Psychopathology 😘 Flashcards
Paper 1
What is the definition of psychopathology?
- scientific study of psychological disorders/ mental illnesses
what are the 4 definitions of abnormalities?
statistical infrequencies
deviation from social norms
failure to function adequately
deviation from ideal mental health
what is statistical infrequency?
- defines ‘normal’/common behaviour in typical values
- i.e. mean, median and mode
- numbers based definition
- shown on a distribution curve (anything more than 2 standard deviations away from the mean may indicate an abnormality)
what is an example of a statistical infrequency?
IQ
- average is 100, so anything above 130 and below 70 is seen as abnormal
what are limitations of statistical infrequencies?
- some infrequent behaviours may be desireable (ie. high IQ) and some frequent behaviours may be undesireable (ie. depression), suggesting there is a problem with numbers based definitions
- subjective cut off on the normal distribution (ie. if 1 score above or below 2 standard deviations)
what are the strengths of statistical infrequencies?
- appropriate for some diagnosis as it gives us an indication
- good objective starting point/ measure
- better to use with another definition: failure to function adequately
what is the cultural relativism evaluation for statistical infrequencies?
- statistically frequent behaviours in one culture may be statistically infrequent in another
- for example, hearing voices in one may be associated with schizophrenia, but it may be desirable in another
what is deviation from social norms?
- social norms = expected/ usual behaviour in a culture or society. implicit/ explicit rules that a society has about socially acceptable behaviours
- socially based explanation
- deviance from these social norms is undesirable, can often lead to rejection and is considered abnormal leading to isolation
what is an example of deviating from social norms?
- standing too close to someone
- inappropriate dress for age or situation
what are the limitations of deviation from social norms?
- role of context
- changes over time
what are the strengths of deviation from social norms?
- focus is on social norms which helps a society to function
- considers the effect on others
what is the cultural relativism evaluation for deviation from social norms?
- social norms vary ie. personal space
- dangers of being ethnocentric: not considering other cultural values or judging someone else based on our own cultural values
- DSM now makes reference to different cultural behaviours ie. panic attacks
what is failure to function adequately?
- individual will feel psychological distress and unable to cope with usual everyday activities
- usually aware they are suffering but some may not be (identified by other people instead)
- measure of adequate functioning can be done by WHODAS included in DSM
what does WHODAS do?
- gives a quantitative measure of adequate functioning
- individuals are rated from 1-5 and given a score per criteria (out of 180)
what are the WHODAS criteria?
- understanding and communication
- getting around
- getting along with people
- self care
- life activities
- participation in society
what are the strengths of failure to function adequately?
- provides an objective measure
- more sensitive definition
what are the limitations of failure to function adequately?
- subjective judgement so it depends on who is making the decision
- behaviours may be functional to the individual (ie. cross dressing), doesnt distinguish between functional and non-functional behaviour
what is the cultural relativism evaluation for failure to function adequately?
- what is considered dysfunctional in one culture may not be in the other
- ie. sleeping in the day may be normal in Mediterranean cultures but could be considered as depression in the UK
- risks being ethnocentric
what is deviation from ideal mental health?
- based on humanistic approach, all have the ability to achieve full potential if given the correct conditions
- positivist definition (looks at characteristics individual needs to have present for maintaining optimal mental health)
- Marie Jahoda identified 6 categories relating to ideal mental health
what categories did Jahoda identify?
- self attitude
- personal growth
- integration
- autonomy
- accurate perception of reality
- mastery of environment
what are the strengths of deviation from ideal mental health?
- positivist approach
- looks at categories that give us good mental health and considers what is needed for it
what are the limitation of deviation from ideal mental health?
- ideals are unrealistic (hard to achieve by nature)
- involves subjective assessment of Jahoda’s criteria, so its a matter of opinion and also hard to measure objectively
- difficult to diagnose mental ill-health and physical health in the same way
what is the cultural relativity evaluation for deviation from ideal mental health?
- based on western values
- individualist cultures encourage working for one’s own personal good towards self actualisation
- collectivist cultures encourage working for the good of the community
- cultural context may limit this definition to certain cultural groups
what are neurotic disorders?
- disorders an individual is self aware of (know they have it)
what are psychotic disorders?
- disorders an individual in unaware of (don’t know they have it)
what are phobias?
- anxiety disorder
- irrational fear that causes avoidance of the feared stimuli
what are the emotional characteristics of phobias?
- extreme and persistent fear
- anxiety
- panic
what are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?
- avoidance
- freeze or faint stress response
what are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
- irrational thinking
- resistance to rational reasoning
- recognition of irrational fear
what are some examples of phobias?
- agoraphobia
- social phobia
- specific phobia
what is depression?
- mood disorder
- may be ‘major depressive disorder’ or ‘persistent depressive disorder’
- persistent low mood causing distress and impairment of functioning
- diagnosis requires minimum 5 of the symptoms
what are the emotional characteristics of depression?
- sadness
- feeling empty/ worthless
- loss of interest in usual activities
- anger towards others or self
what are the behavioural characteristics of depression?
- change in activity level (increased or decreased)
- change in sleep patterns (more or less)
- change in appetite (more or less)
what are the cognitive characteristics of depression?
- negative thoughts
- including worthlessness and guilt
what is Obsessive Compulsive disorder (OCD)?
- anxiety disorders
- two main components are obsessions and compulsions
what are the emotional characteristics of OCD?
- distress
- awareness that behaviour is excessive
what are the behavioural characteristics of OCD?
- repetitive compulsive behaviours aimed at reducing the anxiety
- behaviour may not be connected with what they are aimed at ie. compulsively avoiding a certain object to avoid something bad happening
what are the cognitive characteristics of OCD?
- recurring intrusive thoughts that are perceived as inappropriate
- uncontrollable thoughts
- recognition that obsessions are irrational
what approach explains phobias?
- behavioural
- all behaviour is learned including phobias
what model explains how phobias are acquired and maintained?
- Two-process model
- by Mowrer
what does the two-process model involve?
- classical (acquisition) and operant (maintain) conditioning
what is the first stage of the two process model in explaining phobias?
- acquisition of the phobia through classical conditioning
- involves learning through association
- a neutral stimulus (NS) becomes paired with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
- during this acquisition stage, the NS becomes associated with the UCS and eventually causes the same response as the unconditioned response (UCR)
- pairing the UCS with the NS makes the NS become a CS, leading to a conditioned response (CR)
what study demonstrates the acquisition stage of the two process model in explaining phobias?
Little Albert Study
- Watson and Rayner (1920)