Psychopathology Flashcards
Discuss two or more definitions of abnormality (16 marks)
A01:
1. Statistical infrequency
2. Deviation from social norms
3. Failure to function adequately
4. Deviation from ideal mental health
A03:
Statistical infrequency
+ Good real life application = helps professionals come to a diagnosis of intellectual disorders
- Some characteristics may be positive/useful = IQ of over 135 is classed as abnormal but does not mean they need to be treated
- Some behaviours may not be abnormal but need treatment = 27% of elderly people have depression, not abnormal but does need treatment
- despite being abnormal not all people need treatment = someone with a 70 IQ may be able to live a functional life without treatment - which could end up leading to social stigma
Deviation from social norms
+ Good real world application = it can be used to make a clinical diagnosis in psychology
- Human rights abuses = can unfairly label people, e.g women’s rights and behaviour of slaves - lacks temporal validity
- Can not be applied to all cultures = Cultural relativism and Situational relativism
Cultural relativism = hearing voices is normal in some cultures (ancestors)
Situational relativism = being naked is fine on a nudest beach but not in a town centre
Failure to function adequately
+ Supporting study by Seligman = behaviour can be seen when a person breaks interpersonal rules (eye contact) or when behaviour becomes irrational or dangerous to themselves and/or others
- Difficult to distinguish between a person failing to function adequately and someone living an alternative lifestyle (Travellers) (Extreme Sports)
- Many instances where most of us fail to function adequately = hard to function after the death of a loved one
+ FFA represents a threshold for help = considers patients experience and perspective - according to the charity ‘Mind’ 25% of people suffer from mental health issues at one point every year
Deviation from ideal mental health
+ Jahoda’s criteria covers a range of criteria and is also a positive diagnosis on how we can improve our mental health
- Culture bound = criteria may not be appropriate to all cultures
- Sets extremely high standards = may diagnose people as abnormal if they are unable to live up to an ‘impossible’ list of criteria
Outline the emotional/behavioural/cognitive characteristics of phobias/depression/OCD
A01: Phobias
Cognitive =
1. selective attention
2. irrational beliefs
3. cognitive distortions
Behavioural =
1. Panic
2. Avoidance
3. Endurance
Emotional =
1. Unreasonable emotional responses
2. Anxiety
3. Fear
Depression:
Behavioural characteristics =
1. change in activity levels - normally reduced energy
2. disruption to sleep and eating
3. aggression and self-harm
Cognitive characteristics =
1. poor concentration
2 dwelling on the negative
3. absolutist thinking - ‘black or white’/’good or bad’
Emotional characteristics =
1. lowered mood
2. anger
3. lowered self esteem
OCD:
Behavioural
1. Repetitive compulsions
2. Compulsions reduce anxiety
3. Avoidance
Cognitive
1. Obsessive thoughts
2. Cognitive coping strategies
3. Insight into excessive anxiety = patients aware it is irrational
Emotional
1. Anxiety and distress
2. Accompanying depression
3. Guilt and disgust
Discuss the Behaviourist approach to explaining phobias (16 marks)
A01:
Mowrer (1960)
Proposed a two process model based on behavioural approach to phobias = learnt through classical and maintained through operant conditioning
Study:
The case of little Albert completed by Watson and Rayner in 1920
A03:
+ Good real world application = can apply to therapy to improve patients life
- Geared towards explaining behaviour = does not fully explain the symptoms of phobias as it also has a significant cognitive component
+ supporting study by Jongh (2006) = found that 73% of people with a fear of dental treatment had experienced trauma relating to dentistry in the past, control group who did not fear dentist only 21% had experienced a trauma in the past
- Not all phobias are a traumatic experience = many common phobias are where people have had no experience let alone traumatic experience - not all traumatic experiences lead to phobias
- Bounton (2007) says evolutionary factors have a role to play in explaining phobias = danger in our evolutionary past such as snakes or the dark are common phobias
Seligman (1971) called this biological preparedness i.e the innate predisposition to acquire certain fears
Discuss the behaviourist treatments for phobias (16 marks)
A01:
Systematic desensitisation
Aim/Technique = gradually reduce phobic anxiety through classical conditioning, the idea that if someone can relax whilst in the presence of their phobia, they will be cured, the pairing of relaxation with the phobic stimulus is known as counter conditioning
- Anxiety hierarchy
- Relaxation techniques are taught (reciprocal inhibition)
- Exposure to phobic stimulus
+ effective and long lasting results = Gilroy (2003)
+ can be used for all patients age wise and learning difficulties
+ can be done through VR, - However, it is less effective than real life as it lacks realism
- only deals with symptoms not underlying cause
Flooding:
1 session
2-3 hours
involves immediate exposure to phobic stimulus
stops phobic response as the body can only maintain a fear response for a short period of time
also prevents reinforcement of phobia through escape or avoidance behaviours
+ cost effective, only requires one session
- highly traumatic = Schumacker (2015)
- only deals with symptoms not underlying cause
Discuss the cognitive approach to explaining depression (16 marks)
A01: Beck
Negative self schemas-patients may have a negative self schema so interpret all information about themselves in a negative way. They have developed a negative schema during childhood. These lead to systematic cognitive biases in thinking.
Cognitive vulnerabilities:
1. faulty information processing
2. Negative self schema
3. Negative triad = negative view of self, world, future
A03:
+ Supporting evidence = Clark and Beck (1999) found cognitive vulnerabilities were common in depressed people
+ Supporting evidence = Cohen (2019) 473 adolescents with higher score of vulnerability were more likely to develop depression later in life
+ Real world application = led to screening and treating depression
- Only focuses cognitive explanations = does not treat all types of depression
A01: Ellis
A = Activating event
B = Belief
C = Consequence
Can have rational or irrational thinking and people with mental illness show irrational
Irrational beliefs include:
Musturbatory thinking- the irrational belief that certain ideas or assumptions must be true in order for an individual to be happy.
An individual who holds such assumptions is bound to be disappointed and thus depressed.
I-can’t-stand-it-itis = something small becomes a major disaster
A03:
+ real world application = allowed Ellis to develop REBT
- Can only explain reactive depression not endogenous depression = “reactive” (occurring as the result of a stressor) and “endogenous” (occurring in the absence of stress)
- Controversial = blames the patients faulty thinking and negative outlook, may be unfair and unhelpful in supporting the recovery for the patient
Discuss the cognitive approach to treating depression (16 marks)
A01: Beck
Cognitive = thoughts
Behaviours = actions/homework
- Identify clients negative thoughts
- Therapist uses process of reality testing
- Sets homework for client
- ‘Client as the scientist’ = client gathering evidence which contradicts negative thoughts
A01: Ellis
Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy extends the ABC model to an ABCDE model
A = activating event
B = belief
C = consequence
D = dispute
E = effect
break link between activating event and depression
Main technique = vigorous argument, change irrational belief, break the link between ‘activating event’ and ‘depression’.
(empirical = where’s evidence, or logical = does this make sense)
Give homework = behavioural activation
A03:
+ Supporting evidence = March compared CBT with drug therapy when treating 327 adolescents over a 36-week period and found:
- 81% CBT improved
- 81% drug therapy improved
- 86% combination of both significantly improved
- Does not cater to everyone = those with severe depression or learning difficulties- won’t do homework or may struggle to understand
+ However = Taylor found it could be used for people with learning difficulties when used appropriately - High relapse rates = Ali assessed 439 patients for 12 months and 42% relapsed in 6 months and 53% relapsed in a year
- Patients may prefer drug therapy as it is quicker with minimal effort
Discuss the biological approach to explaining OCD (16 marks)
A01:
What did Lewis find about the concordance rates for OCD?
37% had a parent with OCD
21% had sibling with OCD
Candidate genes = 5HT1-D Beta Gene
Affects transport of serotonin, lowering levels
Mutation in the gene leads to an increase in the reuptake of serotonin into the neuron = decreases the level of serotonin in the synapse
One study found a mutation of this gene in two unrelated families where six of the seven family members had old
OCD is Polygenic:
Yes, not caused by one gene but is associated with several genes
Taylor found up to 230 different genes may be involved in OCD
Different types of OCD:
aetiologically heterogeneous
OCD is known as this, means one group of genes could cause OCD symptoms in one person, but an entirely different set of genes could cause OCD in another person
A03:
+ Nested (2010) = reviewed twin studies and found
68% identical twins (MZ) shared OCD
31% of non-identical twins (DZ)
= High concordance rates
+ Marini and Stebnicki (2012) someone with family member with OCD is 4x as likely to develop it compared to someone without a family member with OCD
- Diathesis stress model
as concordance rates are not 100% we can assume that genes cause a genetic vulnerability/predisposition to developing the disorder, but that environmental stressors are necessary to trigger the development of OCD - Psychologists have tried to determine what genes cause OCD
Ahmari (2016) found certain genes associated with repetitive behaviours in Mice
Not generalisable to humans as they do not have conscious thoughts of their behaviours compared to humans who are wary of why
A01:
Neural explanations
Low levels of Serotonin = regulates mood
Supported by the effectiveness of SSRI’s
Abnormal pre-frontal cortex (located in frontal lobe = associated with logical thinking and decision making) leading to compulsive, repetitive behaviour as it is overactive.
Left parahippocampal gyrus = associated with processing unpleasant emotions and interpreting them. This area functions abnormally in those with OCD.
A03:
The effectiveness of antidepressants:
Supporting evidence = supports the idea that serotonin plays a role in OCD because the drugs that give serotonin, help to improve your condition
- not clear which neural mechanisms are involved in OCD
Discuss the biological approach to treating OCD (16 marks)
A01:
SSRI = selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
- assumes there is a chemical imbalance
- increase serotonin by by preventing it from being reabsorbed and broken down
- Therefore, increased levels in the synapse - stimulate the post synaptic neuron
- Drug = Sertraline, fluoxetine, citalopram
Alternatives:
Tricyclics = works same as SSRI but more side effects
SNRI’s = serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors - works on both noradrenaline and serotonin
Developed in last decade
A03:
+ Soomro reviewed 17 studies where SSRI’s compared to placebo
found 70% patients with OCD had reduced symptoms when taking SSRI’s = best when combined with CBT
- Skapinakis found cognitive and behavioural therapies were more effective than SSRI’s in the treatment of OCD
+ Economic benefits = drugs are cost effective and non disruptive (don’t need to take time off work)
- Side effects = people will be put off by the side effects as it can disrupt their lives
- Biased evidence Goldacre (2013) = companies only publish positive evidence
