psychopathology overbiew Flashcards
define phobias
a group of mental disorders characterised by high levels of anxiety in response to a particular stimulus
emotional characteristics of phobias
- anxiety and panic
- fear that is persistent and excessive
behavioural characteristics of Phobias
- avoidance in the feared situation which interfere with the persons normal routine
- fainting or freezing
cognitive characteristics of phobias
- irrational nature of the persons thinking and the resistance to rational arguments
- e.g. a person’s fear of flying isn’t helped by the argument that flying is actually the safest form of transport
- the person recognises that their fest is excessive or unrealistic
define OCD
anxiety disorder where anxiety arises from obsessions (persistent thoughts) and compulsions (behaviours that are repeated)
behavioural characteristics of OCD
- compulsive behaviours are performed to reduce anxiety.
- repetitive and unconcealed
- e.g. hand washing
cognitive behaviours of OCD
- obsessions are recurrent, intrusive thoughts that are seen as inappropriate
- e.g. that germs are everywhere
emotional behaviours of OCD
- stress and anxiety
- embarrassment/shame
define depression
a mood disorder when an individual feels sad and/or lacks interest in their usual activities
emotional characteristics of depression
- sadness and feeling empty
- feel worthless, hopeless
- low self esteem
- lost of interest in usual hobbies and anger is associated with depression
behavioural characteristics of depression
- reduced energy
- sense of tiredness
- agitation and restless
- sleep may be effected
cognitive characteristics of depression
- negative thoughts such as guilt, negative self beliefs
- negative view of the world
- these negative thoughts are irrational
define statistical infrequency
abnormality is defined as those behaviours that are extremely rare. I.e. any behaviour that is found in very few people is regarded as abnormal
what is the man objection to statistical infrequency ?
- there are may abnormal behaviours that are desirable
- e.g. a few people have an IQ over 150, yet we wouldn’t want to suggest that having a high IQ is undesirable
what is a problem with statistical infrequency ?
- if abnormality is defined in terms of statistical infrequency we need to decided where to separate normality from abnormality
- e.g. we might consider one of the symptoms of depression as difficulty sleeping. What then counts as abnormal? we might decide that sleeping less that 80% of the population is abnormal