Psychopathology

Question 1

Strength of “failure to function adequately”

Answer 1

• Easily measurable

Question 2

Limitation of “failure to function adequately”

Answer 2

• Not everyone with a mental health disorder is unable to function

Question 3

Strength of “Deviation from ideal mental health”

Answer 3

• Allows the patient to set goals and see ideal mental health as an achievable target

Question 4

Weakness of “Deviation from ideal mental health”

Answer 4

• Many of Jahoda’s 6 criteria seem unachievable for many people without them being abnormal - particularly “self-actualisation” and “environmental mastery”

Question 5

Evidence for the two-process model of phobia creation? Classical

Answer 5

Little Albert - bang of metal rod associated with white rat, produced fear response

Question 6

Evidence for the two-process model of phobia creation? Operant and classical

Answer 6

Barlow + Durand - 50% of people with a phobia of driving said it begun after a traumatic event, with many of these people still avoiding driving (supporting operant conditioning of avoidance)

Question 7

Strengths of flooding

Answer 7

• Cost-effective treatment, only one session is required. - Research support, Kaplan and Tolin found that after one session 65% of ppts didn’t experience the phobia again 4 years later

Question 8

Weaknesses of flooding

Answer 8

Could be seen to be unethical, especially when it doesn’t work. Kaplan + Tolin 35% of ppts’ phobia returned within 4 years or wasn’t cured. Potential for greater harm, strengthened phobia, breakdown

Question 9

Strengths of systematic desensitization

Answer 9

• Öst’s study revealed 90% of ppts repoorted their phobia not having returned 4 years, higher than the 65% in Kaplan and Tolin’s flooding study

Question 10

Weaknesses of systematic desensitisation

Answer 10

• More expensive to carry out than flooding as required multiple sessions
• May not work as well for social phobias and agoraphobias

Question 11

Emotional symptoms of depression

Answer 11

Low mood, loss of pleasure

Question 12

Cognitive symptoms of depression

Answer 12

Irrational negative beliefs, difficulty concentrating

Question 13

Behavioural symptoms of depression

Answer 13

Social withdrawal, change in sleep patterns, change in appetite

Question 14

Criteria to be diagnosed with depression

Answer 14

5 or more symptoms, including at least one emotional, for 2+ weeks

Question 15

Defintion of manic depression

Answer 15

Depressive and manic episodes, each lasting a week or more

Question 16

Ellis ABC model

Answer 16

A - activating event. B - belief about causes of A. C - consequences of these beliefs

Question 17

Beck’s negative triad

Answer 17

Irrational negative beliefs about the self, world and future

Question 18

Support for negative cognitive biases in depression

Answer 18

Koster et al. study, control of non-depressed compared with depressed people shown a distractor word before quickly indicating where a shape appeared on a screen. They all took roughly the same time for positive/neutral words but negative words took depressed group longer

Question 19

Evidence against cognitive explanations for depression: Alloy

Answer 19

Alloy and Abramson asked patients what they thought the level of contingency between them pressing a button and whether is controlled a flashing light - finding depressed patients estimated more accurately - “sadder but wiser” hypothesis

Question 20

Evidence against cognitive explanations for depression: Biological

Answer 20

McGuffin et al. found in MZ twins concordance rate was 46%, however in DZ twins it was 20%, sugesting a genetic influence

Question 21

Theory behind CBT

Answer 21

Identify negative beliefs, challenge them, test their hypothesis, evaluate the evidence behind in

Question 22

Strength of CBT

Answer 22

Study support from Cuijpers et al. shows ppts experienced significant improvement in symptoms over control group

Question 23

Limitations to CBT

Answer 23

• May not be suitable for everyone, there are individual differences in depression and this is also reflected in Cuijper’s study. - Biological treatments involving SSRIs have been found to be effective and the seratonin explanation has been supported by research

Question 24

Which two genes are implicated in OCD?

Answer 24

The COMT gene which controls production of dopamine - a variation of this gene which has lower activity and produces more dopamine has been linked to OCD (Tulek et al.) The SERT gene, which controls transport of seratonin and creates lower levels of it, has also been implicated, and Ozaki et al. found a mutation of the SERT gene in 2 unrelated families where 6/7 family members had OCD

Question 25

What is another genetic/environmental explanation for OCD?

Answer 25

The diathesis-stress model

Question 26

Neural explanations: Abnormal brain circuits

Answer 26

• Neural correlates
• The orbitofrontal cortex sends signals of worries to the basal ganglia, that ordinarily filters them before they reach the thalamus. If the worry circuit and OFC is hyperactive, even minor worries reach the thalamus and are sent back to the OFC, leading to the formation of an obsession

Question 27

Support for genetic explanations of OCD

Answer 27

• Nestadt
• Twins studies have shown a 31% vs 68% concordance rate for DZ/MZ twins
• In the general population OCD prevalance is estimated at 2%
• First degree relatives in general have a 10% concordance

Question 28

Supppory for neural correlates explanation to OCD

Answer 28

• Several neuroimaging studies have used PET scanners to examine the brain of people with OCD and found increased activity in the OFC, however it is not certain whether this is a cause or consequence of OCD

Question 29

Support for drug therapy (SSRIs) for OCD and limitations

Answer 29

• Soomro et. al. comducted a meta-analysis involving 3097 participants and found SSRIs significantly improved symptoms compared to placebos after 6 and 17 weeks, indicating their efficacy at least in the short term
• However, it has been pointed out that most studies on the use of SSRIs for OCD have been conducted by drug companies
• SSRIs are cheaper than CBT
• Soomro et al. also identified common side effects of nausea, insomnia and headaches for SSRIs