Psychopathology Flashcards
Statistical infrequency / deviation from statistical norms
Behaviour that is seen as statistically abnormal
Deviation from social norms
Behaviour that is socially deviant is regarded as abnormal
Failure to function adequately
Danger to themselves and society, unable to cope with the outside world
Deviation from ideal mental health
Mentally unhealthy, lack of contented existence
Strengths of using statistical infrequencies
Statistical infrequency is obvious and relatively easy and quick to define and notice.
Real life application: relatively easy to determine abnormality using psychodynamic tests developed by using statistical methods.
Most patients with a mental disorder will undergo some kind of measurement of their symptoms in comparison to the norm.
Limitations of statistical infrequencies
Some statistically infrequent behaviour is desirable for example a high iq.
It is hard to know how far you must deviate from the average to be considered abnormal.
Label of abnormal is often detrimental and unhelpful.
Strengths of deviation from social norms
Helps us to identify some disorders and illnesses
Limitations of deviation from social norms
Historical and cultural differences I.e certain things are socially normal in some cultures that are not in ours
Strengths of unable to function adequately
Own perspective, using Rosenhan and Seligman (1989) the client decides how they feel. This means this is accurate as they will most likely know more about their condition than a passer by.
Limitations of unable to function adequately
Who decides the acceptable level of functioning.
Some abnormal people function very well.
PRAISE, Mary Jahoda (1958)
Personal growth Reality perception Autonomy Integration Self attitudes Environmental mastery
Jahoda believed if you showed all of these qualities you had a positive mental health
Strengths of deviation from ideal mental health (praise)
Covers a broad range of criteria and covers all aspects of mental health.
Makes us aware of the different factors that can affect our mental health.
Limitations of deviation from mental health
Lack of cultural relativism as in some cultures, community values are more important.
Difficult/impossible to meet criteria eg. Self actualisation as sadly very few people reach this stage.
Possible benefits of stress as stress makes some people work better.
Sexual paraphilias
Abnormal sexual desire. Must last at least 6 months and cause significant distress to be classified by the DSM-IV.
Paedophilia
Adults who derive sexual gratification through physical and often sexual contact with pre pubertal children unrelated to them
Incest
Sexual relations between close relatives. More prevalent when mother is absent or disabled
Voyeurism
Obtaining sexual gratification by watching others in a state of undress or having sexual relations. The arousal is about the person not knowing that they are being watched.
Exhibitionism
Obtaining sexual gratification by exposing ones genitals to an unwilling stranger. Rarely have contact with the person.
Sexual sadism
Obtaining or increasing sexual gratification by inflicting pain or psychological suffering on a person
Forced rape
Sexual intercourse with an unwilling partner
Statutory rape
Sexual intercourse with a minor
Date rape
Occurs on a date and often includes the rapist drugging the victim before hand
Phobia
An anxiety disorder which interferes with daily living. Instance of irrational fear that produces a conscious avoidance of the feared object or situation.
DSM-V criteria for a phobia
- Persistent fear of a specific object or situation
- exposure to the phobic stimulus causes a rapid anxiety response
- excessive fear of the phobic object
- phobic reactions interfere significantly with the individuals working or social life
Emotional characteristics of phobias
- anxiety from the fear of the phobic stimulus
- unreasonable emotional response, disproportionate to the danger exposed
Behavioural characteristics of phobias
- panic: crying, screaming, running away
- avoidance: takes a lot of effort to avoid stimulus which affects everyday life
- endurance: if you remain in the presence of the stimulus experiencing high anxiety
Cognitive characteristics of phobias
- selective attention: hard to look away from stimulus
- irrational beliefs: ‘if I blush I am weak’ increases pressure to perform in social situations
- cognitive disorders: perceptions of the stimulus are distorted
The two process model
Hobart mower proposed the two process model, this states that phobias are acquired through classical conditioning and maintained many operant conditioning
How are phobias maintained through operant conditioning
Whenever we avoid the phobic stimulus, we avoid the fear and anxiety that comes with it so it reinforces our avoidance behaviour and the phobia is maintained
Bounton suggested that evolutionary factors probably have an important role in phobias. Such as fear of the dark which we may have adapted to fear (next slide)
Seligman called this biological preparedness - suggesting that we acquired certain fears naturally
Systematic desensitisation
Behavioural therapy designed to gradually replace fear with relaxation
What is the process of systematic desensitisation
- Teach the client to feel relaxed (music etc)
- Hierarchy of fear ie. start with dog fur then ear then paw etc
- Exposure to this
- Repeat
Gilroy treated patients with spider phobia with both relaxation and relaxation + exposure.
At 3 and 33 months those with exposure were less fearful than those without it
What is the most popular phobia therapy
Patients prefer systematic desensitisation as it is less traumatic than flooding
Flooding
Flooding stops phobic responses very quickly as there is no option of avoidance and the patient quickly learns the phobic stimulus is harmless
Extinction (in terms of flooding)
Sometimes patients may achieve relaxation in the presence of the phobic stimulus because they become exhausted by their own fear response
Which is the most cost effective treatment of phobias
Flooding is cost effective as ir is quicker meaning less sessions which makes it cheaper
How can flooding be less effective
- Social phobias like agoraphobia don’t show much improvement with flooding
- treatment may be traumatic
Symptom substitution
When one phobia disappears and another replaces it. Freud: said to occur if the unconscious impulses and conflict responsible for the original symptom are not properly dealt with
Depression and depressive disorder examples
- major depressive disorder - severe short term depression
- persistent depressive disorder - long term depression
- disruptive mood dysregulation disorder - childhood temper tantrums
- prememnstrual dysphoric disorder - mood disruption during or before menstruation
- unipolar disorder - sudden episode of depression
- bipolar disorder - mood changes that happen in regular cycles
Characteristics of depression
Emotional:
- lower mood
- anger
- low self esteem
Behavioural:
- anxiety
- sleeping and eating disorders
- aggression or self harm
Cognitive:
- poor concentration
- absolutist thinking
Aaron becks 3 parts of cognitive vulnerability
- Faulty information processing
- negative self schemas
- negative triad : negative view of self, world and future
Ellis’ ABC model
- Activating event
- beliefs (irrational)
- consequences (self harm depression etc )
Evaluation of beck
+ much research supports the proposal that depression is associated with faulty info processing, negative triad and negative self schemas
- doesn’t explain the more complex range of symptoms and depressions eg cotard syndrome which gives the person the delusion they are a zombie
Evaluation of Ellis
- only offers partial explanation
- not all depresión is as a result of an activating event
Other explainations of depression
- Cognitive explanation is that emotions are influenced by cognition
- biological explanation suggests genes and neurotransmitters may cause depression. This is shown by the success of drug therapies
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
The most commonly used psychological treatment for depression
Becks CBT
- To feel better you must think positively
- therapist wants to show the client that they are useful and can succeed. They are made aware of their negative views and they try and replace them with more optimism
Ellis’ CBT
- abc model adds de. D, dispute, challenge the thoughts. E , effect, see a more beneficial effect on thought and behaviour.
- Challenges the client to change irrational beliefs to more realistic statements
Rational behavioural therapy (REBT)
Believes that we become upset due to our imposible beliefs. Technique is to identify and dispute these beliefs
Effectiveness of CBT
+ 52% of people recovered from depression using CBT alone
+ benefits economy as less days off
- May not work for most Severe cases as they may not want to engage in therapy
- success can often be due to the therapist rather than technique
- CBT doesn’t focus on the past so won’t take into account childhood experiences
- over-emphasis on cognition as not all problems are in the mind
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
mental disorder in which a person has certain thoughts repeatedly or feels the need to perform certain routines repeatedly to an extent which may have an extreme impact on their life
Any obsession may be seen as OCD
Behavioural symptoms of OCD
Doing repetitive actions to reduce anxiety. This often leads to avoidance of situations that trigger anxiety
Emotional symptoms of OCD
Feel depressed or other negative emotions
Cognitive symptoms of OCD
Usually plagued with obsessive thoughts and have to develop coping strategies
OCD cycle
Obsessive thought -> anxiety -> compulsive behaviour -> temporary relief
Genetics in OCD
- Candidate genes have been found to be implicated in the development of OCD like SERT gene which regulates serotonin
- Diathesis stress model suggests genes make someone more vulnerable to OCD but an environmental stressor is also required
- OCD is thought to be polygenic meaning it’s development is determined by a few genes
Genetics in OCD evaluation
+ twin studies show the importance of genes
+ genes make people more vulnerable to OCD
- genes involved have not yet been shown
- Cromer showed over half OCD patients had a trigger even
- family studies could show it is from environment or observed behaviour
Neural explanations of OCD
- Brain areas like orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and thalamus are believed to be involved in OCD
- thalamus includes functions like cleaning and checking for safety so an over active thalamus would lead to obsessions in these areas
- OFC is involved in decision making so an overactive OFC would result in anxiety and planning to avoid it
Evaluation of neural explanations
+ allows medication to be created to help sufferers
+ advances in technology have shown the areas of the brain OCD takes part in
- drugs are not completely effective
- research is inconsistent
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI)
- Standard medical treatment used to tackle symptoms of OCD
- can reduce OCD symptoms by 50-60%
- can be combined with CBT for better treatment
Alternatives to SSRI’s
- Tricyclics - older type of antidepressant similar to ssris
- ## SNRI’s - second line of defence for patients who don’t respond to ssris
Evaluation of biological treatment for OCD
+ drug therapy is effective at tackling OCD symptoms
+ drugs are cost effective
- drugs is ineffective for some and may give side effects
- unreliable evidence for drug treatments
