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Psychopathology P1 Flashcards

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1
Q

what approach is depression focused on?

A

the cognitive approach

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2
Q

what can depression be defined as?

A

a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest

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3
Q

what are some behavioural clinical characteristics of depression?

A
  • reduced energy and tiredness
  • sleep is affected
  • appetite affected
  • irritable
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4
Q

what are some emotional clinical characteristics of depression?

A
  • sad
  • empty
  • hopeless
  • loss of interest
  • low self esteem
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5
Q

what are some cognitive clinical characteristics of depression?

A
  • negative thoughts that do not reflect reality
  • irrational thoughts
  • poor levels of concentration and poor decision making
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6
Q

what are two specific examples of explaining depression?

A

Ellis’ ABC model and Beck’s negative triad

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7
Q

explain ellis ABC model as an explanation for depression.

A

used to explain how irrational thinking affects our emotional state and behaviour
A- activating event
B- belief
C - consequence

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8
Q

explain becks negative triad as an explanation for depression.

A 
you do not need an activating event for irrational thoughts they come naturally...
negative views about...
the world 
the future
yourself
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9
Q

where did beck (negative triad) suggest that these irrational views came from?

A

negative schemas

schema = a package of ideas about the world learnt through experiences

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10
Q

what is a strength of the cognitive approach explaining depression?

A

evidence to support - grozioli and terry assessed pregnant women those with irrational thinking before were more likely to suffer post natal depression

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11
Q

what is a weakness of exposing depression with the cognitive approach?

A
  • can’t explain all types of depression eg. bipolar depression associated with anger.
  • can’t determine cause and effect what comes first distorted thoughts or depression.
  • challenges the idea that depressed people think in distorted - more realistic view of the world
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12
Q

what is a limitation of explaining depression with the cognitive approach?

A

-slightly reductionist
- ignores biology eg lower levels of serotonin cause depression & the role of experiences in life
therefore cannot offer a complete explanation of depression

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13
Q

what is a practical application of explaining depression with the cognitive approach?

A

CBT which attempts to correct irrationally negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts - supports idea irrational thinking is responsible for depression - 80% effective.

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14
Q

describe step 1 of Cognitive Behaviour Theory as a way of treating depression?

A

step 1 - identify where the irrational thoughts are coming from - automatic or ABC
—> called thought catching achieved through verbal discussions, homework assignments

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15
Q

describe step 2 of CBT as a way of treating depression?

A

challenge and change -
abcDE model
D - dispute - disagree
empirical disputing - WHERE is the evidence for that thought
pragmatic disputing - how is that thought helping you
logical disputing - does that thought make sense
E effects of disputing the thoughts

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16
Q

describe step 3 of CBT as a way of treating depression?

A

practise new thoughts and behaviour
eg role play
and behavioural activation
- engaging in activities they used to enjoy

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17
Q

what are the 4 techniques used in CBT?

A

thought catching
disputing thoughts
role play
behaviourist activation

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18
Q

what is a strength of CBT to treating depression?

A

research shows it’s effective 80% of pps responded well out of 327
- smith and gaza’s research meta analysis and cbt came in second out of ten - SD came first.

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19
Q

what is a weakness about the effectiveness of CBT?

A

relies on quality of therapist - 15% of variance in outcome

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20
Q

what is a weakness of CBT depending on it’s appropriateness?

A

-requires a lot of motivation and effort
difficult to talk about feelings
-alternate medication - drug therapy
-too focused on mental processes where it may be the actual lives of the clients e.g. living in poverty

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21
Q

What can a phobia be defined as?

A

Extreme or irrational fear of a specific stimulus that produces a conscious avoidance of the source of fear.

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22
Q

What are the behavioural clinical characteristics of phobias?

A

Avoidance of food object
Fainting or freezing when object is near
These behaviours interfere with other daily activities

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23
Q

what is an emotional clinical characteristics of phobias?

A

Persistent fear, anxiety, panic,

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24
Q

What is a cognitive clinical characteristic of phobias?

A

Recognition of the rational nature of the fear, selective attention to the phobic stimulus

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25
Q

What process can explain phobias?

A

The two process model by the behaviourist approach

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26
Q

Explain the two process model in explaining in phobias.

A

Step one – phobia DEVELOPS through classical conditioning e.g. association
step two – phobia is then maintained by operant conditioning e.g. consequences

27
Q

What is a strength of explaining phobias using the two process model?

A

Evidence using the little Albert study -every time Albert played with a white rat he was frightened with a load noise - became an association.

28
Q

What is a criticism or explaining phobias using the two process model?

A

-Not all evidence supports for example someone could develop a fear of snakes without ever in encountering one. Study found that only 50% with a driving phobia has been in a frightening experience in a car.

29
Q

What practical application has the two process model of explaining phobias had for us?

A

Successful behavioural therapies e.g. systematic desensitisation and flooding based on classical conditioning therefore it helps the economy as people can stay in work and we don’t need to pay them sick pay

30
Q

Describe systematic desensitisation as a way of treating phobias. (3 steps)

A
  1. Step one – relaxation techniques e.g. muscles tighten and then relaxed
  2. step two – individual creates the hierarchy of fear e.g. a list of scenarios right least to most scary
  3. step three- put one and two together therefore using the relaxation techniques well being exposed to each scenario
    – Based on counterconditioning because the new response (relaxation) is counter to the original response (fear)
31
Q

How effective is systematic desensitisation in treating phobias?

A

75% of people were successfully treated by SD, quick and long lasting - shown to actually work and supports the economy.

32
Q

Describe flooding as a way of treating phobias.

A

Based on counterconditioning also that requires full and immediate exposure (2-3 hours) they are exposed to the phobia at its worst was using the relaxation techniques

33
Q

How effective is flooding treating phobias?

A

Effective for 65% of individuals and more effective than SD. didn’t show symptoms four years later after a single session of flooding - much quicker than SD.

34
Q

is systematic desensitisation a more ethical therapy than flooding in treating phobias?

A

Yes, individual has more control as they create the hierarchy of fear. therefore the therapy is less overwhelming than flooding and the drop out rate of the therapy is less.

35
Q

What are the strengths and weaknesses of behaviourial treatments?

A

-It’s fast and requires minimal effort unlike CBT - positive effect on the economy - people get better fast.
however sometimes may make phobia worse - doesn’t improve the quality of the individual’s life.

36
Q

Define OCD and what approach explains it?

A

A mental health condition where a person has obsessive thoughts and compulsive activity, biological approach

37
Q

What are some behaviourial clinical Characteristics of OCD?

A

Repetitive behaviours, avoidance of situations that may trigger anxiety

38
Q

What are emotional clinical characteristics of OCD?

A

Anxiety, distress, shame, embarrassment

39
Q

What are some cognitive clinical characteristics of OCD?

A

Irrational and distorted beliefs, uncontrollable thoughts

40
Q

What two candidate genes may be responsible OCD?

A

COMT gene and SERT gene

41
Q

How is the COMT gene responsible for OCD?

A

Produces the enzyme COMT which regulates the production of dopamine and creates higher levels of dopamine.

42
Q

How is the SERT gene responsible for OCD?

A

Produces protein that remove serotonin from the synapse between neurons therefore a mutation of this gene leads higher levels of protein and therefore lower levels of serotonin

43
Q

What does polygenic mean and is OCD polygenic?

A

It’s caused by several different genes and yes it is

44
Q

what are the three neural explanations for OCD?

A

dopamine, serotonin and the worry circuit.

45
Q

what research is there to support the genetics arguments in explaining OCD?

A

Twin studies found a 68% concordance rate and non-identical twins showed a 31% concordance. However the concordance rate is not 100% so there must be other factors involved - environmental and identical twins may show similar behaviours because they are treated in the same way more often.

46
Q

How can we treat OCD?

A

drug therapies - SSRIs and benzodiazepines

47
Q

How does SSRIs work?

A

increases amount of serotonin that passes through brain so it gets trapped in synapse and there is more in the brain.

48
Q

How effective is drug therapy? strength and weakness.

A
  • Evidence – BZ’s and SSRI’s work more effective at reducing symptoms than a placebo
  • However does not cure OCD it just reduces the symptoms, once person stops taking drug symptoms come back. shows the real underling meaning has not been dealt with to cure their OCD. relapse rates are 90%.
49
Q

How appropriate is drug therapy for OCD?

A
  • Can be used for anyone as it is fast and requires little effort motivation unlike CBT.
  • however side-effects eg . SSRIs - nausea beaches and insomnia
    Bbz- increases aggression
50
Q

What are the strengths for the biological approach explaining OCD?

A

Useful in providing practical applications e.g. drug therapies however difficult to determine the cause and affect

51
Q

give an example of how a phobia can develop through association using the two process model.

A

individual chokes when swimming, associate choking with water, their response to choking (fear and panic) may transfer to water. Phobia of water.

52
Q

give an example of how a phobia can maintain through operant conditioning using the two process model.

A

individual avoids water - reduces their fear and panic - continue to avoid water - negative reinforcement.

53
Q

What is a limitation of explaining phobias using the two process model?

A

heavily focused on nurture side of nature/nurture debate, only considers learning experiences and ignores impact of biological factors - evidence that genes and neurotransmitters play a part.

54
Q

Why might people have the same kind of phobias e.g.. snakes, spiders, heights? (this is a weakness of the behaviourist approach explaining phobias)

A

evolution - biologically prepared to fear things that could be danger, for survival purposes. therefore learning approach is unbalanced as its probably a mixture of both biology AND learning experiences.

55
Q

what is a weakness in the therapy SD in treating phobias?

A

imagining examples of feared stimulus is less EFFECTIVE than confronting them in vivo, effectiveness almost based on how vivid the individual’s imagine is. also people with phobia of zombies for example can’t confront them - so not appropriate to treat all phobias.

56
Q

Why is flooding therapy not always appropriate for treating phobias?

A

creates high levels on anxiety - raises ethical issues, not appropriate for all, some have known to have heart attacks or drop out of the therapy making their phobia worse.

57
Q

explain the neural explanation dopamine in explaining OCD.

A

dopamine levels are higher in OCD sufferers and therefore a contributing factor to the development of OCD.

58
Q

explain the neural explanation serotonin in explaining OCD.

A

OCD is caused by the disruption of serotonin levels which has a knock on effect on regulating the levels of other neurotransmitters. Based on reduction in symptoms when individual’s take anti-depressants that increase serotonin.

59
Q

explain the neural explanation the worry circuit in explaining OCD.

A

worry circuit - OFC, caudate nucleus and the thalamus. If nucleus is damaged it fails to block the worry signal from the OFC to the thalamus so signal is sent back to the OFC creating a circuit.

60
Q

What is a strength of the neural explanations: dopamine, serotonin & the worry circuit in explaining OCD?

A

Evidence - drug therapy shows that serotonin plays a part - drugs that increase serotonin have been beneficial for 60% of patients with OCD.

61
Q

What is a weakness of the neural explanations: dopamine, serotonin & the worry circuit in explaining OCD?

A

unknown if problems with neurotransmitters are a cause or a consequence of OCD

62
Q

What is a strength and weakness of the general biological approach in explaining OCD?

A
  • PA drugs therapies
  • difficult to determine C&E
  • focuses on nature side - twin studies not 100% - environmental factors.
63
Q

How do the anti-anxiety drugs BZ’s help prevent OCD?

A

help control feelings of extreme anxiety by reducing the level of brain activity and brings feeling of calm.

Psychology (50 decks)

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