Psychopathology Flashcards
Statistical deviation
This says that abnormal behaviours are those that are extremely rare - ie. behaviours found in few people.
Based on statistics- the amount of times we observe it.
Eg. Average IQ is 100; Ranges 85-115; only 2% score below 70 IQ - receive a intellectual disability disorder.
**Evaluation **
P: Real- life application
P: Unusual characteristics can be positive
P: Not everyone unusual benefits from a label
Deviation from social norms
Anyone who deviates from socially created norms (or standards of acceptable behaviour) is considered abnormal.
Eg:. Impolite people- are behaving in a social deviant way because others find it difficult to interact with them; Anti-social personality disorder- people impulsive, aggressive and irresponsible- don’t conform to our moral standards;
Evaluation
P: Change over time e.g. Homosexuality
P: Culturally relative
Failure to function adequately
A person is failing to function adequately if they cannot cope with everyday life. The behaviour causes the individual and/ or others distress. Unable to maintain basic standards of nutrition/hygiene. Can’t hold down a job.
Eg:. Intellectual disability disorder- low IQ + not being able to cope- only then would they receive a diagnosis; Schizophrenia- distressing to individual and others when they experience hallucinations/delusions;
Evaluation
P: Some abnormal behaviours are functional such as depression + attention
P: Takes into account the patient’s perspective
P: Subjective judgement made by a clinician as to amount of distress someone is feeling
Deviation form ideal mental health
When someone does not meet the criteria for good mental health. Jahoda- 6 characteristics. If we are rational, if we can cope with stress, if we can self-actualise.
Eg:. Depression
Evaluation
P: Jahoda’s criteria is unrealistic- suggests we are all abnormal to a degree
P: Culturally relative as based on Western ideas of mental health - can’t apply to non-Western cultures
Phobias
A phobia is an anxiety disorder, which interferes with daily living.
It’s an instance of irrational fear that produces a conscious avoidance of the feared object or situation.
Symptoms of phobias
Symptoms must be consistent for 6 months long.
- According to DSM-V**
- Marked and persistente fear of a specific object or situation;
- Exposure to phobic stimulus nearly always procedures a rapid anxiety response;
- Fear of phobic object or situation is excessive;
- The phobic stimulus is either avoided or responded with great anxiety;
- The phobic reactions interfere significantly with the individual’s working or social life, or he/she is very distressed about the phobia;
Phobias characteristics
How do you ……… about the feared object?
FEEL
BEHAVE
THINK
The Behavioural Approach to explaining Phobias
There are 2 process model - Mowrer
• Initiation - Classic Conditioning - what association do we form to produce phobia?
• Maintenance - Operant Conditioning - How is this maintained through reinforcement?
Phobias initiation
DANGER (UCS) ——> FEAR (UCR)
When someone has a phobia the learn to associate the fear response with something that isn’t actually harmful.
Eg:.
SPIDERS (NS/CS) ———> FEAR(CR)
Phobias maintenance
They are maintained through Negative Reinforcement - avoiding the fear object means they gain relief from the anxiety. This means they do not challenge their fear and so it’s maintained.
Little Albert study -Phobias
Challenge: Watson created a phobia to little Albert by scaring him every time he saw a rat with loud noises. Therefore, Albert associated the rat to scary feelings which created a phobia to rats.
Study:
Neutral stimulus is the rat and the baby “Little Albert” doesn’t respond. When the loud noise (Unconditional Stimuli) was heard by Little Albert he presented a fear response (Unconditional Response). When the loud noise+ rat were presented together Little Albert presented fear as a response. Therefore, Little Albert associated the rat with the noise. When the rat was presented once again, Little Albert responded with fear.
Behavioural Treatment-Phobias
They aim to:
- Reduce phobic anxiety through the principles of classic conditioning whereby a new response to the phobic stimulus is paired with relaxation instead of anxiety- counter conditioning;
- Reduce phobic anxiety through the principle of operant conditioning whereby there’s no option for avoidance behaviour;
Systematic Desensitisation
Joseph Wolfe (1958)
—> Involves a gradual exposure to the feared stimulus.
—> It works on the principle of Reciprocal Inhibition - you cannot experience anxiety and relaxation at the same time. So if you teach the persons to relax in the presence of the phobic stimulus they can’t experience anxiety at the same time.
1. Learn relaxation techniques (Therapy);
2. Exposure to first part of fear object;
3. Break the fear object down into exposure steps that gradually increase in intensity (Hierarchy of fears);
4. Apply relaxation technique until calm;
5. Gradually increase exposure to bigger parts of fear object applying relaxation techniques in between each step;
Flooding - Phobias
Flooding stops phobic responses very quickly.
Without the option for avoidance behaviour, the patient quickly learns that the phobic stimulus is harmless - this process is called extinction.
A learn response is extinguished when the conditioned stimulus (eg:dog) is encountered without the unconditional stimulus (eg: being bitten).
The result is that the conditioned stimulus no longer produces the conditioned response (fear).
Statistical Infrequency
A behaviour that does not occur very often in the general population.
Evaluation
Strength: uses objective standards deviations to define abnormal behaviour reducing likelihood to misinterpret information.
Strength: real life development because it can be used to measure normal and expected development in children.
Weakness: definition of abnormality assumes that any behaviours that is rare is problematic and statistical infrequency suggests that some rare behaviours are desirable.
Intellectual Disability Disorder
A disorder that affects intellectual development and where a person has an IQ of more than 2 standard deviations below their peers.
Below 70IQ.
Normal Distribution
A symmetrical spread of data with a bell shaped curve.
Psychopathology
It’s the study of psychological disorders. For example: depression, phobias, OCD, schizophrenia, eating disorders and aggression.
Schizophrenia
A type of psychosis where the individual loses touch with reality. • Symptoms: - Hallucinations; - Delusions; -Speech difficulties;
Eating Disorders
Abnormal or disturbed eating habits (such as nervosa, bulimia and anorexia). • Symptoms: - Restricting food intake; - Purging behaviour; - Food avoidance;
