Psychopathology Flashcards
Final outcome
What is the aim in order to treat phobias?
Treating Phobias
- To teach a new response to the phobic stimulus
- Achieved by counter-conditioning
- Based on the theory of reciprocal inhibition (one emotion counteracts the other)
Treating Phobias
Gradual and Straight In
What are the 2 methods to treat phobias?
Treating Phobias
- Systematic Desensitisation
- Flooding
Treating Phobias
Gradual
Explain Systematic Desensitisation
Treating Phobias
- Anxiety hierarchy - client + therapist work together, rank phobic situations from least to most terrifying
- Relaxation training - individual is taught relaxation techniques
- Gradual exposure - patient starts at bottom of the hierarchy and gradually goes up in levels
Treating Phobias
SODA
What are the strengths of systematic desensitisation?
Treating Phobias
+ Supporting Evidence - effectiveness; Gilroy et al (2007)
+ Ethics - considered more acceptable by patients
Treating Phobias
What are the weaknesses of systematic desensitisation?
Treating Phobias
- Works best for phobias of objects or animals
Treating Phobias
Straight in
Explain Flooding
Treating Phobias
- Exposes individual to the anxiety - inducing stimulus immediately
- Works = Person is unable to avoid (negatively reinforce) their phobia + through continuous exposure, anxiety eventually decrease
- Extinction will soon occur since fear is a time - limited response
- Exhaustion sets in they may begin to feel calm
Treating Phobias
Money
What is a strength of Flooding?
Treating Phobias
Economic consideration - cost-effective treatments
Treating Phobias
GRAVE + certain phobias
Whate are weaknesses of Flooding?
Treating Phobias
- Ethical considerations - highly traumatic
- Criticisms of method - limited to simple specific phobias
Treating Phobias
What is the cognitive triangle?
Explaining Depression
- Thoughts - Feelings - Behaviour
- Result of ‘faulty thinking’ - based on ‘cognitive primacy’ thoughts
- Focus on an individual’s negative thoughts, irrational beliefs
Explaining Depression
What are the 2 explanations?
Explaining Depression
*Beck - Negative self schemas/cognitive triad
*Ellis - ABC Model
Explaining Depression
Negative
What is Beck’s explanation?
Explaining Depression
- People are vulnerable to developing depression - faulty cognitions
1. Faulty information processing (cognitive distortions/biases)
2. Negative self-shemas
3. Negative cognitive triad
Explaining Depression
Negative views
What is the negative triad?
Explaining Depression
Negative views of the world - Negative views about one’s self - Negative views about the future
Explaining Depression
Grazioli and Terry
Evaluate Beck’s explanation
Explaining Depression
AO3 - Supporting evidence
Grazioli and Terry (2000)
* Longitudinal Study - 65 women (3rd trimester + 6 weeks after birth)
* Women assessed as having increased cognitive vulnerability at time 1 were more likely to develop post partum depression.
Explaining Depression
What is Ellis’s explanation?
Explaining Depression
ABC Model
* Activating event - pass friend + they ignore your hello
* Beliefs - interpretation of the event (rational/irrational)
* Consequences - Rational /Irrational belief = Healthy/Unhealthy outcome
Explaining Depression
Evaluate Ellis’s explanation
Explaining Depression
- Patient control - tend to have better outcomes
- Some depressions are reactive, some are not + appear to come from within
Explaining Depression
What is Mowrer (1947) model?
Explaining Phobias
2 Process model of phobias
* Acquisition by classical conditioning
* Maintenance by operant conditioning
Explaining Phobias
What is the 2 process model - Acquisition?
Explaining Phobias
- Learn to associate something we do not fear - neutral stimulus
- Something triggers a fear response - unconditioned stimulus
- Association forms
- Once neutral stimulus is now a conditioned stimulus
- Causes a response of fear - conditioned stimulus
Explaining Phobias
What is the 2 process model - Maintenance?
Explaining Phobias
- Classical conditioning rules suggest that continued exposure to CS without the UCS would result in ‘extinction’ of the association
- Operant conditioning
- Phobias are negatively reinforced
- Avoidance of the phobic stimulus (CS) reduces the person’s feelings of anxiety
- Individual is likely to repeat this behaviour (avoidance) in the future + maintain their phobia
Explaining Phobias
Evaluate the 2 process model
Explaining Phobias
A03
* Supporting evidence - Little Albert
BUT a criticism of this research is there is no maintenance and can’t generalise
* Application to theory - Many treatments are based on these principles + are successful for many people (systematic desensitisation + flooding)
* Criticisms - doesn’t account for roles of cognition, CBT has been argued to be a more effective therapy
* Different explanation - biological preparedness
Explaining Phobias
What is CBT?
Treating Depression
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
* Most popular type of treatment
* Combination of cognitive and behaviourism
Treating Depression
What is the cognitive element of CBT?
Treating Depression
Aims to identify irrational and negative thoughts then to replace thoughts with more positive and rational ones
Treating Depression
What is the behavioural element of CBT?
Treating Depression
Encourages patients to test their beliefs through behavioural experiements - to investigate the reality of beliefs as well as practice to begin to form habits
Treating Depression
What is the CBT Process?
Treating Depression
- Initial assessment
- Goal setting
- Identifying + challenging negative/irraional thoughts:
a) Either using Beck’s cognitive therapy OR
b) Ellis’s REBT - Homework
Treating Depression
What is Beck’s approach to negative thoughts?
Treating Depression
- Identify negative thoughts linked to negative triad
- Work together to challenge these with evidence against them
- Patient reality tests these including through homework with the ‘patient as scientist’
- Eventually client sees thoughts are irrational if there is no evidence for them
Treating Depression
What is Ellis’s approach to negative thoughts?
Treating Depression
- REBT (Rational Emotional Behavioural Therapy)
- Builds on the ABC model
- D - Dispute/Disrupt the belief system
- E - Effect
Treating Depression
