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Psychopathology Flashcards

1
Q

What are the definitions of abnormality?

A
  • Statistical infrequency
  • Deviation from social norms
  • Deviation from ideal mental health
  • Failure to function adequately
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2
Q

What is meant by statistical infrequency?

A

When statistically someone is behaving abnormally then they are of a statistical infrequency. To determine statistical infrequency it must be reliably measured.

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3
Q

What is a good example of statistical infrequency as a definition of abnormality?

A

IQ tests as people who are both below and above the average range between 85 and 115 are considered abnormal.

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4
Q

What is a benefit for the use of statistical infrequency as a definition of abnormality?

A

A strength to the statistical infrequency is that it has real life application when diagnosing intellectual disability disorders. Therefore it has a place when thinking about what behaviours are abnormal and normal. To furtherly strengthen we can see the statistical infrequency being used when diagnosing many mental disorders when identifying how severe symptoms are compared to other social norms.

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5
Q

What is a weakness for the use of statistical infrequency as a definition of abnormality?

A

A weakness of the statistical infrequency is that some people do not need to be labelled as abnormal. This is a weakness when considering a person with a low IQ score who is not distressed and quite capable of working does not need to be diagnosed as anything. Furtherly this is a weakness because by diagnosing those living a happy normal life may cause themselves/others to view them negatively from the diagnoses where before they were not. For some people the statistical infrequency can be troubling.

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6
Q

What is meant by deviation from social norms?

A

When a person notices another it’s usually because their behaviour is a deviation from the social norms in that setting. Groups of people will choose to define behaviour as abnormal depending on whether they find it acceptable or not.

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7
Q

What is meant by ‘norms’?

A

Norms are behaviours that are considered acceptable, depending on culture generation etc this can vary.

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8
Q

What is a problem with using deviation from social norms as an explanation for abnormality?

A

The norms may be different between generations and cultures. Therefore people from one culture/generation could label another as abnormal when in their culture/generation they aren’t.

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9
Q

What is an example of deviation from social norms?

A

Antisocial personality disorder (psychopathy) as the people cannot commit to social norms as they suffer from impulsive, aggressive and irresponsible thoughts.

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10
Q

How can deviation from social norms lead to human rights abuse?

A

Can lead to minority behaviour being classified as abnormal. Homosexuality was classified as a mental illness as it was a minority behaviour. This is due to them failing to conform to the social norm of being attracted to the opposite sex and lead to much suffering and persecution.

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11
Q

What is a strength for deviation from social norms as an explanation for abnormality?

A

It has real life application when diagnosing antisocial personality disorder. Therefore there is a place when thinking about what is normal/abnormal.

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12
Q

What is meant by failing to function adequately as definition of abnormality?

A

A person is considered abnormal if they are unable to cope with the demands of everyday life.

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13
Q

Why may some being classified as abnormal with the failure to function adequately explanation?

A

May be unable to perform the behaviour necessary for day-to-day living e.g. self-care, hold down a job, interact meaningfully with others, make themselves understood etc.

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14
Q

What is an example of failing to function adequately as definition of abnormality being used?

A

Intellectual disability disorder diagnosis must require a person to both be statistically infrequent with IQ and failing to function adequately.

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15
Q

What is a limitation to the failure to function adequately as definition of abnormality?

A

A weakness is that it places the power to class people as mentally unwell in to the hands of a limited few I.e. most doctors are White European males and will primarily diagnose black afro-Caribbean males.

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16
Q

What is a strength of the failure to function adequately as a definition of abnormality?

A

It attempts to include the subjective experience of the individual. This is because it acknowledges that experiences of the patient are important even though distress can be hard to measure.

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17
Q

What did Jahoda outline?

A

Deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality

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18
Q

What is meant by deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality?

A

Rather than defining what is abnormal, we define what is normal/ideal and anything that deviates from this is regarded as abnormal.

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19
Q

What are the characteristics of ideal mental health?

A

Positive view of the self
Capability for growth and development
Autonomy and independence
Accurate perception of reality
Positive friendships and relationships
Environmental mastery – able to meet the varying demands of day-to-day situations

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20
Q

What is a weakness of deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality?

A

Can lead to people treating mental health issues as if they are physical health issues. By classifying people as failing to function adequately and classifying them as mentally ill in the same way as we classify people as physically ill It leads to people being given generic treatments.

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21
Q

Why is deviation from ideal mental health said to have too my criteria?

A

There are so many criteria and many people will not meet them all however that does not mean we are not healthy. I.e. if you have just been fired from your job as you incompetent, you can not have a realistic view of the world and a positive view of yourself as they conflict.

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22
Q

What is the physical response our bodies provide to a phobic reaction?

A

Fight or flight response however its inappropriate for the situation and so just causes problems.

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23
Q

What types of phobias does DSM 5 recognise?

A

Specific phobia
Social phobia (anxiety)
Agoraphobia

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24
Q

What is meant by a specific phobia?

A

Phobia of a specific object, animal, body part or situation ie fear of injections.

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25
What is meant by social phobia?
Phobia of a situation such as public speaking or using a public loo.
26
What is meant by agoraphobia?
Phobia of being outside or in a public place.
27
Why is arachnophobia a phobia in the Uk but not Australia?
Because in the Uk native spiders are harmless where in Australia spiders can cause severe harm.
28
What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?
Panic - Crying, shaking, screaming, sweating or running away from stimulus Avoidance - Where the person avoids the stimulus Endurance - When the person endures it instead which causes high anxiety.
29
What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?
Anxiety (stress) - highly unpleasant emotional response which we seek to reduce whenever we can. In a phobia the reactions are both rapid and extreme when they occur.
30
What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
Problems with selective attention - When the persons focusses upon the phobia despite not wanting to. Irrational beliefs - The person has irrational beliefs about what a stimulus will do to them ie a bird is going to attack them. Cognitive distortions - How a person perceives a stimulus is more dramatic ie when a dog looks at them with an open mouth they may think its about to bite them.
31
What does the cognitive approach believe is the reason for developing phobias?
Develop irrational thought processes which lead to behaviour being inappropriate for the stimulus
32
What does the psychodynamic approach believe is the reason for developing phobias?
Phobia are caused by unresolved issues buried deep in your subconscious mind. In order to deal fear of something that is to threatening to even accept you displace your fear on to other things which it is psychologically safe to be scared of.
33
What is the behavioural way to explain phobias?
2 process model
34
What are the two processes in the two process model?
Classical conditioning Operant conditioning
35
What is meant by classical conditioning?
Learning through forming associations which can cause people to give irrational responses to stimulus.
36
What I meaning by operant conditioning?
Learning through reinforcement of receiving comfort when a persons shows distress to a stimulus.
37
How can classical conditioning explain phobias?
We form an association between an unconditioned stimulus that we are already scared of and a neutral stimulus that we do not yet have a response to. This means that our response is in fact relevant to the first unconditioned stimulus but may not be to our second, neutral stimulus.
38
What did Watson and Rayner (1920) do?
Made a little boy called Albert 'Little Albert' afraid of anything white and fluffy.
39
How did Watson and Rayner (1920) make little Albert afraid of anything white and fluffy?
By presenting him with a neutral stimulus (white rat) and then banging an iron bar (unconditioned stimulus) close to his ear which caused a conditioned response of the rat as he generalised the response to other similar objects.
40
How can operant conditioning explain phobias?
When a person develops a phobia due to the reaction and attention others give you which positively reinforces the response. When you show an initial fear of something you will then show that reaction again as the response was beneficial.
41
What is a support for the behaviourist approach to explaining phobias?
The theory works and Watson and Rayner proved it with there Little Albert case study.
42
What is a criticism for the two process model of phobias?
Fails to take into account that evolutionary factors play a role in phobias too. For example people easily get phobias of things which have been a source of danger in the past eg snakes, spiders the dark etc.
43
What behaviourist therapies can be used for phobias?
Systematic desensitisation Flooding
44
How is flooding conducted?
The person is kept in there phobic situation until they are calm.
45
Why does flooding work?
By putting the person in a position in which they are made to confront their the worst possible fear in inescapable way. It causes extinction of the faulty conditioned response.
46
Why does a person stop giving a fear response during flooding?
It takes significant energy to maintain, therefore they are unable to keep up the fear response and eventually forces them to calm down over time.
47
What is a strength of flooding?
It is cost effective as takes less time compared to systematic desensitisation.
48
How can flooding effect physical and mental health?
It can cause heart attacks or PTSD due to such high levels of anxiety and if the patient is released the PTSD is almost certain.
49
What is systematic desensitisation?
A behavioural therapy designed to gradually reduce phobic anxiety through classical conditioning.
50
What is reciprocal inhibition?
When one emotion prevents the other ie in flooding when you feel relaxed rather than afraid.
51
What are the stages in systematic desensitisation?
Anxiety hierarchy Relaxation Exposure
52
What is the first step in systematic desensitisation?
The anxiety hierarchy - is put together which is a list of situations related to the phobic stimulus which provoke anxiety in order from least to most frightening.
53
What is the second step in systematic desensitisation?
Relaxation - patient is taught a deep muscle relaxation technique and breathing exercises. E.g. control over breathing, muscle detensioning or meditation.
54
What is the third step in systematic desensitisation?
Exposure - the patient is exposed to the stimulus whilst in a relaxed state. The patient then moves up the anxiety hierarchy over sessions.
55
What is a strength of systematic desensitisation?
It's much more preferred by patients to flooding as it doesn't cause the same level of trauma.
56
What is a weakness of systematic desensitisation?
It takes more time compared to flooding, flooding takes 2 sessions whereas SD can take multiple which also costs more money.
57
What are the types of depression recognised by DSM 5?
Major depressive disorder - severe but short term Persistent depressive disorder - long term or recurring depression Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder - Childhood temper tantrums Premenstrual dysphoric disorder - disruption to mood prior/during menstruation.
58
What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?
Activity levels - Levels of activity decrease with low energy and motivation which affects interactions with friends. Disruptions to sleep and eating behaviour - unable to sleep (insomnia) or need more sleep (hypersomnia). Aggression or self harm - Increase levels of aggression shown in physical or verbal abuse and increased arguments.
59
What are the emotional characteristics of depression?
Lowered mood - Normal level of emotion decreases they may feel sad, worthlessness or emptiness. Anger - Experience more negative emotions and take less from positive experiences than others, anger may be directed at others or at themself. Lowered self esteem - Thinking of yourself in a negative way
60
What are the cognitive characteristics of depression?
Poor concentration - Person finds it difficult to focus on what they're doing. Attending to dwell on the negative - Person fixating on the negative aspects of situations. Absolutist thinking - Seeing things as black or white, good or bad and never in-between with situations.
61
What are the 2 theories of how we develop depression?
Beck’s (1967) Theory of Depression (The Negative triad) Ellis (1962) ABC model
62
What did Beck say the reason a person develops depression is due to?
Faulty information processing Negative self schemas Negative triad
63
What is meant by faulty information processing?
Seeing the negative in a situation rather than any positive, i.e. seeing a win of £100 on the lottery as a failure as they did not get the jackpot.
64
What is meant by negative self schemas?
The way we interpret the world is problematic, often finding the negative when others would not.
65
What does the negative triad lead to?
Falling into a downwards spiral of thoughts, getting ever more despondent and depressed as time goes on.
66
What are the areas of the negative triad in order?
Negative view of the world - Negative view of the future - Negative view of the self....
67
What is a the strength to Becks theory of depression?
It can be used as a basis for therapies such as CBT
68
What is a weakness for Becks theory of depression?
The theory cannot explain some more severe cases of depression such as hallucinations or bizarre beliefs which makes it limiting.
69
What are the main elements of Ellis's ABC model of depression?
A - activating event B - belief C - consequence
70
What is meant by the activating event stage in Ellis's ABC model of depression?
An event in your life which has a negative outcome for you in some way, ie failing exams, losing a job or a relationship breakdown.
71
What is meant by the belief stage in Ellis's ABC model of depression?
Your belief about why the event occurred is important. If you think that it happened as you are a bad or incapable person then you will feel bad about your self.
72
What is meant by the consequence stage in Ellis's ABC model of depression?
If you believe you are a failure you will not try in future as you know you are doomed to fail, often resulting in you failing and reinforcing the negative beliefs and resulting in an ever down ward spiral.
73
What is a support for Ellis's model of depression?
The therapy based upon it is frequently successful.
74
What did March et al (2007) find?
Found that after 36 weeks 81% had improved with just CBT, equal to just antidepressants and 86% when combined with antidepressants. This is now standard within the NHS to give both.
75
What is a supporting study of Ellis's ABC model of depression?
March et al (2007)
76
What is a weakness of Ellis's ABC model of depression?
It only applies to certain types of depression as psychologists call depression following activating events reactive depression which is different from that without a cause.
77
What cognitive behavioural therapies are there to treating depression?
Beck’s Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Ellis’s Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy
78
What is the first part of Becks cognitive therapy?
The therapist talks with the patient, getting them to talk about how they are feeling about the world, themself and the future and then works out what there negative thoughts are.
79
In Becks cognitive therapy what happens once the negative thoughts have been identified?
The therapist challenges the negative thoughts with logical ones.
80
Using Becks cognitive therapy how may a therapist challenge negative thoughts about the self?
Get the patient to think about times where they have succeeded rather than when they've failed.
81
Using Becks cognitive therapy how may a therapist challenge negative thoughts about the world?
By getting the patient to spend time with those who value them ie friends or family to show them the world/society can be caring.
82
Using Becks cognitive therapy how may a therapist challenge negative thoughts about the future?
By getting them to recall times when they have been happy in their past and getting them to plan activities which will recreate these happy feelings.
83
What is a supporting study of Becks cognitive behavioural therapy?
March et al (2007)
84
What is a weakness of Becks cognitive behavioural therapy?
The patients must be mentally capable to engage with the therapy therefore it cannot work for more severe cases.
85
What are the stages of Ellis's rational emotive behavioural therapy?
D - Disputing E - Effective F - Feelings
86
What happens in the 'Dispute' stage of Ellis's rational emotive behavioural therapy?
The therapist works with the client to challenge negative thoughts this can be done logically, empirically and pragmatically.
87
What happens in the 'Effective' stage of Ellis's rational emotive behavioural therapy?
The therapist works to create a more effective belief to replace the faulty one.
88
What happens in the 'Feelings's stage of Ellis's rational emotive behavioural therapy?
The therapist works to establish a positive set of feelings which allow them to approach things more effectively.
89
What is a strength for the cognitive approach to treating depression?
They offer what can be a cure in the long term. By correcting the persons thought processes, the thoughts that can cause the depression are removed.
90
What is a criticism of the cognitive approach to treating depression?
The person may get better due to having the chance to talk to someone rather because of the therapy. Luborsky et al (2002) showed no matter the cognitive therapy used the person only stayed constantly well if they got to spend time with the therapist.
91
What types of OCD does DSM 5 recognise?
Trichotillomania - compulsive hair pulling. Hoarding disorder - Compulsion to keep ALL positions regardless of worth. Excoriation disorder - Compulsive skin picking
92
What is OCD?
When a person experience constant obsessively uncontrollable behaviours.
93
What are the behavioural characteristics of OCD?
Compulsions - Broken down into 2 subcategories repetitive and to reduce anxiety. Avoidance - When they seek to avoid or reduce anxiety by avoiding situations which trigger obsessions.
94
What are the subcategories of compulsions in OCD?
Repetitive - The need to repeat even minor actions a set amount of times, this often includes washing, tidying and ordering items. To reduce anxiety - 90% of OCD sufferers will need to do things to reduce anxiety ie they may need to wash hands regularly to prevent contamination of germs.
95
What are the emotional characteristics of OCD
Anxiety and distress - Fear and anxiety around not doing something they have a compulsion to, this can be very powerful and unpleasant. Accompanying depression - Frequent depressions may be present which can be escaped from if the compulsions are achieved. Guilt and disgust - Frequently targets towards themself or others.
96
What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD?
Obsessive thoughts - 90% suffer will thoughts they cannot stop which can cause significant distress. Cognitive strategies - The person may develop methods to deal with the thoughts which can be seen as odd to those around them. Insights to the excessive anxiety - They may know of there irrational or unusual actions yet still not be able to stop them.
97
What are the two biological explanations to explaining OCD?
Genetic explanation Neural explanation
98
What does the neurological explanation say the reason for developing OCD is?
Low levels of serotonin prevent the effective communication of mood and emotions. This causes the person to have impaired decision making within the frontal lobe of the brain. This distorted thought process is then said to lead to development of OCD
99
The lack of which neurochemical is said to cause OCD?
Low levels of serotonin
100
What is a strength of the neural explanation for OCD?
Some antidepressants have been found to be beneficial. This is because some can increase the presence of serotonin in the brain meaning they can be a treatment for OCD.
101
What is a weakness of the neural explanation of OCD?
Can lead people to make assumptions of cause and effect. Just because we observe abnormal levels of neurochemicals in OCD patients brains this doesn't mean it's the cause. It may just be how our brains are made to function due to distorted thought processes.
102
What does the genetic explanation say is the reason for a person developing OCD?
We have genetic predispositions to develop OCD. Meaning certain people are more vulnerable due to genetics making them more likely to develop OCD if they experience a form of triggering event.
103
What has been found about candidate genes and the genetic explanation of OCD?
Some genes have been found to create vulnerability for OCD as they reduce the efficiency of transporting serotonin across synapses, these are called candidate genes.
104
Why is OCD considered to be polygenic?
Taylor (2013) analysed findings of previous studies and found up to 230 different genes playing roles in OCD. These genes studied have been found to associate with the action of dopamine as well as serotonin.
105
What is a supporting study of the genetic explanation of OCD?
Nestadt et al (2010)
106
What did Nestadt et al (2010) find?
Found 68% concordance rate between monozygotic twins with OCD compared to 31% with dizygotic twins.
107
What is a weakness of the genetic explanation of OCD?
The environment clearly plays a role as well as they can never establish a 100% concordance rate.
108
What is the most common form of drug treatment for OCD?
Selective serotonin Reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
109
How do SSRIs do what they do
By preventing the enzymes from breaking down in the serotonin and by preventing serotonin from being reabsorbed as quickly.
110
What do SSRIs work to do?
Cause a build up of serotonin between the pre and post synaptic neurones.
111
What is a supporting study of drug treatments for OCD?
Sansome and Sansome (2011)
112
What did Sansome and Sansome (2011) find?
70% of OCD sufferers show significant improvement in OCD symptoms compared to a placebo treatment.
113
What side effects can drug treatments for OCD cause?
They can often cause people to stop taking them. Ie some can include nausea, insomnia and even seizures which can often put people off continuing to take the medication therefore making this treatment less effective.
114
What is a criticism of drug treatments for OCD?
They offer treatment and not a cure. Therefore they are only effective when you continue to take them.
115
What alternatives are there to SSRIs as treatments for OCD?
Serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRI’s) Tricyclics antidepressants (TCAs)
116
What are Serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRI’s)?
Similar to SSRIs they work by blocking the reuptake of both serotonin and noradrenaline, making them more effective antidepressant than SSRIs when treating OCD.
117
What are Tricyclics antidepressants (TCAs)?
Work by preventing the reabsorption of serotonin and epinephrine back into nerve cells after these chemicals are released into a synapse. They have a stronger, broader effect and can be effective when SSRI’s have failed.
118
Why are SSRIs and CBT often combined as treatments for OCD?
By taking the SSRI’s the suffer can gain enough self control to allow them to engage in the therapy, enabling them to deal with the psychological problems that are behind the disorder.

Psychology (10 decks)

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