Psychopathology Flashcards

Question

evaluation of neural explanation for OCD

Answer 1

advances in technology have allowed investigation in specific areas of the brain more accurately , OCD suffers have more activity in orbital frontal cortex BUT not necessarily the cause of it

Answer 2

MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER - sever but short term depression PERSISTENT DEPRESSUIVE DISORDER- long term/ recurring depression, including sustained depression DISRUPTIVE MOOD DYREGULATION DISORDER - childhood temper tantrums PERMENSTURAL DYSPHORIC DISORDER- disruption to mood prior to and/or during mensturation

Answer 3

behavior changes and reduced energy levels - activity levels - disruption to sleep and eating behaviors -aggression and self harm (too much sleep "hypersomnia" & too little sleep; "insomnia")

Answer 4

tend to focus on the negative aspects of a situation - poor concentration -dwelling on negative -absolutist thinking

Answer 5

describe themselves as "worthless" and "empty" -lowered mood -anger -lowered self esteem

Answer 6

suggest that there is a cognitive explanation to why some people are more vulnerable to depression than others - faulty information processing -negative self schemas - the negative triad

Answer 7

people who are depressed make fundamental errors in logic they tend to selectively attend to the negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positive aspects think in terms of black and white and worry over small problems

Answer 8

ideas we have about our selves, developed with experience = interpret all the information about themselves in a negative way (childhood events)

Answer 9

aim: to investigate the thought process of depressed people to establish if they have negative schemas method: thought processes were measured using Dysfunctional Attitude Scale. participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire, agree or disagree result: depressed participants made more negative assessments = depression involves the use of negative schemas

Answer 10

built on the idea of maladaptive responses and suggests that people with depression are trapped in a cycle of negative thoughts tend to view things in a pessimistic way - the triad of impairments - negative view of themselves - negative view of the future - negative view of the world = automatic negative thoughts

Answer 11

proposed that good mental health is due to rational thinking rational thinking: reasonable, logical, realistic irrational thinking: self defeating, illogical, inaccurate ABC model: Activating event Belief Consequence

Answer 12

cognitive explanation has formed the basis of cognitive behavioral therapy. all cognitive aspects of depression can be challenged in CBT= therapist can challenge patients views and promote rational thinking

Answer 13

explains the basic symptoms of depression but complex disorder has a range of symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions

Answer 14

some depression does occur as a reuslt of an activating event but not all depression occurs due to obvious cause

Answer 15

explanation has led to succesful therapy. irrational negative beliefs are challenged = reduce depressive symptoms therefore suggests that irrational thinking has some role in depression

Answer 16

does not explain why some individuals experience anger associated with their depression/ suffer from hallucinations

Answer 17

genes and neurotransmitters may cause depression - drug therapies help patients reduce symptoms by altering levels of neurotransmitters diathesis stress model- genetic vulnerability to depression that is activated by the environment which leads to irrational thinking

Answer 18

deviation from social norms failure to function adequately statical infrequency deviation from ideal mental health

Answer 19

each society has norms which are seen as acceptable behaviour that deviates from the norms are seen as abnormal making a collective judgement as a society about what is right eg: anti social personality disorder + allows consideration of social dimensions of behaviour, behaviour is abnormal dependent on situation - norms change overtime= cannot define abnormality

Answer 20

behaviours that are statically rare are seen as abnormal (outside normal distribution of 5%) Eg : IQ + appropriate for mental illnesses where statistical criteria is available - not all infrequent behaviours are abnormal (depression 10% = suggests it is not abnormal

Answer 21

behaviour is abnormal when it causes distress leading to dysfunction and cannot cope with everyday life Rosenhan and Seligman - no longer conforms to standard interpersonal rules (eg, making eye contact or respecting another personal space) - personal distress -irrational or dangerous to themselves/ others - violates moral standards eg: schizophrenia + take into account experiences of the patient = assessment made from the point of view of the person experiencing it - abnormality is not always accompanied by dysfunction

Answer 22

Jahoda's criteria for good mental health: - positive attitude towards self -self actualisation -resistance to stress -autonomy -accurate perception of reality -mastery of environment eg: depression +positive approach to mental problems focus on what is desirable. giving aims - accused of having over demanding criteria - difficult to meet all 6 characteristics

Answer 23

- specific phobia: phobia of an object, or a situation - social anxiety (social phobia): phobias of a social situation such as public speaking -Agoraphobia: phobia of being outside or in a public space

Answer 24

panic: panic in response ot the presence of the phobic stimulus. (crying, screaming or running away) avoidance: make effort to avoid coming in contact with the phobic stimulus. make it hard to go about daily life endurance: alternative to avoidance. suffers remains in the presence of the phobic stimulus but continues to experience high levels pf anxiety

Answer 25

anxiety: unpleasant state of high arousal. prevents the sufferer relaxing and experience positive emotion. fear is the immediate and extremely unpleasant response emotional responses are unreasonable: disproportionate to the danger the stimulus poses.

Answer 26

how information is processed selective attention to the phobic stimulus: hard to look away when there is a phobic stimulus near even when causing anxiety. not useful when the fear is irrational because there is no dangerous threat irrational beliefs: causes unreasonable rinses of anxiety towards the phobic stimulus due to incorrect perception as to what the danger posed actually is cognitive distortion: perception of the phobic stimulus may be distorted. therefore it may appear grossly distorted or irrational

Answer 27

based on the behavioural approach phobias are acquired by classical conditioning and continued due to operant conditioning

Answer 28

learning to associate something we have no fear of (neutral stimulus) with something that spreading triggers a fear repsonse (unconditioned stimulus) NS-> no fear UCS-> fear (UCR) NS + UCS->UCR CS-> CR

Answer 29

created a phobia of rats in a 9 month baby the conditioning then generalised to similar objects

Answer 30

created a phobia of rats in a 9 month baby

Answer 31

changing behaviour because of a reward or punishment once fear is established the individual then avoids the object or situation that produces fear = reduces anxiety + strengthens fear because makes it more likely that this object/situation will be avoided in the future reinforces avoidance behaviour

Answer 32

explains how phobias can be maintained over time- helps in therapy because it explains why patients need to be exposed to the feared stimulus patient is prevented from avoiding stimulus= no longer reinforced

Answer 33

not all avoidance behaviour is result of anxiety reduction eg; complex phobias like agoraphobia can be motivated by a positive by a positive feeling of safety theory only suggests avoidance is motivated by anxiety reduction

Answer 34

evolutionary factors have some rile in phobias but isn't mentioned in the theory easily acquire phobias from source of danger in past (dark, snakes) biological preparedness- innate predisposition to acquire some fears

Answer 35

anxiety hierarchy- is put together by patient and therapist. list of situations related to the phobic stimulus in order from least to most frightening. relaxation: teaches the patient to relax as deeply as possible. breathing exercise or mental imagery techniques exposure: when in a relaxed state they are exposed to the phobic stimulus starting at the bottom of the heirarchy

Answer 36

used for biological therapy for anxiety assumes that there is a chemcial imbalance in the brain commonly uses SSRI

Answer 37

drug used alongside CBT drug reduces emotional symptoms such as anxiety or depression = engage in CBT to treat behavioral and cognitive symptoms

Answer 38

not effective after 3 - 4months = dose increased or combined with another drug tricyclics= same effect on serotonin system as SSRI's. only used for patients that don't respond to SSRI's SNRIS= (serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors) second choice of drug to SSRI's for patients that don't respond. increase serotonin and noradrenaline

Answer 39

cheap in comparison to psychological treatments + are non disruptive to patients lives.

Answer 40

drug companies sponsor research they may decide to suppress any results that do not support the drug they are marketing. drug companies do not publish all their results. therefore data on the effectiveness of drugs may not be trustworthy

Answer 41

OCD is believed to be biological in origin it can also have different causes. OCD with no family history can be triggered by a life event and therefore treated differently from those with family history and no trauma . drugs may not be appropriate

Psychopathology Flashcards

(65 cards)