Psychopathology Evaluation Flashcards
Weakness 1 of deviation from social norms (CR)
I: culturally relative
E: different norms of different cultures e.g. normal to be topless in tribal but not western society
C: ignores cultural differences so is not generalisable
Weakness 2 of deviation from social norms (ED)
I: era dependent
E: societal norms change overtime with attitude changed etc e.g. same sex couple illegal until 1960s.
C: lacks temp validity- only relevant to one time period
Weakness 3 of deviation from social norms (CD)
I:context dependent
E: doesn’t define expressions of individuality and needs to take into account context e.g. excessive facial tattoos could be viewed as eccentric not abnormal
C: can’t be generalised to all contexts
weakness 1 of failure to function adequately (subjective)
I:based on subjective judgement
E: differences in opinions of that FTF is- e.g tics cause observer discomfort for some but are amusing to others
C: based on subjective judgment and who is making it
weakness 2 of failure to function adequately (CR)
I:Culturally relative
E: Definition varies across cultures due to different beliefs e.g. hallucinations seen as schizophrenic in western culture but spiritual in others
C: ignored cultural attitudes and differences
weakness 3 of failure to function adequately (NDF)
I: Not a defining feature of abnormality
E:Can be abnormal and still function adequately
E.g. Ted Bundy killed 30 women whilst in long-term relationship and completing law degree
C: doesn’t define all cases of abnormalities
Strength 1 of deviation from ideal mental health (positive)
I: Takes a positive approach
E: Identifies desirable behaviours that can be used in therapy to set goals to achieve ideal mental health
C: More optimistic
Weakness 1 of deviation from Ideal mental health (subjective)
I: Based on subjective judgement
E: Criteria is vague and unclear how much needs to be missing to be classed as abnormal
C: Hard to decide whether someone fulfils criteria or not
Weakness to our deviation from ideal mental health (unrealistic)
I: criteria is unrealistic
E: Practically impossible to meet all of criteria and only 1 to 2% of population self actualise according to Maslow
C: Would define most of population as abnormal
Strength of statistical infrequency
I: More objective
E: Clear guidelines to be classified as abnormal scored quantitively using top and bottom 2% of pop- less based on options
C: More reliable
Weakness 1 of statistical infrequency (NDF)
I: Not a defining feature of abnormality
E: Some statistically at rare behaviour is not seen as abnormal Like high IQ of over 130
C: ignores desirability
Weakness 2 of statistical infrequency (ED)
I: era dependent
E: some behaviours that were once rare are now more normal e.g 10 times more ppl suffer major depression now compared to 75yrs ago
C: Only applies to one time period
Strength of behaviourist explanation of phobias (sup evi)
I: sup evi for learning through classical conditioning
E:Watson and Rayner found little Albert associated noise with neutral stimulus of white rat and became fearful also generalising to other objects
C:Add validity to 1st part of two process theory
Weakness 1 of behaviourist explanation of phobias (cont evi)
I: Contradictory evidence of 2 process theory
E: Not all phobias attributed to Association e.g. 2% of children with water phobia hadn’t had frightening experience
C:Reduces the validity and suggest or the explanations of inheritance may be true
Weakness 2 of behaviourist explanation of phobias (bio)
I: Ignores alternative explanations of biological preparedness for initiation
E:Humans may be genetically programmed to learn association between life threatening situation and fear- evolutionary
C: May be a degree of genetic vulnerability to some phobias
Weakness 3 of behaviourist explanation for phobia is (reductionist)
I:Reductionist
E:Reduces down to basic stimulus response and ignores biological and cognitive explanations such as imbalance of neurotransmitters and irrational thought
C: Incomplete explanation
Strength 1 of Systematic desensitisation (fast/easy)
I: Relatively fast and easy to administer
E: Requires little training and less import from patients meaning it’s easier in children or those with learning difficulties
C: Patients free of symptoms as soon as possible and cheaper
Strength 2 of Systematic desensitisation (ethical)
I:More ethical than flooding
E: Doesn’t involve same levels of distress and therefore has Lower refusal rights and more persistence from patients
C: More likely to complete SD therapy
Weakness of Systematic desensitisation (limited)
I: not effective and appropriate for all phobias
E: Not affective for phobias that’s our innate or haven’t developed from personal experience such as fear of snakes
C: Alternative therapies such as cognitive treatments may be required in some cases
Strength of flooding (effective)
I: More effective and quicker than SD
E: Higher rates of success for patients with snake phobias using in vivo flooding also only requires one session so is cost-effective
C: successful, Cheaper and more practical
Weakness of flooding (Trauma)
I:Highly traumatic procedure
E:Many patients unprepared for distress levels and therefore drop out and don’t complete therapy
C:Alternative therapist like SD are more ethical and may need to be used
Weakness of flooding and SD (SS)
I:Likely to produce symptom substitution
E:Don’t address actual cause of disorder only at the symptoms therefore another phobia is likely to appear
C:Other therapies treat cause and are more effective long-term
Strength of cognitive explanation of depression (supporting evidence)
I: Evidence that supports explanations
E: Lewhinson- Group of teens with negative irrational thoughts more likely to have depression 12 months later than those without
C: Adds validity
Weakness 1 of cognitive explanation for depression (causation)
I: Negative thoughts not necessarily cause of depression
E: Could be depression that causes negative irrational thoughts therefore other explanations might show the actual cause
C:Not a valid explanation
Weakness 2 of cognitive explanation for depression (reductionist)
I:Reductionist
E:Ignores role of biological factors such as genes and neurotransmitters, for example: low levels of serotonin in patients with depression
C: Oversimplified an incomplete
Weakness 3 of cognitive explanation of depression (irrational?)
I:Irrational beliefs may in reality not be that irrational
E: what is classed as irrational is subjective and based on opinion
Research shows depressed people better estimate likelihood of disasters than those without
C: Not reliable given findings are inconsistent
Strength of REBT (PA)
I:Practical application
E: More widely used in the NHS because they are short term and economic in comparison to psychoanalysis therapies
C:More accessible
Strength 2 of REBT (effective)
I: Found to be effective
E:Butler and beck- 14 Meta analyses- 80% benefited from REBT And it was more successful than drug therapy with a lower relapse rate
C:More successful
Weakness 2 of REBT (not suitable for all)
I:Not effective and suitable for everyone
E:Requires Patient to talk about thought processes clearly so not God for ones who lack insight into her own thoughts and requires a lot more motivation than drugs
C:Not successful for patients with severe depression
Weakness 3 of REBT (cont evi for success)
I:Contradictory evidence against high success rate
E:luborsky- All methods of therapy are equally effective with small differences in success rates
Most important factor is a relationship between client and therapist
C:Not any more effective than other types of therapy
Strength 1 of biological explanation of OCD (sup evi)
I:Supporting evidence for genetic & neural explanations
E:nestadt-People with first-degree relative five times more likely to have OCD than general population
Billett-Meta analysis of 14 twin studies showed concordance rate for OCD were twice as high for identical twins
C:Valid
Strength 2 of the biological explanation of OCD (PA)
I:Practical application
E:Findings that OCD patients have abnormalities in brain can lead to detection of risk and more effective treatments from early on:
E.g. Screening fertilised eggs to abort ones with the gene
C: Valuable in improving lives in the real world but may be considered unethical
Weakness 1 of biological explanation of OCD (method)
I:Methodological issues
E:Concordance rates never 100% so despite OCD running in families symptoms may not
C:Incomplete as it doesn’t account for environmental factors
Weakness 2 of biological explanation of OCD (reductionist)
I:Reductionist
E:Reduces down to basic level of abnormal genes and neurotransmitters overlooking psychological explanations such as stimulus response Association
Also, Evidence from treatments such as SD show high success rate.
C:Oversimplify cause of OCD
Strength 1 of drug treatments (sup evi)
I:Supporting evidence
E:soomro eat al - Meta analysis of 17 studies comparing SSRIs to placebo showed they were more effective at reducing symptoms for three months
C:Effective
Strength 2 of drug treatments (CE+ND)
I:Cost-effective and non-Disruptive
E:Appeals to many patients as it requires a little effort and time and it’s cheaper than other types of therapy
C:More appropriate treatment
Weakness 1 of drug treatments (side-effects)
I:Unpleasant side-effects
E:Tricyclics cause hallucinations and irregular heartbeat so are only prescribed when SSRIs don’t work
SSRIs cause headaches and insomnia
BZs associated with aggression
C:May not always be appropriate or effective
Weakness 2 of drug treatments (relapse)
I:High relapse rates
E: Simpson eat al- 45% patience treated with tricyclics relapsed in 12 weeks only 12% for psychological therapy
C:Not effective or lasting cure
