Psychopathology Flashcards
Deviation from Social Norms
Type of abnormality where someone is behaving in a way which goes against social norms
Deviation from Social Norms Evaluation
- social norms are different across cultures
- social norms change over time
+ gives a clear indication between what is normal and abnormal
+ helps society intervene and give aid to the abnormal person
Failure to function adequately
Type of Abnormality where a person is not able to cope with day to day life
Failure to function adequately Evaluation
+ has a checklist
+ judges observable behaviour
- varies from culture to culture
- times where it is normal to do something like feeling distress when a loved one has died
GAF scale
Rosenhan and Seligman 1989 list of criteria which determines if you are abnormal or not personal distress maladaptive behaviour unpredictability irrationality observer discomfort violation of moral standards unconventionality
Deviation from ideal mental health
Type of Abnormality where a person cannot meet the criteria for perfect psychological well-being
Deviation from Ideal mental health Evaluation
+ targets areas of dysfunction
+ emphasises positive achievements
- criteria is overdemanding
- criteria cannot be applied to other countries
Deviation from ideal mental health characteristics
Jahoda 1958 positive attitude towards oneself self-actualisation autonomy resisting stress accurate perception of reality environmental mastery
Statistical Infrequency
Type of abnormality where anyone displaying a rare behavour is considered abnormal
Statistical Infrequency Evaluation
+ no judgements are made
+ objective
- some rare behaviours are desirable
- doesn’t consider cultural factors
Phobias
Anxiety disorder characterised by an extreme irrational fear of something
Behavioural Symptoms of Phobias
the phobia disrupts the functioning of the person
phobia causes the person to avoid certain places
when they come into contact with object/thing that they have a phobia of, it produces a high anxiety response
Emotional Symptoms of Phobias
high levels of anxiety for sufferer
fear of coming into contact with the cause of the phobia
Cognitive Symptoms of Phobias
phobics are aware of the anxiety levels that they experience are over exaggerated
Depression
mood disorder characterised by feelings of despondency and hopelessness
two types of depression: unipolar and bipolar
unipolar: depression that occurs without mania
bipolar: depression characterised by periods of mania and periods of hopelessness
Behavioural Symptoms of Depression
unipolar symptoms loss of energy social impairment weight changes poor personal hygiene sleep pattern disturbance bipolar symptoms high energy levels reckless behaviour talkative
Emotional Symptoms of Depression
unipolar symptoms loss of euthusiasm constant depressed mood worthlessness bipolar symptoms elevated mood states irritability lack of guilt
Cognitive Symptoms of Depression
unipolar symptoms delusions reduced concentration thoughts of death poor memory bipolar symptoms delusions irrational thought processes
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
anxiety disorder characterised by persistent, recurrering thoughts and repetitive, ritualistic behaviours
Obsession Symptoms
Behavioural get in the way of day to day life social impairment Emotional extreme anxiety Cognitive recurrent and persistent thoughts recognised as self-generated realisation of inappropriateness attentional bias
Compulsion Symptoms
Behavioural repetitive hinder everyday functioning social impairment Emotional distress Cognitive uncontrollable urges realisation of inappropriateness
Common Obessions and Compulsions
Obsessions contamination fear of losing control perfectionism religion Compulsions excessive washing and cleaning excessive checking repetition mental compulsions hoarding
Explanations of Phobias
Two process model
the aquisition of a phobia is learned through classical conditioning
the maintenance of phobias is seen through operant conditioning
Little Albert Study
John Watson and Rosalie Rayner 1920
Aim
to find empirical evidence that human emotional responses could be learned through classical conditioning
Procedure
laboratory experiment with one participant, Albert. He was presented with various stimuli including a white rat, a rabbit and cotton wool. He experienced no fear reaction when handling these objects. A fear reaction was induced by hitting a steel bar with a hammer which would startle Albert and make him cry. When he was given the white rat, the steel bar would be hit which would frighten Albert. This procedure was repeated three times and other conditioning techniques continued for 3 months.
Findings
When Albert was shown the white rat, he would respond by crying and crawling away. He also displayed this behaviour with other white and fluffy things.
Conclusions
Conditioned emotional responses are aquirred as a diret result of environmental experiences which can transfer and persist
Evaluation
- unethical as the participant was put under stress
- hard to repilcate
Systematic Desensitisation
behavioural therapy for treating phobias which has the sufferer making a hierarchy of fears and learning relaxtion techniques and going through the hierarchy step by step
Flooding
Behavioural therapy for treating phobias which has the sufferer facing direct contact with their feared object
Alternative explanations of phobias
Cognitive
Phobias are developed because the phobics has an attentional bias to focus upon the anxiety generating stimuli
Evolutionary
Phobias have a survival value
Research on Phobias
King et al 1998
case studies showed that children developed strong phobias through a traumatic experience
Beck’s negative triad (1987)
a model of cognitive biases which are characteristic features of depression. Consists of three parts: negative views of the world, negative views about the future and negative views about oneself
Ellis’ ABC model
an explanation of depression which sees depression occuring through an activation event, a belief and a consequence
Explanations for Depression
Cognitive Depression is caused by faulty and irrational thought processes Genetic Depression is inherited through genes Behavioural Depression is learned
Ways of treating depression
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
Sees Depression being caused by faulty thought processes
helps people by trying to change the faulty thought processses
Rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT)
tries to make patients’ irrational and negative thoughts more rational and positive
Drug thearpy
has a physical effect on the brain by increasing levels of serotonin
Research on depression
Boury et al 2001
students negative thoughts were monitered with BDI which found that depressives misinterpret facts and experiences in a negative fashion which gives support to Beck’s cognitive explanation
Koster et al 2005
participants were shown either a positive, negative or neutral word on screen and then a square would appear. Participants would then press a button and say which area of the screen the square appeared in. It was found that it took longer for the participants to disengage from the negative words
Explanations for OCD
Genetic
OCD is inherited through genetic transmission
Neural
OCD is caused by breakdowns in the immune system
Ways of treating OCD
Drug Therapy
Psychosurgery
CBT
