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psychopathology Flashcards

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1
Q

phobias

A

anxiety disorders characterised by extreme irrational fears

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2
Q

clinical characteristics of phobias

A

behavioural characteristics: avoidant/anxiety response

emotional characteristics: persistent excessive fear

cognitive characteristics: recognition of exaggerated anxiety

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3
Q

behavioural approach of phobias: 2 step acquisition of a phobia

A

classical conditioning - creates phobia
operant conditioning - maintains phobia

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4
Q

study to support behavioural explanation of phobias

A

watson and rayner: little albert
- exposed to white rat (neutral stimuli), produced no response
- when paired with a loud bang (unconditioned stimuli), produces unconditioned response of fear
- through several repeats, little albert made the association between the rat (conditioned stimulus) and fear (conditioned response)
- now when presented with a rat, albert avoids it (maintaining phobia through operant conditioning)

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5
Q

evaluation of behavioural approach study

A
  • only one ptp so findings cannot be generalised to others (low external validity)
  • albert’s final test was at 12 months, but fears emerge naturally over time in infants, so maturation could account for albert’s reactions
  • albert’s reactions were inconsistent: showed little distress to rat in later tests, suggesting conditioning wasn’t very effective or durable
  • no informed consent from albert’s parents
  • deliberate psychological harm on little albert: unethical
  • watson and rayner didn’t attempt to decondtion or desensitise albert to the fear response, so they didn’t remove the psychological trauma they had induced
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6
Q

behavioural treatment of phobias

A

systematic desensitisation: based on classical conditioning, taught relaxation which leads to reciprocal inhibition

flooding: fear is taken to the worst case, either imagined or real until client can no longer feel fear due to exhaustion

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7
Q

evaluation of treatment of phobias

A

systematic desensitisation:
- mainly suitable for patients that are able to learn and use relaxation strategies
- if used in imaginary sense, no guarantee it will work irl
- only really works on simple phobias, not effective on social phobias

flooding:
- ethical issues surrounding psychological harm
- not suitable for patients in bad health, risk of heart attacks

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8
Q

clinical characteristics of depression

A

behavioural: loss of energy, social impairment, weight change, poor personal hygiene
emotional: loss of enthusiasm, constant sad mood, feeling of worthlessness
cognitive: unipolar - delusions thoughts of death, poor memory

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9
Q

cognitive explanation/ approach to depression

A
  • becks negative triad: negative views about the world, the future and the self. negative schemas + cognitive bias = maintain negative triad
  • cognitive biases: doesn’t explain why it happens.
  • ellis’ abc model: activating event, beliefs, consequences. depressives mistakenly blame external events for their unhappiness. however, its their interpretation of these events that is to blame for their distress
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10
Q

cognitive biases

A
  • arbitrary inference: thinking everything is your fault
  • selective abstraction: only remembering the negatives
  • overgeneralisation: making everything a big deal
  • magnification and minimisation: everything bad is a big deal, everything good isn’t a big deal
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11
Q

studies to support cognitive model/explanation of depression + evaluation

A

saisto et al:
- studied expectant mothers and found that those that didn’t adjust to personal goals to match specific demands to the transition to motherhood, and indulged in negative thinking had increased depression
- sample = biases as its only mothers and children

tony and glazioli:
- assessed 65 pregnant women for vulnerability before and after birth.
- women with high vulnerability had post-natal depression cognitions that developed before pregnancy. shows how negative triad increases likelihood of depression
- doesn’t support ellis’ abc model as it states that an activating event triggers the depression. however, no negative event has occurred to the pregnant women so it’s a chemical imbalance that leads to depressive thoughts

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12
Q

more evaluation of the cognitive approach to treating depression

A
  • acknowledges other aspects of depression including genetics: acknowledges brain’s set capacity, but also that it can be affected by surroundings you’re in (nature/nurture)
  • this approach has less success in treating bipolar depression: won’t stop hallucinations. telling people that something isn’t there won’t make it go away
  • not all depressives have a distorted view of their own abilities: you are assuming they believe their abilities are less of what they are -> not all people who suffer with depression suffer from this
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13
Q

cognitive behavioural treatment of depression

A

beck’s cognitive behaviour therapy:
- identification of irrational thoughts/negative triad
- ‘patient as scientist’: generate hypothesis to test validity of irrational thoughts
- reinforcement of positive thoughts
- cognitive restructuring

ellis’ rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT):
- ABCDE model
- D = disputing
- E = effect
- central idea is to identify irrational thoughts and dispute them through vigorous argument
- change negative belief and break the link between the event and depression
- 3 types of dispute: pragmatic, empirical, logical

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14
Q

research to support CBT

A

Lincoln et al:
- used questionnaire on stroke victims who developed clinical depression
- 19 patients were given CBT for 4 months
- found that patients reported a reduction in symptoms, supports idea that cbt reduces symptoms of depression
- however, study used self reports, which means ptps could have been affected by social desirability effects and not reported the truth.
- yet, study is a naturally occuring phenomena and therefore is more internally valid in its approach to researching depression

embling:
- used opportunity sample of 38 patients aged 19-65 suffering depression
- group of 19 patients were used as a control group who took antidepressants and had no cbt
- dv = to record dysfunctional thought record to record mood changes on a scale of 1-100 to rate emotions like anger and anxiety
- beck’s depression inventory 2 was used to assess both groups depression levels as the dv aswell
- treatment group expressed more negative emotions by the end of the treatment, which shows success of cbt as they could express themselves
- conclusions: depressed patients are less likely to readily express negative emotions
- evaluation: lack of depressed emotions may be a casual factor rather than an effect of depression. improvement of the treatment group may be the fact they were seen more than the control group and for longer time than control group

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15
Q

evaluation of treatment of cbt

A
  • cognitive approach puts burden of responsibility on the person to change thinking
  • what if some of the person’s ‘irrational’ beliefs are true
  • cbt is as effective as drug treatment in depression, without the side effects
  • only works if client truly gets involved and follows through the whole treatment
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16
Q

clinical characteristics of ocd

A

behavioural: repetitive actions that hinder everyday function
emotional: distress
cognitive: uncontrollable urges, recognition that the compulsions are inappropriate

17
Q

genetic explanation to OCD

A

idea that ocd is genetically passed on in our DNA and you inherit a vulnerability to developing the disorder if members of your biological family have OCD

18
Q

neural explanation to OCD

A

some forms of OCD have been linked to breakdowns in immune system functioning through contracting infections like Lyme’s disease and the flu

19
Q

other neural explanations to OCD

A
  • candidate gene: creates vulnerability for OCD
  • OCD is polygenic: not caused by one gene. taylor 2013 found that 230 genes involved in OCD
  • different types of OCD: 1 group of genes may cause OCD in one person but not another
20
Q

evaluation of biological approach to OCD

A
  • lewis 1936: observed his OCD patients, 37% had parents with OCD, 21% siblings with OCD. suggests OCD runs in family
  • nestadt et al: reviewed previous twin studies, found that 68% of monozygotic twins shared OCD as opposed to 31% of dizygotic twins. suggests genetics influence OCD
  • twin study never showed 100% concordance in M2 twins, meaning OCD isn’t completely genetic
  • several genes involved, genetic explanation = unlikely.
  • little predictive value
21
Q

biological treatment of OCD

A

drug therapy:
- SSRIs
- stops pre-synaptic neurone reabsorbing seratonin.
- can be paired with cbt
- snris increase levels of seratonin
- julien 2007: reported that studies of SSRIs show that although symptoms don’t fully disappear, between 50-80% of OCD improve = normal lifestyle

22
Q

evaluation of drug/biological therapy

A
  • SSRIs become addictive as they’ll think it’s not working and take more drugs
  • drug therapy effective at tackling symptoms (julien)
  • can have side effects to drugs: weight gain, dry mouth etc
  • unreliable evidence for drug treatments: if drug companies sponsor research, they may supress results that don’t support the drug they’re marketing
  • drugs may not be appropriate for all types of OCD (following trauma). this should be treated different;y and drugs may not be appropriate
  • cost effective, non disruptive to lives
23
Q

4 definitions of abnormality

A
  • deviation from social norms
  • statistical infrequency
  • failure to function adequately
  • deviation from ideal mental health
24
Q

deviation from social norms

A
  • society has unwritten rules, when people violate these unwritten rules and deviate from the social norm, it could indicate a mental illness
  • this definition identifies what is acceptable/normal in a culture
25
Q

limitations of deviation from social norms

A
  • social norms change over time:
    -> homosexuality classified as a mental disorder in 1973 version of DSM
    -> unmarried women in the uk who fell pregnant in the early 20th century were often interned at mental institutes
  • cultural relativism:
    -> diagnosis of mental disorders are classified in different ways in different cultures
    -> e.g someone who hears voices in africa is seen as socially accepted as they’re talking to the Gods, whereas in the US, they would be seen to have schizophrenia. means its more likely to misdiagnose someone with an abnormality
  • social control:
    -> szasz 1974 claimed that the concept of mental illness was simply a way to exclude non conformists from society
26
Q

limitations of deviation from social norms

A
  • situational norms to be taken into account:
    -> e.g its okay to wear a bikini at the beach but not in a shop
  • developmental norms to be taken into account:
    -> young children are allowed to cry and scream in public. for adults it’s seen as a disorder
27
Q

statistical infrequency

A
  • idea that behaviours that are statistically infrequent are seen as abnormal
  • it’s based on the notion of a normal distribution curve for all behaviour and those that appear in extremes
  • normally about 5% of the population fall outside the curve ( 2 standard deviation points away from the mean)
28
Q

limitations of statistical infrequency

A
  • an unusual characteristic can be positive:
    -> if few people have an unusual behaviour, they would be defined as statistically abnormal, even though it may not be negative, meaning they may not need treatment
    -> e.g people with an IQ over 130 are seen as abnormal, but this is seen as a gift rather than something that requires treatment
  • not everyone benefits from labels:
    -> when living a happy life, not everyone benefits from being labelled as abnormal when they have an infrequent behaviour
    -> pointing out their ‘abnormality’ may make them feel more upset than not pay attention at all
    -> e.g someone with a very low IQ may live a happy life and may not benefit from being diagnosed with an abnormality, meaning this definition can weaken quality of life rather than improving it
29
Q

failure to function adequately

A
  • when an individual cannot cope with everyday life, meaning they are suffering some abnormality
30
Q

failure to function adequately limitations

A
  • cannot detect psychopaths: illness but they function well e.g harold shipman
  • subjective judgement: person doing assessment would need to be subjective, it may be the case that different assesses would disagree about whether a particular criterion had been met
  • cultural relativism: the criterion is likely to result in different diagnoses when applied to people from different culture
31
Q

deviation from ideal mental health

A
  • this definition works the opposite to the others, it looks for signs of wellbeing, if you have all 6 of these are fine but if you’re missing one of these, it means you could have a mental illness:
  • positive attitude towards self
  • self actualisation: developing and realising one’s full potential or fulfillment of one’s talents
  • autonomy: being independant + self regulating
  • resisting stress
  • accurate perception of reality
  • environmental mastery: ability to love, function to new situations
32
Q

limitations of deviation from ideal mental health

A
  • according to the criteria we are all abnormal. must decide how many criterions need to be absent to be classed as abnormal
  • can we diagnose mental abnormality in the same way we diagnose physical abnormality
  • cultural relativism: self actualisation only applies to individualistic cultures, not collectivist cultures. using this criteria, we would find a higher incidence of abnormality among non-western cultures and even non- middle class social groups
  • ethnocentric: this refers to a particular form of cultural bias. e.g some women in middle east do not get autonomy so can never be classes as mentally ‘normal’

aqa psych (8 decks)

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