Psychopathology P1 Flashcards
Statistical infrequency (def of abnormality)
= When an individual shows statistically rare behaviours that fall more than two standard deviations below or above the mean. Rare characteristics like being more depressed or less intelligent than the standard population.
- Used to measure the frequencies of behaviours/traits on a normal distribution curve.
In a normal distribution, most people have a score ranging from 85-115. Only 2% of people has a score below 70. Those individuals are very unusual or ‘abnormal’ .
deviation from social norms (def of abnormality)
= Behvaiours that are different from the accepted standards in a society
- norms are specific to the culture we live in (ie homosexuality may be seen as abnormal in certain cultures, but normal in others)
EXAMPLE:
- People with antisocial personality disorder (psychopaths) do not conform to our moral standards as they have an absence of prosocial internal standards associated with failure to conform to lawful and culturally normative ethical behaviour.
- skipping a queue
- invading someone’s personal space
Failure to function adequately (def of abnormality)
= Occurs when someone is unable to cope with ordinary demands of day-to-day living (ie unable to maintain basic nutrition and hygiene, cannot hold down a job or maintain relationships)
Rosenhan and Seligman’s additional signs of when someone is failing to function adequately…
1) when a person’s behaviour becomes irrational or dangerous to themselves or others
2) when a person experiences severe personal distress
3) when a person no longer conforms to standard interpersonal rules (ie holding eye contact)
Deviation from ideal mental health (def of abnormality)
= Occurs when someone does not meet a set of criteria for good mental health (what makes someone normal> what makes someone abnormal).
- idea behind this to acknowledge what is meant to be psychologically healthy so that we can begin to identify how we can reach this as as a goal/target in therapy.
Jahoda’s 6 criteria:
- we self actualise (strive to reach our potential)
- we can cope with stress (resistant to stress)
- we have environmental mastery (adapt to change in env)
-accurate perception of reality
- we have autonomy (freedom of choice)
-we have positive self attitudes
Deviation from social norms evaluation
Pro:
1) Real world application -> Used in clinical practice. For example, it helped the diagnosis of defining characteristics of people with antisocial personality disorder as a failure to conform to culturally normal ethical behaviour. Which is why they are often reckless, aggressive and violate the rights of others. All of these are deviations of social norms which therefore shows it has value in psychiatry.
Cons:
1) Culturally relative -> DFSN vary between different cultures. A person from one culture may label another as abnormal using their standards which may not cohere to that of another culture (ie hearing voices is the nrom in some cultures - as messages from ancestors - but in the UK is seen as abnormal/ homosexuality/ drinking alcohol at 18). Therefore, it is difficult to judge DFSM across different cultures so it is not a universal, stable criterion.
2) Social norms change overtime 0> This means the era in which a behaviour is being displayed, effects our perception of it (i.e homosexuality was illegal in England until the 1970’s and now the social norm has changed. Thus, it is a limitation as it suggests that as social norms change, our definition of abnormality does as well. (never consistent/confusing)
Failure to function adequately evaluation
Pro:
1) Sensible threshold for when people need professional help
= Most of us have symptoms of mental disorder to some degree at some point. According to the mental health charity Mind, around 25% of people in the UK will experience a mental health problem in any given year. However, many people press on in the face of fairly severe symptoms. It tends to be at the point that we cease to function adequately that people seek professional help what are noticed and referred for help by others. Therefore, meaning that treatment and services can be targeted to those who need the most.
Con:
1) Too subjective -> Too easy to label nonstandard lifestyles as abnormal. It’s very difficult to say when someone is really failing to function and when they have simply chosen to deviate from the norms. For example, those who favour high risk leisure activities could be classed as irrational and perhaps a danger to themselves. Due to rosenhan and seligman. Therefore, people who make unusual choices are at risk of being labeled abnormal and therefore their freedom may be restricted.
-> Relative to the situation: sometimes valid function adequately is the right response. E.g. Mum dies.
Deviation from ideal mental health evaluation
Pro:
1) Positive/ Optimistic approach -> Focuses unhealthy behaviour over unhealthy behaviour. This is because it focuses on how people strive to become normal, rather than focusing on problems and maladaptive behaviour. Therefore, allowing people who are struggling with their mental health to acknowledge what is meant by ‘normal people’ and gives them a clear and coherent goal to work towards.
Con:
1) Cannot be universally applied due to Western/Individualistic bias -> Some of Jahoda’s criteria are firmly located in the context of Western Europe and America. For example, self-actualization would probably be dismissed as self-indulgent in much of the world. Collectivist countries such as China are less likely to focus on each individual’s ability to reach self-actualization whereas countries like England, which are western/individualistic countries are likely to prioritize the individuals needs over what society needs. Therefore, it is difficult to apply this approach from one culture to another, suggesting it lacks replicability?
Statistical Infrequency evaluation
Pro:
1) Real world application (objective) -> Used in clinical practice as a diagnosis to assess severity of an individual symptoms. For example a diagnosis of intellectual disability requires an IQ or below 70. Due to its quantitative and objective nature, it is easier to diagnose if researchers can visibly see when an individual’s IQ deviates from the mean (infrequent). Therefore, useful diagnostic and assessment process.
Con:
1) Infrequent characteristics can be positive> negative -> For every person with an IQ below 70, there is a person with an IQ above 130. Yet we would not think someone as abnormal for having a high IQ. Similarly, we would not think of someone with a very low depression score on a BDI as abnormal. These examples show that being unusual or at the end of a psychological spectrum does not make someone abnormal. Therefore, statistical infrequency is not sufficient for the sole purpose of defining abnormality and maybe other definitions for abnormality are more appropriate.
maladaptive
difficulty adjusting to new environments or situations
phobia def
An irrational fear of an object or situation
Cognitive characteristics of phobias
=Refers to the process of ‘knowing’, including thinking, reasoning, remembering and believing
1) selective attention -> An individual sufferer who is presented with the phobic stimulus finds it difficult to divert their attention from the stimulus (eg an arachnophobe will find it difficult to concentrate if there is a spider in the room). Can be a strength as it gives us the best chance of reacting quickly to a threat, but a phobia is not useful as the fear is irrational.
2) Catastrophic thinking -> The person may hold irrational beliefs such as thinking spiders are deadly and that all of them will kill you. OR the person may have cognitive distortions which is when their perceptions of a phobia may be inaccurate or unrealistic (eg spiders to an arachnophobe may look like hairy monster-aliens)
Emotional characteristics of phobias
= Related to a persons feelings or moods
1) anxiety -> High levels of anxiety are produced by the worries surrounding the presence or anticipation of phobic object. This involves an unpleasant state of high arousal, preventing the person from relaxing which makes it difficult to experience any positive emotions (can be long term).
2) fear -> Is the immediate and extremely unpleasant response when we encounter or think of a phobic stimulus. This fear is much greater than is normal and is disproportionate to any threat imposed. (emotional responses are unreasonable)
Behavioural characteristics of phobias
= Ways in which people act (physically)
1) panic -> In the presence of a phobia an individual displays panic behaviour such as signs of ‘flight’ (running away, crying, screaming) or freezing. Children react differently, they throw tantrums or cling/freeze.
2) avoidance -> The person consciously goes to a lot of effort to avoid places they may encounter their phobia. For example, fear of public toilets may lead to the person having limited time spent away from their home.
3) endurance -> Alternative response from avoidance. This occurs when the person chooses to remain in the presence of a phobic stimulus (eg arachnophobe may stay in the room with the spider to keep an eye on it rather than leaving).
PEA
DSM-5 ( categories of phobias)
Diagnostic and Statistical manual of Mental disorders (5th ed)
= used to categories phobias
1) specific phobia -> phobia of an object, or situation (injections)
2) social phobia -> phobia of social situations such as public speaking or public toilets
3) agoraphobia -> phobia of being outside or in a public place
Behavioural explanation of phobias + examples
The Dual Process Model (by Hobart Mowrer)
= Said that phobias are created by…
1) initiated by classical conditioning (associations)
2) maintained by operant conditioning (negative reinforcement)
E.G-> Dentophobia (fear of dentists) is initiated by a negative previous experience.
Before C-> US (pain) = UR (fear)
NS (dentist) = no response
During C-> US+NS are paired together via associations which = UCR (fear)
After C-> NS becomes the CS(dentist) = CR (fear)
Dentophobia is maintained by operant conditioning.
- The person may avoid going to the dentist of fear of being put through pain. This means the negative consequence (pain) is avoided meaning this behaviour of avoidance is more likely to occur.
- Therefore, by using negative reinforcement the phobia of the dentist is maintained.
Evaluations of the behavioural explanation of phobias
PROS:
1) Little Albert
-> classical conditioning could create a fear of rats for Little Albert. By using the UCS(bang) which originally gave the UCR of crying, was paired with the NS (rat) during conditioning. This resulted in the baby being fearful of rats due to the negative association made between the UCS + NS .Therefore, this supports the idea that classical conditioning is effective as a behavioural explanation for phobias - giving it value.
2) Practical application: Treatment
-> If it is true that classical conditioning is an affective approach into the behavioural explanation for phobias, it could be used as a treatment. For example, if it is the association made between something negative (the UCS) and the NS, to create a phobia. We could use something positive and associate this with a fear to produce a treatment for phobias. Therefore, suggesting that the behavioural explanation for phobias has practical application to real life, giving it high replicability.
CON:
1) Irrational thinking> negative experience/association
-> REDUCTIONIST as only considers the role of learning processes, meaning this approach ignores the role of cognition (thinking) in the formation of phobias, Cognitive psychologists suggest that phobias may develop as a result of irrational thinking, not through a bad experience. (Ie arachnophobia -> mostly through irrational thoughts, catastrophic thinking>neg event). Therefore, the behavioural explanation cannot provide a complete explanation for the development of phobias.
Two ways of treating phobias
- systematic desensitisation
- flooding
Systematic Desensitisation (treating phobias)
= A behavioural therapy designed to reduce an unwanted stimulus (such as anxiety).
-It involves drawing up a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking situations related to a persons phobic stimulus, teaching the person to relax and exposing them to phobic situations. The person works their way through the hierarchy whilst maintaining relaxation.
The process:
1) Anxiety hierarchy
= A list of situations related to the phobic stimulus that provoke anxiety, arranged in order from least to most frightening.
2) Relaxation
= Uses reciprocal inhibition which is the idea that a person cannot be afraid and relaxed at the same time, so one emotion prevents the other.
- relaxation reached via breathing exercises, imagery techniques, meditation etc
3) Exposure
= Person is exposed to phobic stimulus in a relaxed state (starts at bottom of hierarchy, working their way up)
…Treatment is SUCCESSFULL when client can stay relaxed in situations high on the anxiety hierarchy.
Flooding (treating phobias)
= A behavioural therapy in which a person with a phobia is exposed to an extreme form of a phobic stimulus in order to reduce anxiety triggered by that stimulus.
-takes place across a small number of long (2-3 hour) therapy sessions
-breaks the association with fear
- a person cannot have high levels of anxiety for a long duration
- Different to systematic desensitisation as you go straight to the top of the hierarchy of fear; exposure is immediate and massive (i.e an arachnophobe may be exposed to holding a tarantula instead of gradually increasing the intensity).
Systematic Desensitisation evaluation
PRO:
1) ethical
- Increases the feeling of self-control. The risk of dependence on the therapist or of perceiving improvements as being external to the patient are minimised in this technique. Therefore, due to the gradual increase in intensity, no harm to participant is activated as the therapist allows it in a time where the individual feels in control to handle.
2) evidence of effectiveness
- Lisa Gilroy followed 42 people who had SD for arachnophobia in three 45 min sessions. She found that at both 3 and 33 months, the SD group were less fearful>control group who were treated with relaxation without exposure. Therefore, showing SD is likely to be helpful for people with phobias, giving the treatment value.
CON:
1) does not work for all phobias
- Some phobias are as a result of unconscious issues rather than due to a negative experience. Therefore, lacks value as it cannot be universalised to all phobias.
