psychopathology

Question 1

What are the four definitions of abnormality?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What is the statistical infrequency definition of abnormality? name one weakness.

Answer 2

When you have a less common charicteristic, deviating significantly from the average. For example interlectual disability disorder is charicterised by abnormally low IQ at around 70 compared to the average of 85-115.

Unusualness can be positive, we dont diagnose high IQ so being abnormal doesnt mean theyre abnormal or need a diagnosis

Question 3

What is the deviation of social norms definition of abnormality? name one weakness.

Answer 3

Behaving differently to how we would expect in our cultural/sociatal norms. Often used to diagnose antisocial personality disorder because they dont conform to societal ethical standards or perform prosocial behaviours.

Norms are spesific to cultures and generations. schizophrenia is overdiagnosed in Afro-Caribeans. Homosexuality used to be diagnosed and treated. This opens up issues of abusing human rights and unfairly labeling aswell as not being suitable to easily use accross cultures.

Question 4

What is the failure to function definition of abnormality? name one weakness.

Answer 4

Being no longer able to cope with the demands of everyday life. including poor hygene and eating habits.
It’s defined as:
- No longer conforming to social interpersonal rules - poor eye contact, not respecting personal space
- Experiencing severe personal distress
- Irriational behaviour or being a danger to themselves

Good to use alongside stat, infreq. to diagnose IQ disorders, youd need to be failing to function too else why bother diagnosing of they dont need help!
However its easy to define someone as not functioning when they’re just a little funky, bungee jumpers could be classified, but they’re fine just extreme gals.

Question 5

What is the deviation of ideal mental health definition of abnormality? name one weakness.

Answer 5

Deviating from Johoda’s ideal mental health criteria.

Its culture bound and extensive. Self actualisation is a very western consept and not applicable to collectivist cultures. Also its high standards mean we often dont meet all the criteria even though were fine, these high standards can be demoralising.

Question 6

What are some criteria from Jahoda’s ideal mental health list?

Answer 6

No symptoms of distress
Were rational and perceive ourselves accurately
We self actualise (want to reach our potential)
Can cope with stress
We have a realistic view of the world
We have good self esteem and guilt
We have good self esteem and lack guilt
We’re independent of other people
We successfully work, love and enjoy leisure

Question 7

What is a phobia?

Answer 7

Excessive fear and anxiety triggered by a thing or situation.

Question 8

What are the three forms of phobias identified by the DSM-5?

Answer 8

Spesific phobia - an object, animal or situation like getting injections eg arachnophobia
Social phobia - social situations like public speaking
Agoraphobia - fear of being outside or in public

Question 9

Name the behavioural charicteristics of phobias.

Answer 9

Panic - screaming, running, crying etc, children may throw a tantrum, freeze or cling
Avoidence - making an effort to avoid the stimulus that an potentially make normal life very hard such as taking a huge detour
Endurance - choosing to stay in its presence so you know where the threat is

Question 10

Name the emotional charicteristics of phobias.

Answer 10

Anxiety - a prolonged unpleasent state of high arousal that prevents realxing
Fear - the immidiate extreme response to the stimulus
An unreasonalble emotional response - the anxiety and fear is disproportionate

Question 11

Name the cognitive charicteristics of phobias.

Answer 11

Selective attention - finding it hard to look away or focus on anything else
Irrational belifs - about the stimulus, such as if i blush people will think im weak
Cognitive distortions - perceptions of the stimulus are innacurate, things may look way freakier than they are

Question 12

What is depression?

Answer 12

A mental disorder characterised by low mood and low evenry levels.

Question 13

what are the four forms of depression identified by the DSM-5.

Answer 13

Major depressive disorder - intense short term
Persistent depressive disorder - recurrent depression
Disruptive mood regulation disorder - childhood tantrums
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder - PMT, mood dysruption around the period

Question 14

Name the behavioural charicteristics of depression.

Answer 14

Activity levels - reduced energy, withdrawing from life eg not getting out of bed.
Disruption to sleep and eating - insomnia/hypersomnia and increased/reduced appetite.
Aggression and self harm - higher irritablity, sometimes aggression aimed at themselves and others including self harm and suicide attempts.

Question 15

Name the emotional charicteristics of depression.

Answer 15

Lowered mood - a more pronounced sadness than in daily life, often described by individuals as a numbness or feeling nothing/empty
Anger - an extreme negitive emotion that can lead to aggression
Lowered self esteem - self-loathing/hatrid

Question 16

Name the cognitive charicteristics of depression.

Answer 16

Poor concentration - being unable to stick to a task or make decisions
Dwelling on the negitive - being ‘glass half empty’, only being able to recall the negitives when most people only remember the positives in a situation
Absolutist thinking - black and white thinking, its all bad and an absolute disaster

Question 17

What is OCD?

Answer 17

Obsessive compulsive disorder, charicterised by an individual having anxiety inducing obsessive thoughts and compulsions that reduce the anxiety in the short term

Question 18

What are the four forms of OCD identified by the DSM-5.

Answer 18

OCD
Trichotillomania - compulsive hair pulling
Hoarding disorder - being unable to part with any belongings regardless of value
Excoriation disorder - skin picking

Question 19

Name the behavioural charicteristics of OCD.

Answer 19

Compulsions are repetitive
Compulsions reduce anxiety - some people just have a general sense of anxiety that the behaviour reduces, others have a spesific thought that the behaviour fixes like hand washing
Avoidence - reducing the triggers eg by avoiding touching anything

Question 20

Name two emotional charicteristics of OCD.

Answer 20

Anxiety and distress - the unpleasent emotional experience, thoughts can be distressig and scary
Accompanying depression
Guilt and disgust - an irrational guilt or disgust with themselves

Question 21

Name two cognitive charicteristics of OCD.

Answer 21

Obsessive thoughts - the recurrent thoughts that are often unpleasent
Cognitive coping stratergies - stratergies that help with the thoughts such as meditating
Insight into excessive anxiety - this is a crucial symptom, without it they do not have OCD. the person must be aware that their thoughts are irrational

Question 22

Which approach explains phobias?

Answer 22

behaviourism

Question 23

How does the behaviourist approach explain how we get phobias?

Answer 23

Called the two-process model, behaviourist say we aquire the phobia through classical conditioning by associating something neutral with something we naturally fear. This is then maintained through operant conditioning everytime we avoid the stimulus our fear is negitively reinforced

Question 24

Who is Little Albert and what study did they do with him?

Answer 24

In order to study phobias, researchers presented little albert (a 9 month old) with a white rat and played a loud bang to frighten him. After a while Albert began to fear just the white rat along with other simular looking items.

Question 25

What is one pro and con of behaviourisms explanation for phobias?

Answer 25

Exposure therapies (SD and flooding) are proven effective which supports the association idea.
Not all phobias are from trauma, why do we have snake phobias in countries with no snakes?

Question 26

What are behaviourisms treatments of phobias?

Answer 26

Systematic desensitisation
Flooding

Question 27

What is systematic desensitisation?

Answer 27

A behavioural therapy where the client and therapist create an anxiety heirarchy for their phobia. The client is then taught calming techniques. They then slowly go up the heirarchy until they can handle their most feared situation.

Question 28

What is flooding?

Answer 28

Exposing people to their phobia without building up to it, being unable to avoid means that after their fear response is exhausted and eventually the the assosiation is unlearned.

Question 29

Which approach explains depression?

Answer 29

The cognitive approach.

Question 30

How does the cognitive approach explain depression?

Answer 30

Through Becks negitive triad, which explains why some are more vulnerable to depression.
And Ellis’s ABC model which states it arises from irrational thoughts.

Question 31

Outline Beck’s negitive triad.

Answer 31

Faulty information processing: when they can only see the negitive of the situation. eg winning £50 in the lottery but thinking that someone else won more last week.
Negitive self schema - interperiting all info about yourself in a negitive way.
The negitive triad: this is the reason people develop dysfunctional views of themselves - having a negitive view of the world, the future and the self

Question 32

What did Ellis believe and what does the ABC stand for in his ABC model?

Answer 32

He believed depression is the result of having irrational thoughts.
A - activating event, a negitive event that triggers irrational belifs eg failing an exam.
B - beliefs, a range of irrational beliefs: musturabation (i must be perfect), i cant stand it itis (huge disaster if it doesnt go well), utopianism (everything dhould be fair)
C - consiquences - the subsiquent depression

Question 33

What are Becks cognitive treatments for depression?

Answer 33

Becks CBT - Patient and therapist identify their problems and goals, then devise a plan to tackle them. The patient is often given tasks to achieve such as write down every time something goes well.

Question 34

What are Ellis’s cognitive treatments for depression?

Answer 34

REBT. This is more of an argument between the therapist and patient. The patient argues that everything sucks and wont get better and the therapist, rather strongly, asks for evidence to support their point. the therapist should also encourage healthy behaviours like leaving the house.

Question 35

Which approach explains OCD?

Answer 35

the biological approach

Question 36

In what two ways does the biological approach explain OCD?

Answer 36

Through genes and neurons

Question 37

What is the genetic explanation to OCD?

Answer 37

Candidate genes create a genetic vulnerability for some people. It is polygenic, with multiple variations of genes. It’s also aetiologically heterogeneous and theres evidence to suggest that different genes are involved in different forms of OCD

Question 38

What is the neural explanation for OCD?

Answer 38

Genes associated with OCD arelikely to affect neurotransmitters and serotonin transportation.
serotonin regulates mood so if a gene has caused a reduced transmittion of that then they’ll have low serotonin levels and disruption to mental processes.

Its also associated with faulty decision making systems and abnormal functioning in the frontal lobes (particularly in hoarding disorder) because these are responsible for logic and decisions.

Question 39

What are candidate genes?

Answer 39

Genes that researchers have identified in relation to OCD, many genes that are identified are involved in the transport of serotonin.

Question 40

What does polygenic mean in reference to OCD?

Answer 40

This means that OCD isnt caused by a single gene but a combination of genetic variation that when together, create the vulnerability for OCD.

Question 41

What does atiologically heterogenious mean?

Answer 41

Atiologically (origins), heterogenious (varies person-person).
This means that one group of genes may cause OCD in one person but not another, and a different group of genes can also cause it.
Theres also evidence to suggest that different genes are involved in different types of OCD’s.

Question 42

What is serotonin and what does it do?

Answer 42

Serotonin is a mood regulating neurotransmitter, if someone has low serotonin (due to those candidate genes) mood information isnt getting processed enough resulting in low mood?

Question 43

How are our decision making systems affected in OCD?

Answer 43

OCD is assosiated with faulty decision making systems and faulty brain functions in the frontal lobe (where logic and decisions are) eg in hoarding disorders where people cant make logical decisions to throw rubbish away.

Question 44

Evaluate the genetic explantions for OCD.

Answer 44

1. Twin studies show strong support for genetic explanations. One study showed almost 70% of MZ twins both had OCD compared to around 30% of DZ twins.
   1a. However there is still an environmental influence else the concordence rates for MZ twins wouldve been 100%. Meaning its only a partial explanation.

Question 45

Evaluate the neural explanations for OCD.

Answer 45

2. Antidepressants working on serotonin are proven effective treatments for OCD patients.
   2.a However we know that serotonin isnt unique to OCD, patients may have depression aswell (this is called co-morbidity - having more than one disorder). The serotonin is treating instead that indirectly helps the OCD symptoms too meaning that serotonin may not be relivent to OCD symptoms.

Question 46

What treatments does the biological approach suggest?

Answer 46

SSRI’s that work on increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain by preventing reuptake and causing more serotonin to be picked up by receptors in the brain.

Question 47

What is a typical prescription someone would recieve for OCD?

Answer 47

20mg of fluoxitine, usually it takes about 3-4 months to see the effects.

Question 48

Drug treatments for OCD are often acompanied by what?

Answer 48

CBT, drugs and CBT are the most effective treatment for a lot of disorders. In OCD this helps to relieve the emotional symptoms like depression and anxiety.

Question 49

What research supports the use of SSRI’s?

Answer 49

Studies have shown clear evidence that SSRI’s reduce symptoms. One study compared the results of 17 studies, all showing significantly better results for people on the SSRI’s compared to the placebo group.

Question 50

What is a general evaluation of using drug treatments?

Answer 50

Drugs are cost effective in comparison to long term ongoing therapy, and aren’t interuptive to the persons life style as they dont need to find an hour every week to go to therapy.
However drugs can have serious side effects or no benifits for some people. This can be distressing and reduce peoples quality of life even more and cause them to stop taking them, which can then also have side effects.

Question 51

how do SSRI’s work?

Answer 51

They’re selective seritonin reuptake inhibitors and do exactly that, blocking reuptake of serotonin in the synapse, meaning more serotonin is in the synapse and thus being collected by receptors