Psychopathology March Flashcards
What are the emotional characteristics of depression? (3)
Lowered mood
Low self-esteem
Anger
What are the behavioural characteristics of depression? (3)
Reduced energy or lethargy
Disruption to sleep
Disruption to eating
What are the cognitive characteristics of depression? (3)
Negative thoughts/ schema
Irrationality
Poor concentration
What are the two Cognitive explanations of depression?
Ellis’s ABC Model (Activating event 💡, Belief 🔮, Consequence ❌)
Beck’s Cognitive theory
Negative views about the world 🌎, the future 🔜, and oneself 🧍
What did Ellis’s ABC Model mean?
He suggested that good mental health is a result of rational thinking…
… depression is a result of irrational thoughts.
It’s the irrational believe about an activating event that causes the consequence (depression).
What did Beck’s cognitive theory mean?
He suggested depression stems from unrealistic, distorted, negative or irrational thoughts about oneself, others, or the environment. This creates cognitive vulnerability towards depression.
Depressed people may have developed negative schemas (packages of information) that lead to cognitive bias in thinking.
Give a positive and negative if research into cognitive explanation of depression:
Beck and Ellis
+) Practical applications-> If cognitive vulnerability (negative thinking) is a cause of depression, then young people can be screened for vulnerability and monitored closely.
+) Therapy based on Beck has been effective in treating depression
+) There’s no doubt that depression can follow an activating events
-) There’s cognitive approach ignores biological factors.
-) Some cases of depression occurs as a result of no obvious case, contradicting the idea of Ellis’s activating event
What is CBT?
CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) challenges negative/ irrational thoughts in an attempt to treat depression.
What is a form of CBT based on Ellis? Describe it.
REBT (Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy) focuses on challenging/ disputing irrational beliefs and replacing them with effective, rational ones.
It extends the ABC model to DE (Dispute and Effect)
Describe disputing in REBT (a form of CBT as a depression treatment):
Ellis identified logical disputing, empirical disputing, and pragmatic disputing.
Effective disputing allows a person to move from catastrophising to more rational interpretations of the event.
Describe the form of CBT based on Beck:
Therapist identifies and challenges automatic thoughts about the world, future, and self.
Once identified, they’re challenged.
The client does homework to test the reality of these believed.
Give a pro and con of CBT (Depression treatment cognitive behavioural therapy):
+) CBT deals with the cause, rather than just treating the symptoms. So, it’s a long-term solution which other therapies like drugs don’t focus on.
+) Research shows CBT is the most effective therapy for moderate and severe depression.
-) CBT isn’t appropriate for all clients, as it requires the ability to rationalise and talk about thoughts and feelings, and motivation to follow through with the therapy.
-) CBT takes a relatively long time, and costs money.
-) There may be too much emphasis placed on the thought process and not enough on the circumstances the patient is living in.
What are the emotional characteristics of OCD? (2)
Anxiety
Guilt and disgust
What are the behavioural characteristics of OCD? (2)
Compulsions
Avoidance
What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD? (2)
Obsessions
Insight (know they’re irrational, but can’t help it)
OCD seems to be polygenic. What does this mean?
It’s caused by several genes, maybe up to 230, rather than a single gene.
What does the SERT gene do?
SERT (Seretonin transporter) appears mutated in OCD individuals.
It increases reuptake of serotonin into the neurone, decreasing serotonin in the synapse.
What does the COMT gene do?
COMT also appears mutated in OCD individuals.
The mutated variant decreases COMT activity and therefore there’s a higher level of dopamine.
What are the two genes for biological explanation of OCD?
SERT and COMT
Give a pro and con of genetic explanations of OCD:
+) Pauls et al -> up to 10% of first-degree relatives of those with OCD were more likely to develop the disorder compared to 2% prevalence in the general population.
+) Twin studies support
-) Family studies don’t control for the effects of the environment on developing OCD… first-degree relatives may have similar life experiences.
How is OCD neurally explained?
Abnormal levels of neurotransmitters
Abnormal levels of neurotransmitters:
- OCD may be caused by low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin.
- OCD may be caused by a disruption of serotonin levels, which has a knock-on effect on regulating levels of other neurotransmitters like glutamate, GABA, and dopamine.
How is OCD neurally explained?
Abnormal brain circuits
Abnormal brain circuits:
- Orbitofrontal cortex sends signals to thalamus. These are normally suppressed by the candate nucleus (part of the basal ganglia) if irrelevant or unimportant.
When the caudate nucleus is damaged, it fails to suppress minor worry signals and the thalamus is alerted, making us take action. This then sends signals back to the OFC, acting as a worry circuit.
How is OCD neurally explained? Briefly two ways
Abnormal levels of neurotransmitters
Abnormal brain circuits
Pro and con of neural explanations of OCD neurotransmitters
+) Zohar found serotonin-increasing drugs have benefited up to 60% of cases, supporting serotonin association with OCD
-) It’s unknown if neurotransmitters are a consequence or cause of OCD
-) Serotonin may be low in OCD patients as they often suffer depression as well
Pro and con of neural OCD explanations brain circuits:
+) Some evidence suggests brain regions such as OFC and caudate nuclei are associated with OCD (PET Scans)
-) Association of these pet scans doesn’t mean it’s a cause though
How is OCD treated biologically? How SSRIs work
SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) block reputable or reabsorption of serotonin in the brain, enabling serotonin to remain active at the synapse where it continues to stimulate the post-synaptic neuron, reducing anxiety.
How do anti-anxiety drugs work?
Benzodiazepines (BZs) slow forms CNS activity by enhancing GABA activity. GABA is a neurotransmitter that has a quietening effect on many neurons. GABA locks onto receptor sites outside the neuron, opening a channel, allowing chloride ions to flow into the neuron.
Chloride ions make it harder for the neuron to be stimulated by other neurotransmitters, thus slowing down its activity and making the person relaxed.
If drug therapy effective for OCD? No and yes
+) Considerable evidence for it
-) Relapse rates are thought to be as high as 90%, so not a cure. Temporarily reduces symptoms.
If drug therapy appropriate for OCD? No and yes
+) They reduce symptoms of OCD
+) Drugs are cheap and easily manufactured
-) Drugs have unpleasant side effects
Behaviour characteristics of phobias?
Avoidance
Panic
Emotional characteristics of phobias?
Fear
Anxiety
Cognitive characteristics of phobias?
Irrational beliefs
Selective attention
What is Mowrer’s two-process model?
Phobias learned through classical conditioning
Phobias maintained through operant conditioning
Explain learning phobias through classical conditioning:
What’s the study
People learn to associate something they don’t fear (neutral stimulus) with something that causes a fear response (unconditioned stimulus).
Watson and Rayner -> Little Albert + bang + white rat = fear, also generalised to similar objects.
Explain maintaining phobias through operant condition:
Reinforced behaviour = more likely to be repeated.
Positive reinforcement-> something pleasant.
Negative reinforcement-> removal of something unpleasant
Give a pro and con of behavioural explanation of phobias:
+) Watson and Rayner evidence
+) Practical application in therapy
-) Bounton 2007 pointed out evolutionary factors have a role, which isn’t mentioned in the two process model by
-) Model doesn’t explain cognitive elements
-) Menzies and Clarke 1993 found 2% children with water phobias reported a direct conditioning effect involving water. So invalid model explanation?
What does the behavioural approach to treating phobias mean?
It believes that all behaviour, including abnormal, is learned; therefore abnormal behaviour can be unlearned through training and conditioning.
Explain Systematic Desensitisation as a behavioural approach to treating phobias
Systematic desensitisation ->
1) Learned deep relaxation techniques
2) Client and therapist create an anxiety hierarchy
3) Works way up the hierarchy
Pro and con of systematic desensitisation to treat phobias
+) Effective
+) Acceptable for clients
-) Ignores deeper underlying psychological or emotional issues
-) Takes a while to work way through
Explain flooding as a phobia treatment
Extreme exposure to the phobic situation for a lengthy period of time, unable to escape until exhaustion.
Based on idea that there’s a limit to how long the body can sustain a fear response.
Pro and con of flooding as a phobia treatment
+) Highly effective
+) Quick, so cost-effective
-) Less effective for some phobia types
-) Traumatic experience, unfavourable to patients
