Psychopathology Flashcards
Characteristics of mental health disorders phobias
Cognitive - Selective attention to the phobic stimulus, irrational beliefs, Cognitive distortions
Emotional - Anxiety, fear
Behavioural - Panic, avoidance, endurance
Characteristics of mental health disorders Depression:
Behavioural - Activity levels, Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour, Aggression and self-harm
Cognitive - Poor concentration, Dwelling, Absolutist thinking
Emotional - Low mood, Low self-esteem, Anger
inferential statistics
Statistical test to determine difference between two samples.
The cognitive approach to explain depression
Definitions of Abnormality
Statistical infrequency
Deviation from social norms
Failure to function adequately
Deviation from ideal mental health
Characteristics of mental health disorders: OCD
Behavioural - Avoidance, compulsions
Emotional - Anxiety, disgust, depression.
Cognitive - Obsession thoughts, Insight into excessive anxiety, coping strategies.
Deviation from social norms
Behaviour that is different from the accepted standards of behaviour in a community or society
Failure to function adequately
When someone is unable to cope with ordinary demands of day-to-day life
Deviation from ideal mental health
Occurs when someone does not meet a set of criteria for good mental health
Beck’s cognitive therapy: to treating depression
Identifies and challenge negative automatic thoughts surrounding the world, future and self.
Direct challenging
Hypothesis testing the reality of their beliefs
Findings can be used in future sessions to prove the client wrong when they make an irrational statement
Rational therapy Ellis: To treating depression.
Extends the ABC model to the ABCDE
D – Dispute
E – Effect
The therapist will argue with you and challenges their irrational beliefs to break the link between the negative life event and depression.
Disputing – Empirical, logical and pragmatic
Beck’s cognitive theory of depression
A person’s cognition creates a vulnerability which explains why some people are more prone to depression.
He suggested 3 parts of this cognitive vulnerability:
Beck’s 3 parts of the cognitive vulnerability
Negative schema – having a negative schema means that people interpret information and themselves in a negative way.
Cognitive bias – The way people are prone to only focus on the negative and misinterpret information.
The negative triad – 3 kinds of negative thinking that contribute to becoming depressed.
Negative views about the world
Negative views about the future
Negative views about oneself
Evaluation of Cognitive approach for treating depression
Research support for the effectiveness of CBT
March et al 2007 found that CBT was as effective antidepressants n treating depression.
Research against:
CBT could be ineffective for more severe cases and people with learning difficulties: Stumey 2005 suggested that psychotherapy of any kind is unsuitable for disabled people.
Lewis and Lewis 2016 concluded that CBT was as effective as antidepressants and behavioural therapy for severe depression.
This is suggesting that CBT is suitable for a range of people
Evaluation of Cognitive approach of explaining depression
Evaluating the cognitive approach to explain depression
The concept of cognitive primacy is the idea that emotions are influenced by cognition; the cognitive explanation is based on this assumption
Research shows a link between attachment and depression; infants who develop in an insecure attachment are more prone to depression. This is because of their negative schema.
Beck’s negative triad:
Good supporting evidence to show that depression is associated with faulty information processing.
Translates well into successful treatment; it forms the basis of CBT.
Depression can be very complex and not all aspects of depression are explained by this theory, such as anger or hallucinations.
Ellis’s ABC model
It provides a partial explanation; reactive depression is the term given to depression arising from the specific event.
It had led to successful therapy helping to inform CBT.
