Psychopathology Flashcards
What are the definitions of abnormality ?
Failure to function adequately
Deviation from social norms
Deviation from ideal mental health
Statistical infrequency
Phobias
Behavioural - avoidance of the thing that is feared
Emotional - unreasonable levels of fear
Cognitive- irrational thought processs
Depression
Behavioural- changes in eating , changes in sleeping
Cognitive- negative thinking
Emotional- intense periods of sadness
OCD
Emotional —anxiety and depression caused by the interruption to daily life
Behavioural- repetitive compulsion used to manage or reduce anxiety
Cognitive- obsessive thoughts and selective attention directed towards the anxiety generating stimuli
Two process model
Explains how phobias are learned through classical conditioning and maintained through operant condition
Little Albert (classical)
Negative reinforcement (operant)
Systematic desensitisation
Hierarchy and relaxation
Create scenarios with person with a phobia hierarchy where fear gradually increases and at each stage it is crucial that relaxation is maintained - counter conditioning
Flooding
Prevention of avoidance
Comparing flooding to STD
Flooding is not as ethical as SD
They don’t really give consent as they never truly know what’s involved as they have avoided it
STD happens over a course of sessions which could be off putting to some people as it could be time consuming
Becks negative triad
Negative schema
Negative views about the future- “I’ll never be good at anything”
Negative views about the world “everyone is against me because I’m worthless”
Negative views about the self - “I’m worthless and inadequate”
Ellis’ ABC model
How irrational thoughts lead to depression
Activating event - an event occurs eg pass friend in corridor at school and are ignored
Beliefs - Your belief is your interpretation of the event , which could either be rational or irrational : a rational interpretation of the even might be that your friend is busy and stressed so they didn’t hear you
An irrational interpretation of the event might be that your friend dislikes you and never wants to talk to you again
Consequences - According to Ellis , rational beliefs lead to healthy emotional outcomes whereas irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy emotional outcomes , including depression
Cognitive behavioural therapy
Identify and challenge the negative and irrational thoughts
A03
Counter conditon the depression
Release the repressed material from unconscious
Increase the amount of serotonin
Methods of disputing that could be used to challenge irrational thoughts
Ellis rbt
Logical
Empirical
Pragmatic
Genetic explanation of OCD
It is thought to be polygenic - multiple genes
The COMT gene may be involved - regulates the neurotransmitter dopamine
The SERT gene may be involved - affects the transportation of serotonin - cause lower levels of serotonin in brain
Neural explanations of OCD
Reduced levels of serotonin
High levels of dopamine - compulsive behaviours involved
What does the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drug do
Decreases the sensitivity of the reuptake mechanism on the presynaptic Neuron
