Psychopathology Flashcards

Question

Ellis’ ABC model AO3

Answer 1

STRENGTHS +Research supporting: Bates found that depressed participants who were given negative thought statements became more and more depressed supporting the idea that negative thinking can help cause depression, this has helped us create effective therapies for depression ( REBT eg cognitive therapies focus on changing negative thoughts into positive ones) + simple easy to explain to patients, can help patients understand the relationship between an event, their beleifs and consequences, helping them understand that events arent what causes the feelings, but the belief you have about the event. it can help improves people's wellbeing without a person needing to understand complex psychological theories and thus it is a straightforward approach to improving mental health. - REBT which is a therapy developed from the ABC model which encourages rational thinking, may be hard to do in highly emotional situations. Challenging deeply rooted irrational beliefs may be harder to challenge as well unlike new irrational beliefs. -some people may argue that it oversimplifies things making it harder, emotions and behaviours arent just from beliefs, they can also be a result of other factors such as genetics. making ellis abc model a reductionist approach

Answer 2

1)COMPULSIVE BEHAVIOURS- done to try reduce anxiety created by obsessions, repetitive and unconcealed actions. Patients feel like they must perform these actions or something dreadful may happen, this creates anxiety. 2)HINDERED EVERYDAY FUNCTIONING- having obsessive ideas creates anxiety and this could then lead to compulsive behaviours which could stop them from doing things they need to do eg someone may wash their hands over and over again to the point they are late for an event, people with OCD may not be able to work effectively. 3)SOCIAL IMPAIRMENT- the anxiety created by the obsessions might be so high the patient will be unable to maintain meaningful relationships with others 4)REPETITIVE BEHAVIOURS- patient compelled to repeat behaviours over and over again 5)AVOIDANCE- OCD sufferers may avoid situations that may trigger their anxiety, this could lead to further problems (eg don’t like going near bins so don’t take the bin out)

Answer 3

1)anxiety 2) accompanying depression 3)guilt and disgust

Answer 4

Hamee1)obsessions 2)recognised as self generated 3)insight 4) selective attention

Answer 5

The biological approach to explaining ocd assumes that ocd is caused by genetics and neural explanations.

Answer 6

-sufferers of OCD may have a genetic vulnerability or a genetic predisposition to the illness by inheriting the genes for OCD. -it has been suggested that mutliple genes are responsible for OCD -Taylor identifies up to 230 genes being responsible for OCD and thus OCD is classed as polygenic. -genes which contribute to a persons risk of developing OCD are known as candidate genes for OCD -an example of a candidate gene for OCD is the COMT gene, COMT regulagtes the production of dopamine, but having the met/met variant of COMT whcih leads to lower COMT activity and more dopamine staying in the brain- which is linked to OCD -another example of a candidate gene is the SERT gene which affects the transportation of serotonin, a mutation of this gene can result in less serotonin being transported = low mood and depressive symptoms -psychologists often use family or twin studies to investigate genetics eg nestadt and billet

Answer 7

+one strength of the genetic explanation for OCD is that there is research support, Nesdadt supports the genetic explanation for OCD as he found that people who have a relative who had OCD were 5 times more likely to have the illness themselves. This shows there is a strong genetic component to OCD. +the genetic explanation for OCD is then further strengthened with more research support. Billet found that from a meta analysis of 14 twin studies that OCD is more likely to be concordant in MZ twins than DZ twins -one weakness of the genetic explanation for OCD is that it has been challenged by the behavioural approach, which suggests OCD is learnt through classical and operant conditioning. Compulsions are negatively reinforced because they reduce anxiety making them more likely to be repeated, this explanation is strongly supported by the effectiveness of behavioural therapies such as exposure which is commonly used to treat OCD. -another weakness of the genetic explanation for OCD is that if genetics solely caused ocd in Billetts study then concordance rates for OCD would be 100%, but this is not the case, indicating other influences such as life experiences or learned behaviours can contribute to someone developing the disorder.This challenged the genetic explanation as a complete account of OCD. Some psychologists may argue that the diathesis stress model provides a more accurate representation of how OCD is caused. This model suggests while individuals may have a genetic predisposition to OCD, the disorder is only triggered when they experience significant environmental stressors (for example after a traumatic event like being robbed, a person may begin to obsessively check if their doors are locked)

Answer 8

-the neural explanation for OCD suggests that an abnormal level of certain neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine cause ocd. -OCD sufferers have high levels of dopamine -high levels of dopamine result in over activity in the basal ganglia which can lead to difficulty in stopping actions eg washing hands -many OCD sufferers have low levels of serotonin -serotonin is a neurotransmitter which affects mood and thus low levels of serotonin = low mood and also obsessive thoughts

Answer 9

-One weakness of the neural explanation for OCD is that it is a reductionist approach. It simplifies OCD to just neuronal imbalances- while this does play a role reducing the complexity of OCD to just neurotransmitters ignores the potential influence of other factors such as the environment. This can create ineffective treatment methods for OCD as perhaps for some individuals a different factor may be the main cause of OCD so it’s important to be careful about generalising the neural treatments to all patients with OCD as it might not work for everyone. -Another weakness of the neural explanation for OCD is that high dopamine levels are not specific to OCD and are also linked to other disorders, such as Tourette’s syndrome and schizophrenia suggesting that dopamine levels alone cannot account for the development of OCD. This suggests dopamine levels could indicate a more general biological vulnerability to OCD highlighting the need of a more comprehensive explanation for OCD. +A strength however of the neural explanation for ocd is that it has contributed to the development of treatments to help reduce OCD symptoms. For example patients who take SSRIs often experience a reduction in their OCD symptoms. The success of this treatment suggests that targeting neural imbalances could be an effective approach for managing OCD, providing practical benefits for patients.

Answer 10

-one example of a medication used in drug therapy is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors SSRIs. ed fluoxetine -it works by blocking the reuptake transporters on the pre synaptic neurone to increase the amount of serotonin in the synapse, which can continuously stimulate the post synaptic neurone -this helps regulate mood and reduce anxiety levels

Answer 11

+SSRIs are a cheaper compared to lots of psychological therapies for example CBT, family therapy etc. many psychological therapies need trained therapists and this costs a lot more money for the NHS. There are also lots of long waiting lists for these therapies whereas SSRIs are able to be prescribed by your GP. This means it’s a much more accessible treatment for someone with OCD. -However one weakness of SSRIs is that there are many side effects. For example:anxiety , dihoerhea, sleep problems, low sex drive etc. These side effects are common and can cause people to stop taking the medication or not take the medication as often as they should. This can make the SSRI treatment plan less effective as they have to be taken regularly. +However some people may not view this as a major weakness as the side effects are only temporary and the effects of SSRIs can then start to work -another weakness of SSRIs is that they aren’t really great for a permanent long term treatment- you have to constantly be taking them. Koran (2007) found that many patients relapse if medication is stopped. This means that maybe alternative treatment may be better for those with OCD in the long term.

Answer 12

One biological approach to treating ocd is drug therapy, where a patient with OCD would be prescribed some medication to help with their ocd symptoms

Answer 13

-another example of a drug treatment for OCD are benzodiazepines (BZ) eg Xanax -they reduce activity in the central nervous system + reduce brain arousal -they aim to increase the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA which reduces a neurons tendency to produce an action potential -this makes a person less anxious and calmer when they are experiencing their obsessional thoughts

Answer 14

-one weakness of benzodiazepines is that they decrease serotonin levels in the brain, so while they do have lower arousal which can calm their anxiety they are more likely to become depressed. +however one strength of BZs is that they work very quickly and effectively. It is a treatment used worldwide and patients s e immediate benefits of relief compared to SSRIs which take a few weeks to take effect. + another strength is that in the short term there are little side effects of BZs unlike other drugs. This means it’s less likely for a person to stop taking BZs when they are prescribed them.

Psychopathology Flashcards

(39 cards)