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psychopathology Flashcards

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1
Q

why is it difficult to define abnormality ?

A

as abnormal behaviour is a subjective judgement
- as it based on a persons opinion

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2
Q

what can a behaviour that is describes as statistical infrequent be defined as ?

A

abnormal

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3
Q

when is something considered normal ?

A

when the behaviour occurs frequently
- most ppl behaviour this way

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4
Q

when is something considered abnormal ?

A

when the behaviour occurs infrequently
- not many people do it

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5
Q

when is a behaviour statistically infrequent ?

A

if it deviates from the statistical mean

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6
Q

what is a strength of statistical infrequency ?

A

has real life application in diagnosing mental illness

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7
Q

what are 2 weaknesses of statistical infrequency ?

A
  • doesn’t distinguish between ‘good’ or ‘bad’ abnormality
  • not everyone benefits from being labelled ‘below average’
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8
Q

what is social norm ?

A

society has certain standards and expectations about the behaviour most people adhere to

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9
Q

what 2 things can social norms refer to ?

A

etiquette
moral norms

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10
Q

what is deviating from social norms ?

A

when a person behaves differently from what society expects and this viewed as abnormal

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11
Q

does social norms vary from culture to culture ?

A

yes as the collective judgement on what is acceptable to society is different amongst each culture
- very few behaviours are universally abnormal

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12
Q

can social norms change overtime ?

A

yes
eg) sexuality

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13
Q

what can deviation from social norms describe ?

A

the symptoms of a person suffering with anti-social personality disorder

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14
Q

why is an example of psychopaths not following social norms ?

A

failure to conform to lawful or ethical behaviours

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15
Q

what are the strengths of deviation from social norms ?

A
  • real life application to diagnosing mental illness eg) psychopath
  • definition also takes into account the desirability of the behaviour
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16
Q

what are the weaknesses of deviation from social norms ?

A

-the definition misses out important features of what makes a person abnormal
- a major problem is the cultural relativism and how each culture is different

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17
Q

what is failure to function ?

A

when a person can no longer cope with everyday life they may be said to not be functioning adequately

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18
Q

what are the 3 signs Martin and Seligman (1989) proposed if a person by may failing to function adequately ?

A

1- no longer conforms to interpersonal rules
2- experience personal distress
3- become irrational or dangerous to self or others

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19
Q

what other definition would you use with failure to function to diagnose abnormality ?

A

the statistical infrequency definition

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20
Q

what is a strength of failure to function definition ?

A

it acknowledges the opinions of other patients

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21
Q

what is a weakness of failure to function definition ?

A
  • definition is easily confused with deviation to social norms
  • major problem is subjective judgments are needed
  • doesn’t include if someone functions adequately but has a mental illness like depression
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22
Q

what is deviation from ideal mental health ?

A

takes a different approach
- it looks at what makes an ‘ideally mentally healthy person’
- and if deviates from it is considered abnormal

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23
Q

what did Marie Jahoda (1958) suggest about a mentally healthy person criteria involve ?

A
  • positive attitude toward self
  • self- actualisation
  • autonomy
  • resistance to stress
  • environmental mastery
  • accurate perception of reality
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24
Q

what is a positive attitude towards the self ?

A

high self-esteem and strong sense of identity and don’t feel guilty all the time

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25
Q

what is self-actualisation ?

A

develop to full abilities and reach your full potentials

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26
Q

what is autonomy ?

A

being independent and not relying on others

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27
Q

what is integration (resistance to stress) ?

A

being able to cope and adapt in stressful situations

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28
Q

what is environmental mastery ?

A

ability to love and function in general real world and successfully work, love and enjoy free time

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29
Q

what is accurate perception of reality ?

A

being realistic about the world

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30
Q

what is a strength of deviation from ideal mental health ?

A

very detailed criteria that covers most aspects of mental health that individuals may seek help from a mental health service

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31
Q

what are the weakness for the deviation from ideal mental health ?

A
  • some of the criteria is based on western ideals
  • it sets very high standards for what ideal mental health is
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32
Q

what are the 3 most common mental disorders ?

A

depression
OCD
phobias

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33
Q

what are the 3 different characteristics mental disorders have ?

A

behavioural
emotional
cognitive

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34
Q

what are behavioural characteristics ?

A

the way a person acts

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35
Q

what are the emotional characteristics ?

A

the way a person feels

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36
Q

what are the cognitive characteristics ?

A

the way a person thinks

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37
Q

what are phobias ?

A

when a fear becomes a phobia it is when an object or situation negatively affects a persons everyday life

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38
Q

what belongs in the same category of anxiety disorders ?

A

phobias

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39
Q

what are the 3 behavioural characteristics of phobias ?

A

panic
endurance
avoidance

P.E.A

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40
Q

what are the 3 emotional characteristics of phobias ?

A

excessive and unreasonable emotional responses
anxiety
triggered

E.A.T

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41
Q

what are the 3 cognitive characteristics of phobias ?

A

attention is selective
irrational beliefs
distortions in thinking

A.I.D

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42
Q

what are the 3 most common phobia disorders categories ?

A

agoraphobia
social phobia
specific phobia

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43
Q

what is agoraphobia ?

A

intense fear of leaving the home, in crowded spaces, public transports
- don’t like being in places where it is difficult to leave

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44
Q

what is social phobia ?

A

fear of social reaction with others, talking to other or drinking, eating, speaking in public

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45
Q

what is depression ?

A

a mood disorder which is a mental illness characterised by low moods and low levels of energy

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46
Q

what symptoms do u need to have for at least 2 weeks to be diagnosed with depression ?

A
  • weight loss or weight gain
  • in this everyday
  • reduction of movement
  • fatigue/ loss of energy
  • worthlessness/ guilt
  • cant concentrate/ indecisive
  • thoughts of death
  • diminished interest or pressure
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47
Q

what are the 3 behavioural characteristics of depression ?

A
  • levels of activity change
  • aggression and self harm
  • disruption to normal sleeping and eating

L.A.D

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48
Q

what are the 3 emotional characteristics of depression ?

A
  • self esteem is low
  • anger
  • mood is low

S.A.M

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49
Q

what are the 3 cognitive characteristics of depression ?

A
  • concentration is poor
  • attention to negatives
  • negative thinking

C.A.N

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50
Q

what is OCD ?

A

serious anxiety related disorder where a person experiences frequent intrusive and unwelcome obsessional thoughts
- often followed by repetitive compulsions, impulses or urges

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51
Q

what symptoms do you need to show to be diagnosed with OCD ?

A
  • presence of obsession, compulsions or both
  • becomes time consuming
  • disturbance not better explained by another mental illness
  • not attribute to the psychological effects of a substance or other medical condition
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52
Q

what are the 3 behavioural characteristics of OCD ?

A
  • compulsions are repetitive
  • avoid situations
  • reduce anxiety
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53
Q

what are the 3 emotional characteristics of OCD ?

A
  • anxiety and distress
  • depression
  • disgust and guilt
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54
Q

what are the 3 cognitive characteristics of OCD ?

A
  • obsessive thoughts
  • cognitive coping strategies
  • deluded about their anxiety
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55
Q

what does the behavioural approach propose ?

A

that phobias are learned
- so suggests we can unlearn a phobia

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56
Q

who created the 2 process theory ?

A

Mower 1960

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57
Q

what is the 2 process theory in the behavioural approach ?

A

1) phobias are learned in the first place by classical conditioning
2) phobias are continued/ maintained through operant conditioning

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58
Q

how can a phobia be learned ?

A

when a NS becomes associated w a fearful UCR that this overtime becomes the CS is associated w a fearful CR

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59
Q

how are phobias maintained ?

A

as it reinforced
- avoidance of the thing is negative reinforcement

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60
Q

what are the strength to the 2 way process of the behavioural approach ?

A
  • can be applied in everyday life to help ppl overcome a phobia
  • good explanatory power
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61
Q

what are the weaknesses to the 2 way process of the behavioural approach ?

A
  • cant explain why we have phobias of things we have never bad a bad experience with
  • is conditional alone can’t explain how we acquire phobia
62
Q

what are the 2 behavioural treatments ?

A
  • systematic desensitisations
  • flooding
63
Q

what is systematic desensitisation ?

A

therapy which is designed to gradually reduce phobic anxiety to a stimulus using the principles of classical conditioning

64
Q

what is the idea of systematic desensitisation ?

A

if a patient can learn to relax when faces with their phobic stimulus they they will be cured

65
Q

what response is learn in systematic desenstisation ?

A

to be relaxed
- not fearful or anxious

66
Q

what is counter conditioning ?

A

learning a different or new response

67
Q

what is reciprocal inhibition ?

A

when one emotion cancels the other one out
- impossible to experience opposite emotions at the same time

68
Q

what are the 3 process involved in systematic desensitisation ?

A
  • the anxiety hierarchy
  • relaxation
  • exposure
69
Q

what is the anxiety hierarchy in systematic desensitisation ?

A

is a hierarchy of situations from least to most feared for the phobic stimulus
- put together by the patients and therapist

70
Q

what is relaxation in systematic desensitisation ?

A

where the therapist teaches the patient to relax as much as possible
- can include breathing exercises, meditation and imaging themselves in relaxed sitautions

71
Q

what is exposure in systematic desensitisation

A

the patient is exposed the phobic stimulus
- takes several sessions which are about 45 mins
- start at bottom of hierarchy and then when feel totally relaxed move to next step

72
Q

what are 2 strengths of systematic desensitisation ?

A
  • is a effective treatment
  • is the preferred therapy when patients are given options
73
Q

what are 2 weakness of systematic desensitisation ?

A
  • might only be effect for certain phobias
  • can be very time consuming
74
Q

what does flooding involve ?

A

the patient is being exposed to the phobic stimulus very quickly without a gradual build up
- immediate exposure

75
Q

what is the theory of flooding ?

A

that the patient got the option of avoidance behaviour
- but they then learn the phobic stimulus isn’t harmless very stimulus

76
Q

why does the patient often have no choice to relax during flooding therapy ?

A

as they are so exhaust after their initial reaction
-so they become worn out so no choice but to relax

77
Q

why do the patients of flooding have to give full consent ?

A

as it is a traumatic procedure

78
Q

what is the strength of flooding ?

A

it is cost effective

79
Q

what are the 2 weaknesses of flooding ?

A
  • not as effective of some phobias
  • highly traumatic experience to patients
80
Q

what is a catastrophic belief in flooding ?

A

the worst fear

81
Q

why do patients of flooding need to experience the phobic stimulus directly ?

A

so they can feel the emotions

82
Q

what are signs of success of flooding ?

A

cognitive= accepting to take in the positive info
- confidence increased
- happy to go in the situation

83
Q

what does the cognitive approach propose about what depression involves ?

A

that is involves negative thinking

84
Q

what does the cognitve approach propose about the way to treat depression ?

A

if we can change are negative thinking them we can treat depression

85
Q

what are the 2 cognitive explanations of depression ?

A
  • Beck’s cognitive theory
  • Ellis’ ABC model
86
Q

what did Beck’s theory suggest ?

A

people are more vulnerable to depression because of the way they think
- that negative thoughts lead to depression

87
Q

what idea did Beck’s build on and what was created ?

A
  • maladaptive responses
  • suggested that people with depression become trapped in a cycle of negative thoughts
88
Q

What are the 3 processes created by Beck’s about the cycle of negative thoughts ?

A
  • faulty information processing
  • negative self schema
  • the negative triad
89
Q

what is faulty information processing ?

A
  • only paying attention to the negative aspects of a situation and ignoring the positives
  • blow small situations out of proportion
90
Q

what is a negative self schema ?

A
  • schemas is the ideas we have on the world
  • and if u have depression you have a negative- self schema
  • so view themselves negatively
91
Q

what is the negative triad ?

A

developing a negative view on themselves due to 3 different elements

92
Q

what are the 3 different elements of the negative triad ?

A
  • world
  • ourselves
  • future
    negative thoughts on these aspects
93
Q

what is a strength to Beck’s theory ?

A

has supporting evidence by Grazioli and Terry (2009)

94
Q

what are 2 weakness to Beck’s theory ?

A
  • can’t explain all types of depression
  • what comes first the negative thoughts w depression or cause
95
Q

what is Ellis’ ABC model built upon ?

A

the work of Beck’s

96
Q

what does Ellis’ ABC model suggest ?

A

that good mental health occurs when a person has rational thoughts

97
Q

what does Ellis’ suggest depression occurs from ?

A

irrational thoughts

98
Q

how does Ellis’ define irrational thoughts ?

A

‘any thoughts that interfere with us being happy or pain free’

99
Q

what can cause irrational thinking ?

A

if beliefs are subject to cognitive bias and this may occur to produce undesirable behaviours

100
Q

what are the 3 sections Ellis’ suggests in her model ?

A
  • an activating event
  • an individuals beliefs
  • a consequence
101
Q

what is a strength to Ellis’ ABC method ?

A

can explain reactive depression

102
Q

what is a negative to Ellis’ ABC model ?

A

it can’t explain all types of depression

103
Q

what is an overall strength to the cognitve approach to depression ?

A

practical applications of both explanations

104
Q

what is an overall weakness to the cognitve approach to depression ?

A

argument that they may have ethical issues

105
Q

what is CBT ?

A

it is based on cognitive and behavioural techniques
cognitve element =
challenging the patients thinking
behavioural= attempts to change the patients behaviour

106
Q

what does CBT involve ?

A

-meeting with a therapist for 5-20 session
- 30 mins to an hour long

107
Q

what are the 4 steps involved in CBT ?

A

step 1= assessment by therapist to identify the problem
step 2= identify the goals
step 3= change the thoughts
step 4= put positive behaviours in place of negative

108
Q

what happens in CBT when it is influenced by Beck’s (cognitive triad) ?

A

challenging the negative thoughts
- establish a baseline to monitor the process
- asked how they perceive the future, themselves, world
-process of reality testing ( make them think of smth they were successful in)
- then give them smth to do to demonstrate the success
- made aware of negative thought and challenges them to replace them to optimistic

109
Q

what happens in CBT when influenced by Ellis’ 9 rational emotive behaviour theory ?

A
  • ABC model but extended to ABCDE
    D= dispute (challenge thoughts)
    E= effect ( better thoughts)
  • so want to identify and dispute the patients thoughts
  • believe that when upset it isn’t cause of events it is beliefs we hold on the situation
  • this challenges the client thoughts and replaces them with more reasonable realistic ones
110
Q

what are the 3 disputes in REBT to challenge the patients thoughts ?

A

-empirical
-logical
-pragmatic

111
Q

what is empirical disputing ?

A

is the demand consistent or reality ?

112
Q

what is logical disuputing ?

A

does it logically flow that you can base your whole self upon part of yourself ?

113
Q

what is pragmatic disputing ?

A

what are the consequences of this negative belief ?

114
Q

what is behavioural activation ?

A
  • encouraging a depressed patient to be more active and take part in enjoyable activities
115
Q

why do therapist use behavioural activation ?

A

more evidence for the irrational nature of beliefs

116
Q

what is a strength to CBT ?

A

effective treatment for depression ?

117
Q

what are the 2 weakness for CBT ?

A
  • doesn’t work for most severe cases
  • success can be influenced by therapist-patient relationship
118
Q

what does the biological approach of OCD involve ?

A

genetic and neural explanations

119
Q

what does the biological approach of OCD suggest about treating it ?

A

that there should be a biological basis

120
Q

what is the role of genetics in the biological approach for OCD ?

A

genes are suggested to be involved in OCD
- where a person inherits a predisposition to suffer from OCD

121
Q

what makes a child more vulnerable to getting OCD ?

A

if a parent suffers from it

122
Q

what is the diathesis- stress model ?

A

that a person is more susceptible to a disorder if it ‘runs in the fmaily’

123
Q

what did Lewis (1936) discover about role of genetics ?

A

that 37% of his patients w OCD had parents that suffered
21% of his patients w OCD had sibling that suffered

124
Q

what is candidate genes ?

A

individuals that carry a gene that makes them more likely to develop OCD

125
Q

what is an example of 1 gene that allows a patient to more likely develop OCD ?

A

5HT1-D beta
- helps the efficiency of transporting serotonin across the synapse and regulating it

126
Q

what can low levels of serotonin lead too ?

A

increased anxiety
- then can display OCD behaviours to help deal w the increased anxiety

127
Q

what does it mean by OCD is polygenic ?

A

that OCD is caused by more than 1 gene

128
Q

what did Taylor (2013) discover about OCD being polygenic ?

A

that there is up to 230 genes that may implicate OCD

129
Q

what does the different genes in OCD affect ?

A

the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine

130
Q

what can cause different types of OCD ?

A

the different genetic genes

131
Q

what is aetiologically heterogeneous ?

A

origin of OCD has different causes
- 1 group of genes may cause OCD in 1 person but a different group of genes may cause OCD in another person

132
Q

what is a strength to the genetic explanation ?

A
  • has supporting evidence by Nestadt et al (2009)
133
Q

what are the 2 weaknesses of the genetic explanation ?

A
  • too many candidate genes
  • diathesis stress model shows that the environment plays an important role
134
Q

what are the 3 different neural explanation to OCD ?

A

genes affecting neurotransmitters levels=
- serotonin levels
- abnormal brain functioning and structure
- Para hippocampal gyrus not working correctly

135
Q

what is serotonin ?

A

a neurotransmitter that helps to regulate mood and anxiety

136
Q

how does abnormal structure and functioning of the brain cause OCD ?

A

as it can be caused my impaired decision making

137
Q

what part of the brain is involved in decision making and logical thinking ?

A

the lateral frontal lobes in the brain

138
Q

what does the para hippocampal gyrus do ?

A

process pleasant emotions

139
Q

what happens if the para hippocampal gyrus doesn’t work ?

A

if it cant process emotions then it may lead to OCD

140
Q

what shows up on ppls w pet scans if they have OCD ?

A

areas of abnormality within the brain

141
Q

what does the orbitofrontal cortex do ?

A

sends signals to the thalamus about ‘potential’ worries and the suppresses it by the caudate nucleus

142
Q

what happens if the caudate nucleus is damaged ?

A

then the worries aren’t supressed
- creates a ‘worry current’ which leads to OCD

143
Q

what is a strength to the neural explanation ?

A
  • supporting evidence about anti depressants
144
Q

what are the 2 weaknesses of the neural explanation ?

A
  • not entirely clear which brain systems play a role in OCD
  • evidence is a correlational one
145
Q

what is the biological treatment to OCD ?

A

drug therapy

146
Q

what is drug therapy ?

A

the biological approach that suggest that low levels of neurotransmitters are the cause of OCD

147
Q

what are SSRIs ?

A

an anti-depressant
- it works on the serotonin system in the brain

148
Q

why is SSRIs used ?

A
  • as serotonin is released by certain neurons in the brain
  • the serotonin neurotransmitter is released into the synaptic cleft
  • not all will bind to the receptor sites on the post-synaptic neuron
  • normally these will then be reabsorbed to be re-used for next time
  • but that isn’t always the case
149
Q

what does SSRIs do ?

A

work by blocking the absorption of
- so the synapse remains flooded w it that continues to stimulate the post-synaptic neuron
- this causes an illusion of increased serotonin

150
Q

what is the alternative of SSRIS ?

A

SNRIs
- which realise noradrenaline and adrenaline

151
Q

what are 2 strengths of drug therapy ?

A
  • supporting research evidence by Soomro (2009)
  • it is cheap to use
152
Q

what are the 3 weaknesses of using drug therapy ?

A
  • evidence can be misleading from drug therapy
  • serious side affects
  • high relapse rate

psychology (13 decks)

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