psychopathology Flashcards
deviation from social norms (ao1)
defined as any behaviour that does not follow accepted social patterns or social rules, violations of these patterns/rules/codes of conduct can be regarded as abnormal behaviour and would be classed as unnacceptable
these norms and values will vary between cultures and time periods (eg eating with hands)
deviation from social norms looks at the impact of an individuals behaviour on other people
the behaviour that is displayed is examined in terms of how desirable the behaviour is for the individual and for society as a whole
these deviations can be seen as abnormal and undesirable
each society will have rules that govern behaviour based upon moral standards, these rules may be explicit and breaking them means breaking the law, or they may be seen as codes of conduct that we should abide by
these deviations can help identify a person suffering a mental disorder, if someone behaves strange we could see it as a symptom of a mental disorder
deviation from social norms (ao3)
+ distinguishes between desirable and non desirable behaviour, the model aims to protect members of the public from the effects of abnormal behaviour and its damaging consequences by aiming to minimise these behaviours and help the people displaying these behaviours
+ it may help psychologists to discover new psychological disorders once seeing patters of undesirable behaviours, by discovering these new disorders we can help protect the public from any potentially damaging consequences of the disorder and help find new treatments for those with the disorder to minimise the effect on themselves and others
- does not clearly indicate the person has a psychological abnormality, psychologists must be careful when making judgements about whether deviations imply abnormality or just odd/eccentric behaviour
- context of the situation in which the individual deviates from social norms must be taken into account for example wearing no clothes in the high street compared to a nudist beach, therefore context must be taken into consideration before justing whether the behaviour is deviant
failure to function adequately (ao1)
proposed by Rosenhan and Seligman
a model of abnormality in which the person is unable to cope with day to day life such as having a job, interacting with others, unpredictability due to experiencing psychological distress/discomfort
impacts their personal, social and occupational life
if a person seeks psychological/psychiatric help they could be classed as suffering in some sense
recognising an individual is not functioning and is unable to fulfil their obligations adequately could indicate abnormality
psychologists can use the global assessment of functioning scale to assess rates of social, occupational and psychological functioning
the model encompasses 7 criteria that can help define mental abnormality, if several criteria are present together at the same time
the higher the number, the more abnormal
the lower the number, the more normal
criteria: SUMOVIV
SUMOVIV
Suffering - a person might be psychologically or physically suffering because they have a psychological abnormality that is having a negative effect on them
Unpredictability and loss of control - a person who is showing uncontrollable, unpredictable and varying behaviours
Maladaptiveness - the behaviour of the patient prevents them from achieving goals in life
Observer discomfort - behaviour being exhibited by the patient induces a feeling of discomfort within bystanders when witnessing
Vividness and unconventionality - the way in which the individual’s abnormal behaviour differs substantially from the way most people behave
Irrationality and incomprehensibility - when the behaviours exhibited are unable to be reasoned and the explanation is unclear and illogical
Violation of moral and ideal standards - when the patients behaviour is deemed so abnormal that it violates moral and social standards
failure to function adequately (ao3)
+ relatively easy to assess the consequences of failure to function adequately in order to measure the level of psychological functioning, for example people that are absent from work often or people that cannot perform regular tasks like interacting with others might indicate that they are failing to function adequately , indicating some form of abnormality
+ using the GAF scale means psychologists can accurately assess the degree of abnormality and how well the patient is or is not coping with their daily life
- abnormality is not always accompanied by dysfunction, some people have a psychological abnormality but are still available to lead a normal life, for example Harold shipman committed many murders but still functioned adequately, on the other hand people may appear to not be functioning adequately but might just be having a bad day, therefore inaccurate definition of abnormality
- the 7 criteria used can be very problematic as they are very difficult to measure and analyse , for example how can we truly judge if someone is suffering or not, the model is very subjective and lacks being scientific and objective which means psychologists must be cautious when using the model to define abnormality.
statistical infrequency (ao1)
statistical infrequency occurs when an individual possesses a less common characteristic than most of the population, making the behaviours displayed statistically rare
any relatively unusual behaviour can be thought of as abnormal
this means when looking at statistics the number of people who may display that behaviour would be infrequent or rare
one example of this is looking at IQ results
approximately 65% of the population will have an IQ score between 85-115
95% of the population will have an average IQ score between 70-130
2.5% will have an above average score 130+
2.5% will have a below average score 70-
IQ can be displayed in a normal distribution curve where mean=median=mode
in a left/negative skewed graph the tail lies to the left and mean<median<mode
in a right/positive skewed graph the tail lies to the right and mode<median<mean
statistical infrequency (ao3)
+ an advantage of statistical infrequency is that both having an above average score is just as unusual and statistically infrequent as having a below average score, however being very intelligent with an above average score is not a negative behaviour and instead can be quite desirable, therefore statistical infrequency can show a good thing and abnormality is not always something to be ashamed of
+ judgements are based on objective, scientific and unbiased data indicating abnormality or normality, the results can indicate whether psychological help or assistance is needed for example data indicating a mental/learning disability
- can be seen as socially sensitive research as it involves labelling some people as abnormal which is not beneficial, someone with a low IQ may be labelled in a negative manner by other members of society causing a negative effect upon them and how others see them and how they see themselves, therefore affecting self confidence and self esteem
- can be criticised as there seems to be a subjective cut off point between abnormality and normality, the decision of the dividing line between where normality starts and ends is very subjective causing the cut off point to be questioned.
deviation from ideal mental health (ao1)
this definition of abnormality was developed by Marie Jahoda and stems from the humanist approach and focuses on motivation and self development and uses Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to explain how humans must accomplish their basic needs to move upon the next level in order to develop themselves
abnormality is related to the lack of contented existence and therefore those who deviate from having this ideal or optimal mental health can be classified as abnormal
self actualisation is the top level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and means that humans should strive to reach their full potential, normal people would strive to achieve their goals or needs to achieve self actualisation however abnormality could occur if a person fails to achieve their goals or meet the necessary criteria
Jahoda argued that the concepts of abnormality and normality are not useful as they are too vague and general, therefore she created 6 criteria that determine whether one has positive mental health (must achieve all to have positive mental health and normality)
APPIES
APPIES
Autonomy - the degree to which an individual is independent of social influences and can make their own decisions (conforming/listening to instructions)
Perception of reality - a prime factor whereby mentally healthy people do not distort their perception of reality, not too optimistic or pessimistic and show signs of empathy and social sensitivity (optimistic when happy, if something bad happens pessimistic)
Personal growth - the extent of an individuals growth, development or self actualisation, becoming the type of person you aim to be (looking up to role models, circumstances may not allow the growth)
Integration - this integrates the criteria of self attitudes and personal growth, person must be able to cope well with stressful and anxiety provoking situations (fears and phobias may prevent people coping in situations, exams may be stress provoking)
Environmental mastery - the extent to which an individual is successful and well adapted, includes the ability to love, adequacy at work and play, good interpersonal relations, efficient problem solving and capacity for adjustment (struggle from past experiences, circumstances may not allow, not always good at everything)
Self attitudes - high self esteem and a strong sense of identity (traumatic/upsetting event meaning low self esteem)
deviation from ideal mental health (ao3)
+ can be viewed as being positive and productive, focuses on ideal or optimal criteria that we should all aim and strive for in order to be psychologically healthy, can be seen as a therapeutic goal that humans should strive for and aim to achieve, self actualisation is a positive trait that every human should try to accomplish if possible
+ can highlight and target areas of dysfunction that the patient can work on and improve in their life, this can be very important when treating different types of disorders as specific treatments can be used to improve the dysfunction for example those lacking self attitudes may not have a positive self esteem and be showing signs of depression therefore they can be given antidepressants
- can be viewed as problematic as the criteria are based on abstract concepts and ideals, which are difficult to define and measure, for example how much environmental mastery and self attitudes are needed to be judged as psychologically healthy, at what point are the criteria not met and the person is seen as abnormal, therefore the model is not very objective and scientific
- very few people can actually achieve all the six criteria at any one time, many of us should then be classes as abnormal but if the majority is abnormal then one could argue that normality is being abnormal, to sustain and meet all criteria can be deemed impossible or very difficult therefore it is not a practical definition of abnormality
characteristics of phobias (ao1)
behavioural:
avoidance - response is to avoid the object or situation, can interfere with daily life as people may avoid places where they may see the phobic object
endurance (freeze or faint) - stress causes fight/flight, fear causes freeze/faint, freezing is so the predator assumes they are dead and leave them alone
disruption of functioning - anxiety and avoidance may be so extreme it could interfere with ability to function socially
panic - individual may panic in the presence of stimulus, characteristics of crying, screaming, vomiting, running away, freezing
emotional:
fear - persistent, excessive and unreasonable fear which may be long lasting, immediate response, feelings of terror or death if in contact with object
panic and anxiety - person feels highly anxious and experience unpleasant and negative feelings when faces with situation, may worry about facing phobic object
cognitive:
irrational - person thinks in an irrational manner about phobia, resist rational arguments that counter it
insight - person knows the fear is excessive and unreasonable but still find it hard not to fear object
cognitive distortions - person has a distorted perception of the stimulus and sees it in a negative way such as alien or aggressive
selective attention - when encountering stimulus, they cannot look away and focus all their attention on it, ignore everything else and can only focus on object
behavioural approach to explaining phobias (ao1)
two process model consists of classical conditioning or social learning and operant conditioning
the behavioural model suggests that all behaviour including phobias can be learnt
classical conditioning: a method of building an association between two stimuli so learning takes place
the neutral stimulus is presented to person (white rat)
the unconditional stimulus is then presented making the person cry or have an emotional response (loud banging noise)
then repeatedly pair the two stimuli together many times to the individual to allow learning to take place where the individual has an emotional response when both stimuli are presented
this causes the neutral stimulus to become conditioned meaning when only the neutral stimulus is presented the person will have the conditioned emotional response, an association has been established
social learning theory: based on observational learning whereby young children might observe a reaction that their parents or family members have to a particular situation and start to copy this behaviour
for example if they see someone have a traumatic experience with something they may imitate this behaviour and develop a phobia to the object
a study was conducted that showed if one monkey displayed signs of fear to a snake all monkeys showed the same fear response, example can also be applied to humans
operant conditioning: explains how phobias can be maintained after they are learnt through reinforcement
the individual can use two types of reinforcement, negative and positive
negative reinforcement - the individual avoids the phobic object in order to reduce the risk of feeling fear
positive reinforcement - by avoiding phobic object and not feeling the fear they feel rewarded so they continue to avoid the object to feel rewarded
behavioural approach to explaining phobias (ao3)
+research support shows evidence of classical conditioning causing phobias, King 1998 reviewed many case studies and found that children acquire phobias by encountering traumatic experiences with the phobic object
+ bandura supports the idea of social learning, a piece of research was conducted where a person acted in pain when a buzzer went off, when participants watched the video they showed the same response at the sound of the buzzer indicating social learning is a valid explanation in the cause of phobias
- limited as it ignored other factors that could cause phobias, focuses on the behavioural approach but ignores any possible biological, genetic or evolutionary factors that may cause phobias, some people may have a more genetic vulnerability to developing phobias that the behavioural model would ignore
- some people do have traumatic experiences with a potentially phobic object however do not go on to develop a phobia to these objects, and some people do develop phobias with no traumatic experience to cause the phobia therefore classical conditioning does not explain how all phobias develop
behavioural approach to treating phobias - systematic desensitisation (ao1)
systematic desensitisation is a behavioural therapy developed by Wolpe to reduce and diminish phobias
uses classical conditioning to replace the irrational fears and anxieties associated with phobic objects with calm and relaxed responses, central idea is that it is impossible to experience opposite emotions at the same time (reciprocal inhibition), therefore if the patient remains calm they can be cured of their phobia
process:
1 hierarchy of fear - constructed by both the therapist and the patient, situations involving the phobic object are ranked from least to most fearful, for example starting by looking at a photo to holding it
2 relaxation techniques - patients taught deep muscle relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, progressive muscular relaxation, and the relaxation response, pmr tenses a group of muscles as tightly as possible, then relax them until they are the most relaxed as possible, as well as relaxing all muscles from the bottom of body to top using deep breathing and meditation
3 gradual exposure - patient is introduced to their phobic object gradually and work their way up the hierarchy of fear starting with the least frightening stage, using relaxation techniques whilst exposed to the phobic object, when they feel comfortable with one stage they move on to the next, eventually through repeated exposure the phobia can be eliminated
behavioural approach to treating phobias - systematic desensitisation (ao3)
+ research evidence by Jones in his Little Peter study, white rabbit was presented to Little Peter who had a phobia at gradually closer distances and each time anxiety levels lessen, eventually developed affection rather than fear which generalised to all white fluffy objects, provides evidence for SD’s elimination of phobias
+ a less traumatic therapy for phobias than other behavioural therapies such as flooding, therefore can be considered more practical and effective. The patient can confront their phobias directly at a self directed pace leading to less ethical implications and psychological harm making it a more encouraging option
- not always a practical solution for individuals to be desensitised by their phobias, real life step by step situations can be difficult to arrange and control especially if the phobia is not an everyday item such as sharks, therefore the effectiveness of the therapy can be questioned if it cannot be used practically for all types of phobias
- only addressed the symptoms of fear of the phobia, critics believe the symptoms are only part of the problem and that underlying causes of the phobia will remain and in the future symptoms may return or different symptoms will replace the original symptoms
behavioural approach to treating phobias - flooding (ao1)
flooding/implosion involves directly exposing the phobic patient to their feared object in an immediate situation
before the exposure, the patient would be taught relaxation techniques such as deep muscle relaxation, deep breathing and meditation
unlike sd there is no gradual build up, instead there is an immediate exposure to a very frightening and extreme situation until fear is gone
this can be done “in vivo” real life or virtually through imagining the situation
flooding is able to stop phobic responses very quickly as the patient does not have any option for avoidance behaviour such as running away or not facing the phobic object
this means they will quickly learn the phobic object is harmless causing extinction of the phobia or they may become so exhausted by their fear response their phobic response diminishes
flooding is ethical despite the initial psychological harm as the patient has to give fully informed consent before the session to ensure they are fully prepared before the session
patients are normally given the choice between sd or flooding
flooding usually takes a longer session time but needs less sessions making it a more cost effective option
behavioural approach to treating phobias - flooding (ao3)
+ is a cost effective option especially compared to cbt and sd which can take long periods of time to work and rid the person of the phobia, it is a quick therapy which is useful as patients can become free of their symptoms quicker, which can be extremely helpful in situations where the phobia has started impacting individual’s ability to have a normal life, treatment is practical and cost effective
+ research support by Ost shows that flooding is an effective and rapid treatment that delivers immediate improvements for phobic objects, this is especially the case when a patient is encouraged to continue self directed exposure to feared objects and situations outside the therapy situation, therefore results from flooding can be applied to everyday life outside the therapy situation
- flooding can be seen as less effective for curing certain types of phobias psych as social phobias, this is because these phobias are made up of more cognitive aspects that flooding cannot address well, therefore these sorts of phobias are better treated using cognitive therapies, flooding may not always be the best treatment despite being a quicker and cheaper solution
- it is a highly traumatic experience and many patients may be unwilling to continue with the therapy until the end, therefore time, money and resources are wasted in preparing patients for the flooding experience as they do not complete the treatment and the phobia remains uncured, therefore other alternatives may be of better use to prevent these wasted resources.
characteristics of depression (ao1)
in order for depression to be diagnosed at least 5 symptoms must be present every day for two weeks, must include sadness, loss of interest and pleasure in normal activities, person will show impairment in general functioning that has not been caused by other events
behavioural:
shift in energy levels - depressed people might have reduced amounts of energy resulting in fatigue, lethargy and inactivity, leads to withdrawal from work, education, social life, agitation, restlessness
social impairment - reduced levels of sisal interactions with friends and relations, distance themselves from friends and family
weight changes - significant increase or decrease in weight, may eat more or have a reduced appetite in depressive episodes causing these changes
poor personal hygiene - reduced levels of hygiene, reduced cleanliness, wearing dirty clothes
sleep pattern disturbance - constant insomnia, difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, waking up early, alternatively may oversleep (hyperinsomnia)
aggression and self harm - irritable and may become physically or verbally aggressive, impulsivity, may be aggressive to themselves in the form of self harm
emotional:
loss of enthusiasm - lessened concern with or lack of pleasure in daily activities such as hobbies or things that the person used to enjoy
constant depressed mood - ever present and overwhelming feelings of sadness and hopelessness and emptiness
worthlessness - constant feelings of reduced worth and inappropriate feelings of guilt, low levels of self esteem
anger - feelings of anger directed towards others or turned inwards towards the self potentially resulting in self harm, feelings of being hurt and wishing to retaliate
cognitive:
delusions - experience delusions, generally concerning guilt, punishment, personal inadequacy and disease, also experience hallucinations in all senses
reduced concentration - difficulty in paying/maintaining attention, cannot stay on task for long periods of time, slower thought processes and difficulty making decisions, interfere with ability to do jobs
thoughts of death - constant thoughts of death and suicide, believe world would be a better place without them, make plans to end their life
poor memory - trouble retrieving memories, memory might be poor in general
negative thinking - have a negative view of the world and expect things to turn out badly rather than well, negative expectations about life and relationships and world, leading to self fulfilling prophecy, positive factors ignored, have cognitive bias
absolutist thinking - patients tend to think in the format that things are either all good or all bad
cognitive approach to explaining depression - cognitive triad (ao1)
the cognitive model proposes that individuals suffering from depression often have distorted and negative thinking, and those who think in this way may be more prone to developing depression
cognitive triad was developed by Beck in 1960
beck believes that people become depressed because they have a negative outlook and develop negative schemas which dominate their thinking, these continue into adulthood and provide a negative framework causing depressive thoughts
stage 1:
negative thoughts about self - person has negative thoughts about themself and might feel worthless and helpless, they criticise themselves at every opportunity
stage 2:
negative thoughts about the world - the negative thoughts extend to the wider world around them, the negative and distorted thinking continues on a larger scale and the statement becomes more global and negative
stage 3:
negative thoughts about the future - think negatively about their future seeing it as bleak and negative, causing low self esteem, can lead to suicidal thoughts
cognitive approach to explaining depression - cognitive triad (ao3)
+ cognitive approach has become very influential within psychology as the theories are based upon sound experimental research that is objective and permits testing, it seems that research has shown that distorted and negative thoughts are very common in depressed patients and these thoughts play a key role in the development of the illness
+ there is lots of research support to suggest depression is caused by negative and irrational thinking as well as the cognitive triad, Terry 2000 assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability and depression before and after death, it was found that those who had a high cognitive vulnerability to thunk negatively were more likely to suffer post natal depression, supporting the cognitive approach that negative thinking can cause depression
- a limitation of the cognitive approach is cause and effect is not clear, is it the negative and irrational thoughts that cause depression to develop, or is it that depression causes the negative and irrational thoughts, therefore cause and effect needs to be investigated further to determine whether negative thinking causes depression
- becks theory can be criticised as it does not explain how some symptoms of depression develop, some depressed patients show symptoms of anger, hallucinations, and bizarre beliefs, therefore the theory fails to account for how these symptoms develop, not an effective explanation of depression
cognitive approach to explaining depression - ABC model (ao1)
Ellis’s ABC Model
Ellis proposed that depression is caused by irrational beliefs, he devised the model to explain how irrational and negative beliefs are formed
A - Activating Event
patients record events leading to negative thinking and this is triggered by an event in the environment around them, activating event has a negative effect on their mood and outlook
B - Beliefs
patients record their thoughts associated with the event (rational or irrational), for example in a diary or journal to keep track of thoughts
C - Consequences
patients record the emotional response to their beliefs, irrational beliefs can lead to negative emotions such as feeling upset, consequences can be debated with many options
Ellis also identified mustabatory thinking which can cause irrational and negative thinking that can be emotionally damaging and can lead to depression
(“I must…”)
an individual who holds these beliefs is bound to be disappointed and depressed as they are too idealistic and expectations are too high
cognitive approach to explaining depression - ABC model (ao3)
+ research support on Ellis’ model as a cause of depression, Bates 1999 found that depressed participants who were given negative thought statements became more and more depressed supporting the view that negative thinking helps cause depression, therefore if psychologists are aware of the causes of depression, then we can provide effective treatments to curing depression such as cbt to change negative thoughts into positive ones
+ based upon sound scientific evidence that permits objective testing, this allows for improvement of the model and a greater understanding for the causes of depression as a whole, allowing for falsifiability and objective reasoning for depression
- a limitation of the cognitive approach is cause and effect is not clear, is it the negative and irrational thoughts that cause depression to develop, or is it that depression causes the negative and irrational thoughts, therefore cause and effect needs to be investigated further to determine whether negative thinking causes depression
- it blames the client when looking at the cause of depression, this is because it overlooks any situational factors that may have helped to cause the depression for example family problems, instead the psychologist only examines negative and irrational thoughts alone as a cause for depression, therefore it may not be a valid explanation of depression if it does not stem from these irrational thoughts
cognitive behavioural therapy for treating depression (ao1)
developed by Beck
central idea is to challenge and restructure negative ways of thinking so they become more positive and rational
can be used on individual patients and in small groups
cbt allows the patient to have some control over their thinking and focuses on present experiences to help the patient to think in a positive way to positively influence their behaviour
uses a highly trained therapist to challenge the negative thoughts associated with the depression as the stages of the cognitive triad are assessed as the basis for cbt
patients are encouraged to identify negative thoughts with thought catching, then challenge the thoughts and test them out in reality acting as a scientist
patient encouraged to keep a record of events to help challenge their negative thinking, and prove that their positive events do exist
reinforcement of positive thoughts is encouraged and patients will attend weekly sessions to help overcome and discuss their negative thinking
cognitive behavioural therapy for treating depression (ao3)
+ very effective to use when a client has mild depression to prevent it from getting worse, applicable to clients with mild symptoms rather than severe symptoms but a better alternative to drugs which may have many side effects economical treatment that is widely respected and supported by vast amounts of research as a therapy for depression, cost effective treatment for many disorders
+ praised because it tends to get to the root cause of the depressive problem, is able to uncover the real underlying issues that caused the depression in the first place, unlike other treatments such as drug therapy which merely act as a plaster to cover up and solve only the symptoms and superficial layer of depression, works as a truly effective cure
+ can be used as a long term cure for depression, when a patient undergoes cbt it has lasting positive outcomes and there is a high chance the patient is actually cured meaning they are less likely to suffer a relapse compared to other treatments, therefore this makes the treatment both cost and resource effective for both the NHS and the patient and patients are very unlikely to return needing future treatments
- not the most popular treatment which is actually drug therapy using antidepressants, this therapy requires less effort than CBT from the patient side which is a more encouraging option to patients who are likely suffering a lack in motivation and energy levels, however research has shown that they can be effective when combined together making the most out of both the available treatment options
