Psychopathology Flashcards
What is psychopathology?
Deviant.
Maladaptive - impaired ability to function.
Distress - to individual + others.
Not the expected response to an event.
Name some of the early treatments for mental illness.
People believed it was demonology/possession.
Treatments: exorcism, trephination, transfusion of animal blood.
What did Pinel believe madness was?
An ailment of the mind.
What were some of the earlier medical treatments?
Transorbital lobotomy, insulin shock therapy for schizophrenia, ECT.
Moral treatments later on - understanding the patient, offering hope.
What is one of the main issues with getting diagnosed with a mental illness?
Social stigma + perceived stigma.
Labelling can increase stigma.
Media portrayals are often inaccurate and negative.
How common are mental illnesses?
1 in 4 people at any one time have a mental health problem!
What are the main approaches to understanding mental health problems?
Medical, psychodynamic, humanistic, behavioural and cognitive.
Briefly describe and give some strengths and weaknesses of the medical model.
Genetic + biological cause. Psychiatry. Pharmacological treatment. ECT.
+ some evidence for genetics but not always.
- Reductionist. Categorical distinction. Stigmatising.
Briefly describe and give some strengths and weaknesses of the psychodynamic approach.
Unconscious conflict - ID, ego, superego. Fixation due to childhood experiences. Psychoanalysis - Freud.
+ highly influential.
- deterministic (no symptom is accidental). Concepts difficult to measure + research (only case studies - not evidence based).
Briefly describe and give some strengths and weaknesses of the humanistic approach.
Barriers to self-actualisation + realising potential. Client-centred therapy (Rogers) - unconditional positive regard.
+ widened therapy beyond psychiatry. Principles incorporated into many modern therapies.
- not much empirical evidence.
Briefly describe and give some strengths and weaknesses of the behavioural model.
Learned response to life experiences - classical + operant conditioning. Therapy = unlearning associations/behaviours (e.g. systematic desensitisation).
+ evidences supports role of learning in psychopathology & effectiveness of treatment.
- difficult to trace learning. Treatment may be simplistic & not generalise.
Briefly describe and give some strengths and weaknesses of the cognitive model.
Beck + Ellis.
Feelings/behaviour not caused by situations only, also thoughts. Psychopathology = dysfunctional cognitions. CBT.
+ widely used. Good evidence with range of problems.
- Not every individual is helped (sometimes not enough). Direction of causality is unclear.
What are the two current perspectives to understanding mental health?
Both approaches try to understand patients through formulation.
Biopsychosocial model: interaction between nature + nurture. Biological (e.g. genetics, physical health) + social (e.g. family, stress, trauma) + psychological (e.g. EI, coping skills, cognitions).
+ encompasses everything.
- not specific enough. Maybe too holistic?
Diathesis-stress model: interaction between nature + nurture. Interaction between diathesis (e.g. genetics, early experiences, cognitions) + stress (e.g. exposure to life events/stressors) = mental illness.
What are the two main systems for classifying psychopathology?
ICD - WHO.
DSM - APA. Used more widely.
Briefly describe the DSM-5 system.
Looks for 4 things: distress, impairment, risk + deviation.
Diagnostic criteria: each disorder described with prototypical symptoms - meet set number of criteria to receive a diagnosis. Mild/moderate/severe. Other conditions that may be focus of clinical attention (e.g. health problems).
Emerging measures + models: disorder-specific dimensional assessments. Alternative models/disorders that need further research.
What are some strengths of the DSM?
Prognosis + treatments.
Acknowledges biopsychosocial factors.
Access to services + legal considerations.
Helps people know that they don’t need to suffer + can be helped.
Some recognition of different severities + impairment levels.
What are some weakness of the DSM?
Evidence not perfect - low reliability?
Identifies symptoms but not causes.
Assumptions of diagnosis biased toward medical model.
Stigma + labeling.
Potentially too may disorders - comorbidity? Overuse of ‘other’ + ‘unspecified’.
DSM-5 didn’t go as far toward dimensional system - categories vs dimensions. Work in progress.
Effectiveness is yet to be established.
What percentage of suicides are male?
80%.
Peak age range for men - 40-44.
What are some of the factors that can lead to suicide (apart from mental illness)?
Challenges of midlife, relationship breakdown, emotional illiteracy, socio-economical issues.
What is the rugby league currently doing to challenge rates of suicide?
Hold sessions to give players a chance to talk about their emotions/feelings.
Cultural changes still occurring, but it is not enough. There is still high stereotypes around men expressing their emotions - seen as a weakness.
