Psychopathology

Question 1

What is Psychopathology?

Answer 1

the study of psychological disorders

Question 2

Why does abnormality have no definition among health experts

Answer 2

as when definitions remain unstated it means it cannot be challenged and alternative explanations our ignored therefore we cannot develop a scientific understanding

Question 3

What is the most common definition of psychopathology

Answer 3

statistical infrequency

Question 4

Describe statistical infrequency as a definition

Answer 4

we can define what is normal by mean, median, and mode then by using this typical value in the data we can see what is not normal

Question 5

Describe deviation from social norms as a definition

Answer 5

Norms are created by a group of people and thus social
there are standards of acceptable behaviours that are set by the social group anyone who behaves differently is classed as abnormal

Question 6

Evaluation of statistical infrequency as a definition: Some abnormal behaviours are desirable

Answer 6

some abnormal behaviour is desirable such as having a high IQ other normal behaviours are undesirable, for example it is quite common to experience depression this makes it hard to distinguish between desirable and undesirable behaviours

Question 7

Evaluation of statistical infrequency as a definition: the cut of point is subjectively determined

Answer 7

need to be able to decide where to separate normality from abnormality also depends on how you see the data

Question 8

Evaluation of statistical infrequency as a definition: statistical infrequency is sometimes appropriate (strengths)

Answer 8

in some situations it is appropriate to use a statistical criterion for example intellectual disability is defined in terms of the normal distribution more than two standard deviations below the mean then it is judged as having a mental disorder

Question 9

Evaluation of deviation from Social norms as a definition: susceptible to abuse

Answer 9

What is socially acceptable varies as times change, if we define abnormality in terms of social norms then it can become based on social morals and attitudes
- Thomas Szaz in 1974 said “concept of mental illnesses was to exclude non conforms from society

Question 10

Evaluation of deviation from Social norms as a definition: Deviance is related to context and degree

Answer 10

relate to the context or degree of behaviour for example wearing a bikini to the beach is normal but at a funeral it is not

Question 11

Evaluation of deviation from Social norms as a definition: strengths

Answer 11

it does distinguish between desirable and undesirable, takes in effect it has on others
- abnormal behaviour is behaviour that damages others

Question 12

How does definitions of psychopathology relate to cultural relativism

Answer 12

• statistical infrequent behaviours may be more frequent in another culture for example hearing voices
• social norms are defined by culture as well, classification systems such as DSM are based on western culture there are no universal standards or rules for labelling a behaviour as abnormal

Question 13

Describe a failure to function adequately as a definition

Answer 13

functioning refers to going about daily life such as eating regularly when you fail to do this then it can cause distress and suffering for the individual and others
- in some cases the person does not feel distress but others around them are distressed for example schizophrenic people

Question 14

What are the things that you need to be able to function failure

Answer 14

• understanding and communicating
• getting around
• self care
• getting along with people
• life activities
• participation in society
  it is rated on a scale of 1 to 5 then scored out of 180

Question 15

Evaluation of failure to function adequately as a definition: who judges

Answer 15

may be the individual that experiences the distress and recognises that they cannot cope
the individual may be content with the situation or not aware that they are not coping so will judge their behaviour as abnormal
depends on whose making the judgement

Question 16

Evaluation of failure to function adequately as a definition: the behaviour may be quite functional

Answer 16

some dysfunctional behaviours can be adaptive and functional for the individual
for example not eating gains attention this can be rewarding and functional for the disorder

Question 17

Evaluation of failure to function adequately as a definition: Strengths of failure to function adequately

Answer 17

recognises the subjective experience of the patient allowing use to view the mental disorders from the point of view of the patient
- easy to judge objectively as we can list behaviours and thus judge abnormality objectively

Question 18

describe deviation from ideal mental health as a definition

Answer 18

Maire Jahoda (1958) said that we should judge mental health like we do physical illness and look at the absence signs of mental health

Question 19

What are the characteristic of happy mental health based off of

Answer 19

self attitudes person growth
personal growth and self actualisation
integrations - being able to cope in stressful situations
autonomy - being independent and self regulation
having an accurate perception of reality
mastery of the environment

Question 20

Evaluation of ideal mental health as a definition: unrealistic criteria

Answer 20

according to criteria mist of us abnormal as no one can ever meet them all at once
how many have to be lacking before a person is classed as abnormal?

Question 21

Evaluation of ideal mental health as a definition: mental health is not same as physical health

Answer 21

Mental illnesses are not as easy to diagnose and threat consequences of persons life experiences

Question 22

Evaluation of ideal mental health as a definition: positive approach

Answer 22

offers alternative perspective and focus on the desirable

Question 23

Evaluation of ideal mental health as a definition: cultural relativism

Answer 23

failure to function and ideal mental health, likely to result in different diagnoses from different cultures

Question 24

What are phobias

Answer 24

its an anxiety disorder when a patient produces an irrational fear which produces a conscious avoidance of the feared object or situation

Question 25

What are the emotional characteristics of phobias

Answer 25

primary emotional characteristics is unreasonable and excessive fear, this is allied by anticipation of a specific object and out of proportion to the actual danger based

Question 26

What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias

Answer 26

• avoidance - interferes with the daily routine and causes the personal distress this distinguishes phobias from every day fears
• freeze or faint, person plays dead

Question 27

What are the cognitive characteristic of a phobia

Answer 27

their irrational behaviour and their resistance to rational arguments
the person recongises that there fear is excessive or unreasonable this distinguishes between a phobia and mental illnesses - they could be schizophrenic if they cannot realise their excessive behaviour

Question 28

What are the symptoms of depression

Answer 28

sadness

loss of interest and pleasure

Question 29

Explain sadness as a symptom of depression

Answer 29

sadness is most common description, they feel empty lonely and have low self-esteem

Question 30

Explain loss of interest/pleasure

Answer 30

feel despair and lack of control, have anger and this is directed towards one self or others they want to hurt or retaliate

Question 31

What are the behavioural characteristics of depression

Answer 31

reduce of increase their activity level,
they want to sleep more or less
increasingly agitated and restless
don’t want to eat

Question 32

What are the cognitive characteristics of depression

Answer 32

associated with negative self hate as well as guilt and worthlessness
negative view of the world and expect things to turn badly
negative thoughts can be fulfilling for believing they will fail out of a test and actually fail
negative thoughts are irrational

Question 33

What are the emotional characteristics of OCD

Answer 33

obsessions and compulsions are a source of anxiety and distress, the people are aware that there behaviour is excessive and are shamed and embarrassed

Question 34

What are the behavioural characteristics of OCD

Answer 34

the compulsive behaviours reduce anxiety and patients feel that they must perform the action otherwise some thing dreadful will happen, even though the events are not connected in a realistic way

Question 35

What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD

Answer 35

obsessions are recurrent and some thoughts are embarrassing so they don’t want to share
common thoughts include ideas or impulses
impulses are not excessive and are worries of everyday problems at some point person recognises that obsession is unreasonable

Question 36

describe the little ablbert study - phobias

Answer 36

John B Watson along with Rosalie Raynerin 1920 conducted the study with little Albert

• wanted to show that an emotional response could be learned via classical conditioning, 11th month old could called Albert showed fear furry objects these were the neutral stimuli
• every time albert reached for the furry objects a loud noise was played behind his head
• this was repeated and scared him
• this conditioned him

Question 37

Explain the two process model ( in the behavioural approach)

Answer 37

Orval Riopart Maurer 1947 - proposed the two process model to explain how phobias are learned
- 1st stage would be classical conditioning while the 2nd stage is operant

Question 38

Explain the classical conditioning initiation (two process model)

Answer 38

a phobia is acquired through association between neutral stimuli and the response being learned
the UCS Is the noise and the UCR is the fear, in the case of little Albert the furry object (NS) is being paired with the UCS transferred the properties and made it to a CS which produces a CR

Question 39

Explain the operant conditioning maintenance ( two process model)

Answer 39

classical conditioning does not explain why the individual continue to feel fearful or why they avoided the feared object, the avoidance of the phobic stimulus this reducing the fear thus reinforcing - negative reinforcement as the individual is escaping an unpleasant situation therefore is why they avoid

Question 40

social learning theory (behavioural approach)

Answer 40

phobias may be acquired through modelling the behaviours of others for example persons is afraid of spiders and gets attention then the other person sees there reaction and mimics this to get attention which is rewarding

Question 41

Evaluation of the behaviourist approach to explaining phobias: the importance of classical conditioning

Answer 41

Most people with phobias recall a specific incident when their phobia appeared sue et at) - 1994 but not everyone can remember that incident (öst 1987)
- sue et al - phobias may result of different processes for example agoraphobics are likely to be specific whereas arachnophobias are likely to be modelled

Question 42

Evaluation of the behaviourist approach to explaining phobias: Diathesis-stress model

Answer 42

according to the two process model on association between a neutral stimuli and a fearful experience will result in a phobia this is not true and explained by the diathesis- stress model
- we inherit a genetic vulnerability for developing mental disorders which are triggered by a life event

Question 43

Evaluation of the behaviourist approach to explaining phobias: support for social learning

Answer 43

Bandura and Rosenthal- 1966 - supported social learning theory in an experiment
a model acted in pain everytime a buzzer was pressed later on the patients who had seen this showed fear to the buzzer

Question 44

Evaluation of the behaviourist approach to explaining phobias: Biological preparedness

Answer 44

Martian Seligman 1970 argued that animals are genetically programmed to learn association between life threatening situations and fear these are referred as ancient fears from our envoluntary past, explains why we don’t fear modern objects
- bregman 1934 failed to condition 8-16 months by pairing a loud bell with a wooden block this suggests behavioural approach cannot explain

Question 45

Evaluation of the Behaviourist approach to explaining phobias: The two process model ignores cognitive factors

Answer 45

• cognitive approach suggests that phobias may develop as a result of irrational thinking this is not the way that behaviourists would suggest that it come about