Psycopathology Flashcards
What are the for types of definitions of abnormality?
Statistical infrequency
Deviation from social norms
Failure to function adequately
Deviation from ideal mental health
Statistical infrequency?
This is when something numerically uncommon defining something as ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’ depending on the number of time it occurs or how far it is from the mean median and mode.
Example of statistical infrequency.
Average IQ is 100 most people have an IQ between 85 and 115, 2.5% of people have an IQ below 70. Example of statistical infrequency.
Positives if statistical infrequency
+ real life application, intellectual disability disorder all assessments use measurements to see how abnormal something is
Negatives of statistical infrequency?
- unusual characteristics can also be positive, e.g only 2% of people have an IQ over 130, this is an extremely high IQ and that isn’t a negative thing so just because something is uncommon it doesn’t mean it’s bad.
- not everyone benefits from a label
What is Deviation from social norm?
This is when a person violates rules or expected behaviour of a particular group or society, very few universal abnormal behaviour, however deviations of social norms have changed over time and have varied from place to place.
What’s wrong the social norm definition ?
- norms are culturally relative - we label others according to our own standards therefore less useful as a diagnostic tool for those who move culture , in Africa hearing voices is normal.
- could also lead to human rights abuse, homosexuality used to be see as abnormal and against the social norm.
What is failure to function adequately?
Inability to cope with demands of everyday living, this is the closest to what medical professionals use e.g having low IQ is an intellectual disability disorder and may mean a person cant cope.
Evaluation - pros of failure to function adequately
+ it considers the patients perspective, whilst difficult to measure distress and what’s normal functioning it’s acknowledges patients experience matters.
Evaluation - failure to function adequately?
- hard to distinguish e.g not having a job may just be a lifestyle choice not failure to function adequately
- involves subjective judgement
Deviation from ideal mental health?
Abnormality is defined in terms of mental health, its a more positive definition, behaviours that are ‘normal’ are associated with happiness and competence for example a positive attitude towards the self
Evaluation - positive of deviation from ideal mental health
It covers a broad range of criteria most reasons why someone would need mental health support re involved with this definition
Evaluation - cons deviation from ideal mental health
- It is biased towards individualistic cultures e.g personal autonomy and self actualisation can seem self indulgent to collective cultures
- unrealistically high expectations- not many people self actualise so many people may be considered abnormal
What are the three mental disorders looked at in psychopathology ?
. Phobias
. Depression
. OCD
What is a phobia ?
Phobias are a group of mental disorders characterised by high levels of anxiety in response to a particular stimulis or a group of stimuli, this anxiety cased by the fear of the stimulus interferes with normal living.
Examples of phobias ?
Agoraphobia - fear of a large open public space and not being able to escape
Social phobias - anxiety related with social situations e.g talking to a group of people.
And specific phobias - fears about specific objects or like snakes or spiders or specific situations like heights or seeing blood.
Emotional characteristics of phobias?
The primary emotional characteristics of a phobia is fear and anxiety that is marked and persistent this responses to the phobia is likely to be unreasonable and excessive along with fear panic and heightened anxiety that is disproportionate to the threat
Behavioural characteristics of phobias?
Avoidance - when a person is faced with their phobia weather it be an object or situation they avoid it this is because the fear is so great that that their response might be to run away or scream or have a massive panic or on the complete other hand some people might freeze with fear or faint and become unresponsive, people tend to avoid their phobias all together
Cognitive characteristics of phobias ?
cognitive characteristics relate to a thought process, in the case of phobias the characteristic is the irrational nature of the persons thinking and resistance to rational logical argument the person may realise that they are being irrational but can not help it, for example telling someone who has a phobia of flying that planes are the safest mode of transport probably wont help, the person may also show selective attention to phobic stimuli and persist with their irrational beliefs even when told otherwise.
What is depression?
Depression is classed as a mood disorder , patient feels low and sad
Emotional characteristics of depression ?
• Low mood
• Anger
Behavioural characteristics of depression
• Changes to energy levels, such as lethargy (reduction) or psychomotor agitation (increase)
• Aggression and self harm
• Changes to sleep and eating
Cognitive characteristics of depression
Poor concentration
Difficulty making decisions
Irrational beliefs, e.g. everyone hates me
As well as poor self esteem
What is OCD?
OCD stands for obsessive compulsive disorder. It is an anxiety disorder where anxiety arises from both obsessions these are persistent thoughts and compulsions these are behaviours repeated over and over again, compulsions are a response to obsessions they believe the compulsion with reduce the anxiety caused by the obsessions
Emotional characteristics of OCD ?
Anxiety and distress
• Guilt and disgust, towards self or
external stimuli e.g. dirt
Behavioural characteristics of OCD?
Compulsions, ritually repeating behaviours, e.g. hand washing
Cognitive characteristics of OCD ?
Obsessive thoughts which are recurring and intrusive.
• Insight into excessive anxiety (over- aware).