Psychopathology B1

Question 1

Social psychology of psychotherapy (5)

Answer 1

1) spontaneous remission Spontaneous remission (not spontaneous and not remission?); 2) Role of medication in psychotherapy (does removing physical symptoms help psychological recovery?); 3) Adherence (is there a negative impact for not following advice?); 4) Attrition (who should be included when evaluating clinical effectiveness?); 5) Relapse (is recovery a permanent change?)

Question 2

Biopsychosocial model

Answer 2

explains behaviour in terms of three contributing factors: biological, psychological and social factors

Question 3

Person versus environment debate

Answer 3

The relative influence of person [internal] factors compared to environmental [external] influences

Question 4

Attribution theory

Answer 4

naïve people’s casual explanation of their behaviour is either internal or external and it is either self-enhancing or self-protective

Question 5

Theory of planned behaviour

Answer 5

this indicates that the best predictor of [problem] behaviour is people’s intention to engage in that behaviour which is in turn influenced by their attitudes or beliefs, the social norms around them or their perception of how much control they have over the situation

Question 6

Define spontaneous remission

Answer 6

the unexplained [from a clinical psychological perspective] improvement of a psychological problem in a patient/client

Question 7

How many people get better over time (spontaneous remission

Answer 7

Studying the natural history of illness, Eysenck (1952) calculated that 72% of psychological illness would get better over time [without psychological intervention]

Question 8

Recovery of any illness

Answer 8

recovery time will vary across types of illness; headaches (4 days) while the common cold (7 days)

Question 9

There is an expectation that

Answer 9

expectation that medication will shorten recovery time

Question 10

Why do some people survive cancer even though they have no treatment

Answer 10

simple statistical variation; biological explanation; something special these people do?

Question 11

Kelly Turner study

Answer 11

Using qualitative methodology, Kelly Turner spent 10 years interviewing 1000+ cases of people from 10 different nations who were cancer free 5 years after a diagnoses that modern medicine could not help them

Question 12

Kelly Turner findings

Answer 12

there were nine key healing [belief] factors: 1) Radical change of diet; 2) Personal control over health; 3) Following own intuition; 4) Use herbs and supplements; 5) Release suppressed emotions; 6) Increase positive emotions; 7) Embrace social support; 8) Deepen spiritual connection; 9) Have strong reasons for living

Question 13

Note about these findings

Answer 13

all reasonable, but none shown to be a definitive strategy to “cure” [all] cancers – examples of naïve realism

Question 14

When was spontaneous remission observed

Answer 14

This observed effect was identified nearly 70 years ago

Question 15

Why does clinical psychology fail to research spontaneous recovery (2)

Answer 15

1) Theoretically they can not explain it; 2) It is not part of the therapeutic process