Section 4: Psychopathology Flashcards

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1
Q

Define phobia

A

A phobia is a persistent, excessive or unreasonable fear of something to the point of impairment

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2
Q

What are the two types of phobia?

A

Simple/ Specific
Complex

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3
Q

What is the DSM- 5?

A

The diagnostic and statistical manual

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4
Q

What can the DSM-5 recognise about phobias?

A
  1. Specific phobias (of an object, or situation etc)
  2. Social phobia (social situations)
  3. Agoraphobia (being outside or in a public place)
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5
Q

How does age effect simple phobias?

A

They often develop during childhood or adolescence, and may become less severe as you get older.

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6
Q

How does age effect complex phobias?

A

They usually develop during adulthood.

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7
Q

What is the most common complex phobia?

A

Agoraphobia

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8
Q

Describe agoraphobia

A

Fear of open spaces- they can feel anxious about being in a place or situation where escaping may be difficult if they have a panic attack.

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9
Q

What are the characteristics of a phobia?

A

Behavioural, Emotional, Cognitive

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10
Q

Label the PHOBIAS acronym

A

P- panic
H- high levels of anxiety
O- out of proportional fear
B- beliefs which are irrational
I- irrational and immediate fear
A- avoidance
S- selective attention

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11
Q

What did Mowrer (1947) put forward?

A

The two-process model

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12
Q

Describe the two process model

A
  • phobias are learned through classical conditioning (initiation). Phobias can be learned through association, often involving traumatic event.
  • phobias are maintained through operant conditioning (maintenance) The ongoing avoidance or unpleasant involuntary physical response negatively reinforces the association
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13
Q

Name the case study used for phobias

A

The “Little Albert” experiment

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14
Q

When was the little albert experiment done?

A

1920

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15
Q

Who conducted the little albert experiment?

A

Watson and Rayner

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16
Q

What happened in the little albert experiment?

A

They made him learn a fear to rats (and then other furry things) by striking a metal bar with a hammer whenever he saw the rat. Within 7 pairings, a fear of rats was learned.

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17
Q

What are the two behavioural treatments phobias?

A

Flooding and Systematic desensitisation

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18
Q

Outline systematic desensitisation

A

This is the main behaviourist therapy to treat phobias and it is designed to slowly reduce the anxiety caused by the phobia using classical conditioning.

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19
Q

What are the three processes of systematic desensitisation?

A
  1. Anxiety hierarchy
  2. Relaxation
  3. Exposure
20
Q

What is an anxiety hierarchy?

A

A list of situations that involve the phobic stimulus from least to most frightening, created by the patient and therapist.

21
Q

How can the therapist relax the patient in systematic desensitisation?

A
  • breathing techniques
  • imagining calm places
  • medication e.g. Valium
22
Q

What are some strengths of systematic desensitisation?

A
  • more ethical than flooding
  • more approproate for patients with severe anxiety disorders
23
Q

What are some weaknesses of systematic desensitization?

A
  • many participants do not complete treatment as it is too stressful
  • not effective in treating all phobias
  • not as cost effective
  • symptom substitution
24
Q

What are some strengths of flooding?

A
  • highly effective in treating simple phobias
  • cost effective treatment
25
Q

What are some weaknesses of flooding?

A
  • ethical issues
  • less effective for treating other types of phobia
  • symptom substitution
26
Q

Define depression

A

A category of mood disorders

27
Q

What are the two types of depression?

A
  • Unipolar
  • Bipolar
28
Q

How long must symptoms be shown for?

A

2 weeks

29
Q

What did the DSM-5 recognize about depressive disorders?

A

Major depressive disorder: Severe but often short-term depression
Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: Childhood tantrums
Persistent depressive disorder: Long-term, reoccurring depression, including sustained major depression
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder: Disruption of mood before and/or during menstruation

30
Q

List some behavioral characteristics of depression

A
  • shift in activity level
  • insomnia/ hypersomnia
  • affected appetite
  • aggression and self harm
31
Q

List some emotional characteristics of depression

A
  • sadness
  • anger
  • loss of interest
  • lower self esteem
32
Q

List some cognitive characteristics of depression

A
  • negative veiw of the world
  • irrational thoughts
  • poor concentration
  • negative expectations of themselves
33
Q

How can cognitive psychologists explain depression?

A

Cognitive Psychologists look at how irrational thinking (cognition) leads the patient to suffer from depression.
Beck’s negative triad
Ellis’s ABC model

34
Q

How did Beck explain depression?

A

Aaron Beck (1967) explains depression as a vulnerability that can be caused by the person’s cognition (the way they think) and their negative schemas.

35
Q

What are the three parts that Becks suggested made up cognitive vulnerability?

A
  • faulty information processing
  • negative self schema
  • the negative triad
36
Q

How did Beck describe faulty information processing?

A
  • When depressed the person tends to ignore the positives in their lives and only focus on the negatives
  • The depressed person will blow small problems out of proportion
  • These cognitive biases cause the depressed person to constantly see themselves as worthless and useless
37
Q

How did Beck describe negative self-schema?

A

A schema is a shortcut that acts as a mental framework for the individual
A self-schema is the framework of information they have about themselves
When depressed, the person will have a negative self-schema, which means they interpret all of the information about or around themselves negatively

38
Q

What is the negative triad?

A

Negative view of the…
- self
- future
- world

39
Q

What are some strengths to Beck’s negative triad?

A
  • research support
  • real world application
40
Q

What are some weaknesses of Beck’s negative triad?

A
  • some symptoms e.g. extreme anger, delusions, hallucinations cant be described by this
41
Q

What are some strengths to Ellis’s ABC model of depression?

A
  • real world application
  • can make depressed people achieve more resilience and feel better
42
Q

What are some weaknesses of reactive depression?

A
  • only explains reactive depression, not endogenous depression
  • model locates responsibility for depression purely on the depressed person
43
Q

What did Ellis theorise?

A

Albert Ellis (1962) had a slightly different view to Beck and suggested depression is caused by irrational thoughts and that rational thoughts cause good mental health.

44
Q

What did Ellis state about irrational thoughts?

A

Ellis defined irrational thoughts as not logical or realistic thoughts.

45
Q

What is the ABC theory?

A

Ellis developed the ABC model to explain how irrational thoughts affect individuals:
A: Activating event. This is a negative event that triggers the irrational thoughts, E.g. Losing your job
B: Beliefs. The thoughts which the person associates with the event, and why it happened: These can be either rational (healthy), E.g. I didn’t really like the job anyway and wanted a new one, or irrational (unhealthy), E.g. I am so useless, I will never get another job as I do not deserve one
C: Consequences. Rational beliefs lead to health consequences (new job or job searching), Irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy consequences (believing you will never deserve another job, which leads to depression)