Psychopathology Flashcards
what is psychopathology?
the scientific study of mental/psychological disorders.
what is normal behaviour?
following the basic expectations of society.
what is subjectivity in regards to psychopathology?
abnormality is difficult to define because it is subjective - based on opinions and ideas rather than objectivity (free from bias).
what is cultural relativism?
the idea that cultural norms and values are culture specific and no one culture is superior to another, therefore, abnormality has to be defined in the context of the culture the behaviour takes place, otherwise it is culturally biased.
what are the definitions of abnormality?
statistical infrequency/deviation, deviation from social norms, failure to function adequately and deviation from ideal mental health.
what is statistical infrequency/deviation?
when an individual has a less common characteristic e.g. being more depressed or less intelligent than most of the population.
what is an example of statistical infrequency/deviation?
- schizophrenia affects 1% of the population.
- IQ below 70 (bottom 2% of the normal distribution for IQ) is part of the diagnosis for intellectual disability disorder (IDD)
what are the strengths of statistical infrequency/deviation?
- it looks at the whole picture, taking all the population into account so it can give a useful insight into the whole picture of a particular characteristic.
- there are benefits as some ‘unusual’ people can receive extra support from being classed as abnormal e.g. someone with a low IQ or with a high BDI.
- there is real-world application as it has been used in clinical practice; as part of formal diagnosis and as a way to assess the severity of an individual’s symptoms.
- the mathematical nature of this definition means it is clear what is defined as abnormal and what is not, there is no opinion involved which means there is no bias.
-> counterpoint: however, it takes no consideration of cultural differences e.g. in some cultures, hearing voices is normal and even considered beneficial.
what are the weaknesses of statistical infrequency/deviation?
- not all statistically unusual people benefit from labels, someone with a low IQ who can cope with their chosen lifestyle would not benefit from a label - there is a social stigma attached to such labels.
- abnormal behaviour can occur frequently e.g. in 2014, depression occurred in nearly 20% of the UK population.
what is deviation from social norms?
it concerns behaviour that is different from the accepted standards of behaviour in a community or society; different for each generation/culture so there are a few behaviours universally abnormal.
what is an example of deviation from social norms?
antisocial personality disorder (psychopathy) is impulsive, aggressive and irresponsible behaviour which, according to the DSM-5, doesn’t fit into our society’s norms and values meaning they are classified as abnormal.
what are the strengths of deviation from social norms?
- it is flexible dependent on the situation and age e.g. normal to wear full clothing whilst out shopping, but a bikini on the beach.
- adhering to social norms means that society is ordered and predictable, this is argued to be advantageous for society.
- it is used in clinical practice (has value in psychiatry) and it needed to be able to use the definition to diagnose conditions such as antisocial personality disorder.
what are the weaknesses of deviation from social norms?
- norms vary dependent on the time and legislation changes causing a lack of consensus between generations e.g. homosexuality - a mental illness in 1970s but not now.
- different cultures have different ideas about what is and is not normal, it is only being immersed in the culture for a period of time that the decision can be made, therefore this definition can be culturally biased if applying one culture’s standards of normal on another.
- social norms tend to be dictated by the majority within a culture and this means that there are sections of society where behaviour is seen as normal within an ethnic community, but not within the culture as a whole, this can lead to a lack of understanding from both the ethnic minority and the majority of people within a culture.
what is failure to function adequately?
behaviour which causes an inability to cope with everyday life and personal distress or anguish to themselves and/or others.
what did rosenham and seligman (1989) propose?
additional signs that can be used to determine when someone is not coping with everyday life.
what are the signs that rosenham and seligman (1989) proposed?
- when a person no longer conforms to standard interpersonal rules.
- when a person experiences severe personal distress.
- when a person’s behaviour becomes irrational or dangerous to themselves or others.
what is an example of failure to function adequately?
intellectual disability disorder - an individual must be failing to function adequately before given a diagnosis.
what are the strengths of failure to function adequately?
- this definition is focused on the individual and their perspective, so if someone feels as though they are struggling they will be deemed abnormal and get help.
- the global assessment of functioning scale (GAF) is used to measure the exten of the failure to function which means that it is relatively objective.
- failure to function adequately can be seen by others which means that problems can be picked up by others and if the individual is incapable of making a decision or helping themselves others can intervene.
what are the weaknesses of failure to function adequately?
- abnormal behaviours may not be a problem for the individual, but may be for others around them e.g. someone may be abnormally aggressive and not be worried by it, but family and friends are.
- some abnormal behaviour can be missed because people may appear fine to others as they fit into society and have jobs and homes, but they may have distorted thinking which is causing them inner distress that they hide.
- people have different ideas of normal everyday life which varies within and across cultures, culturally it is not unusual to have siestas or move home regularly which may be seen as abnormal, this means that the definition is not clear.
what is deviation from ideal mental health?
behaviour which fails to meet a particular criteria for psychological wellbeing.
what did jahoda (1958) suggest?
a criteria for good mental health.
what was jahoda’s criteria for good mental health?
- no symptoms or distress.
- rational and can perceive themselves accurately.
- self-actualise (strive to reach potential).
- can cope with stress.
- has a realistic view of the world.
- good self-esteem and lack guilt.
- independent of other people.
- can successfully work, love and enjoy leisure.
what are the strengths of deviation from ideal mental health?
- it allows for an individual who is struggling to have targeted intervention if their behaviour is not ‘normal’ e.g. addressing distorted thinking to improve behaviour (paranoia).
- it focuses on what is helpful and desirable for the individual, rather than looking at negatives of behaviour.
- it allows for clear goals to be set and focused on to achieve normality.
what are the weaknesses of deviation from ideal mental health?
- the criteria for ideal mental health is practically impossible to achieve, making the majority of the population, using this definition, abnormal.
- it applies well to most western cultures (individualist) but not non-western cultures (collectivist) that cannot relate to the criteria, the definition is not universal e.g. autonomy - collectivist cultures value dependence, community and seeking the greater good so would appear abnormal using this criteria.
- the criteria is vague and very difficult to measure, making it hard to decide whether someone fulfils it or not.
what is a phobia?
it is categorised as an anxiety disorder which causes an irrational fear of a particular object or situation.
what are the 3 categories of phobia?
simple (specific) phobia, social phobia and agoraphobia.
what is simple (specific) phobia?
most common type of phobia where a person fears a specific object in the environment e.g. arachnophobia (spiders).
what is social phobia?
involves feelings of anxiety in particular social situations e.g. giving speeches in public.
what is agoraphobia?
a fear of open or public spaces (can be caused by simple phobias and/or social phobias) e.g. the simple phobia mysophobia (fear of contamination) could lead to a fear of public spaces.
what are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?
panic, avoidance and endurance.
what is panic?
a person with a phobia may panic in response to the presence of the phobic stimulus, this panic may involve a range of behaviours including crying, screaming or running away - it can be considered but different age groups react differently, e.g. children may have a tantrum.
what is avoidance?
individuals tend to go to a lot of effort to prevent coming into contact with the phobic stimulus, this can make it hard to go about daily life e.g. someone with a fear of public toilets may have to limit the time they spend outside in relation to how long they can last without a toilet - can interfere with work, education and a social life.
what is endurance?
the alternative behavioural response to avoidance, it occurs when the person chooses to remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus.
what are the emotional characteristics of phobias?
anxiety, fear and emotional response is unreasonable.
what is anxiety?
phobias involve an emotional response of anxiety, an unpleasant state of high arousal, this prevents a person relaxing and makes it very difficult to experience any positive emotion - anxiety can be long term.
what is fear?
the immediate and extremely unpleasant response individuals experience when encountering or thinking about a phobic stimulus - usually more intense but experienced for shorter periods than anxiety.
what does it mean when the emotional response is unreasonable?
the anxiety or fear is much greater than is ‘normal’ and disproportionate to any threat posed.
what are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
selective attention and irrational beliefs.
what is selective attention?
if a person can see the phobic stimulus it is hard to look away from it, keeping attention on something really dangerous is a good thing as it gives the best chance of reacting quickly to a threat but this is not useful when the fear is irrational.
what are irrational beliefs?
holding unfounded thoughts in relation to phobic stimuli, that can’t easily be explained and do not have any basis in reality.
what does the behavioural explanation suggest about phobias?
it focuses on the role of learning in acquiring phobias.
who developed a model for explaining phobias and what is it called?
mowrer (1960) - the two-process model
what is the two-process model?
it suggests that phobias can be learnt through classical conditioning (association) and maintained through operant conditioning (reinforcement).
what does classical conditioning suggest about phobias?
a fear response is associated with a neutral stimulus with becomes a conditioned stimulus due to being paired with a ‘threatening’ stimulus.
- it leads to an acquisition of a phobia.
- fear is then generalised to other similar objects.
what does operant conditioning suggest about phobias?
it occurs when behaviour is reinforced - increases the likelihood of behaviour being repeated; avoidance behaviour learnt through reinforcement.
- phobic patients avoid feared stimulus.
- this relieves them of fear and anxiety so continue to avoid phobic stimulus and phobia continues.
what are the strengths of the two-process model?
there is research support, watson (little albert) shows how phobias are learnt and maintained through avoidance.
-> counterpoint: not all phobias are due to a bad experience and not all scary experiences lead to phobias - association not as strong.
there is real-world application, exposure therapies mean that phobias can be successfully treated by preventing avoidance and once prevented, it is reinforced by anxiety reduction and avoidance is declined - the phobias is the avoidance so when prevented, phobias is cured showing that the model is valuable as it identifies a means of treating phobias.
what are the weaknesses of the two-process model?
it does not account for cognitive aspects of phobias, the behavioural explanation explains behaviour and it can be considered that phobias are not simply avoidance responses, they also have a significant cognitive component which means that the model explains avoidance behaviour but not for phobic cognitions, there also may be more general aspects to phobias that may be better explained by the evolutionary theory.
what are the two types of treatment for phobias?
systematic desensitisation and flooding.
what do the treatments do?
they both use principles of classical conditioning to replace a person’s phobia with a new response - relaxation; these are called ‘exposure therapies’ as they prevent avoidance and help people confront their fears.
what is systematic desensitisation?
it uses gradual counter-conditioning to unlearn the maladaptive (bad) response to a situation or object, by replacing fear with another response (relaxation).
what are the 3 important components of systematic desensitisation?
fear hierarchy, relaxation training and gradual exposure.
what is the fear hierarchy?
it is a list of situations to a phobic stimulus that provoke anxiety (least to most scary).
what is relaxation training?
e.g. breathing techniques, muscle relaxation or mental imagery techniques.
- techniques to relax the participant.
what is gradual exposure?
it is when an individual is exposed to the phobic stimulus while in a relaxed state.
what is reciprocal inhibition?
it is based on the premises that two emotional states (e.g. to be afraid and relaxed) cannot exist at the same time.
what is flooding?
a more extreme behavioural therapy which involves exposing a phobic patient to the most frightening situation immediately.
- a person is unable to avoid (negatively reinforce) their phobia and exposure continues until anxiety levels decrease.
- a patient is also taught relaxation techniques which are applied during flooding.
what forms can flooding take?
invivo and invitro.
what is invivo?
actual exposure.
what is invitro?
imaginary exposure.
what are the strengths of treatments for phobias?
mcgrath et al (1990) found 75% of patients were successfully treated using systematic desensitisation (invivo techniques) meaning that it is therefore effective.
gilroy et al (2003) found that that the systematic desensitisation group were less fearful than a control group showing that relaxation techniques are effective im reducing anxiety.
systematic desensitisation can be used to help people with learning disabilities, they often struggle with cognitive therapies that require complex thoughts, may feel confused and distressed by traumatic experience of flooding so systematic desensitisation is the most appropriate treatment.
they are cost-effective and quicker than other treatments meaning that more people can be treated.
what are the weaknesses of treatments for phobias?
systematic desensitisation is not effective in treating all phobias e.g. those not acquired through personal experience like fear of heights (evolutionary phobias), meaning it lacks reliability as it is not consistent with everyone.
flooding can be highly traumatic and patients may not finish treatment which means it is a waste of time and money, it is also highly effective for simple (specific) phobias but less effective for other types of phobias e.g. soical phobias and agoraphobia due to irrational thinking vs classical conditioning.
what is depression?
a mental disorder characterised by low mood and low energy levels.
what is the DSM criteria for depression?
- depressed mood
- lack of interest or pleasure in activities
- significant weight loss/gain
- insomnia or hypersomnia
- fatigue or loss of energy
- feelings of worthlessness
- lack of ability to think or concentrate
- recurrent thoughts of death
what are the 4 categories of depressions?
major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
