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Psychology paper 1 > Psychopathology > Flashcards

Psychopathology Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the four definitions of abnormality ?

A

Statistical infrequency, deviation from social norms, failure to function adequately and deviation from ideal mental health.

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2
Q

What is statistical infrequency ?

A

When an individual has less common characteristics eg. being less intelligent than most of the population.

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3
Q

What is deviation from social norms ?

A

Behaviour that is different from the accepted standard of society eg. antisocial personality disorder.

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4
Q

What is failure to function adequately ?

A

When someone is unable to cope with ordinary demands of day to day living eg. hygiene.

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5
Q

What is deviation from ideal mental health ?

A

When someone doesn’t meet criteria for good mental health. Jahoda - need to self actualise, cope with stress etc.

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6
Q

Evaluate statistical infrequency.

A

Strength - real world application, used in clinical practice as formal diagnosis and way of measuring severity of symptoms. eg, beck depression inventory, top 5% severe depression.

Limitation - can be positive or negative. eg high iq is positive. Not sufficient as sole basis for defining abnormality.

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7
Q

Evaluate deviation from social norms.

A

Strength - real world application, used in clinical practice eg in defining antisocial personality disorder through aggression etc.

Limitation - varies between cultures, eg hearing voices is normal in some cultures. So difficult to judge deviation from social norma’s across different cultures and situations.

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8
Q

Evaluate failure to function adequately.

A

Strength - represents sensible threshold for when people need professional help. Most have symptoms (25% experience mental health problem in any year) but when severe need help. Helps services focus on who needs most help.

Limitations - easy to label non standard lifestyle choices as abnormal. Some may choose to deviate from norms eg deciding not to work. So risk of people being labelled as abnormal and freedom of choice being restricted.

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9
Q

Evaluate deviation from ideal mental health.

A

Strength - comprehensive definition, Jahodas concept of ideal mental health includes a range of criteria. Checklist against which people can assess ourselves and others.

Limitation - culture bound, jahodas ideas based off us and uk. Self actualisation can be seen as self indulgence in some places.

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10
Q

What is a phobia ?

A

An irrational fear of an object or situation.

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11
Q

What does the DSM-5 categorise phobias as ?

A

Specific phobias
Social anxiety
Agoraphobia

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12
Q

What are behavioural characteristics of phobias ?

A

Panic eg. running away.
Avoidance
Endurance

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13
Q

What are emotional characteristics of phobias ?

A

Anxiety
Fear
Unreasonable

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14
Q

What are cognitive characteristics of phobias ?

A

Selective attention to stimulus
Irrational beliefs
Cognitive distortions

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15
Q

What is depression ?

A

Mental disorder categorised by low mood and energy levels.

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16
Q

What are the DSM-5 categories of depression ?

A

Major depressive disorder
Persistent depressive disorder
Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder

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17
Q

What are behavioural characteristics of depression ?

A

Low activity levels
Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour
Aggression and self harm

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18
Q

What are emotional characteristics of depression ?

A

Lowered mood
Anger
Lowered self esteem

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19
Q

What are cognitive characteristics of depression ?

A

Poor concentration
Attending to and dwelling on negatives
Absolutist thinking

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19
Q

What is OCD ?

A

Condition characterised by obsessions and compulsive behaviour.

20
Q

What are the DSM-5 categories of OCD ?

A

OCD
Trichotillomania
Hoarding
Excoriation

21
Q

What are behavioural characteristics of OCD ?

A

Repetitive compulsions
Compulsions relieve anxiety
Avoidance

22
Q

What are emotional characteristics of OCD ?

A

Anxiety and distress
Accompanying depression
Guilt and disgust

23
Q

What are cognitive characteristics of OCD ?

A

Obsessive thoughts
Cognitive coping strategies
Insight into excessive anxiety

24
Q

How does the behavioural approach explain phobias ?

A

Two process model - classical conditioning for onset and operant conditioning for persistence.

25
Q

What did Watson and Rayner find about Little Albert ?

A

Rat presented to baby along with loud noise causing fear. Associated fear with the rat and so developed phobia for anything like a rat.

26
Q

What are strengths of the behavioural approach for explaining phobias ?

A

Real world application - in exposure therapies, explains why being exposed to phobia helps benefit sufferers. Once avoidance behaviour is prevented it ceases to be reinforced by experience of anxiety reduction and so avoidance declines. Identifies a way of treating phobias.

Evidence - link between bad experiences and phobias. Little albert study. Jongh et al, 73% of people with fear of dentists had traumatic experience.

27
Q

What is a limitation of the behavioural approach on explaining phobias ?

A

Doesn’t account for cognitive aspects of phobias, geared towards explaining behaviour. But doesn’t explain irrational thoughts etc. So doesn’t completely explain symptoms of phobias.

28
Q

What is systematic desensitisation ? (behavioural approach)

A

Behavioural therapy to reduce an unwanted response to stimuli. A hierarchy of fear is followed until the patient is relaxed in the most stressful situations.

(hierarchy put together by patient and therapist, patients asked to relax eg think of relaxing scenario like lying on a beach. Then client exposed to phobia stimuli while in relaxed state.)

29
Q

What is flooding ? (behavioural approach)

A

Behavioural therapy where patient is exposed to extreme phobic stimulus to reduce anxiety caused by that stimulus.

(without option of avoidance behaviour patient sees that phobia is harmless. Called extinction is classical conditioning.

30
Q

Evaluate systematic desensitisation .

A

Strength - Evidence for effectiveness - Girlroy et al, 42 spider phobia pps 3, 45 min sessions. SD patients more successful than control group treated with relaxation and no exposure. Wechsler et al, SD effective for specific phobia, social phobia and agoraphobia.

Strength - Learning disabilities - Main alt to SD not suitable for learning disabilities. Often struggle with cognitive therapies that require complex rational thought. Flooding may be too confusing or traumatising.

31
Q

Evaluate flooding.

A

Strength - Cost effective - clinically effective and not expensive. Can work in as little as one session instead of around 10 for SD.

Limitation - Traumatic - unpleasant experience, Schumacher et al, flooding rated more stressful than SD. Ethical issues unless informed consent. Dropout rates higher for flooding. So therapists may avoid.

32
Q

What is Beck’s negative triad ?

A

Three things that contribute to becoming depressed. Negative views of world, future and self. Makes someone more vulnerable to depression.

33
Q

What is Ellis’s ABC model ?

A

A - activating event
B - triggers irrational belief
C - produces consequence

34
Q

Evaluate Beck’ negative traid.

A

Strength - Research support - Clark and Beck report concluded the cognitive vulnerabilities more common in depressed people but they also preceded depression. Cog vulnerability predicted later depression (Cohen et al).

Strength - Real world application - for screening and treatment of depression. Cohen et al, concluded assessing cognitive vulnerability allows psychiatrists to screen young people. Can be applied to CBT, alter cognitions of those resilient to negative life events.

35
Q

Evaluate Ellis’s ABC model ?

A

Strength - real world application - REBT (rational emotive behavioural therapy) therapist can alter irrational beliefs making them unhappy. So REBT has real world value.

Limitation - only explains reactive depression not endogenous depression. Many depression cases cannot be traced back to life events. So model can only explain some cases of depression and is only a partial explanation.

36
Q

What is the cognitive approach to treating depression ?

A

CBT.
Beck - thoughts in negative triad must be challenged.
Ellis - ABCDE D = dispute and E = effect
Behavioural activation - gradually decrease avoidance and isolation.

36
Q

What is a strength of the cognitive approach for treating depression ?

A

Evidence for effectiveness - March et al, 81% CBT group improved, 86% CBT + antidepressants. CBT effective alone. Cost effective, 6-12 sessions needed. Popular in NHS.

37
Q

What are limitations of the cognitive approach for treating depression ?

A

Suitability for diverse clients - lack of effectiveness for learning disabilities. Depression can be so severe they cannot leave bed to attend therapy. Sturmey, any form of psychotherapy not suitable for people with learning disabilities.

Relapse rates - high, benefits may not last. Shehzad et al, 42% of clients relapsed into depression in 6 months, 53% within a year. So CBT may need to be repeated periodically.

38
Q

What did Lewis study about OCD patients ?

A

37% had parents with OCD
21% siblings with OCD
suggests it runs in families due to genetic vulnerability

39
Q

What is the diathesis stress model of OCD ?

A

Certain genes leave people more likely to develop OCD but it is not certain and some environmental stress is needed to trigger the condition.

eg. gene 5HT1-D beta implicated in transport of serotonin across synapses

40
Q

Who found OCD to be polygenic ?

A

Taylor, 230 genes may be involved. Mostly associated with dopamine and serotonin action.

41
Q

What are neural explanations of OCD ?

A

Serotonin role - low levels means low moods and some cases of OCD can be explained by reduction of function of serotonin in brain.

Brain - impaired decision making, abnormal functioning of lateral of frontal lobes responsible for logical thinking.

42
Q

Evaluate the genetic explanation of OCD.

A

Strength - research support - Nestadt et al, twin study 68% mz and 31% dz shared OCD. Therefore must be some genetic influence of development.

Limitation - environmental risk factors - not fully genetic origin and seems environment can trigger. Eg. Cromer, found over half experience trauma in past. So only partial explanation for OCD.

43
Q

Evaluate neural explanation of OCD.

A

Strength - research support - antidepressants that work on serotonin can reduce ocd symptoms. Symptoms form part of conditions known to be biological eg parkinson’s. So biological factors may also be responsible for ocd.

Limitation - serotonin link may not be unique to ocd. Many ocd patients also have depression (co morbidity). So disruption to serotonin may be due to depression not ocd and unrelated to ocd symptoms.

44
Q

What are SSRI’s ?

A

Selective serotonin re uptake inhibitors. Increase levels of serotonin in synapse and stimulate postsynaptic neurons.

eg. fluoxetine

45
Q

What are strengths of the biological approach to treating OCD ?

A

Evidence for effectiveness - show ssris reduce symptoms and improve life quality. Soomro et al, 17 studies comparing placebo and ssris. Reduce around 70% for ssris and remaining can be helped by combinations. So drugs appear to be helpful for most OCD patients.

Cost effective and non disruptive - cheaper than therapy. Good value for NHS. Can decline drugs or only take till symptoms decline. However therapy takes time.

46
Q

What is a limitation of the biological approach to treating OCD ?

A

Serious side effects - small minority see no benefit. Indigestion, blurred vision, loss of sex drive. Usually temporary but can be distressing. eg tricyclic clomipramine election problems (1/10). So can have reduced life quality as result so people may stop taking making them less effective.

Psychology paper 1 (4 decks)

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