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Psychology set 1 > Psychopathology > Flashcards

Psychopathology Flashcards

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1
Q

What is statistical infrequency?

A
  • Abnormality in terms of statistics/numerically rare.

- Rarely seen behaviour/characteristics are abnormal.

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2
Q

What’s an example of a statistically infrequent characteristic?

A

An IQ of below 70 or above 130.

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3
Q

What’s a positive evaluation of statistical infrequency?

A

Real life application: most assessment of mental disorders is compared with statistics, intellectual disability disorder.

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4
Q

Give negative evaluations of statistical infrequency

A

1) Unusual characteristics can be positive: abnormal but not requiring of treatment, desirable perhaps? e.g. IQ over 130.
2) Not everyone benefits from a label: if someone is living a normal life –> is a negative label needed?

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5
Q

What is deviation from social norms?

A
  • Behaving in a way that is different from the expected way.
  • Relatively few behaviours are universally abnormal.
    -Some are accepted not but weren’t in the past, culturally dependent.
    E.g. Anti-Social Personality Disorder
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6
Q

Evaluate deviation from social norms

A

1) Social norms culturally relative :( : can’t compare normality across cultures due to differing standards.
2) Could lead to human right abuses? E.g. Drapetomania - black slaves trying to escape is a form of social control.

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7
Q

How does Deviation from Ideal Mental Health differ from all other outlooks of abnormality?

A

It looks at what makes us normal as opposed to characteristics which make us abnormal.

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8
Q

Who came up with Deviation from Ideal Mental Health?

A

Jahoda (1958)

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9
Q

Give as many of the criteria for Deviation from Ideal Mental Health as possible

A

1) No symptoms/distress.
2) Rational
3) Self-actualise
4) Cope with stress
5) Realistic view of the world
6) Good self-esteem
7) Independent
8) Successfully work

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10
Q

Evaluate Deviation from Ideal Mental Health

A

1) Culturally relative?: self-actualisation may be considered self-indulgent in collectivist cultures
2) Unrealistically high standards: few people can meet all criteria –> but it does show how to improve health

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11
Q

What is Failure to Function adequately?

A

Inability to cope with everyday living, e.g. not maintaining a relationship or holding down a job.

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12
Q

Who came up with Failure to Function adequately?

A

Rosenhan and Seligman (1989)

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13
Q

Give some criteria for Failure to Function adequately

A
  • No longer conform to interpersonal rules (personal space).
  • Experience personal distress.
  • Behave irrationally or dangerously.
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14
Q

Evaluate Failure to Function adequately

A

1) Hard to explicitly see sometimes: Failure to Function adequately or Deviation from social norms? e.g. extreme sports seen as behaving maladaptively?
2) Subjective: distressed but not suffering? Objective by ‘Global Assessment of Functioning Scale’

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15
Q

Give 2 behavioural characteristics of Phobias

A

1) Panic - e.g. crying, running away from phobic stimulus.

2) Avoidance - of stimulus, affecting everyday living.

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16
Q

Give 2 emotional characteristics of Phobias

A

1) Anxiety + fear - one leads to the other.

2) Unreasonable responses - e.g. crying to tiny spider

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17
Q

Give 2 cognitive characteristic of Phobias

A

1) Selective attention to phobic stimulus - hard to look away from stimulus.
2) Irrational beliefs.

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18
Q

Give 2 behavioural characteristic of depression

A

1) Activity levels - decline –> lethargic, in extreme cases can’t get out of bed.
2) Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour - increase/decline

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19
Q

Give 2 emotional characteristic of depression

A

1) Lowered mood - worthless or empty.

2) Anger –> aggression or self-harming.

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20
Q

Give 2 cognitive characteristic of depression

A

1) Poor concentration.

2) Absolutist thinking - unfortunate situation = absolute disaster

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21
Q

Give 2 behavioural characteristic of OCD

A

1) Compulsions - action carried out repeatedly; ritualistic.

2) Avoidance - of situation that triggers anxiety.

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22
Q

Give 2 emotional characteristic of OCD

A

1) Anxiety and distress - of unpleasant thoughts and anxiety that comes with it can be overwhelming.
2) Guilt or disgust.

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23
Q

Give 2 cognitive characteristic of OCD

A

1) Obsessive thoughts - of fear.

2) Insight into excessive anxiety - aware of irrationality, sufferers become overaware of their obsession

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24
Q

What is the name for the behavioural approach to explaining phobias, and who came up with it?

A

Two-process model

Mowrer (1960)

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25
Q

Classical conditioning is also known as learning by ____ ?

A

Learning by association

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26
Q

Explain the process of acquiring a phobia

A

1) UCS (being bitten) –> UCR (anxiety)
2) NS (dog) –> No response
3) UCS (being bitten) + NS (dog) –> UCR (anxiety)
4) CS (dog) –> CR (anxiety)

27
Q

How is the phobia maintained?

A

By operant conditioning.

28
Q

What is operant conditioning?

A

Reinforcing or punishing of particular behaviours.

29
Q

What type of reinforcement maintains operant conditioning?

A

Negative reinforcement.

  • Avoiding behaviour that avoids something unpleasant.
  • Reduction in fear from avoiding –> maintained.
30
Q

Whats an evaluative strength of the two-process model?

A

Good explanatory power:

  • important implications for therapy.
  • if they can’t avoid, phobic behaviour declines.
  • REAL-LIFE application
31
Q

Give evaluative limitations of the two-process model?

A

1) Incomplete explanation:
- easily acquire some phobias that are considered dangerous, e.g. snakes
- biological preparedness = innately prepared to fear some things more than others (Seligman, 1971)
2) DiNardo et al. (1988) not all bad experiences, e.g. being bitten by a dog, lead to phobias being developed. Pre-exisiting vulnerability?
3) Doesn’t consider cognitive aspects:
- explains behaviour but not thoughts about it
- e.g. irrational beliefs

32
Q

Describe Systematic Desensitisation (SD)

A
  • Aims to gradually reduce anxiety through counter-conditioning; phobia paired with relaxation.
  • Formation of anxiety hierarchy: least –> most frightening.
  • Relaxation practiced at each level of hierarchy, progress up when successfully relaxed.
33
Q

What is reciprocal inhibition?

A

The inability to feel two emotions at the same time, in this case relaxation and anxiety.

34
Q

Give 2 positive evaluations for Systematic Desensitisation

A

1) Effective:
- Gilroy et al. (2003) followed up 42 patients who had SD for arachnophobia: less fearful than control groups after 3 and 33 months.

2) Suitable for diverse range:
- Alternatives may not be suitable for people with learning difficulties, who may think ‘what’s going on?’

35
Q

What is flooding?

A
  • Immediate exposure to phobic stimulus

- Patient learn phobia is harmless through exhaustion of their own fear response = extinction.

36
Q

Evaluate flooding

A

1) Less effective for some phobias::
e. g. social phobias that may have cognitive aspects like unpleasant thoughts = CBT better?
2) Traumatic for patients:
- not unethical as patients are unwilling to carry on.
- Rate of Attrition high.
- = ineffective, time and money wasted

37
Q

What is Beck’s cognitive theory of depression? (Without negative triad)

A
  • People are more prone to depression due to faulty information processing i.e. flawed thinking.
  • Depressed people have negative self-schemas i.e. interpreting all information about themselves in a negative way
38
Q

What is the negative triad?

A

1) Negative views about the world.
2) Negative views about the future.
3) Negative views about the self.

39
Q

Give 2 evaluative strengths of Beck’s cognitive theory of depression

A

1) Good supporting evidence:
- Grazioli and Terry (2000) - assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability and depression pre and post natal.
= high in cognitive vulnerability = more likely to suffer post-natal depression –> cognitions before depression.
2) Practical applications in CBT:
- forms basis of it, components of negative triad identified and challenged to see if they’re true or not.

40
Q

Give 1 evaluative limitation of Beck’s cognitive theory of depression

A

1) Doesn’t explain all aspects: e.g. extreme anger.

- Jarrett (2013) some suffer delusions, hallucinations or even Cotard Syndrome: belief that one is a zombie.

41
Q

Describe Ellis’ ABC model

A

A - activating event; experience of negative events, e.g. losing a job.
A –> B
B- beliefs; how we view the event afterwards, e.g. if you believe you must always succeed, failure is catastrophic.
B –> C
C - consequences; emotional and behavioural.

E.g. if you believe in always in succeeding, and failure happens, along with how you deal with it = depression.

42
Q

Give 2 evaluative negative of Ellis’ cognitive theory of depression

A

1) Partial explanation:
- not all cases arise from an event.
- ‘reactive depression’ that arises without an obvious cause.
2) Cognitions may not cause all aspects of depression:
- cognitive primacy: emotions influenced by thoughts.
- some see depression emotions, such as anxiety, as a type of stored energy that’ll emerge at some event.

43
Q

What is Beck’s contribution to CBT?

A
  • Patient and therapist work together to identify any negative thoughts that’ll benefit from being challenged. (in relation to negative triad).
  • Patients as ‘scientists;
    = testing the relating of irrational beliefs, e.g. recording events where someone is nice to you.
    = if negative views in the future –> prevent evidence.
44
Q

What is Ellis’ contribution to CBT?

A

Ellis’ ‘Rational Emotional Behaviour Therapy’ (REBT): extending ABC model to ABCDE model.
D - dispute irrational beliefs.
E - effect.

45
Q

How would Ellis challenge irrational beliefs?

A

1) Empirical argument - evidence to support irrational beliefs.
2) Logical argument - whether negative thoughts follow from facts

46
Q

Describe evidence that indicates CBT is effective?

A

March et al. (2007) compared effects of (1) CBT (2) Anti-depressants (3) combination of both.
- After 36 weeks.
1) 81%
2) 81%
3) 86%
= the same, or combo is an improvement –> useful?

47
Q

Give limitations of CBT

A

1) May not work for severe cases:
- patients may not be motivated to take part in hard work of CBT = antidepressants first to alleviate symptoms.
2) Success due to patient-therapist relationship: - Rosenzweig (1936) - differences between the methods of psychotherapy little.
- Luborksy et al. (2002) supports this.
- Quality of it = success to get better increases
3) Overemphasis on cognition?:
- could be circumstances in which find themselves in e.g. poverty –> hard to change.

48
Q

What is a candidate gene? (Genetic explanations of OCD)

A

A specific gene that vulnerability for a condition; in this case of OCD, especially on the dopamine and serotonin systems which regulate mood.

49
Q

Who said OCD is polygenic? (Genetic explanations of OCD)

A

Taylor (2013) and he found 230 different genes.

50
Q

What does aetiologically heterogenous mean? (Genetic explanations of OCD)

A

(Different types of OCD)

- One group of genes may cause OCD in one person, and another group of genes in another.

51
Q

What is supporting evidence for genetic explanations of OCD?

A

Nestadt et al. (2010)

  • twin studies.
  • found a concordance rate of 68% in MZ twins as opposed to 31% in DZ twins.
52
Q

Give 2 evaluative limitations of genetic explanations of OCD

A

1) Too many genes identified:
- can’t precisely pin down genes involves, and each one only increase risk slightly = little predictive value.
2) Environmental risk factors involved:
- Cromer et al. (2007) - found that over 1/2 of the patients in their sample had suffered a traumatic event in their past.
= OCD more severe with trauma

53
Q

What are neurotransmitters? (Neural explanations of OCD)

A

Neurotransmitters are responsible for relaying info from one neuron to another, e.g. low levels of serotonin lowers mood and shows fault in transmission.

54
Q

What examples of OCD can be explained by impaired decision making?

A

Hoarding

55
Q

What part of the brain is dysfunctional in OCD, and what does it do?

A

Left parahippocampal gyrus, responsible for unpleasant thoughts

56
Q

What is the supporting evidence for neural explanations of OCD?

A
  • Antidepressants working on serotonin system reduced OCD symptoms
  • Nestasdt et al. (2010) OCD symptoms form part of biological conditions such as Parkinson’s.
    = co-morbidity?
57
Q

Give an evaluative negative of the neural explanation for OCD

A

Is the Serotonin-OCD link unique to OCD?

  • many people who suffer OCD are also depressed; co-morbidity.
  • could be that the serotonin system is disrupted because OCD sufferers are depressed
58
Q

How do drugs affect neurotransmitters?

A
  • Increase/decrease levels

- Increase/decrease their activity

59
Q

What do SSRIs do?

A

Prevent the reabsorption and breakdown of serotonin in the brain; increasing levels in the synapse, stimulating post-synaptic neuron.

60
Q

What does combining SSRIs with CBT achieve?

A

Reduces emotional symptoms so one can participate in CBT.

61
Q

What are the two alternatives to SSRIs?

A

1) Tricyclics - older type, same effect on serotonin system as SSRIs but more severe side effects.
2) SNRIs - increase levels of noradrenaline and serotonin
= BOTH ARE SECOND LINE OF DEFENCE.

62
Q

Give 2 evaluative strengths of the biological treatment for OCD

A

1) Drug therapy is effective:
- Soomro et al. (2009) found significantly better results when comparing SSRIs to placebos in 17 studies.
- CBT + drugs = most effective.
2) Drugs cost-effective and non-disruptive:
- cheap compared to psychological treatments, which is good for the NHS.
- can continue life normally.

63
Q

What are some of the side effects of drug treatment, give statistics too if necessary.

A
  • No benefits.
  • Indigestion problems, blurred vision.
  • Those taking a form of tryclic suffer weight gain; around 1/10.
64
Q

Give 2 evaluative negatives, apart from side effects, of biological treatments of OCD.

A

1) Evidence unreliable:
- controversy attached.
- Goldacre (2013) would say evidence favouring drugs is bias as not all evidence is reported = all about profit.
2) Some cases follow trauma:
- drugs may not be best appropriate with severe emotional issues of trauma
- psychological treatment best option first?

Psychology set 1 (9 decks)

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