psychopathology Flashcards
(100 cards)
What are polygenic conditons?
There are many genes that contribute to the condition
What is the DSM5 definition?
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OCD is recognised as a disorder of obsessive behaviour,of which there are several:
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3 examples of OCD?
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Trichotillomania – Compulsive hair pulling.
Hoarding Disorder - Compulsion to keep all possession regardless of worth.
Excoriation Disorder – Compulsive skin picking.
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Def OCD?
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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) – People experience on a consistent basis both Obsessive and Compulsive Behaviours
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What are the behavioural characteristics?(OCD)
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Compulsions – these are broken down 2 sub types:
Compulsions are Repetitive – the need to repeat even minor actions a set amount of times, this often includes washing, tidying and ordering items.
Compulsions are need to be acted on to Reduce Anxiety – 90% of OCD suffer will need to do things in order to reduce the anxiety that they are feeling. I.e. They must wash their hands regularly in a set way 3 times in order to prevent them being contaminated by germs which would kill them.
Avoidance – OCD sufferer will seek to avoid or reduce their anxiety in by avoiding situations that would trigger their obsessions.
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What are the emotional characteristics? (OCD)
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Anxiety and Distress – Powerful and unpleasant emotions are frequently experienced, ie fear and anxiety around not doing something they feel a compulsion to.
Accompanying Depression – frequently depression will be present as well. Escape from this can often be achieved, if briefly by engaging in compulsions.
Guilt and disgust – frequently targets at themselves or at others.
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What are the cognitive characteristics? (OCD)
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Obsessive Thoughts. – 90% of OCD suffers experience thoughts which they cant shake or stop which cause them significant distress.
Cognitive Strategies – The person develops methods to deal with the thoughts however to others around them they may make them seem odd.
Insight to the Excessive Nature of Their Anxiety – simply put they can know that their actions are irrational and unusual but this does not mean they can stop them.
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What is systematic desensatisation?
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SD is a behavioural therapy designed to gradually reduce phobic anxiety through classical conditioning.
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What are the stages of this therapy?
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- The Anxiety Heirarchy - is put together by patient and the therapist. They create a list of situations related to the phobic stimulus that would frighten them.
- Relaxation - The therapist teaches the patient to relax as deeply as possible then patients are introduced to their stated scenarios and asked to imagine a sense of of calm in these settings.
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Exposure - The patient is exposed to phobic stimulus while in a relaxed state over several sessions until patients are able to stay calm in high anxiety scenarios.
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How is this an effective treatment?
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It is effective - Systematic desensatisation is effective in the treatment of specific phobias.For example Gilroy et al (2003) followed up with 42 patients who had been treated for anachraphobia in 3 45 minute sessions on SD. Their phobias were assessed through questionaires. The control group was just relaxed instead of being exposed to the stimulus. At 3 months and 33 months later SD was more effective than the control group. Therefore this is a support due to SD being successful at decreasing the level of fear in patients over an extended period of time.
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How can the range of patients support this?
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Suitable for a range of patients - Alternative theories such as flooding/cognitive therapies are not well suited to all patients. Therefore it is more effective for a majority no matter their curcumstances.
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How are the patients more likely to choose this?
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It is acceptable to patients -Most patients will choose this method especially over flooding. This is due to the lack of trauma taking place in order to get rid of the phobia. It can been seen in the low refusal rates and low drop out rates - therefore this demonstrates validity.
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What is flooding?
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This involves exposing patients to phobic stimulus but without a gradual build up. These sessions are usually longer that SD, often around 2-3 hours). Sometimes one session of this can cure the phobia comepletely.
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How does flooding work?
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This stops phobic reactions quickly. In CC this is called extinction where the faulty conditioned response is removed. The condition stimulus (dog) is experienced without the unconditioned stimulus (being bitten). This however can be dangerous because people can have heart attacks, panic attacks or have no PTSD. So patients now have to give their explicit consent.
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How does cost support this?
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It is cost effective - It is just as effective as other treatments for specific phobias and is also quick which lowers the cost of the therapy. Patients are therefore freed from the burden of their phobias without adding a financial one.
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How is its effectiveness an issue?
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It is less effective for some types of phobias - More complex phobias are not as easy to treat with this method, for example social phobias.
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How can trauma be an issue?
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The Treatment is Traumatic for Patients - Flooding is highly traumatic because it creates high levels of stress and anxiety patients are often unwilling to continue or take part in the treatment initially. This is a limitation of flooding because time and money is sometimes wasted preparing patients who eventually refuse the treatment.
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What is the definition+use for Statistical Infrequencies/Deviations?
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- Under this definition a persons actions are classified as abnormal if it is statistically unusual.
- It is necessary to be clear how rare this trait or behaviour is before it is classed as abnormal.
- If we use this definition we would have to class those who are not normal as abnormal and we should be looking for the normal behaviour initially.
- This definition does not distinguish between the positives and negatives that can be found in these abnormalities. Abnormality because of this now has a negative stigma. It also classes rare characteristics as abnormal despite them just being very rarely occuring.
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What is a Strength of this definition? ( statistical infrequency )
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Strengths - It makes it easy to find and diagnose these mental illnesses to give them help. There is therefore room for statistical infrequency as part of the clinical assesment.
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How can unusual characteristics be positive? (stat)
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IQ scores over 130 are just as unusual as those below 70. Howver one is a severely dehabilitating position while the other is just statistically rare, rather than a cause for concern. Her statists fail to define what we class as ‘normal’ effectively. This seriously limits this explanation as it shows that not all statistically infrequent occurences need treatment and should never be the sole definiton used to form a diagnosis.
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How can satatistically infrequent abnormalities have no use?
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Some people live with what would be defined as ‘abnormalities’ through this defininition might be more negatiely impacted by being labeled than going without. Someone with a high IQ recieves no benefit to having an abnormal diagnosis. Therefore the diagnosis of everyone under the definition of statistical infrequency may lead to more harm than good, producing negative views of themselves through an insufficient definition.
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What is the defnition of Deviation from social norms?
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- Here what is classified as abnormal is if it violates the unsaid rules about what is expected and correct in a certain social group.
- Behaviour can been seen as incomprehensible or threatening to others.
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What is the criticism for abuse? (Deviation)
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Can be abused by, for example being used agains gay rights or those of different political views. This leads to minorities being targetted and classsified as abnormal due to their failure to conform to the social or societal norms. Therefore we need to be careful when classifying ‘abnormality’ through this lense as it may have detrimental effects fro the individuals in the minorty.
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What is the criticism for cultural relativism? (deviation)
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A final criticism is how cultural relativism is also relevent as the cultures may see different parts of their own society as natural. For example in Africa it would be acceptible to carry a weapon whereas in the UK this would not be acceptible. This demonstrates how this definition is limited to its use in different cultures and therefore is suffering from cultural relativism.
Weakness implies that they are failing and so become classed under a limited view of mental health. In Caribbeasn comminities we see that those who are classed with schizophenia are often classed by those are white doctors from a middle/upper class background. This means that a limited powerful group are being given power over the medicalisation of mental health. Therefore we need to be careful when giving this power to any particular group.
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