psychopathology Flashcards
specific phobias
sufferers are anxious in the presence of a particular stimulus
social phobias
sufferers experience inappropriate anxiety in social situations
agoraphobia
sufferers are anxious when in a situation they cannot leave
behavioural characteristics of phobias
panic - crying, screaming, running away
endurance- enduring the phobia
avoidance - considerable effort to avoid coming into contact with the phobic stimulus
emotional characteristics of phobias
fear
responses are unreasonable
anxiety
cognitive characteristics of phobias
selective attention
cognitive distortion
irrational beliefs
Little Albert study
aim: to discover whether feared responses can be conditioned via classical conditioning and if it can be generalised to other things and how long the fear lasts
procedure: showed baby white rats, which he liked. he was then shown again however whenever he touched them, a long bang would be heard.
findings: when shown white rats over the next two weeks, albert cried at them all, showing the phobia was now generalised to other stimuli. when moved to another room, his reaction stayed the same, showing the fear was generalised to other settings. after a month, he was tested again and showed the same reaction
behavioural explanations for phobias
vicarious reinforcement
two process model
behavioural treatments for phobias
systematic desensitisation
flooding
what is systematic desensitisation
wolpe.
gradual approach to reducing anxiety associated with phobia using classical conditioning
through gradual exposure, a new response to the phobia is learned
process is called counter conditioning
3 stages of systematic desensitisation
anxiety hierarchy- therapist has a list of situations involving phobic stimulus and client will arrange it in order of least to most frightening
relaxation - therapist will teach reciprocal inhibition
exposure- client works their way through the anxiety hierarchy. they do not move on to the next stage until they are completely relaxed in the stage they’re in.
reciprocal inhibition
relaxing as deeply as possible
two ways of exposure in systematic desensitisation
vivo- real life
vitro- using imagination
emotional characteristics of depression
anger
low mood
low self esteem
behavioural characteristics of depression
change to activity and energy level
aggression
disruption to sleep and eating
cognitive characteristics of depression
absolutist thinking
dwelling on negatives
poor concentration
becks explanation for depression
negative triad
irrational thinking leads to cognitive vulnerability
ellis explanation for depression
abc model
mustabatory thinking
what is the abc model
a - activating event
b- beliefs
c- consequence
what is mustabatory thinking
believes we think must be true for us to be happy
“i must be approved of or accepted by people i find important”
“the world must give me happiness or i will die”
“i must do well or very well or i am worthless”
cognitive treatments for depression
cbt
becks cognitive therapy
rebt
behavioural activation
what is CBT
cognitive behavioural therapy
c- identifying irrational thoughts, setting goals, and making plans to achieve them
b- challenging negative thoughts and replacing them with effective behaviour
what is behavioural activation
people with depression tend to isolate themselves , ba aims to decrease isolating behaviour
what is becks cognitive therapy
therapist identifies irrational thoughts and challenges them through homework
