an imposed etic to assume that achieving self actualisation is ‘normal’ behaviour as this is not a priority in collectivist cultures.
how does the behaviourist approach explain phobias? (AO1)
- phobia: anxiety disorder classed by DSM
. anxiety is an adaptive response to danger to ensure survival but people with anxiety disorders experience an anxiety disproportionate to stress level
. there are emotional (anxiety), behavioural (freezing) and cognitive (irrational thoughts) aspects of a phobia - the behaviourist approach explains phobias as a response due to past experience
- CC can be used to explain phobias shown by the little Albert experiment
what was the little Albert experiment? (AO3)
- aimed to see hoe CC could be used to create a phobia in humans
- 1case study on 11 month old albert
. has previously played with animals like rats and rabbits and showed no signs of distress
. after a while of playing with the rat with nothing happening, the experimenter would then bang a metal bar to scare Albert, and make this loud noise every time he went to play with the rat.
UCS(noise) > UCR (fear) NS(rat)>nothing
NS(rat)+UCS(noise) > UCR(fear)
CS(rat) > UCR(fear) : Al had associated the rat with a loud bang - Al then got anxiety when seeing the rat and this anxiety response generalised to all objects similar to the rat (white and furry objects) - STIMULUS GENERALISATOIN
explain the 2 process model when using the behaviourist approach to explain phobias
- phobia is acquired by CC and maintained by OC
- depending on how a behavioural response to phobia is reinforces/ punished, behaviour is more/less likely to occur again
e.g. in cases of negative reinforcement individual avoids the phobia (e.g. spider) which leads to a desirable consequence (reduced anxiety) so this behaviour is repeated.
AO3 on the behaviourist approach to explaining phobias
+ : SUPPORTING EVIDENCE FROM LITTLE ALBERT CASE STUDY- shows the influence of CC on acquiring phobias
- : IDIOGRAPHIC RESEARCH- we cannot use a single case to confirm validity of entire behaviourist explanation.
it is possible that the results of this experiment was an anomaly
Al was later found to have brain damage which could have affected the results of the experiment
. he is also a baby, so may be more irrational.
. results are not generalisable
LOW POPULATION VALIDITY
+ REAL LIFE APPLICATION- led to treatments
. 2 process model explains why patients must be exposed to their phobic stimulus in order to reverse the association of stimulus with fear- counterconditioning
. led to Systematic Desensitisation (patient associates phobic stimulus with relaxation instead of fear)
. EXTERNAL VALIDITY
- : SD DOES NOT TREAT MORE COMPLEX PHOBIAS, e.g., social phobias.
. 2 process model cannot explain all phobias especially ones with more cognitive symptoms like irrational thoughts (e.g., someone with social phobia of agoraphobia may think everyone will try kill me if I go outside)
. the 2PM does not necessarily explain this level of irrationality
. reduces validity of 2PM in explaining phobias.
- PARTIAL EXPLANATION
. claims all phobias are learnt but doesn’t account for the phobias the people are born with that have an underlying evolutionary function, like phobia of snakes or heights (biological preparedness)
. undermines idea that all phobias are learned
-: evidence of genetic phobias
. Dias and Ressler, conditioned rats to fear the smell of peppermint, but found that this fear was present in even the rats’ grandchildren, who had not undergone any conditioning
. supports presence of epigenetics, and suggests phobias are not completely formed from nurture.
. interactionist approach?
t= evidence supporting the innate nature of phobias
how does the behaviourist approach treat phobias?
- systematic desensitisation- slow exposure to phobic stimulus while patient is in relaxed state
- flooding: immediate + extreme exposure to phobia
what is the process of systematic desensitisation(SD) (AO1)
- anxiety hierarchy- made by patient and therapist
. list of situations related to the phobia which cause anxiety, arrange from most to least anxiety inducing - relaxation- therapist gets patient to relax as deeply as possible through e.g. meditation or drugs
. they will be exposed to the phobic stimulus in this state due to the principle of reciprocal inhibition: cannot be relaxed and fearful at the same time - exposure- patient is exposed to the phobic stimulus in this relaxed state so they begin to associate their phobia with calmness and relaxation
this takes place over several sessions starting from the bottom of anxiety hierarchy to the top
- treatment is successful when the patient is relaxed in situations high in the anxiety hierarchy
systematic desensitisation AO3
+ : EFFECTIVE- supporting research from Gilroy et al
. followed up 42 patients who has been treated for a spider phobia by 3, 45m sessions of SD
. anxiety levels after treatment were assessed
. the control group was treated by relaxation without the exposure
. SD group were less fearful.
. increased validity and the importance of exposure/counter conditioning
+ longitudinal study: . Gilroy followed up 3 months and 33 months after treatment and both times the SD group were less fearful
. shows long lasting effects of SD, making it more valid
+ : SUITS DIVERSE RANGE OF PATIENTS
. flooding and cognitive therapies are not suitable for all patients in need of treatment
. e.g. people with learning difficulties find it had to engage with cognitive therapy and may not understand flooding
. SD is most applicable to patients
- : Ohman said SD is not effective for more complex phobias which have an underlying survival component e.g. fear of heights, as situations on an anxiety hierarchy may be impractical to carry out, but also because it is harder to convince the patient that heights are harmless when in reality they can be dangerous
T = ALTHOUGH SD IS NOT IMPACTED BY CERTAIN DISPOSITIONAL FACTORS, IT IS NOT A SUITABLE TREATMENT FOR ALL KINDS OF PHOBIAS.
what is the process of flooding?
- exposes patient to the phobic stimulus without the gradual build up made by the anxiety hierarchy
e.g. phobia= spiders: the patients would have a spider crawl on them for a long time
. one flooding session is linger than one SD sessions but less sessions are required for flooding - flooding quickly stops the phobic response (e.g. anxiety) as patients quickly realised that phobic stimulus is harmless
. this process in CC would be called extinction: where the CR/learned response is undone when the CS(e.g. dog) is encountered without the UCS(e.g. being bitten) - ethical safeguards: flooding is an unpleasant experience so the therapist must have the patients fully informed consent to the procedure and must fully prepare the patient
flooding AO3
+ : COST EFFECTIVE
. is is at least as effective as other treatments in curing phobias
. Ougrin (2011) compared flooding to cognitive therapies, and found that flooding was highly effective (for those who completed the process) and quicker than alternatives
. this is a strength as patients are freed from the phobia quicker and it is cheaper so more accessible
. may be favourable for state healthcare like NHS
- : TRAUMATIC: this means that many patients are unwilling to complete the entire flooding process
. this is bad as it means that time and money/resources are wasted to prepare the patient only for them to back out
. inefficient and wasteful
T = ALTHOUGH FROM AN IDEALISTIC VIEW, FLOODING IS COST EFFECTIVE, IN REALITY, IT OFTEN WASTES RESOURCES.
what is depression
mental disorder characterised by low mood and low energy levels
behavioural aspects: aggression/self harm
. disruption to sleep and eating behaviour
emotional aspects:
lowered mood- lethargic and sad
anger
low self esteem
cognitive aspects reduced concentration
.dwelling on negative aspects
how does Beck use the cognitive approach to explain depression? (AO1)
- cognitive approach explains depression as a result of negative perception and irrational thoughts
- BECK: used CA to explain depression in 1967 with his 3 PART THEORY which explains why some people are more vulnerable to depression than others
- negative self schema: negative preconceptions of yourself (e.g. thinking you will be bad at something before trying it)
- negative triad: negative view of the WORLD(everyone is against me) FUTURE(I’m heading nowhere) and SELF(I’m worthless)
- faulty information processing: only focusing on the negative parts of a situation (e.g. winning 1m in the lottery but being sad that someone else won 10m)
