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AQA A-Level Psychology > Psychopathology > Flashcards

Psychopathology Flashcards

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1
Q

How many definitions of abnormality are there?

A

4

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2
Q

Define ‘deviation from social norms’.

A

Behaviour that goes against societal norms. These individuals are labelled as ‘socially deviant’.
- Social norms are culture-specific so vary between cultures

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3
Q

What is a strength of deviation of social norms?

A

-Helps people
- allows society to see if someone needs help when acting
abnormally- they may not be able to seek help themselves

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4
Q

What is a limitation of deviation of social norms?

A
  • Individualism
    - doesn’t account for those who don’t conform to social norms but aren’t abnormal
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5
Q

Define ‘failure to function adequately’.

A

An individual is abnormal when they can no longer cope with everyday life- this is reflected in their behaviour
- Can affect their ability to work or learn

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6
Q

What is a strength of ‘failure to function adequately’?

A
  • Observable behaviour
    - definition focuses on observed behaviour, allowing others to
    know when abnormal behaviour appears.
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7
Q

What is a limitation of ‘failure to function adequately’?

A
  • Abnormality is normal
    - doesn’t consider when it is normal to behave abnormally
    - e.g. when grieving, under stress, etc.
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8
Q

Define ‘Ideal mental health’.

A

A list of characteristics that display ideal mental health:
- Positive attitudes towards one’s self
- Self Actualisation
- Autonomy
- Integration
- Accurate perception of reality
- Environmental mastery

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9
Q

What is a strength of ‘ideal mental health’?

A
  • Positive approach
    - focuses on positive behaviours and what is desirable rather than
    undesirable
  • Holistic
    - Looks at the whole person and their behaviour instead of singular behaviours
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10
Q

What is a limitation of ‘ideal mental health’ ?

A
  • Subjective criteria
    - tries to treat mental health the same way as physical health- mental health is more subjective and needs to be looked at in the context of the patient.
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11
Q

Define ‘Statistical Infrequency’

A

Behaviour through statistics.

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12
Q

What is a strength of statistical infrequency?

A
  • It is an objective measure of measuring abnormality
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13
Q

What is a limitation of statistical infrequency?

A

Some conditions are so common (e.g. depression, anxiety, etc.) in society that it feels wrong to state it is statistically infrequent.

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14
Q

What are specific phobias?

A

Phobias of an object or experience

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15
Q

What are two examples of specific phobias?

A

Social anxiety (social phobia) and Arachnophobia

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16
Q

What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?

A

Panic, Avoidance, Endurance

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17
Q

What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?

A

Anxiety, Fear, Unreasable emotional response

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18
Q

What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?

A

Selective attention to the phobic stimulus, Irrational Beliefs, Cognitive distortions

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19
Q

What is the behavioural approach to explaining phobias?

A

The two-step model

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20
Q

What does the two-process model say?

A

Phobias are learned through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning

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21
Q

What is classical conditioning?

A

Where you learn to associate a stimulus with a response

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22
Q

What is operant conditioning?

A

Learning through reinforcement

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23
Q

Why did Little Albert develop a fear of white rats?

A

The researchers made a loud noise whenever the rat was presented, so Little Albert learned to associate the scary noise with the rat and the rat became to conditioned stimulus and his fear was the conditioned response

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24
Q

How does operant conditioning maintain a phobia?

A

Mowrer suggested that when we avoid the phobia, we are escaping the fear and anxiety that would have been experienced. This escape of fear negatively reinforces the avoidance behaviour, maintaining the phobia.

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25
Q

What is a strength of the behavioural approach to explaining phobias? (phobias and traumatic experiences)

A

There is a link between bad experiences and phobias.
Little Albert study shows a traumatic experience involving a stimulus (the noise) which became associated with the neutral stimulus (the rat) to provide the conditioned response.

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26
Q

What is the counterpoint to the ‘phobias and traumatic experiences’ strength?

A

Not all phobias stem from traumatic experiences. Some common phobias appear in populations where the phobic stimulus is small. (e.g. snake phobias occur in places where very few people have experiences with snakes)

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27
Q

How does the behavioural approach to explaining phobias have real-world application?

A

The main point of the two-process model is that phobias are maintained by avoiding the phobic stimulus. This helps explain why people with phobias benefit from being exposed to the stimulus. Once the avoidance behaviour is prevented, it stops being reinforced and declines. The phobia is the avoidance behaviour, so once this is no longer reinforced, the phobia is cured. This shows the value of the two-process model because it identifies a way to treat phobias.

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28
Q

The two-process model doesn’t offer any explanation for the cognitive aspects of phobias…

A

This means that the two-process model doesn’t completely explain the symptoms of phobias.

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29
Q

What is systematic desensitisation?

A

A behavioural therapy that reduces the level of anxiety through classical conditioning

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30
Q

What is it called when a person learns a new response to something?

A

Counterconditioning

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31
Q

What is the first step of systematic desensitisation?

A

The anxiety hierarchy

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32
Q

What is an anxiety hierarchy?

A

A list of situations related to the phobic stimulus ranked from least to most anxiety-provoking.

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33
Q

What is the second step in systematic desensitisation?

A

Relaxation

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34
Q

What does the relaxation step of systematic desensitisation involve?

A

The therapist teaches the client to relax as deeply as possible as it is impossible to be relaxed and anxious at the same time (reciprocal inhibition). They can be taught to relax using breathing techniques, etc. or they can be given drugs (e.g. Valium/diazepam)

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35
Q

What is the third step in systematic desensitisation?

A

Exposure

36
Q

What does the exposure step of systematic desensitisation involve?

A

Exposure to the client’s anxiety hierarchy whilst deeply relaxed. They start at the bottom of the anxiety hierarchy and once the client can remain relaxed in the presence of the phobia they can move up the hierarchy.

37
Q

When is systematic desensitisation treatment complete?

A

When the client can maintain a relaxed state in situations high on their anxiety hierarchy.

38
Q

What is a strength of systematic desensitisation? (evidence of effectiveness)

A

Gilroy followed up with 42 patients who had systematic desensitisation for a phobia.
The SD group was less fearful than the control group who hadn’t had any exposure.
This suggests that SD is likely to be effective in helping treat phobias

39
Q

Is systematic desensitisation suitable for people with learning disabilities? Why? (strength)

A

Yes. Other phobia treatments (flooding) may not be suitable for persons with learning disabilities as they may require complex rational thought. They may also be distressed by the traumatic experience of flooding.
This suggests that systematic desensitisation is the most appropriate type of therapy for a person with learning difficulties and phobias.

40
Q

What is flooding? (in terms of phobias)

A

Immediate exposure to a phobic stimulus that would be high up on an anxiety hierarchy without a gradual buildup.

41
Q

How does flooding work?

A

Flooding stops the phobic response quickly because there isn’t the option of avoidance, so the client learns that the phobic stimulus is harmless.

42
Q

What is important to have from the client before beginning flooding?

A

Informed Consent

43
Q

What is the strength of flooding?

A

It is highly cost effective. Flooding can work in one session, whilst SD may take 10+. This means more people can be treated with flooding than with SD or alternative therapies.

44
Q

What is the limitation of flooding?

A

It is a very traumatic experience. The ethical issue raised is that the therapist is knowingly putting the client through an extremely stressful situation (this can be resolved by gaining fully informed consent from the client). The traumatic nature of flooding means that the dropout rates are higher than that for SD. This suggests that therapists may avoid using flooding to avoid unnecessary stress on their clients.

45
Q

What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?

A

Anxiety levels. disruption to sleeping & eating behaviour, aggression and self-harm

46
Q

What are the emotional characteristics of depression?

A

Lowered mood, anger, lowered self-esteem.

47
Q

What are the cognitive characteristics of depression?

A

Poor concentration, attending to & dwelling on the negative, absolutist thinking.

48
Q

According to Beck’s negative triad, what is faulty information processing?

A

When a depressed person only pays attention to the negative aspects of a situation and ignores the positives.

49
Q

According to Beck’s negative triad. what is a negative self-schema?

A

Where a depressed person interprets all information about themself negatively.

50
Q

What are the 3 stages of Beck’s negative triad?

A

Negative view of the world, Negative view of the future, Negative view of the self

51
Q

How does Beck’s negative triad have research support? (strength)

A

Beck concluded that cognitive vulnerabilities such as faulty information processing and negative self-schema, are more common in depressed people. This shows a like between cognitive vulnerability and depression.

52
Q

What does the ABC stand for in Ellis’s ABC model?

A

A- activating event
B- beliefs
C- consequences

53
Q

How does Ellis’s ABC model have real-world application? (strength)

A

Ellis’s version of cognitive therapy is ‘rational emotive behaviour therapy’ (REBT). This is where the therapist argues with the depressed person, this aims to alter the irrational beliefs. David- found evidence to support the idea that REBT changes negative beliefs and reduces symptoms of depression. This gives REBT real-world value.

54
Q

What is CBT short for?

A

Cognitive behaviour therapy

55
Q

What is the aim of REBT therapy?

A

To identify and challenge irrational thoughts.

56
Q

What are the two types of arguing used in REBT therapy?

A

Empirical arguing, logical arguing

57
Q

What is empirical arguing?

A

Arguing about whether or not there is actual evidence to support the negative beliefs

58
Q

What is logical arguing?

A

Arguing about whether the negative thought logically follows from facts.

59
Q

What is behavioural activation therapy?

A

Where the aim is to decrease the avoidance and isolation of a depressed person and to increase their engagement in mood-improving activities.

60
Q

What is Beck’s cognitive therapy?

A

Finding automatic thoughts about the world, self, and future, and challenging them. The client tests the reality of the negative beliefs (e.g. they may record every time they enjoy an event), this way when the client says that they never enjoy anything, the therapist can prove them wrong by showing them this evidence.

61
Q

What is the evidence for the effectiveness of CBT in treating depression? (strength)

A

March- compared CBT to antidepressants and other drugs and also a combination of the two. He found that over 80% of all 3 groups had significantly improved. This supports the idea that CBT is just as effective as antidepressants, and is even more effective when paired with antidepressants. CBT is also cost-effective as it only takes around 6 sessions to work so it is often the first choice of treatment in healthcare systems such as the NHS.

62
Q

Why isn’t CBT suitable for diverse clients? (limitation)

A

In some severe cases of depression, the client is unable to motivate themselves to engage with the cognitive work of CBT. The complex rational thinking involved in CBT also makes it unsuitable for treating those with learning disabilities. This suggests that CBT may only be suitable for a specific range of depressed people.

63
Q

What is the counterpoint for the limitation that CBT isn’t suitable for those with severe depression and learning disabilities?

A

Lewis & Lewis- found that CBT was as effective as antidepressants and behavioural therapies for severe depression.
Taylor- found that when used appropriately, CBT can be effective for people with learning disabilities.
This suggests that CBT may be suitable for a wider range of people than was initially thought

64
Q

What is a limitation of CBT therapy used for treating depression? (relapse rates)

A

CBT has high relapse rates. Most recent studies looking at the lasting effects of CBT found that long-term outcomes aren’t as good as had been assumed. Ali- looked at depression in a group of people who had had CBT and found that after 6 months, 42% of clients had relapsed, and after 12 months, 53% relapsed. This suggests that CBT may need to be repeated periodically throughout an individual’s lifetime to prevent relapse.

65
Q

What does OCD stand for?

A

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

66
Q

What are the behavioural characteristics of OCD?

A

Compulsions and Avoidance

67
Q

What are the emotional characteristics of OCD?

A

Anxiety & distress, accompanying depression, guilt & disgust

68
Q

What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD?

A

Obsessive thoughts, cognitive coping strategies, insight into excess anxiety

69
Q

What type of genes are responsible for creating a vulnerability to OCD?

A

Candidate genes

70
Q

‘OCD is polygenic’ What does this mean?

A

It means the ODC isn’t caused by one gene, but a combination of genetic variations. The genes that have been studied in relation to OCD are associated with dopamine and serotonin, both of which have a role in regulating mood.

71
Q

OCD is ‘aetiologically heterogeneous’. What does this mean?

A

It means that the group of genes causing OCD varies from person to person.

72
Q

What is the research support for the genetic explanation of OCD? (strength)

A

Twin studies and family studies are the main evidence for linking genes and OCD.
Nestadt- found that 68% of identical twins shared OCD, and 31% of non-identical twins shared OCD.
Family studies- research has shown that if you have a family member who is diagnosed with OCD, you are 4x more likely to also develop OCD.
These research studies support the idea that there is a genetic influence on the development of OCD.

73
Q

What is the limitation of the genetic explanation of OCD? (environmental risk factors)

A

OCD isn’t entirely genetic in origin and it’s likely that environmental risk factors can also trigger/ increase the risk of developing OCD.
Cromer- found that in her sample of OCD clients, >50% had experienced a traumatic event in their past. The OCD was also found to be more severe in those with 1+ traumas.
This suggests that genetic vulnerability can only provide a partial explanation for OCD.

74
Q

What happens if a person has low levels of serotonin?

A

The normal transmission of mood-relevant information doesn’t take place so the person may experience low moods.

75
Q

Which area of the brain is associated with impaired decision-making in OCD clients?

A

The lateral of the frontal lobe.

76
Q

What is the research support for the neural explanations of OCD? (strength)

A

Antidepressants that work only on serotonin are effective in reducing OCD symptoms. This suggests that serotonin is involved in OCD.
OCD symptoms can form part of conditions that are known to be biological in origin, so if a biological disorder produces OCD symptoms, it may be appropriate to assume that biological processes underlie OCD. This suggests that biological factors may also be responsible for OCD.

77
Q

What is the limitation of the neural explanations of OCD? (no unique neural system)

A

The serotonin-OCD link may not be exclusive to OCD. Many people with OCD also experience clinical depression. This means that OCD & depression are comorbid. This depression may cause disruptions to the serotonin system, so it may be that serotonin activity is disrupted in people with OCD because they also have OCD.
This suggests that serotonin may not be relevant to OCD symptoms.

78
Q

What is the standard drug used for OCD symptoms?

A

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI).

79
Q

How do SSRIs work?

A

They prevent the reabsorption and breakdown of serotonin, so it basically increases the level of serotonin in the synapse which continues to stimulate the postsynaptic neuron.

80
Q

What are the two alternatives to SSRIs?

A

Tricyclics, & SNRIs

81
Q

How long does it take foe SSRIs to have an impact?

A

3 to 4 months

82
Q

What is the evidencce of effectiveness for drug therapy in treating OCD? (strength)

A

Soomro- looked at 17 studies which compared SSRIs to placebos and in all 17 studies, the SSRIs showed better outcomes. This supports drug therapy as a treatment for OCD

83
Q

What is the counterpoint for the evidence of the effectiveness of drug therapy in treating OCD?

A

Evidence exists that suggests that drug treatment may not be the most effective treatment available.
Skapinakis- reviewed studies and found that cognitive and behavioural therapies were more effective than SSRIs in treating OCD. This supports the idea that drug therapy isn’t the most effective treatment for OCD.

84
Q

How is drug therapy cost-effective and non-disruptive in the treatment of OCD? (strength)

A

Drug treatments are cheaper than in-person therapies, and they are also able to be taken at any time in the day so the person won’t have to take time out of their day to attend an appointment like they would if they were having in-person therapy.
This suggests that drug therapy is popular amongst clients and their doctors.

85
Q

What is the limitation of drug therapy in treating OCD? (serious side effects)

A

A small number of people will receive no benefit from SSRIs. Some people will experience serious side effects such as indigestion, blurred vision and headaches. These are normally temporary, however they can be quite distressing for the individual. This suggests that some people will have a reduced quality of life whilst taking these drugs, and may stop taking them which means they won’t be effective any more.

AQA A-Level Psychology (8 decks)

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