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Psychopathology Flashcards

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1
Q

what are social norms?

A

unwritten rules of how members of a social group are expected to behave

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2
Q

4 definitions of abnormality

A
  • statistical infrequency
  • deviation from social norms
  • failure to function adequately
  • deviation from ideal mental health
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3
Q

definitions of abnormality

statistical infrequency definition

A

occurs when an individual has a less common characteristic e.g. being more depressed or less intelligent than most of the population

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4
Q

definitions of abnormality

example of statistical infrequency

A

the average IQ is set to 100.
most people score from 85-115
only 2% score below 70
in which they have a diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder (IDD)

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5
Q

definitions of abnormality

evaluation: what is a strength of statistical infrequency for it’s usefulness in the real world?

A
  • used in clinical practice: in both as part of a formal diagnosis and to see the severity of an individuals symptoms
  • e.g. IDD diagnosis for under 70 IQ
  • e.g. Beck depression inventory (BDI), those with score of 30+ (top 5%) can be known as severely depressed
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6
Q

definitions of abnormality

evaluation: limitation of statistical infrequency (being both positive and negative)

A
  • e.g. IQ below 70 and above 130 would both be labelled abnormal
  • e.g. low depression score on BDI would also be considered abnormal
  • these show that being unusual at one end of the psychological spectrum doesn’t make them abnormal
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7
Q

definitions of abnormality

deviation from social norms definition

A

concerns behaviour that is different from the accepted standards of behaviour in a community

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8
Q

definitions of abnormality

example of deviation from social norms

A

sitting right next to someone on an empty bus

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9
Q

definitions of abnormality

evaluation: why is deviation from social norms culture bound

A
  • what is normal in one culture may not be normal in another- leading to cultural relitavism where the behaviour needs to be juded based on the culture context
  • making the definition hard to apply
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10
Q

definitions of abnormality

evaluation: how may some groups be labelled unfairly using “deviation from social norms”?

A

an example would be that homosexuality was seen as going against the laws, even criminal but now it is not recognised as such
this shows how groups that don’t identify exactly with the social norms may be labelled , unjustly.

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11
Q

definitions of abnormality

failure to function adequately definition

A

when a person is unable to cope with the daily pressures of life.

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12
Q

definitions of abnormality

examples of behaviours necessary for day-to-day living.

A
  • self care
  • holding down a job
  • interacting meaningfully with others
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13
Q

definitions of abnormality

what characteristics did rosenhan and seligman suggest of people who fail to function adequately

A

Suffering
Maladaptiveness (being a danger to self)
Vividness and unconventionality (standing out)
Unpredictability & loss of control
Irrationality/incomprehensibility
Causes the observer discomfort
Violates moral/social standards

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14
Q

definitions of abnormality

evaluation: a strength of the definition of failure to function adequately

A
  • this definition acknowledges the patients own feelings for example if they’re suffering which the others do not
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15
Q

definitions of abnormality

evaluation: weakness of the “failure to function adequately” definition

A

could just be going against a social norm (e.g. living an alternative lifestyle which involves not going to work, not living in a fixed home). Therefore, a person could be judges as not functioning when they actually are.

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16
Q

definitions of abnormality

why cant “failure to function adequately” be applied in all circumstances?

A

Most people fail to function adequately at some time, but are not considered ‘abnormal’. For example, after a bereavement most people find it difficult to cope normally. Indeed, they might actually be considered more abnormal if they functioned as usual

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17
Q

definitions of abnormality

who came up with the list of ideal mental health traits

A

marie jahoda

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18
Q

definitions of abnormality

what were the 6 criteria marie jahoda came up with?

A
  1. positive self attitude
  2. behaving independantly
  3. self-actualisation (constantly trying to learn and improve themselves)
  4. resistance to stress
  5. accurate perception of reality (see the world in a way thats similar to most others)
  6. environmental mastery (can adjust to new situations easily)
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19
Q

definitions of abnormality

strength of deviation from ideal mental health

A

allows “abnormal” patients to set themself clear goals to achieve ideal mental health following jahoda’s criteria

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20
Q

definitions of abnormality

weakness of deviation from ideal mental health

A
  • criteria is too demanding, according to this criteria we would all be abnormal
  • difficult to measure objectively
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21
Q

the behaviouralist approach to explaining phobias

what three symptoms are phobias characterised by in order to make a diagnosis?

A
  • persistant fear of a specific stimulus (behavioural)
  • irrational beliefs about specific stimulus (cognitive)
  • avoidance of specific stimulus (behavioural)
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22
Q

phobias

behavioural characteristics of phobias (outward signs)

A
  • panic
  • e.g. screaming and crying
  • avoidance
  • endurance
    -chooses to remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus
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23
Q

phobias

emotional characteristics of phobias (feelings)

A
  • anxiety
  • being in a hightened state of arousal
  • fear
  • emotional response is unreasonable
  • disproportionate to any threat posed
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24
Q

phobias

cognitive charcteristics of phobias (thoughts)

A
  • selective attention to the phobic stimulus
    -not being able to concentrate on anything else
  • irrational beliefs
  • cognitive distortions
  • normal objects seen as ugly or repulsive
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25
# Depression what are the 4 categories of depression
* major depressive disorder- severe but often short term depression * persistent depressive disorder- long term/ reccuring depression including sustained major depression and what used to be dysthymia. * disruptive mood dysregualation disorder- child temper tantrums * premenstrual disorder- disruption to mood prior/during menstruation
26
# Depression behavioural characteristics of depression
* activity levels- reduced energy levels making them lethargic. knock on effect- withdrawing from work/education/social life . also go the other way (psychomotor agitation) struggle to relax and may end up pacing up and down in a room * disruption to sleep and eating behaviour- reduced sleep (insomnia) increased need for sleep (hypersomnia) eating behaviour may decrese/increase, changing weight * agression and self harm- irritable verbally/physically agressive physical agression againts the self
27
# Depression emotional characteristics of depression
* lowered mood * anger * lowered self esteem
28
# Depression cognitive characteristics of depression
* poor concentration- unable to stick with a task like they would, or a decision that would normally be straight forward. * attending to and dwelling on the negative- when in a depressive epidode, a person is more likely to pay more attention to the negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positives tend to have a bias towards recalling negative rather than positive events * absolutist thinking- a situation is either all good or all bad
29
# The behavioural approach to explaining phobias who developed the two-process model?
Mowrer (1960)
30
# The behavioural approach to explaining phobias what is the two process model?
suggests that phobias are acquired through learning * classical conditioning (learning through association) e.g. being knocked over by a dog >> phobia of dogs * operant conditioning (learning through rewards/punishment) e.g. avoiding dogs >> maintains phobia as the feared association is never unlearned
31
# The behavioural approach to explaining phobias what study did Watson and Rayner conduct on acquisation by classical conditioning?
* 9 month old baby "little albert" * showed no fear for rats, tried to play with them at start * rat presented>reasearchers made a loud noise in his ear (banging on metal pipe) (UCS) which creates UCR * now whenever he saw the rat he produced a fear response (CR) and the rat is now a CS
32
# The behavioural approach to explaining phobias how are phobias maintained by operant conditioning?
negative reinforcement when phobic stimulus is avoided (negative feeling of fear is removed)
33
# The behavioural approach to explaining phobias evaluation: what did Barlow and Durand find about phobia of cars in support of the Behavioural approach?
* classical conditioning * 50% of people with a phobia of driving had been involved in a traumatic incident whilst driving * operant conditioning * phobias maintained through negative reinforcement: many had not driven since
34
# The behavioural approach to explaining phobias evaluation: weakness of behavioural approach, why do traumatic experiences not fully explain it
* not all phobias are caused by traumatic experiences * e.g. in barlow amd durand's study 50% had a fear of driving without being in a car accident * could be that they just cant recall event * or that there is other factors involved e.g. cave men afraid of poisonous spiders were more likely to reproduce (genetically determined)
35
# the behvaioural approach to treating phobias what are the two treatments of phobias?
* systematic desensitisation * flooding
36
# the behvaioural approach to treating phobias through what priniciple does systematic desensitisation reduce anxiety?
classical conditioning- learn to relax in the [resence of a phobic stimulus
37
# the behvaioural approach to treating phobias what are the 3 processes involved in systematic desensitisation?
* the anxiety hierarchy and aim is put together by the client and therapist * relaxation teqniques are taught and practiced * client is exposed to the anxiety hierarchy
38
# the behvaioural approach to treating phobias evaluation: Gilroy found that SD was effective in treating what phobia?
* effective in treating spider phobias * 42 people less fearful than control group who were just treated by relaxation
39
# the behvaioural approach to treating phobias evaluation: what group of people does SD suit well?
* people with learning disabilties * they may not understand cognitive treatment * and may find flooding to scary
40
# the behvaioural approach to treating phobias evaluation: SD has a low .... ... rate because...
low drop out rate because it doesn't seem too daunting
41
# the behvaioural approach to treating phobias how does flooding work?
the patient goes straight to the target behaviour, which would cause maximum anxiety, e.g. being locked in a small room full of spiders to treat arachnophobia. the patient learns that the phobic stimulus actually isn't harmful as they unlearn the feared association. or they may become exhausted and will just calm down eventually
42
# the behvaioural approach to treating phobias it is vital that patients give what before flooding
fully informed consent
43
# the behvaioural approach to treating phobias evaluation: what makes flooding cost and time effective?
cost-effective: work in one session (more people can be treated) time effective: work in one session (as little as an hour- people can go on with their day-to-day lives)
44
# the behvaioural approach to treating phobias evaluation: what makes flooding unethical
the person will experience extremely high levels of anxiety- may be traumatic drop out rates may be higher for this reason
45
# the cognitive approach to explaining depression what are the two theories that explain depression?
becks negative triad ellis's ABC model
46
# the cognitive approach to explaining depression what are the three parts to Beck's negative triad?
* negative views about the world * negative views about oneself * negative views about the future
47
# the cognitive approach to explaining depression what idea is at the centre of beck's theory?
* faulty thinking/information processing (not thinking rationally) will lead to depression.
48
# the cognitive approach to explaining depression examples of faulty thinking strategies:
* all or none thinking- a tendancy to classify everything into one of two extreme categories * arbitrary inferences- drawinf negative conclusions without having the evidence to support it * catastrophising- where relatively normal events are percieved as disasters * excessive responsibility- excessively taking responsibility and blame for things which happen
49
# the cognitive approach to explaining depression what is the negative self-schema caused by?
the negative triad- automatic negative thoughts about the three aspects of existence
50
# the cognitive approach to explaining depression what does ellis's ABC model focus on?
irrational thoughts in response to an event to explain depression
51
# the cognitive approach to explaining depression evaluation: grazioli and terry found that women assessed to be cognitivelu vulnerable to depression were more likely to...
experience post-natal depression
52
# the cognitive approach to explaining depression evaluation: what evidence is used to state that these explanations are useful and valid?
cognitive behavioural therapy has been developed as a result of these explanations, which has been effective at treating depression
53
# the cognitive approach to explaining depression evaluation: cognitive theories doesn't explain all the symptoms of depression like... and therefore...
* extreme anger and hallucinations * it is only a partial explanation for depression
54
# the cognitive approach to treating depression how does cognitive behaviour therapy work?
by the therapist and patient identifying the negative irrational thoughts that the patient may have. the therapist then disputes the validity of the beliefs. negative thoughts are therefore rejected and more positive strategies are used instead
55
# the cognitive approach to treating depression what are the two types of therapy for depression
* beck's cognitive therapy * ellis's rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT)
56
# the cognitive approach to treating depression what is the process of beck's therapy?
* automatic thoughts about the self, world and future are identifies * the therapist challenges these thoughts (are they actually true?) * patients tasked to test the reality of these beliegs * e.g. recording positive experiences in a diary * then these findings are used to challenge negative beliefs in the future
57
# the cognitive approach to treating depression what is the process of ellis's REBT?
* to make the patient aware that their thoughts are irrational. * this is done by extending the ABC model. * ABCDE * D- dispute (beliefs challenged) * E-effect (thinking differently)
58
# the cognitive approach to treating depression strategies to challenge beliefs
* logical disputing- does it make sense to think this way? * empirical disputing- what evidence is there to believe this is true? * pragmatic disputing- how is thinking like this going to help? * encouraged to tale part in more enjoyable day-to-day activities.
59
# OCD behavioural characteristics of OCD
* compulsions are repetitive * compulsions reduce anxiety * avoidance
60
# OCD emotional characteristics of OCD
* anxiety and distress * depression * guilt and disgust
61
# OCD cognitive characteristics of OCD
* obsessive thoughts * cognitive strategies to deal with obsessions * insight into excessive anxiety (aware of lack of rationality) * recurring thoughts * attempts to manage anxiety
62
# OCD what is the cycle of OCD?
obsessive thought- anxiety- compulsive behaviour- temporary relief-

psychology (6 decks)

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