Psychopathology Flashcards
Deviation from social norms AO1
-standards of acceptable/expected behaviour are set by a social group
-These behaviours could be explicit e.g. laws or implicit e.g. unwritten rules
-Anything that deviates from acceptable behaviour is considered abnormal
-For example, in OCD some individuals may refuse to use cutlery at restaurants choosing instead to bring their own due to fear of contamination. This would break the expected ways of behaving in society and so would be seen as abnormal
limitation of DSN AO3
-cultural relativism
-Different cultures have different social norms and expectations of behaviour
-e.g. in a western culture, someone receiving messages sent from spirits could be seen as a symptom of Schizophrenia, whereas in a non western culture, these signs could be classed as a spiritual gift
-Therefore, it may not be appropriate to use DSN to define abnormality outside of a specific culture
strength of DSN AO3
-it differentiates between desirable and undesirable behaviour within a culture
-This definition categorises abnormality based on social norms within a culture
-This is unlike SI as a definition of abnormality, which suggests that if your behaviour is not typical then you are abnormal even though this behaviour could be desirable within a culture such as having a very high IQ
-Therefore DSM may be a more appropriate definition of abnormality because it allows us to understand behaviour in context
Failure to function adequately AO1
-involves not being able to cope with the demands of everyday life.
-It looks at abnormal behaviour that interferes with everyday life. E.g. unable to maintain basic standards of nutrition or personal hygiene
-Rosenhan and Seligman state that signs of a person failing to function adequately include: maladaptive behaviour, irrational behaviour behaviour that is dangerous to themselves or others, severe personal distress
- eg. someone with depression may be unable to keep a job, get up in the morning. Therefore showing that they have an inability to cope with the demands of everyday life
Failure to function adequately strength AO3
- “failing to cope with the demands of everyday life” can be used as a measure for when people should seek professional help
-According to the mental health charity ‘Mind’, around 48% of people in the UK will experience a mental health problem at some point of their life, however most people press on despite failing to function adequately
-If it is noticed that people are ‘failing to function adequately’, treatment and services can be targeted to those who need it most
-meaning F2FA could be a useful measure when defining abnormality because people can receive early intervention for their mental health
Failure to function adequately limitation AO3
-is become easy to label non-standard lifestyle choices as abnormal
-It can be very hard to say when someone is really F2FA and when they have simply chosen to deviate away from social norms
-eg. those who favour high risk leisure activities/unusual spiritual practices could be classed unreasonably as irrational and perhaps a danger to themselves and therefore abnormal
-Therefore people who make unusual choices are at risk of being labelled abnormal and their freedom of choice may therefore be restricted
Deviation from Ideal Mental Health AO1
-Jahoda says there are six criteria that define mental healthiness:
-Failure to meet one or more of these criteria would suggest an abnormality
-the more criteria they fail to meet, the more abnormal the person would be deemed
Self-attitudes- having high self esteem and strong sense of identity.
Resistance to stress – being resistant to stress.
Mastery of environment- ability to love, function at work
What are the criteria for the Deviation from Ideal mental health
-Self-attitudes - having high self esteem and strong sense of identity
-Self actualisation - the extent to which an individual works to their capabilities and reaches their full potential
-Resistance to stress – being resistant to stress
-Autonomy- being independent and self regulating
-Reality- having an accurate perception of reality/the world
-Mastery of environment- ability to love and function at work
Strength of Deviation from Ideal Mental health
-it vastly different to the other definitions as it takes a positive approach to defining abnormality
-This is because it focuses on the characteristics that make up normal behaviour that distinguish mental health from abnormality
-rather than those characteristics that makes an individual abnormal such as in failure to function adequately identifying distress and unpredictable behaviour
-Having a more positive approach to mental health disorders may reduce the stigma that can surround mental health
-making it more likely for people suffering to seek help and advice
-Therefore, deviation from ideal mental health may be a more appropriate way than the other definitions to define abnormality
Limitation of Deviation from Ideal Mental Health
-Despite DIMH being a more positive approach to define abnormality it has a strict criteria within Jahoda’s six categories
-People may not be able to realistically meet all six characteristics at any one time
-For example, an individual who has lost their job may not be able to cope with the stressful situation and would be classed as abnormal by this definition
-Therefore, limiting the use of DIMH as a definition of abnormality
Statistical infrequency AO1
-suggests that we must look at behaviours that are typical of the general population
-Then any behaviour which is rare is abnormal
-Therefore, on a distribution curve any behaviour that is 2 or more standard deviations from the mean is statistically rare
-eg. OCD affects 2% of the population so is therefore abnormal as it is statistically rare
Statistical infrequency strength AO3
-practical applications
-This is because statistical infrequency is used in the real world in clinical practice, both as part of diagnosis and as a way to assess the severity of an individual’s symptoms
-e.g. a diagnosis of intellectual disability disorders requires an IQ of below 70
-An example of where SI is used as an assessment tool is in Beck’s depression inventory where a score of 30+ (top 5%) is widely interpreted as indication severe depression
-Therefore, SI as a definition of abnormality is an important part of applied psychology
Statistical infrequency limitation AO3
-However, just because a behaviour is rare, does not necessarily mean it would need to be treated as an abnormality
-it does not differentiate between desirable and undesirable behaviour when defining abnormality
-eg. a high IQ is desirable, and we would not consider someone with a high IQ as abnormal -However, a high IQ is seen as statistically rare and therefore would be abnormal by this definition
-This is a limitation and so means that it could never be used solely to make a diagnosis and treatment plan
Definition of a phobia
-Phobias are when you experience extreme fear or anxiety
-activated by an object eg.spider
-place eg. lifts
-situation eg. crowds
-The fear of the phobic stimulus is irrational and often out of proportion to any real danger
Behavioural characteristics of phobias
Avoidance= making conscious effort to avoid coming in contact with their phobic stimulus
Panic= crying screaming or running away from stimulus
Cognitive characteristics of phobias
Persistent irrational beliefs= about stimulus
Selective attention= keeping attention on the phobic stimulus and finding it difficult to look away in case of danger
Emotional characteristics of phobias
Anxiety= exposure to the phobic stimulus causes worry/stress
Fear= exposure to the phobic stimulus causes terror
Behavioural approach to explaining phobias AO1
-The behavioural approach suggests that phobias are a learned behaviour
-phobias are initially learnt through classical conditioning then maintained through operant conditioning
-This is called the two-process model
-Classical conditioning involves learning to associate something of which we initially have no fear of (a neutral stimulus) with something that already triggers a fear response (unconditioned stimulus)
-This fear response is triggered every time they see or think about the feared object
-Watson and Rayner conditioned 9 month old Little Albert to have a fear of rats
-At the beginning of the experiment, ‘Little Albert’ was not afraid of rats
-Whenever the rat was presented to Albert the researcher’s made a loud, frightening noise by banging an iron bar close to Albert’s ear
-The noise is an unconditioned stimulus, which causes the unconditioned response of fear -When the rat (a neutral stimulus) was presented with the loud bang Albert learned to associate them together
-The rat then became a conditioned stimulus and caused the conditioned response of fear in Little Albert, whenever he saw the rat
-phobias are maintained through operant conditioning
-because by continuing to avoid the feared stimulus they are being negatively reinforced by reducing the anxiety they feel
-This explains why phobias are long lasting, through continued avoidance
Behavioural approach to explaining phobias AO3 strength
-practical applications
-It suggests that phobias are learnt through classical conditioning, and can therefore be unlearnt using classical conditioning
-created systematic desensitisation
-This works by teaching a patient relaxation techniques, and gradually exposing them to their phobic stimulus so they can learn to associate their phobic stimulus with relaxation, rather than fear, and therefore extinguish the phobia
-Because this approach states the phobia is maintained through operant conditioning once the avoidance behaviour is prevented because the person no longer has the phobia, the phobia then stops being reinforced
-This helps to treat people in the real world and therefore the behavioural approach of explaining of phobias is an important applied psychology
Behavioural approach to explaining phobias AO3 limitation
-criticised for environmental reductionism
-it reduces the complex human behaviour of phobias down to the simple basic units of learning phobias through stimulus, response and associations between a neutral stimulus and a unconditioned stimulus, and maintaining a phobia through reinforcements
-This neglects a holistic approach, which would take in to account how a person’s culture and social context would influence phobias
-eg. the extreme fear of displeasing others, is relative to the culture of Japan, which is a collectivist culture, a phobia that would be much less likely to occur in an individualistic culture whereby displeasing others would not be as feared
-Therefore, the behavioural explanation of phobias may lack internal validity, as it does not allow us to understand the behaviour in context
Behavioural approach to explaining phobias AO3 alternative explanation
-evolutionary explanation
-This would argue that we are born with certain phobias because the feared stimulus would have been dangerous in our evolutionary past and has therefore been passed down through generations as a survival advantage
- This could explain why a person may have a phobia of a snake, even if they have never encountered one before, as they would have been dangerous in our evolutionary past
-Therefore, the behavioural approach cannot be seen as a sole explanation of phobias
Behavioural approach to treating phobias AO1
systematic desensitisation:
Relaxation:- The patient is taught how to relax using muscle relaxation techniques or breathing exercises -The idea is that the patient puts these techniques in to practice when exposed to the phobia
Hierarchy of anxiety:- The patient then works with the therapist to make a graded scale starting with stimuli that scares them the least to those that scare them the most -E.g. if they are scared of wasps. A picture of a wasp would be low on the scale and being put in a room with a wasp would be the highest on the scale
Gradual Exposure:- The client is then gradually exposed to the least feared situation (they may feel anxious but are encouraged to put the relaxation techniques into practice) -This is known as reciprocal inhibition - The concept whereby two incompatible states of mind cannot co-exist at the same time. E.g. anxiety and relaxation -Once they are relaxed, they are then exposed to the next stage of the hierarchy -This is a gradual process and the client only moves beyond each stage once they are relaxed
