Psychopathology Flashcards

Question

How can phobias be generalised

Answer 1

Phobias can generalise to similar stimuli E.g. Watson and Rayner conditioned a phobia in Little Albert of white rats which was generalised to fluffy white objects

Answer 2

Operant conditioning can be used to maintain phobias

Answer 3

Explains how classical and operant conditioning can be used to maintain phobias People develop phobias by classical conditioning - a CS is paired with an UCS to produce the CR Once somebody has developed a phobia, it’s maintained through operant conditioning- people get anxious around the phobic stimulus and avoid it This prevents anxiety and acts as negative reinforcement

Answer 4

People are anxious that they’ll experience a panic attack in a social situation or an open place ( because of their specific phobia ), so they avoid these situations

Answer 5

Has been backed up with research: Barlow and Durante showed that 50% of people with a fear of driving had been in an accident so through classical conditioning the accident (UCS) turned driving into a CS Behavioural therapies are very effective at treating phobias by getting the person to change their response to the stimulus This suggest they treat the cause of the problem

Answer 6

Facet found that only 7% of spider phobics recalled having a traumatic experience with a spider This suggests that there could be other explanations, e.g. biological factors

Answer 7

Characterised by strong emotions These can influence a person’s ability to function normally A mood disorder can affect a person’s perception, thinking and behaviour

Answer 8

Known as unipolar disorder An episode of depression that can occur suddenly Major depression can be reactive - caused by external factors e.g. death of a loved one It can be endogenous - caused by internal factors e.g. neurological factors

Answer 9

Bipolar disorder Alternation between two mood extremes (mania and depression) The change in mood often occurs in regular cycles of days or weeks Episodes of mania involve over activity, rapid speech and feeling extremely happy or agitated Episodes of depression involve regular depression symptoms

Answer 10

Sleep disturbances - insomnia or hypersomnia Change in appetite - may eat more or less and gain or lose weight Pain - headaches, joint ache and muscle ache Lack of activity - social withdrawal and loss of sex drive

Answer 11

Experiencing persistent negative beliefs about themselves and their abilities Suicidal thoughts Slower thought processes - difficulty concentrating and making decisions

Answer 12

Extreme feelings of sadness, hopelessness and despair Diurnal mood variation - changes in mood throughout the day e.g. feeling worse in the morning Anhedonia - no longer enjoying activities that used to be pleasurable

Answer 13

According to DSM, a person must have at least 5 of the symptoms (from either behavioural, cognitive, emotional) every day for at least 2 weeks

Answer 14

Ellis’ ABC model: Activating event (A) (e.g. a failed exam) begins disorder Which then leads to a Belief (B) about why this happened This belief may be rational (e.g. didn’t prepare enough) or irrational (e.g. too stupid to pass) Belief leads to a Consequence (C) Rational beliefs produce adaptive (appropriate) consequences (e.g. more revision) Irrational beliefs produce maladaptive (bad and inappropriate) consequences (e.g. getting depressed)

Answer 15

Beck identified a ‘negative triad) of automatic thoughts linked to depression These could be negative views about: - Themselves (e.g. can’t succeed at anything) - The world (e.g. must be successful to be a good person) - The future (e.g. that nothing will change)

Answer 16

The theory explains the basic symptoms of depression however it is a complex disorder with a range of symptoms, not all of which can be explained This explanation also does not explain why some individuals experience anger associated with their depression or why some patients suffer hallucinations and delusions

Answer 17

This is where counter conditioning is used so that the person learns to associate the phobic stimulus with relaxation rather than fear

Answer 18

The phobic person makes a fear hierarchy This is a list of feared events, showing what they fear least (e.g. seeing a picture of a spider) through to their most feared event (e.g. holding a spider) They are then taught relaxation techniques like deep breathing The patient then imagines the anxiety-provoking situations, starting with the least stressful They’re encouraged to use the relaxation techniques, and the process stops if they feel anxious This whole process is repeated for each stage of the hierarchy, until they are calm through the most feared event

Answer 19

Relaxation and anxiety can’t happen at the same time, so when they become relaxed and calm, they’re no longer scared This is repeated until the feared event is only linked with relaxation

Answer 20

Patient is exposed to the phobic stimulus straight away No relaxation or gradual build up Can be done in real life or patient can be asked to visualise it Patient kept in this situation until the anxiety they feel at first has gone Realise that nothing bad has happened to them in this time Fear should be gone

Answer 21

Very effective for treating specific phobias Systematic desensitisation has been found to be the most effective for treating phobias Works very quickly: anxiety can be reduced after just one session

Answer 22

Ethical issues surrounding behavioural therapy - especially flooding, as it causes a lot of anxiety If patients drop out of therapy before fear has gone, it can end up causing more anxiety than before Behavioural therapy only treats the symptoms of the disorder Other therapies try to tackle the cause of it e.g. CBT

Answer 23

Some people with anxiety disorders, also have learning disabilities It can be difficult for people to understand other therapies such as flooding or CBT that require the ability to reflect on what you are thinking

Answer 24

Therapist and client identify the client’s faulty cognitions (thoughts and beliefs) Therapists then tries to help the client see that the cognitions aren’t true Together, they set goals to think in more positive or adaptive ways Treatment mainly focuses on the present situation, although client may need to look back to past experiences Therapists can encourages their clients to keeps a diary - can record though patterns, feelings and actions

Answer 25

Empowers patients - it puts them in charge of their own treatment by teaching them self help strategies Less ethical issues than other therapies like drug therapy Patients who were withdrawn from CBT were less likely to relapse than patients withdrawn from drug therapy CBT is particularly effective for people who put a lot of pressure on themselves and feel guilty about being inadequate

Answer 26

Cognitive therapies may take a long time and be costly May be more effective when combined with other approaches, e.g. drug therapy CBT may only be effective if the therapist is experienced Patients who therapists are still gaining experience may be better off with drugs Person could begin to feel like he or she is to blame for their problems

Answer 27

CBT is effective in reducing symptoms of depression and in preventing relapse and there is a large body of evidence to support this It is as effective as antidepressants for many types of depression

Answer 28

In some cases depression may be so severe that patients cannot motivate themselves to engage in the therapy In these cases, it is possible to treat the patient with antidepressants and then CBT can commence at a later date This is therefore a limitation as it means that CBT cannot be used as the sole treatment in all cases

Answer 29

Research has shown that there is little difference between CBT and other forms of psychotherapy It may be the quality of the therapist- patient relationship that makes the difference to the success of the treatment rather than the treatment itself Simply having the opportunity to talk to someone who will listen could be what matters most

Answer 30

CBT focuses on the ‘here and now’ however there may be links to childhood experiences and current depression and patients might want to talk about these experiences They can find this ‘present-focus’ very frustrating

Answer 31

There is a risk that in focusing on what is happening in the mind of the individual may end up minimising the importance of the circumstances the individual is living in Causes ethical issue for CBT: important for therapists to keep in mind that not all problems are in the mind.

Answer 32

Obsessions and compulsions These may be linked to eachother E.g. excessive worrying about germs (obsession) may lead to excessive hand washing (compulsion)

Answer 33

OCD may feel depressed and/or other negative emotions Guilt and disgust

Answer 34

How a person acts (behaves) which typically leads to the carrying out of repetitive actions to reduce anxiety. This often leads to avoidance of situations that trigger anxiety

Answer 35

OCD sufferers are usually plagued with obsessive thoughts They also tend to develop cognitive strategies Anxiety

Answer 36

Affects 2% of people around the world Sufferers develop the disorder in their late teens or early 20s Disorder occurs equally across men and women in all ethnic groups

Answer 37

Persistent and reoccurring thoughts, images or impulses that are unwanted and cause distress to the person experiencing them Person actively tried to ignore these but is unable to Obsessions have not been caused by other physiological substances like drugs

Answer 38

The person repeats physical behaviours or mental acts that relate to an obsession Sometimes the person has rules that they must follow strictly Compulsions are meant to reduce anxiety or prevent a feared situation - in reality they’re excessive or wouldn’t actually stop a dreaded situation Only reduce anxiety for a short time Compulsions have not been caused by other physiological substances like drugs

Answer 39

If obsessions or compulsions last at least 1 hour each day, this means a clinical case of OCD Also if the obsessions or compulsions interfere with a person’s ability to hold down a job, maintain a relationship or take part in social activities

Answer 40

Checking: checking the lights are off Contamination: fear of catching germs Hoarding: keeping useless objects Symmetry and orderliness: getting objects lined up perfectly

Answer 41

Meta analysis of twin studies: Found that for identical twins, if one twin had OCD then 68% of the time both twins had it, compared to 31% for non identical Another study found that 10% of people with an immediate relative (parent, offspring, sibling) with OCD also suffered This is compared to around 2% of people in general population

Answer 42

No study has found a 100% concordance rate, so genetics can’t be the full cause of OCD Possible that children imitate the behaviour of relatives with OCD Concordance rates don’t prove that OCD is caused by genetics May be that general anxiety is genetic and that going on to develop OCD has other contributing factors e.g. biochemical or psychological factors

Answer 43

Candidate genes are involved in the development of OCD E.g. SERT gene: involved in regulating serotonin, a neurotransmitter Or COMT gene: regulates the production of dopamine Dopamine effects motivation and drive

Answer 44

PET scans show that abnormality in the basal ganglia within in the brain can be linked to OCD

Answer 45

Has scientific basis in biology - evidence that low serotonin and damage to basal ganglia correlate with cases of OCD, though it doesn’t show a cause Twins studies show genetics has some effect on the likelihood of OCD Can be seen as ethical - people aren’t blamed for their disorders

Answer 46

Doesn’t take into account the effect of environment, family, childhood experiences or social influences - psychologists taking other approaches consider these important Biological therapies raise ethical concerns Drugs can produce addiction and may only suppress symptoms not cure the disorder

Answer 47

Involves drug therapy Drugs increase levels of serotonin in the brain using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) These are a type of antidepressants that increase availability of serotonin

Answer 48

Prevent the reuptake of serotonin in the synaptic cleft (gap between two neurons) This means there’s more serotonin available to the next neuron

Answer 49

Research has found SSRIs to be effective in treating OCD Studies have found using other antidepressants that don’t affect serotonin levels is ineffective at reducing OCD symptoms

Answer 50

Up to 50% of patients with OCD don’t experience any improvement in their symptoms when taking SSRIs Out of those that do improve, up to 90% relapse when they stop taking them SSRIs have to be taken for several weeks before the patient notices an improvement in their symptoms Side effects of the drugs include nausea, headaches and sometimes increased anxiety This can cause people to stop taking the medication

Answer 51

Advances in technology allows scientists to see that OCD sufferers have excessive activity in the orbital frontal cortex Cleaning and checking behaviours are “hard wired” in the thalamus

Answer 52

The compulsions may be explained by the structural abnormality of the basal ganglia but not necessarily the obsessional thoughts There are inconsistencies found in the research as no system has been found that always plays a role in OCD These neural changes could be as a result of suffering from the disorder, not necessarily the cause of it

Answer 53

Dysfunctional behaviour - behaviour which goes against accepted standards of behaviour

Answer 54

Observer discomfort - behaviour that causes other individuals to become uncomfortable

Answer 55

Unpredictable behaviour - impulsive behaviour that seems to be uncontrollable

Answer 56

Irrational behaviour - behaviour that’s unreasonable and illogical

Answer 57

Personal distress - being affected by emotion to an excessive degree

Answer 58

Makes diagnosis concrete and descriptive Classifications allow data to be collected about a disorder Can help in the development of new treatments and medicine However, has been criticised for stigmatising people and ignoring ‘uniqueness’ by putting them in artificial groups

Psychopathology Flashcards

(82 cards)