Psychopathology Flashcards
deviation from social norms
-straying away from what society deems as normal
-deviant behaviour –> that which is considered anti social or undesirable by the majority of society
-The standards of acceptable behaviour are set by the social group and are adhered to by group members
-violation of unwritten social class
e.g anti social behaviour
strengths of deviation from social norms
Real life application in diagnosis of ASD –> According to DSM-5 one important symptom of ASD is absence of prosocial internal standards
helps society –> Adhering to social norms means that society is ordered and predictable. This is argued to be advantageous.
Limitations of deviation from social norms
-Not a sole explanation –> other factors that contribute to deviation of social norms / abnormality
-Cultural relativism –> social norms vary between communities e.g hearing voices is normal in some cultures but is abnormal in the UK and would be classed as mental illness
-Can lead to systematic abuse of human rights
-lacks temporal validity
statistical infrequency
-A person’s trait, thinking or behaviour is classified as abnormal if its rare of statistically unusual
e.g IQ –> less than 2.2% of the population have an IQ lover than 70 (statistically rare)
strengths of statistical infrequency
-Real life application in diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder –> statistical infrequency is a useful part of clinical assessment
-doctors can very quickly and easily determine abnormality
-definition is more objective than other explanations for abnormality
Limitations of statistical infrequency
-Unusual characteristics can be positive –> IQ scores above 130 can be seen as superintelligent rather than abnormal even though both 70 and 130 is unusual and statistically infrequent. Cannot be used alone to make a diagnosis
-Be labelled is not a benefit –> Labelling may have a negative way on the way the person and other’s perceive themselves
Deviation from ideal mental health
-Occurs when someone does not meet set criteria for good mental health
-Mental illness can be diagnosed the same as physical health
e.g bipolar disorder
Marie Jahoda suggested that one has ideal mental health if they…..
-self actualize
-are rational
-can perceive themselves naturally
-can cope with stress
-are independent of other people
strengths of deviation from mental health
-Comprehensive definition –> covers a broad range of criteria
-This definition focuses on what is helpful and desirable for the individual, rather than the other way round
-A strength is that this definition allows for an individual who is struggling to have targeted intervention if their behaviour is not ‘normal’. For example, their distorted thinking could be addressed to help their behaviour become normal, as if their thinking is biased then their behaviour will be too.
Limitations of deviation from mental health
-Cultural relativism –> Jahoda’s classification of ideal mental health are specific to Western and American cultures (individualistic cultures)
-Unrealistically high standard for mental health
-Jahoda’s criteria is difficult to measure objectivity and is overdemanding
Failure to function adequately
-Abnormal behaviour is when an individual is not able to cope with everyday life. It acknowledges that people may act differently but if they have a basic inability to manage in everyday life their behaviour is abnormal
David Rosehan and Martin Seligman determined signs when someone is not coping
-irrationality –> behaviours are aggressive or hard to understand
-personal distress –> depression and anxiety disorders
-violation of moral standards –> goes against societies moral standards
-no longer conform to rules
strengths of failure to function adequately
-Patients perspective –> includes subjective experience of the individual. Useful criteria
-easy to observe and measure so can be diagnosed
Limitations of failure to function adequately
-Deterministic
-Subjective
-not all maldaptive behaviour is a sign of mental disorder
-people may still suffer with mental disorder but can cope well with everyday life
-issues of individual differences
define a phobia
anxiety disorder which interferes with daily living, It Is an instance of irrational fear that produces a conscious avoidance of the feared object or situation
-2% in UK have diagnosis of phobia according to DSM-5
-marked and persistent fear of a specific object or situation for more than 6 months
characteristics of a phobia
emotional, behavioural, cognitive
-persistent fear of phobic stimulus
-irrational beliefs about the phobic stimulus
-avoidance of the phobic stimulus
-ONLY ONE SPECIFIC STIMULUS
emotional reponse to phobias
-anxiety disorder –> unpleasant state of high arousal
-unreasonable emotions –> response is irrational
-fear and irrationality
behavioural response to phobias
-panic –> the patient suffers from heightened physiological arousal upon exposure to the phobic stimulus, caused by the hypothalamus triggering increased levels of activity in the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system.
-avoidance –> avoidance behaviour is negatively reinforced (in classical conditioning terms) because it is carried out to avoid the unpleasant consequence of exposure to the phobic stimulus. Therefore, avoidance severely impacts the patient’s ability to continue with their day to day lives.
-endurance –> this occurs when the patient remains exposed to the phobic stimulus for an extended period of time, but also experiences heightened levels of anxiety during this time
cognitive characteristics of a phobia
-selective attention to phobic stimulus –> this means that the patient remains focused on the phobic stimulus, even when it is causing them severe anxiety. This may be the result of irrational beliefs or cognitive distortions.
-irrational beliefs –> this may be the cause of unreasonable responses of anxiety towards the phobic stimulus, due to the patient’s incorrect perception as to what the danger posed actually is.
-cognitive distortion –> the patient does not perceive the phobic stimulus accurately. Therefore, it may often appear grossly distorted or irrational e.g. mycophobia (a phobia of mushrooms) and rectaphobia (a phobia of bottoms).
3 categories of phobias
specific, social, agoraphobia
specific phobias
-most common
-sufferers are anxious in the presence of a particular stimulus
social phobia
-sufferers experience inappropriate anxiety in social situations. Even just thinking about them can cause anxiety. This leads to avoidance
-usually starts in adolescence with no trigger
agoraphobia
-least common
-sufferers are anxious in a situation they cant easily leave e.g crowds
-They are avoidant and anxious
-most cases begin in early/mid 20s and can happen without warning
assumptions (behavioural)
-only behaviour is important
-abnormal behaviour is learned by social events or through conditioning
-environment can reinforce maladaptive behaviour
-tabula rassa
-classical and operant conditioning
two model process
-Hobart Mowrer
-states that phobias are acquired by classical conditioning (association) and maintained due to operant conditioning (negative reinforcement)
acquisition by classical conditioning
-Watson and Rayner
-association of a fearful event with a certain stimulus elicits phobic response
-NS becomes conditioned
-Little Albert
maintenance by operant conditioning
-behaviour is reinforced or punished
-negative reinforcement occurs in phobias
-whenever we avoid the phobic stimulus we are successful in escape of fear and anxiety
Little Albert - Watson and Rayner
Aim –> to see if we form and association/fear that riggers a response
Procedure:
-Waston and Rayner created a phobia in a 9 month old baby
-NS = rat
-UCS = loud noise
-UCR = fear of noise
-CS = rat
-CR = fear of rat
Results:
-albert had a phobia of the white rat due to association of a loud, frightening noise
Conclusion:
-stimulus generalization
strengths - behavioural approach to phobias
-Good explanatory power –> 2 process model = important implication for therapies = real life application
-Research support –> Little Albert study = valid and credible explanation
-Treatment (practical application) –> systematic desensitzation and flooding = reliability
limitations - behavioural approach to phobias
-Alternative explanation for avoidant behaviour –> not all phobias result from anxiety and may be due to feeling of saftey etc
-An incomplete explanation of phobia –> only relevant to social phobia
-Doesn’t take biological/innate phobias into account –> e.g fear of snakes (ophidiophobia)
systematic desensitastion
-Systematic desensitisation is based upon the principle of classical conditioning. It involves a counter-conditioning procedure whereby a fear response to an object or situation is replaced with a relaxation response in a series of progressively increasing fear-arousing steps –> Wolpe (1958) - cannot experience fear and relaxation at same time
steps for systematic desensitisation
Anxiety hierarchy –> relaxation —> exposure
anxiety heirachy
-constructed by the patient as therapist
-this is a stepped approach to getting the person to face the object or situation of their phobia from least to most frightening
relaxation
-the therapist teaches the patient to relax as deeply as possible e.g breathing exercises of mental imagery techniques, meditation or drugs such as valium
-reciprocal inhibition
exposure
-finally the patient is exposed to phobic stimulus while in a relaxed state.
-this takes place across several sessions starting at the bottom of the anxiety heriachy
-treatment is successful when the patient can stay relaxed
relaxation
-At each stage of systematic desensitization a relaxation technique is used
flooding
-stops phobic responses more quickly and more effectively
-Involves overwhelming the individuals senses with the item of simulation that causes anxiety till that person realises no harm will occur
-No relaxation or step by step build up. Individual is exposed repeatedly and in an intensive way.
-patients must give informed consent before continuing with this treatment
extinction
Extinction –> when patient learns quickly that the phobic stimulus is harmless
Similarities of flooding and SD
-Direct expose to phobic stimulus
-get to process of extinction
-done in controlled settings
-based on principle of behaviourist approach
Differences between flooding and SD
-flooding is faster and more effective than SD
-flooding doesn’t involve relaxation techniques
-flooding has higher attrition (drop out) rate
evaluating therapies
When evaluation therapies we always want to consider their effectiveness and appropriateness
-appropriateness –> right for persons situation
-effectiveness –> how well it works
strengths of systematic desensitization
-+ Supporting evidence = Gilroy et al. followed up 42 patients treated in three sessions of systematic desensitisation for a spider phobia. Their progress was compared to a control group of 50 patients who learnt only relaxation techniques. The extent of such phobias was measured using the Spider Questionnaire and through observation. At both 3 and 33 months, the systematic desensitisation group showed a reduction in their symptoms as compared to the control group, and so has been used as evidence supporting the effectiveness of flooding.
+ Systematic desensitisation is suitable for many patients, including those with learning difficulties = Anxiety disorders are often accompanied with learning disabilities meaning that such patients may not be able to make the full cognitive commitment associated with cognitive behavioural therapy, or have the ability to evaluate their own thoughts. Therefore, systematic desensitisation would be a particularly suitable alternative for them.
+ More acceptable to patients, as shown by low refusal and attrition rates. = This idea also has economical implications because it increases the likelihood that the patient will agree to start and continue with the therapy, as opposed to getting ‘cold feet’ and wasting the time and effort of the therapist!
