Section 4: Psychopathology Flashcards
Define phobia
A phobia is a persistent, excessive or unreasonable fear of something to the point of impairment
What are the two types of phobia?
Simple/ Specific
Complex
What is the DSM- 5?
The diagnostic and statistical manual
What can the DSM-5 recognise about phobias?
- Specific phobias (of an object, or situation etc)
- Social phobia (social situations)
- Agoraphobia (being outside or in a public place)
How does age effect simple phobias?
They often develop during childhood or adolescence, and may become less severe as you get older.
How does age effect complex phobias?
They usually develop during adulthood.
What is the most common complex phobia?
Agoraphobia
Describe agoraphobia
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.
What are the characteristics of a phobia?
Behavioural, Emotional, Cognitive
Label the PHOBIAS acronym
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
What did Mowrer (1947) put forward?
The two-process model
Describe the two process model
- 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
Name the case study used for phobias
The “Little Albert” experiment
When was the little albert experiment done?
1920
Who conducted the little albert experiment?
Watson and Rayner
What happened in the little albert experiment?
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.
What are the two behavioural treatments phobias?
Flooding and Systematic desensitisation
Outline systematic desensitisation
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.
What are the three processes of systematic desensitisation?
- Anxiety hierarchy
- Relaxation
- Exposure
What is an anxiety hierarchy?
A list of situations that involve the phobic stimulus from least to most frightening, created by the patient and therapist.
How can the therapist relax the patient in systematic desensitisation?
- breathing techniques
- imagining calm places
- medication e.g. Valium
What are some strengths of systematic desensitisation?
- more ethical than flooding
- more approproate for patients with severe anxiety disorders
What are some weaknesses of systematic desensitization?
- many participants do not complete treatment as it is too stressful
- not effective in treating all phobias
- not as cost effective
- symptom substitution
What are some strengths of flooding?
- highly effective in treating simple phobias
- cost effective treatment
What are some weaknesses of flooding?
- ethical issues
- less effective for treating other types of phobia
- symptom substitution
Define depression
A category of mood disorders
What are the two types of depression?
- Unipolar
- Bipolar
How long must symptoms be shown for?
2 weeks
What did the DSM-5 recognize about depressive disorders?
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
List some behavioral characteristics of depression
- shift in activity level
- insomnia/ hypersomnia
- affected appetite
- aggression and self harm
List some emotional characteristics of depression
- sadness
- anger
- loss of interest
- lower self esteem
List some cognitive characteristics of depression
- negative veiw of the world
- irrational thoughts
- poor concentration
- negative expectations of themselves
How can cognitive psychologists explain depression?
Cognitive Psychologists look at how irrational thinking (cognition) leads the patient to suffer from depression.
Beck’s negative triad
Ellis’s ABC model
How did Beck explain depression?
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.
What are the three parts that Becks suggested made up cognitive vulnerability?
- faulty information processing
- negative self schema
- the negative triad
How did Beck describe faulty information processing?
- 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
How did Beck describe negative self-schema?
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
What is the negative triad?
Negative view of the…
- self
- future
- world
What are some strengths to Beck’s negative triad?
- research support
- real world application
What are some weaknesses of Beck’s negative triad?
- some symptoms e.g. extreme anger, delusions, hallucinations cant be described by this
What are some strengths to Ellis’s ABC model of depression?
- real world application
- can make depressed people achieve more resilience and feel better
What are some weaknesses of reactive depression?
- only explains reactive depression, not endogenous depression
- model locates responsibility for depression purely on the depressed person
What did Ellis theorise?
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.
What did Ellis state about irrational thoughts?
Ellis defined irrational thoughts as not logical or realistic thoughts.
What is the ABC theory?
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)
