Psychopathology Flashcards
What is deviation from social norms?
- If an individual is said to be opposing social norms, we consider them to be behaving in a deviant way.
- In any society there are social norms which are set up by different social groups – moving away from these often results in being considered abnormal.
Examples of deviation from social norms?
- Being rude to your boss.
- Have a sexual relationship with someone of the same sex (historically).
- Running around naked on a football pitch.
What is failure to function adequately?
inability to cope with daily life.
Characteristics include:
- Maladaptive behaviour- this is when individuals behave in ways that are against their long-term interests (i.e: self-harm or unhealthy eating patterns).
- Personal anguish- suffering from anxiety and distress because of their inability to cope.
- Observer discomfort- The person’s behaviour causes distress to the people around them (i.e: poor personal hygiene or not respecting personal space).
- Irrationality and unpredictability- behaviour that is hard to understand and/or seems uncontrolled
Unconventionality- behaviours go against normal expectations.
Marbled pigs often irritate uncle!
What is deviation from ideal mental health?
According to Jahoda (1958) ideal mental health consists of a number of characteristics including the ability to:
- environmental mastery
- autonomy
- self-actualisation
- accurate perception of reality
- positive attitude towards self
- resistance to stress
A SPEAR
What is the Statistical Infrequency?
anything statistically rare as abnormal. low IQ is when someone’s intelligence is two standard deviations from the average. Just 2.28% of the population have low IQ. It is an objective measure of individuals needing support.
Behavioural characteristics of a phobia?
- panic
- avoidance
Emotional characteristics of a phobia?
- anxiety and fear
- disproportionate emotional response to threat posed
Cognitive characteristics of a phobia?
- selective attention to phobic stimulus
- irrational beliefs
Behavioural characteristics of depression?
- low activity levels
- disruption to eating and sleeping behaviour
Emotional characteristics of depression?
- lowered mood
- anger
Cognitive characteristics of depression?
- poor concentration
- absolutist thinking
Behavioural characteristics of OCD?
- compulsions
- avoidance
Emotional characteristics of OCD?
- anxiety
- guilt and disgust
Cognitive characteristics of OCD?
- obsessive thoughts
- awareness that behaviour is irrational
What is the acquisition of phobias in the behavioural approach to explaining phobias?
- Occurs through classical conditioning (e.g being bitten by a dog)
- This fear will then be passed onto other stimuli similar to the conditioned stimuli via generalisation (i.e: fear of spiders generalised to all insects).
What is the maintenance of phobias in the behavioural approach to explaining phobias?
Occurs through operant conditioning where avoiding or escaping from the feared object is a negative reinforcement (the reward being reduction of anxiety). This reinforces the avoidance response (makes it more likely to occur again)
What is systematic desensitisation?
Behavioural approach to treating phobias - step-by-step process to advance through an anxiety hierarchy . Start with least feared situation and work way up to most feared. Taught relaxation techniques at each stage. By doing this they learn a different physiological response to the phobia (counterconditioning).
What is covert desensitisation?
Patient has to imagine phobias stimulus
What is in vivo desensitisation?
stimulus is real and in front of the patient
What is reciprocal inhibition?
the idea that fear and relaxation are opposite emotions and so cannot coexist at the same time.
What is flooding?
Behavioural approach to treating phobias - bombarding the phobic patient with the phobic stimulus without a gradual build up until extinction of fear response occurs
What does it mean if a response is extinguished in flooding?
When the conditioned stimulus (e.g dog) is encountered without the unconditioned stimulus (e.g being bitten)
What is Beck’s explanation of depression in the cognitive approach to explaining depression? (EXPLANATION 1)
Identified three mechanisms that he thought were responsible for depression:
- Negative Triad
- Negative self-schemas
- Faulty information processing
What is the negative triad in the cognitive approach to explaining depression?
Depression develops because an individual develops negative automatic thoughts about three key aspects of their life: self, world, future
