Psychopathology Flashcards
(32 cards)
What is the Statistical Deviation definition of Abnormality?
Statistical norms - Any commonly seen behaviour or characteristic.
Deviation - Any unusual behaviour or characteristic, e.g. fear of buttons
Real-life example - Intellectual disability disorder requires an IQ in the bottom 2% of the population.
Occupies the extreme ends of a normal distribution curve, eg low IQ defined as intellectual disability disorder.
Evaluation of the Statistical Deviation definition of Abnormality
Real life application - provide a basis of comparison - can be used as part of a clinical assessment
Limitation - unusual characteristics can be a good thing - According to this model, people with higher than average IQ would be considered ‘abnormal’ - this is actually a desirable trait - so statistical deviation should never be used alone in clinical assessment.
Labelling can be a disadvantage. A person may have a lower than average IQ but function well in society and are happy.
What is the Deviation from Social Norms definition of Abnormality?
Social norms - Ways in which most people behave, established by social group.
Deviation - A behaviour different from how most people behave, e.g. hearing voices
Real-life example - Antisocial personality disorder involves socially unacceptable behaviour.
Evaluation of the Deviation from Social Norms definition of Abnormality
Does not consider cultural variations:
-May diagnose someone as abnormal using their cultural norms or standards - not the other persons.
-E.g. hearing voice is acceptable in some cultures.
Can be used for diagnosis of anti-social personality disorder but other factors need to also be considered:
-E.g. their unusual behaviours have to make others distressed for it to be considered ASPD.
Can lead to human rights abuses, as an instrument of social control- anyone who deviates from the norm can face prejudice.
-E.g. Drapetomania (Black slaves trying to escape)
-Nymphomania (women attracted to working-class men).
-Examples of when diagnosis has be used for social control.
Lack of temporal validity, norms change over time
What is the Failure to Function Adequately definition of Abnormality?
Adequate functioning - Coping with the demands of everyday life
Failure to function adequately - Failing to cope with everyday life, e.g. not holding down a job
Real-life example - Intellectual disability disorder involves having low IQ and failure to function adequately
Evaluation of the Failure to Function Adequately definition of Abnormality
It captures the perspective of the patient:
-acknowledgesthes importance of the experience of the individual patient and other in their life.
People that lead extreme lifestyles, extreme sports, religions etc - would be considered as abnormal according to this definition:
-Views living these life styles as maladaptive.
-Treating these as failures of adequate functioning may limit freedoms.
Subjective - saying someone is distressed may be an opinion
-However -there are measures of making judgement objective - e.g. Global Assessment of Functioning scale.
What is the Deviation from Ideal Mental Health definition of Abnormality?
Mental health - Characteristics of a psychologically healthy person
Good mental health (Jahoda) - A set of criteria including lack of symptoms, independence, realistic view of the world and good self-esteem.
Deviation from ideal mental health - Failing to have any one of the above criteria for good mental health, e.g. having low self-esteem
Evaluation of the Deviation from Ideal Mental Health definition of Abnormality?
Offers a comprehensive definition of mental health and covers a broad range of criteria needed for good mental health - probably cover most the reasons why someone would see help - sheer range of criteria make it a good tool for thinking about mental health.
Some of the criteria are culture bound - more set to individualistic cultures - E.g. self actualisation - would be considered indulgent in more collectivist cultures - putting onseself above community.
Its sets an unrealistically high standard for mental health - very few people would meet all - making mist of us abnormal.
What are the characteristics of phobias?
What constitutes a phobia? Specific phobias for objects or situations, agoraphobia and social anxiety.
Behavioural - Panic, avoidance or endurance of the phobic stimulus
Emotional - Fear and anxiety.
Cognitive - Selective attention towards the phobic stimulus, irrational beliefs about it and cognitive distortions of it.
What are the characteristics of depression?
What constitutes depression? Major depression, recurring depression
Behavioural - Changes to usual activity levels, sleep and eating patterns and possibly aggression.
Emotional - Lowered mood, anger and decline in self-esteem.
Cognitive - Poor concentration, bias towards seeing the negative.
What are the characteristics of OCD?
What constitutes OCD? Characterised either by obsessive thought, compulsive behaviours or both.
Behavioural - Include compulsions to repeat behaviours, usually to reduce anxiety.
Emotional - Main characteristic is anxiety, often accompanied by depression and guilt.
Cognitive - Recurrent obsessive thoughts, accompanied by rituals to cope with the obsession
Summary of the Behavioural Approach to explaining phobias
Behavioural approach - Behavioural characteristics of phobias as of primary importance.
Two-process model - Mowrer’s idea that phobias are: (a) learned and (b) maintained.
Classical conditioning - Acquisition of phobias. Neutral stimulus associated with fear, then becomes phobic object
Operant conditioning - Maintain phobia. Negative reinforcement because avoidance reduces anxiety.
Evaluation of the Behavioural Approach to explaining phobias
Incomplete explanation of phobias - some phobias are adaptive and make evolutionary sense:
-We easily acquire phobia of these things.
-Biological preparedness - we are biologically prepared to fear some things more than others (Seligman 1971)
Not all bad experiences lead to phobias:
-E.g. being bitten by a dog does not always lead to phobia of dogs (DiNardo et al. 1988)
Good explanatory power - the two-process model has led to effective therapy where patients are exposed to the fear stimulus and are prevented from practising their avoidance behaviours - as a reuslt phobic behaviour declines - thus good application.
Summary of desensitisation - behavioural approach to treating phobias
Systematic desensitisation - A behavioural therapy, i.e. based on learning.
Anxiety hierarchy - High and low anxiety situations identified involving the phobic stimulus
Relaxation - Patient taught relaxation techniques or introduced to anti-anxiety drugs
Gradual exposure - Patient works up the anxiety hierarchy, maintaining relaxation at each level
How it works - Counterconditioning: the phobic stimulus is paired with a relaxing stimulus until it triggers relaxation not anxiety
Evaluation of desensitation - behavioural approach to treating phobias
Evidence shows that Systematic Desensitisation is an effective therapy.
-Gilroy et al. (2003) followed up 42 patients who had SD for spider phobia in three 45 minute sessions.
-At both 3 and 33 months - the SD group - less fearful than control group (who were treated by relaxation without phobia).
It is suitable for a diverse range of patients including those with learning difficulties:
-Alternatives to SD - e.g. flooding - not well suited to some - patients with learning difficulties may not understand whats going on.
Patients prefer it to other therapies such as flooding as it does not involve the same trauma:
-those giving a choice between SD and flooding chose SD.
-Because it does not cuase trauma + includes pleasant experiences - talking with a therapist.
Summary of flooding - behavioural approach to treating phobias
Flooding - A behavioural therapy.
Fast process - Small number of long sessions, sometimes just one session of three hours.
Preparing the patient - Flooding is a traumatic experience so the patient needs to be well prepared for the exposure
How it works - Extinction: the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus until it no longer triggers a response.
Evaluation of flooding- behavioural approach to treating phobias
Quicker than alternatives and therefore cost effective
Less effective for some more complex phobia such as social phobias.
-May be because these phobia aren’t just anxiety - also negative thoughts about the situation.
The treatment is traumatic for patients - causing attrition and sometime psychological harm
-Patients often unwilling to see it through till the end.
Summarise the cognitive approach to explaining depression - Beck’s theory
Beck’s theory - Explains vulnerability to depression in cognitive terms.
Faulty information processing - Selective attention to the negative aspects of situations
Negative self-schemas - These affect how we interpret any new information relevant to us
Negative triad - World, self, future.
Evaluation of Beck’s cognitive approach to explaining depression
It has good supporting evidence - people with cognitions such as negative schemas and triads are more likely to develop depression
Grazoli and Terry - 65 pregnant women assesed for cognitive vulnerability - more vulnerable = more likely to develop post natal depression.
It does not fully explain every case of depression - some people experience hallucinations and feelings of anger but Beck’s theory does not explain this
It has lead to effective therapy:
e.g. cognitive behavioural therapy to treat depression - components of negative triad - easily identified and challenged by therapist - enable patient to test whether elements of negative triad are true.
Summarise Ellis’ ABC cognitive model of depression
The ABC model - Irrational beliefs make us over-react to events and get depressed.
A Activating event - A negative life event
B Beliefs - Irrational interpretations of A make us over-react to the life event.
C Consequences - Emotional and behavioural outcome is depression.
Evaluation of Ellis’ ABC cognitive model of depression
Only a partial explanation of depression - explains reactive depression but not other types that arise without a particular cause.
Like Beck’s theory, it has lead to successful CBT by challenging irrational negative beliefs.
As with Beck’s theory, it does not explain depression that involves hallucinations or feelings of anger.
What is CBT?
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - A psychological therapy that combines behavioural and cognitive approaches.
What is Beck’s CBT?
Challenges the negative triad:
-Patient must actievly challenge their negative thoughts about self, world an future.
‘Patient as scientist’: Person has to record positive experiences to use in therapy to demonstrate reality - provides evidence for positive occurrences rather than negative occurrences
What is Ellis’ Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy?(REBT)
REBT - extends ABD model to ABCDE model:
D - for dispute (challenge) irrational beliefs.
E for effect.
Challenges negative beliefs, ABC model:
-REBT therapist identifies and challenges irrational beliefs.
-Empirical argument: disputing whether there is evidence to support the irrational belief.
-Logical argument: disputing whether the negative thoughts actually followfrom the facts.
Disputing of irrational beliefs (e.g. empirical and logical disputing) produces effect
