psychopathology Flashcards
what are the 4 definitions of abnormality?
- Statistical infrequency
- Deviation from social norms
- Failure to function
- Deviation from ideal mental health
Strengths of Statistical infrequency
- used in clinical practice for diagnosis
- a way of assessing severity of symptoms
- increased value for definition
Limitations of Statistical infrequency
- Detrimental terms of labelling
- Positives to abnormality (high IQ)
- Cannot be only used for defining abnormality
Strengths of Deviation from social norms
- Anti-social personality is failure to conform to socially accepted behaviour
- applications to psychiatry
Limitations of Deviation from social norms
- people may label others as abnormal due to cultural differences
- difficult to judge and apply over different situations
Strengths of Failure to function
- Represents threshold for help needed
- 25% of people in UK will experience a mental health problem
Limitations of Failure to function
- Socially sensitive concept (some cant access needs to function properly)
Strengths of Deviation from ideal mental health
- Application to Real life / therapy (person centred therapy; humanistic, no judgement, unconditional positive regard)
Limitations of Deviation from ideal mental health
- Unrealistic expectations on how ‘normal people’ feel
- Culturally bound (some value independence more)
- Extremely high standards
definition of Statistical Infrequency
a way to define something as abnormal by how often we come across it - any usual behaviour is ‘normal’
definition of Deviation from Social Norms
when a persons behaviour differs from how a group of people would deem normal - affects their sense of what is acceptable
definition of Failure to Function Properly
when someone is so abnormal that they can no longer cope with everyday tasks - basic hygiene, nutrition, maintaining a job, maintaining relationships
what did Rosenhan and Seligman find?
additional signs of Failure to Function
- if a person experiences severe personal distress
- if a persons behaviour becomes irrational or dangerous
definition of Deviation from Ideal Mental Health
when someone differs from what is considered ideal / normal within society
what did Jahoda find?
Good mental health follows a criteria
- No symptoms of distress
- Rational and can perceive ourselves accurately
- We can self actualise
- We can cope with stress
- We have a realistic view on the world
- Good self esteem & lack guilt
what are obsessions in OCD?
recurring, distressing thoughts that cause a person mental discomfort (e.g. thoughts of germs all around you)
what are Compulsions in OCD?
the behavioural aspect as a result of the obsession that is a response to the obsessions in order to help calm the thoughts (washing hands to rid of germs)
what is the OCD cycle?
Anxiety & distress (any distressing emotion) –> Compulsions (any behaviour that is done to make the distress go away) –> Temporary relief (obsessions will come back) –> Obsessions (unwanted thoughts, urges and mental images)
what is a Candidate Gene in OCD?
specific genes which create a vulnerability for OCD
what does Poly-Genetic mean in OCD?
not a single gene but a combination of genes involved in OCD - (Taylor 230 different genes in OCD)
what is the COMT gene?
it regulates production of dopamine
what is the SERT gene?
it affects the transmission of serotonin - creating lower levels
what did Lewis observe about the Genetic explaination of OCD?
observed people with OCD - 37% of people had parents with OCD - 21% had siblings with OCD
what is a Diathesis-stress model?
some genes leave people more vulnerable to developing the disorder - supports nature vs nurture
what is the role of the Frontal Lobe in the Neural explanation for OCD
- responsible for decision making skills / logical thinking
- some OCD cases have been associated with impaired functioning
what is the role of the Parahippocampal Gyrus in the Neural explanation for OCD
- associated with processing unpleasant emotions
- has been linked with abnormal functioning in OCD
what is the Worry Circuit?
- The Orbital Frontal Cortex converts sensory information into thoughts and actions (notices when something is wrong and sends a ‘worry signal’ to the Thalimus
- The Thalimus receives the ‘worry signal’ and send signals to the Caudate Nucleus
- The Caudate Nucleus stops the Thalimus from worrying (in OCD this is thought to be impared and cant supress the signals)
How do Twin Studies show the biological explanation for OCD?
- 68% of monozygotic twins shared OCD
- 31% of dizygotic twins shared OCD
what are the limitations of Twin Studies for the biological explaination for OCD?
- may have grown up in a similar environment (more difficult to extract a cause)
- may not be applicable to non-twins
- no control over confounding variables
How do Antidepressants show the biological explanation for OCD?
- can be explained by faulty serotonin systems which can be overcome by antidepressants
what are the limitations of Antidepressants for the biological explaination for OCD?
- they are not permanent
- there are side effects
- comorbidity (other factors may be effecting corellation)
how to SSRI’s work to treat OCD?
it blocks the pre-synaptic terminal and blocks recycling causing Serotonin to have more chance of binding to the receptor site
what are strenghts of SSRI’s?
- can be used alongside CBT to treat OCD
- they can reduce the emotional aspects of OCD
- after drug treatment clients may engage in more CBT
what are some alternatives to SSRI’s?
- Tricyclics (have more severe side effects and only prescribed when SSRI’s dont work)
- SNRI’s (increased levels of serotonin levels and other neurotransmitters like noradrenaline)
- Benzodiapines (slow the activity of the CNS making it harder for the neurons to be stimulated - creating relaxation)
what are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?
- panic
- avoidance
- endurance
what are the emotional characteristics of phobias?
- Anxiety
- Fear
- Response being unreasonable
what are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
- Selective attention to the stimulus
- irrational beliefs
- cognitive distortions
what are the behavioural characteristics of depression?
- increase or decrease in activity levels
- disruption to sleep and eating
- aggression and self-harm
what are the emotional characteristics of depression?
- lowered mood
- anger
- lowered self esteem
what are the cognitive characteristics of depression?
- poor concentration
- dwelling on the negative
- absolutist thinking
how does behaviourism explain phobias?
The Two Process model
- acquired by classical conditioning
- maintained by operant conditioning
strengths of the Two Process model
Real World Application
- used in exposure therapy
- explains why being exposed to phobic stimulus is beneficial
- once avoidance is prevented it ceases to be reinforced
Phobias and Traumatic experiences
- Little Albert - Watson and Rayner
- 73% with a fear of Dentists had a traumatic experience - Ad De Jongh
limitations of Two Process model
Doesnt account for Cognitive aspects
- not just avoidance responses they also have a significant cognitive component
Not all phobias appear following a bad experience
- many people scared of snakes without having seen one
behavioural approach to treating phobias
- systematic desensitisation
- Flooding
what is systematic desensitisation?
A gradual build up to treat phobias
- First is the anxiety hierarchy (a list of phobic situations the patients find most to least frightening)
- then the therapist teaches the client to relax as it is impossible to be scared and relaxed at the same time (this is reciprocal inhibition)
- Finally the client is exposed to the phobia in increasing doses from the bottom of the hierarchy upwards over a long time
what is flooding?
it is exposing someone to their phobic stimulus without a gradual build up
- these sessions can take from 2-3 hours
- sometimes only 1 session is enough
- this method is called extinction as the conditioned stimulus no longer produces the conditioned response
a strength of systematic desensitisation
Gilroy et al
- followed up 42 people who after 3 and 33 months were less fearful than a control group
Accessible to People with Learning Disabilities
- some people with learning disabilities struggle with cognitive therapies
a strength of Flooding
Cost-effective
- Flooding can work in as little as 1 session compared to around 10 sessions for Systematic Desensitisation
a limitation of Flooding
Traumatic
- Schumacher et al found participants and therapists rated flooding significantly more stressful than SD
- raises ethical issues for gaining informed consent to cause stress on participants
- increases the dropout rates of the treatments
What is Beck’s Negative Triad
they believed it was a persons cognitions that made them more vulnerable to depression
Faulty information processing
- depressed people only see the negative aspects of a situation not the positives
Negative self schema
- they have a negative mental framework surrounding themselves
Negative triad
- a negative view of the world
- a negative view of the future
- a negative view of the self
Strengths of Beck’s negative triad
research support
- Cohen et al tracked the development of 474 adolescents and regularly measured cognitive vulnerability. there was a striking concordance of vulnerabilities predicting later depression
Real world application
- can be applied to screening young adults to identify those most at risk of developing depression
- can be applied CBT
limitation of Beck’s Negative Triad
partial explanation
- doesn’t explain any further aspects of depression such as feelings of anger or hallucinations and delusions
what is Ellis’ ABC model?
Ellis thought depression was a result of irrational thought
A - activating event
- we get depressed when we experience negative events and these trigger irrational beliefs
B - beliefs
- Ellis identified a range of irrational beliefs
- the idea that we must always achieve perfection is ‘mustabatory thinking’
- the idea that something is a major disaster if it doesn’t run smoothly is ‘i-can’t-stand-it-itus’
C - Consequences
- when an activating event triggers irrational beliefs there are emotional and behavioural consequences (e.g. depression)
strength of Ellis’ ABC Model
application to real life
- REBT (rational emotive behavioural therapy) developed by Ellis has the therapist argue with the patient to alter their irrational beliefs
limitations of Ellis’ ABC model
Endogenous depression
- Ellis’ model only explain reactive depression and not depression that has no traceable ‘activating event’ and therefore is only a partial explanation
Ethical issues
- REBT places most of responsibility onto the patient effectively blaming the depressed person which could be perceived as unethical
what is Beck’s cognitive therapy?
the idea is to identify automatic thoughts about the world, the self and the future - once identified these thoughts are challenged
clients may also be set homework in order to investigate the reality of their negative beliefs.
what are the types of CBT?
- Beck’s cognitive therapy
- Ellis’ Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy
what is Ellis’ Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy?
it extends the ABC model to the ABCDE model - the D stands for Dispute and the E for Effect
the intended effect of this is to change the irrational belief and break the link between negative life event and depression through argument
- empirical arguing is disputing whether there is actual evidence to support negative belief
- logical arguing is disputing whether negative beliefs logically follow from facts
strength for CBT
supporting evidence
- March compared the use of CBT to antidepressants when treating 327 depressed adolescents - he found that 81% of CBT group, 81% of antidepressant group and 86% of the CBT + antidepressant group were significantly improved
- CBT is therefore as effective as antidepressants and is considered more cost effective
limitations of CBT
suitability for extreme clients
- in some cases depression can be so severe that clients cannot motivate themselves to engage with the cognitive elements.
relapse rates
- although CBT is effective there are some concerns over how long benefits last
- Ali et al assessed 439 CBT clients over a year and found 42% relapsed into depression within 6 months and 53% relapsed within a year
