Psychopathology - Paper 1

Question 1

What are the definitions of Abnormality

Answer 1

1 - Deviation from Social Norms

2 - Failure to Function Adequately

3 - Statistical Infrequency

4 - Deviation from Ideal Mental Health

Question 2

Deviation from Social Norms + Example

Answer 2

Social norms are the approved and accepted ways of behaving in a particular society.

• It suggests that people who reject these social norms and behave in a socially deviant way are regarded as ‘Abnormal’.

E.g. Sufferers of SZ are sometimes seen talking to themselves.

Question 3

What is a Strength of Deviation from Social Norms as a definition for Abnormality

Answer 3

P - Provides clarity

E - If you’ve lived in an area for a long time then you’ll be aware of what the social norms are. Sticking to social norms means that society is ordered and predictable. This is argued as advantageous.

E - It accounts for the effects the behaviour has on others. Social Rules allow people to live together, but abnormal behaviour can damage others.

L - Useful in identifying and diagnosing psychiatric disorders such as antisocial personality disorder.

Question 4

What is a Criticism of Deviation from Social Norms as an Explanation for Abnormality

Answer 4

P - Not universal definition of abnormality, only limited to the norms of a given society at any one time.

E - Social norms in one culture might be abnormal in another culture or the social norms may change over time.

E - In some African cultures, hearing voices in your head from your ancestors is considered a social norm but it would be seen as abnormal in British culture.

L - It would be inappropriate to apply the social norms of one society to another,
Therefore no global way of defining behaviour as abnormal, abnormality cannot be standardised.

Question 5

Failure to Function Adequately

Answer 5

FFA - A person is unable to live a normal life and behave normally. Behaviour is considered abnormal if it causes great distress and prevents them from living successfully in their culture.

Their a 6 features of abnormality.

Question 6

What are the 6 features of Abnormality (FFA)

Answer 6

1 - Violation of Moral Standards (Violating society’s moral standards).

2 - Irrationality (Not rational behaviour) - E.g. Bipolar.

3 - Personal Distress (Depression and Anxiety).

4 - Unpredictability (Unexpected behaviour by losing control) - (e.g. attempted suicide after failing a test).

5 - Maladaptive Behaviour (Stops them reaching life goals).

6 - Observer Discomfort (Behaviour that causes discomfort to others).

Question 7

Strength of Failure to Function Adequately as Definition of Abnormality

Answer 7

P - Person Focused

E - Considers subjective personal experiences of the patient such as personal distress.

E - Considers thoughts & feelings of person experiencing the issue and it doesn’t simply make a judgement without taking the viewpoint of the sufferer into consideration.

L - FFA is a useful model for assessing Psychopathic Behaviour.

Question 8

Criticism of Failure to Function Adequately as Definition for Abnormality

Answer 8

P - Some of the features can occur in everyday life.

E - Most of the features are normal reasons for grieving for a close relative.

E - In these situations, personal distress may be quite normal, it would be abnormal not to be distressed.

L - It isn’t clear how extreme a behaviour has to be in order to be abnormal.
E.g. most people engage in behaviour that may be irrational from time to time but when can it be defined as abnormal?

Question 9

Deviation from Ideal Mental Health.

Answer 9

Defining the normal characteristics people should posses. Therefore abnormality is seen as deviation from these ideals of mental health.

• Jahoda (1958) identified 6 criteria relating to ideal mental health. These factors are required for ‘optimal living’ (living life to the full).

Question 10

What are Jahoda’s 6 criteria for Ideal Mental Health

Answer 10

1. Autonomy (Being independent, self-reliant, and able to make personal decisions).
2. Self Actualisation (Personal growth and development, becoming everything one is able of becoming).
3. Positive Attitude towards self (Self-respect and positive self concept).
4. Accurate Perception of Reality (Perceiving the world in a non-distorted fashion, realistic view of the world).
5. Resisting Stress (Having effective coping strategies & able to cope with everyday anxiety provoking situations).
6. Environmental Mastery (Meet the demands of life, having flexibility to meet changing life circumstances).

Question 11

Strength of Deviation from Ideal Mental Health as Definition of Abnormality

Answer 11

P - Takes positive and holistic stance

E - Focuses on positive behaviours rather than considering negative behaviours.

E - Considers the whole person, taking into account a multitude of factors that can affect their health and well-being.

L - Comprehensive and covers a large range of criteria.

Question 12

Criticism of Deviation from Ideal Mental Health as Definition of Abnormality

Answer 12

P - Idealistic

E - Most people don’t meet all of these ideals all of the time (e.g. most people’s attitude towards themselves if quite often less than positive).

E - Many people find stress hard to deal with, therefore can they be considered abnormal?

L - Also, not clear how many criteria need to be lacking to be considered ‘abnormal’ or what extent they need to be lacking in order to define abnormality.

Question 13

Statistical Infrequency

Answer 13

Human behaviour is ‘abnormal’ if it falls outside the range of most people (numerically rare).

• Definition states that 5% of population fall more than 2 standard deviations from the mean are abnormal. (e.g. IQ of 70- or 130+ are abnormal).

Question 14

Strength of Statistical Infrequency as Definition of Abnormality.

Answer 14

P - Objectively measured.

E - Compares patients with mental disorders using statistical norms and in some situations it’s appropriate to use a statistical criterion to define abnormality.

E - Definition looks at the whole picture, taking all of the population into account so can give a useful insight into the whole picture of a particular characteristic (IQ).

L - No opinion so therefore no bias.

Question 15

Criticism of Statistical Infrequency as Definition of Abnormality

Answer 15

P - Lacks detail.

E - Just because it’s statistically infrequent doesn’t mean it’s abnormal or a psychological disorder. (High IQ is desirable).

E - Depression is also common for most people some times in their life, so it’s considered normal but not desirable.

L - Statistical Infrequency fails to distinguish between infrequent desirable/undesirable behaviours which is a limitation of the defintion.

Question 16

What is a phobia?

Answer 16

Phobias = An anxiety disorder which causes an irrational fear of a particular object or situation.

Question 17

What is the Behavioural Approach to Explaining Phobias?

Answer 17

Behavioural Approach = Abnormal behaviour can be caused by Classical and Operant Conditioning.

Question 18

Two Process Model for Explaining a Phobia

Answer 18

Mowrer (1947) put forward a 2-process model, to explain how phobias are learned through Classical-Conditioning and maintained through Operant-Conditioning.

Question 19

What is Classical Conditioning when explaining a phobia + example diagram relating to phobia of a rat?

Answer 19

Phobias can be acquired through classical conditioning and associative learning.

UCS UCR
loud noise Fear

UCS NS UCR
loud noise rat Fear

CS UCR
rat Fear

Question 20

What is Operant Conditioning in explaining a phobia?

Answer 20

Phobias are negatively reinforced. This is where a behaviour is strengthened because an unpleasant consequence is moved.
- E.g. If a person with a phobia of rats, sees a rat a pet shop and avoids it then this reduce their feeling of anxiety and negatively reinforces the behaviour making the person more likely to avoid it in the future.
As a result the person will continue avoiding rats and maintain their phobia.

Question 21

Strength of the Behavioural Approach to Explaining a Phobia - Support?

Answer 21

P - There is Support

E - Acquisition of a phobia through C.Conditioning has been supported by Little Albert’s fear of rats.

E - After repeated pairing of loud noise (UCS) and rat (NS) Little Albert soon learned to fear the rat even when there wasn’t a loud noise (CR).

L - Research supports the idea that C.Conditioning is involved in acquiring phobias.

Question 22

What is a Criticism for the Behavioural Approach to Explaining Phobias

Answer 22

P - Not all bad experiences lead to a phobia

E - Sometimes phobias do appear after a bad experience and it’s easy to see how that could be the result of conditioning.

E - However, sometimes people have bad experiences (such as being bitten by a dog) and don’t develop a phobia.

L - Suggests that conditioning alone can’t explain phobia. They may only develop where a vulnerability exists.

Question 22

Behavioural Approach to Treating Phobia - Systematic Desensitisation (not method).

Answer 22

• Uses reverse counter conditioning to unlearn fear response to the phobia, by eliciting another response (relaxation).

3 components of Systematic Desensitisation:

• Relaxation training
• Anxiety hierarchy
• Reciprocal inhibition (2 conflicting responses can’t occur at the same time - fear & relaxation).

Question 23

Method of Systematic Desensitisation

Answer 23

1. Taught relaxation techniques.
2. Develop fear hierarchy (least-most feared).
3. Gradually exposing patient to phobia when they’re relaxed, slowly move up fear hierarchy when the patient is relaxed at each level.
4. Two emotional states cannot co-exist (fear and relaxation) - Reciprocal Inhibition.

Question 24

Behavioural Approach to Treating Phobia - Flooding + Method

Answer 24

Rather than exposing a person to phobia gradually, a person is exposed to most phobic situation immediately.

• Flooding doesn’t let a person to avoid (neg reinforcement) phobia and through continuous exposure, anxiety levels decrease.

Patient is taught relaxation techniques

• Flooding can take place in 2 forms:
  1. Vivo (actual exposure)
  2. Vitro (imaginary exposure)

Question 25

Appropriateness of Systematic Desensitisation: Behaviourist Approach.

Answer 25

P - Not appropriate for treating all phobias

E - Phobias that haven’t been developed through conditioning (e.g. fear of heights) are not effectively treated using systematic desensitisation.

E - Some phobias have an evolutionary survival benefit (heights) and not result of learning, but instead evolution.

L - Not appropriate in treating evolutionary phobias.

Question 26

Effectiveness of Systematic Desensitisation

Answer 26

P - SD is very effective in treating phobias

E - In one study, 42 patients had been treated for spider phobias in 3x45min session of SD.

E - Spider phobia was assessed on several measures:
- Spider Questionnaire
- Response to a spider
After 3 months and 33 months after SD were less fearful.

L - Showing it reduced anxiety and the effects are LT demonstrating that SD is effective treatment for phobia.

Question 27

Appropriateness of Flooding

Answer 27

P - Not appropriate for all types of Phobia

E - E.g. Social phobia is more complex than simple phobia because it’s likely to have cognitive aspects.

E - Those social phobia not only experience fear response but have unpleasant thoughts about the social situation.

L - Flooding not appropriate for all types of phobia especially those that require irrational thoughts to be challenged such as social phobia.

Question 28

Effectiveness of Flooding

Answer 28

P - Flooding is effective.

E - Study conducted with 21 ppts with rat phobias.

E - They were asked to imagine (vitro-flooding) their finger being nibbled and clawed by rat.
- 20 were able to open rat’s cage, 14 able to pick up a rat.

L - Flooding is effective treatment for specific phobias.

Question 29

Implications of behavioural approach to treating phobia

Answer 29

P - absence from work due to mental illnesses currently cost the UK £15 billion a year.

E - Treatments for phobia Particularly those which may prevent employment such as agoraphobia, can have economic benefits for society.

E - For example, the NH S estimates that approximately 2 in 100 people have agoraphobia, which may have serious impact on occupational capacity, SD is recommended as an effective treatment. Wrote this kind of phobia.

L - This means that treating phobia, especially those that have maladaptive consequences for employment, may have important economic implications.