Psychopathology Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

What are the four definitions of abnormality?

A

Deviation from social norms
Failure to function adequately
Deviation from ideal mental health
Statistical infrequency

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What is the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality?

A

When an individual cannot cope with the day to day challenges of life

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What are features of the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality as identified by Rosenhan and Seligman?

A

Maladaptive behaviour - their irrational and unpredictable actions go against their long term best interests
Personal anguish - observers feel discomfort in their presence

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is the deviation from social norms definition of abnormality?

A

Individuals who break the social norms of their society

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

What is the deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality?

A

Missing features identified by Jahoda as the ideal mental health

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

What are the features of the deviation from mental health definition of abnormality as identified by Jahoda

A

Resisting stress
Self actualisation
An accurate perception of reality
Autonomy
Environmental mastery
Positive attitude to yourself

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

What is the statistical infrequency definition of abnormality?

A

Someone is identified as ‘abnormal’ when their mental condition is very rare in a population as judged by statistics

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What are some strengths of the definitions of abnormality?

A

Deviation from social norms - Does not impose a western view of abnormality so it is not seen as ethnocentric

Failure to function adequately - Respects the individual and their own personal experience

Deviation from ideal mental health - Holistic view as it considers multiple factors in diagnosis and provides ways to overcome them

Statistical infrequency - People accessed as abnormal by this have been evaluated objectively

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What are some limitations of the definitions of abnormality?

A

Deviation from social norms - Defining people who move to a new culture as abnormal can be inappropriate

Failure to function adequately - Only includes people who cannot cope

Deviation from ideal mental health - Too strict to set a criteria to define MH as it is challenging to meet all the requirements at one time

Statistical infrequency - Not all statistically rare traits are negative

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What are the behavioural characteristics of Phobias?

A

Avoidance - Avoiding phobic objects
Panic - Uncontrollable response
Failure to function - Difficulty in day to day activities

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?

A

Anxiety - An uncontrollable high state of arousal
Fear - Emotional sensation of extreme and unpleasent alertness

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?

A

Irrational thoughts - Exaggerated belief in the harm the phobic object can cause
Reduced cognitive capacity

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?

A

Reduction in anxiety level - Lack of energy for daily tasks
Change in eating behaviour - Weight gain/Weight loss
Aggression - Self harm

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What are the emotional characteristics of depression?

A

Sadness - Persistent low mood
Guilty - Feeling where they have no value in comparison to others

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What are the cognitive characteristics of depression?

A

Poor concentration - Cannot give their full attention
Negative schemas - automatic negative biases

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What are the behavioural characteristics of OCD?

A

Compulsions - behaviours performed to reduce anxiety
Avoidance - taking action to avoid objects that trigger obsessions

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What are the emotional characteristics of OCD?

A

Anxiety - uncomfortably high state of arousal
Depression - consistent and long-lasting sense of sadness

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD?

A

Obsessions - Intrusive, Impulsive, Recurrent thoughts that tent to be unpleasant
Hypervigilance - Permanent state of alertness

19
Q

What is Marlow’s two process model?

A

Marlows model describes how phobias are acquired and maintained

20
Q

How are phobias acquired according to Marlow?

A

Phobias are acquired by classical conditioning where an association is formed between the phobic object and fear

21
Q

How are phobias maintained according to Marlow?

A

Phobias are maintained by operant conditioning where an avoidance of a behaviour leads to a reduction in anxiety which is a pleasant sensation

The negative reinforcement strengthens phobic response

22
Q

What are the behavioural treatments for phobias?

A

Systematic desensitisation and flooding

23
Q

What is systematic desensitisation?

A

Systematic desensitisation leads to the elimination of the negative association and formation of a new positive association

The therapist first teaches the patient relaxation techniques which they use to progress through the anxiety hierarchy

24
Q

What is flooding?

A

Flooding is an immediate and full exposure to the maximum level of the phobic stimulus

25
Q

What are some strengths to the behavioural explanation of phobias?

A

Watson + Rayner - Little Albert

WBehaviourists theories have been practically applied to counter conditioning therapies (SD + Flooding)

26
Q

What are some limitations for the behavioural explanation of phobias?

A

DiNardo - Dog phobias were just as common in people who experienced conditioned events like dog bites to those who havent

27
Q

What are some strengths of the behavioural explanation for treating phobias?

A

Garcia-Palacious - 83% of participants with VR exposure to spiders improved, where 0% of the control group did

28
Q

What are some limitations of the behavioural explanation for treating phobias?

A

Both techniques are more suited to specific object phobias than social phobias

The effects of the therapies may be limited due to the controlled conditions of the therapists office

29
Q

What are the cognitive explanations for explaining depression?

A

Depression is due to irrational thoughts and maladaptive internal mental processes

Becks negative triad
Ellis ABC model

30
Q

What is Becks negative triad?

A

Where a person with depression have three schemas with a negative bias which are believed to have been developed in childhood and provides the framework for adult life

31
Q

What are the three schemas in Becks negative triad?

A

The self - Negative self schemas
The future - Negative thoughts such as things will always turn out badly
The world - Thinking people are hostile or threatening

32
Q

What does Ellis ABC model stand for?

A

A - activating event
B - irrational beliefs
C - consequence

33
Q

What are some strengths to the cognitive approach to explaining depression?

A

Grazioloi and Terry - Found that women with negative thinking styles were most likely to develop postpartum depression. Supports the idea of faulty thinking leading to depression

34
Q

What are some limitations to the cognitive approach to explaining depression?

A

Bipolar depression is manic episodes - Provides problems for becks theory as it states that depression is due to negative schemas which are formed in childhood and provide framework for adult life

35
Q

What are the cognitive explanations for treating depression?

A

Becks CBT and Ellis REBT - They change negative schemas and challenge irrational thoughts

36
Q

What is Becks CBT?

A

The patient generates and tests hypothesis of their irrational thoughts and then they see that they lack them they change their schemas

37
Q

What is Ellis REBT?

A

Development of the ABC model which adds Dispute and Effect

38
Q

What is the biological approach to explaining OCD?

A

The genetic explanation for OCD is that the disorder is inherited - Around 230 separate candidate genes found in people with OCD, shows OCD appears to be polysemic

The neural explanation for OCD includes low serotonin levels - Likely due to serotonin being removed too quickly from the synapse before it has been able to transmit its signal/influence the postsynaptic cell

39
Q

What are some strengths to the biological approach to explaining OCD?

A

Nestadt - DZ twins have a 31% concordance rate and MZ have a 68% concordance rate, because they share a similar environment the additional shared DNA must be the reason for the increased concordance

40
Q

What are some limitations of the biological approach to explaining OCD?

A

Correlation in twin studies does not equal causation

41
Q

What is the biological approach to treating OCD?

A

Drug therapies - The primary class of drugs used to control the symptoms of OCD are a group of antidepressant drugs called SSRIs which influence the serotonin levels in the brain

42
Q

What do SSRIs do and how do they treat OCD?

A

SSRIs inhibit the reuptake process in the synapse - Therefore serotonin is still present in the synaptic cleft and continues to stimulate the postsynaptic neuron

43
Q

What are some strengths to the biological approach to treating OCD?

A

Drug therapies are far less expensive then CBT

Soomro - Meta analysis of 17 studies comparing SSRIs to placebos and found that SSRIs significantly reduced the symptoms of OCD which suggests drug therapy is effective

44
Q

What are some limitations of the biological approach to treating OCD?

A

Goldacre - Drug therapies are researched and funded by companies looking for financial gain not actually the effectiveness of the drug