Behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics of psychological disorders

Question 1

behavioural characteristics definition

Answer 1

Behavioural characteristics refer to how the person is behaving or acting.

Question 2

cognitive characteristics definition

Answer 2

Cognitive characteristics refer to a person’s thoughts and mental processes (how they process information

Question 3

emotional characteristics definition

Answer 3

Emotional characteristics refer to how the person “feels”.

Question 4

explain phobias

Answer 4

a type of anxiety disorder

phobias are characterised by uncontrollable, extreme, irrational and enduring fears and involve anxiety levels that are out of proportion to any actual risk

Phobias can be long-lasting, enduring over many years. They often originate in childhood and sufferers generally realise their reactions are irrational, but cannot consciously control them.

Question 5

what are the sub-types of phobias

Answer 5

specific phobias
social phobias
agoraphobia

Question 6

what is specific phobias

Answer 6

Fear of a specific thing e.g. spiders, blood, flying, water

Question 7

what is social phobias

Answer 7

Being over anxious in social situations e.g. public speaking, interacting with
others, crowds

Question 8

what is agoraphobia

Answer 8

fear of leaving home or a safe place. Can be a response to avoidance
behaviours.

Question 9

behavioural characteristics of phobia

Answer 9

panic - crying, screaming running away
avoidance - avoid coming in contact with the phobic stimulus
endurance - sufferer remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus but continues to experience high levels of anxiety

Question 10

emotional characteristics of phobias

Answer 10

persistent excessive fear and anxiety
fear from exposure to phobic stimulus - like panic attacks
unreasonable response - wildly disproportionate reactions to the danger posed by object or situation

Question 11

cognitive characteristics of phobias

Answer 11

selective attention to phobic stimulus - cannot look away from stimulus

irrational beliefs - increases the pressure on the sufferer like a social phobia having beliefs like if I blush people will think I’m weak so they have to perform well in social situations

cognitive distortions - perception of the phobic stimulus may be distorted like a clown being scary and dangerous

Question 12

acronym for characteristics of phobias

Answer 12

APE PUF SIC
avoidance, panic, endurance
persistent excessive fear, unreasonable response, fear when exposed
selective attention, irrational beliefs, cognitive distortions

Question 13

characteristics of depression

Answer 13

an affective mood disorder involving lengthy disruption of emotions

At least 5 symptoms must be apparent every day for 2 weeks for depression to be diagnosed by a doctor, with an impairment in general functioning also evident. One of these symptoms must be a constant depressed mood or lessened interest in daily activities.

Question 14

types of depression

Answer 14

major depressive disorder
persistent depressive disorder
unipolar depression
bipolar depression

Question 15

what is major depressive disorder

Answer 15

severe but often short-term depression

Question 16

what is persistent depressive disorder

Answer 16

Long-term or recurring depression- also called
dysthymic depression

Question 17

what is unipolar depression

Answer 17

Sufferers only experience depression and not
manic episodes. Clinical symptoms usually occur in cycles.

Question 18

what is bipolar depression

Answer 18

Sufferers experience mixed episodes of mania
and depression.

Question 19

behavioural characteristics of depression

Answer 19

loss of energy
social impairment
weight changes
poor personal hygiene
sleep pattern disturbance

Question 20

emotional characteristics of depression

Answer 20

loss of enthusiasm
constant lowered mood
worthlessness - reduced worth and/or inappropriate feelings of guilt
anger - directed at self or others

Question 21

cognitive characteristics of depression

Answer 21

reduced concentration
attending to and dwelling on the negative - “glass half empty”
thoughts of death/suicide

Question 22

acronym for characteristics of depression

Answer 22

WASPS WALL ANT
weight, activeness (lack of), sleep disturbance, personal hygiene, social impairment

worthlessness, anger, loss of enthusiasm, lowered mood

attention problems, negative schemas, thoughts of suicide

Question 23

characteristics of OCD

Answer 23

OCD is an anxiety disorder where sufferers experience persistent and intrusive thoughts occurring as obsessions,
compulsions or a combination of both.

Obsessions tend to be things people think
about, which lead to feelings of extreme
anxiety (the cognitions). They comprise forbidden or inappropriate ideas and visual images that aren’t based in reality e.g. being convinced that germs are everywhere.

Compulsions are what people do as a result of the obsessions (the behaviour). They comprise intense, uncontrollable urges to repetitively perform tasks and behaviours e.g. obsessively washing hands to remove germs. The compulsions are carried out in order to reduce distress or prevent feared events.

Question 24

different types of OCD

Answer 24

 Hygiene and contamination e.g. washing hands and clothes
 Counting and numbers e.g. multiples
 Hoarding and collecting
 Fear of harming others e.g children
 Sexual ruminations e.g. fearful of being gay

Question 25

behavioural characteristics of OCD

Answer 25

compulsive behaviour - repetitive like washing hands to reduce anxiety avoidance - keep away from situations that trigger it

Question 26

emotional characteristics of OCD

Answer 26

anxiety and distress accompanying depression

Question 27

cognitive characteristics of OCD

Answer 27

obsessive thoughts irrational hyper-vigilant

Question 28

acronym for characteristics of OCD

Answer 28

CARA DAD HOTI compulsions - anxiety reducing and repetitive, avoidance distress & anxiety, depression hyper-vigilant, obsessive thoughts, irrational

Question 29

behavioural phobia characteristics

Answer 29

avoidance panic endurance

Question 30

behavioural depression characteristics

Answer 30

weight changes activeness sleep disturbance personal hygiene social impairment

Question 31

behavioural OCD characteristics

Answer 31

Compulsive behaviour (anxiety reducing and repetitive) avoidance

Question 32

emotional phobia characteristics

Answer 32

persistent excessive fear unreasonable response fear when exposed

Question 33

emotional depression characteristics

Answer 33

worthlessness anger loss of enthusiasm lowered mood

Question 34

emotional OCD characteristics

Answer 34

distress & anxiety depression

Question 35

cognitive phobia characteristics

Answer 35

selective attention irrational beliefs cognitive distortions

Question 36

cognitive depression characteristics

Answer 36

attention problems negative schemas thoughts of death

Question 37

cognitive OCD characteristics

Answer 37

hyper-vigilant obsessive thoughts irrational

Question 38

AO3 (1) behaviourist explanation

Answer 38

- A weakness of behaviourist explanation of Phobias is that it ignores other approaches - For example, ignores psychodynamic approach which uses the unconscious to explain phobias. - This is a weakness because it doesn’t take all factors into account showing it lacks reliability by ignoring other approaches. - However, the behaviourist approach uses lab studies unlike the psychodynamic approach showing evidence to back it up - Despite this, phobias stem from the mind/cognition which behaviourists are not concerned in investigating - Thus decreasing the validity for the behaviourist explanation of Phobias

Question 39

AO3 (2) behaviourist approach

Answer 39

- A strength of behaviourist explanation of phobias is that it shows acquisition through case studies - For example, Little Albert’s case study displays phobias through classical conditioning Rat (NS) > no response (NR) Loud Noise (UCS) > crying (UCR) Loud noise (UCS) + rat (NS) > crying (NR) Rat (CS) > crying (CR) - This is a strength because Little Albert demonstrates how a frightening experience involving a stimulus can lead to a phobia of that stimulus through the behaviourist approach - However, this could be argued as an unhelpful case study as it is based on a child and cannot be generalised to adults as they won’t react the same way. - Despite this, Little Albert’s case study provides evidence for how a person can develop a phobia through acquisition by classical conditioning, showing its usefulness as evidence for explaining phobias - Thus increasing the validity of phobias through the behaviourist explanation

Question 40

AO3 (3) behaviourist approach

Answer 40

- Another strength of the behavioural approach to explaining phobias is the evidence of traumatic event - For example, evidence from a study showed that 73% of people with a fear of dental treatment had had experienced a traumatic experience, mostly involving dentistry, compared to a control group of people with low dental anxiety where only 21% experienced a traumatic event. - This is a strength because it shows a frightening experience/traumatic event involving a stimulus can lead to a phobia of that stimulus, which is shown through the two process model as it is evidence for a link between experiences and phobias - However it can be argued that not all phobias appear following a bad experience and in some cases the most common phobias like phobias of snakes occur in populations where very few people have any experience of snakes let alone traumatic experience, suggesting that the association between phobias and experience isn’t as strong as we expect - Despite this, it confirms that the association between stimulus and an unconditioned response can and does lead to the development of the phobia. - Thus increasing the validity of the behavioural approach to explaining phobias

Question 41

explain all of the ao3s on the behaviourist approach in quick explanation

Answer 41

weakness - ignores other approaches like psychodynamic which uses unconscious as explanation, weakness cuz doesn't take in all factors into account lacks reliability, however uses lab studies unlike psychodynamic showing evidence to back it up, despite this phobias stem from cognition which behaviourist aren't concerned about investigating strength - shows acquisition through case studies like little albert, strength cuz shows how a frightening experience with stimulus leads to a phobia of it, however based on child not adults so can't be generalised, despite this provides evidence for developing phobia through acquisition by classical conditioning strength - evidence of traumatic events, 73% of ppl with fear of dental treatment experiences had had experienced a traumatic experience, mostly involving dentistry, compared to control group with low dental anxiety where only 21% experienced a traumatic event showing frightening experience w/ stimulus can lead to phobia of stimulus, however not all phobias come after a bad experience like being afraid of snakes when you've never seen one, despite this, it confirms association between stimulus and unconditioned response leads to development of phobia