Psychopathology

Question 1

What are the four definitions of abnormality?

Answer 1

Deviation from social norms
Failure to function adequately
Deviation from ideal mental health
Statistical infrequency

Question 2

What is the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality?

Answer 2

When an individual cannot cope with the day to day challenges of life

Question 3

What are features of the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality as identified by Rosenhan and Seligman?

Answer 3

Maladaptive behaviour - their irrational and unpredictable actions go against their long term best interests
Personal anguish - observers feel discomfort in their presence

Question 4

What is the deviation from social norms definition of abnormality?

Answer 4

Individuals who break the social norms of their society

Question 5

What is the deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality?

Answer 5

Missing features identified by Jahoda as the ideal mental health

Question 6

What are the features of the deviation from mental health definition of abnormality as identified by Jahoda

Answer 6

Resisting stress
Self actualisation
An accurate perception of reality
Autonomy
Environmental mastery
Positive attitude to yourself

Question 7

What is the statistical infrequency definition of abnormality?

Answer 7

Someone is identified as ‘abnormal’ when their mental condition is very rare in a population as judged by statistics

Question 8

What are some strengths of the definitions of abnormality?

Answer 8

Deviation from social norms - Does not impose a western view of abnormality so it is not seen as ethnocentric

Failure to function adequately - Respects the individual and their own personal experience

Deviation from ideal mental health - Holistic view as it considers multiple factors in diagnosis and provides ways to overcome them

Statistical infrequency - People accessed as abnormal by this have been evaluated objectively

Question 9

What are some limitations of the definitions of abnormality?

Answer 9

Deviation from social norms - Defining people who move to a new culture as abnormal can be inappropriate

Failure to function adequately - Only includes people who cannot cope

Deviation from ideal mental health - Too strict to set a criteria to define MH as it is challenging to meet all the requirements at one time

Statistical infrequency - Not all statistically rare traits are negative

Question 10

What are the behavioural characteristics of Phobias?

Answer 10

Avoidance - Avoiding phobic objects
Panic - Uncontrollable response
Failure to function - Difficulty in day to day activities

Question 11

What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?

Answer 11

Anxiety - An uncontrollable high state of arousal
Fear - Emotional sensation of extreme and unpleasent alertness

Question 12

What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?

Answer 12

Irrational thoughts - Exaggerated belief in the harm the phobic object can cause
Reduced cognitive capacity

Question 13

What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?

Answer 13

Reduction in anxiety level - Lack of energy for daily tasks
Change in eating behaviour - Weight gain/Weight loss
Aggression - Self harm

Question 14

What are the emotional characteristics of depression?

Answer 14

Sadness - Persistent low mood
Guilty - Feeling where they have no value in comparison to others

Question 15

What are the cognitive characteristics of depression?

Answer 15

Poor concentration - Cannot give their full attention
Negative schemas - automatic negative biases

Question 16

What are the behavioural characteristics of OCD?

Answer 16

Compulsions - behaviours performed to reduce anxiety
Avoidance - taking action to avoid objects that trigger obsessions

Question 17

What are the emotional characteristics of OCD?

Answer 17

Anxiety - uncomfortably high state of arousal
Depression - consistent and long-lasting sense of sadness

Question 18

What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD?

Answer 18

Obsessions - Intrusive, Impulsive, Recurrent thoughts that tent to be unpleasant
Hypervigilance - Permanent state of alertness

Question 19

What is Marlow’s two process model?

Answer 19

Marlows model describes how phobias are acquired and maintained

Question 20

How are phobias acquired according to Marlow?

Answer 20

Phobias are acquired by classical conditioning where an association is formed between the phobic object and fear

Question 21

How are phobias maintained according to Marlow?

Answer 21

Phobias are maintained by operant conditioning where an avoidance of a behaviour leads to a reduction in anxiety which is a pleasant sensation

The negative reinforcement strengthens phobic response

Question 22

What are the behavioural treatments for phobias?

Answer 22

Systematic desensitisation and flooding

Question 23

What is systematic desensitisation?

Answer 23

Systematic desensitisation leads to the elimination of the negative association and formation of a new positive association

The therapist first teaches the patient relaxation techniques which they use to progress through the anxiety hierarchy

Question 24

What is flooding?

Answer 24

Flooding is an immediate and full exposure to the maximum level of the phobic stimulus

Question 25

What are some strengths to the behavioural explanation of phobias?

Answer 25

Watson + Rayner - Little Albert WBehaviourists theories have been practically applied to counter conditioning therapies (SD + Flooding)

Question 26

What are some limitations for the behavioural explanation of phobias?

Answer 26

DiNardo - Dog phobias were just as common in people who experienced conditioned events like dog bites to those who havent

Question 27

What are some strengths of the behavioural explanation for treating phobias?

Answer 27

Garcia-Palacious - 83% of participants with VR exposure to spiders improved, where 0% of the control group did

Question 28

What are some limitations of the behavioural explanation for treating phobias?

Answer 28

Both techniques are more suited to specific object phobias than social phobias The effects of the therapies may be limited due to the controlled conditions of the therapists office

Question 29

What are the cognitive explanations for explaining depression?

Answer 29

Depression is due to irrational thoughts and maladaptive internal mental processes Becks negative triad Ellis ABC model

Question 30

What is Becks negative triad?

Answer 30

Where a person with depression have three schemas with a negative bias which are believed to have been developed in childhood and provides the framework for adult life

Question 31

What are the three schemas in Becks negative triad?

Answer 31

The self - Negative self schemas The future - Negative thoughts such as things will always turn out badly The world - Thinking people are hostile or threatening

Question 32

What does Ellis ABC model stand for?

Answer 32

A - activating event B - irrational beliefs C - consequence

Question 33

What are some strengths to the cognitive approach to explaining depression?

Answer 33

Grazioloi and Terry - Found that women with negative thinking styles were most likely to develop postpartum depression. Supports the idea of faulty thinking leading to depression

Question 34

What are some limitations to the cognitive approach to explaining depression?

Answer 34

Bipolar depression is manic episodes - Provides problems for becks theory as it states that depression is due to negative schemas which are formed in childhood and provide framework for adult life

Question 35

What are the cognitive explanations for treating depression?

Answer 35

Becks CBT and Ellis REBT - They change negative schemas and challenge irrational thoughts

Question 36

What is Becks CBT?

Answer 36

The patient generates and tests hypothesis of their irrational thoughts and then they see that they lack them they change their schemas

Question 37

What is Ellis REBT?

Answer 37

Development of the ABC model which adds Dispute and Effect

Question 38

What is the biological approach to explaining OCD?

Answer 38

The genetic explanation for OCD is that the disorder is inherited - Around 230 separate candidate genes found in people with OCD, shows OCD appears to be polysemic The neural explanation for OCD includes low serotonin levels - Likely due to serotonin being removed too quickly from the synapse before it has been able to transmit its signal/influence the postsynaptic cell

Question 39

What are some strengths to the biological approach to explaining OCD?

Answer 39

Nestadt - DZ twins have a 31% concordance rate and MZ have a 68% concordance rate, because they share a similar environment the additional shared DNA must be the reason for the increased concordance

Question 40

What are some limitations of the biological approach to explaining OCD?

Answer 40

Correlation in twin studies does not equal causation

Question 41

What is the biological approach to treating OCD?

Answer 41

Drug therapies - The primary class of drugs used to control the symptoms of OCD are a group of antidepressant drugs called SSRIs which influence the serotonin levels in the brain

Question 42

What do SSRIs do and how do they treat OCD?

Answer 42

SSRIs inhibit the reuptake process in the synapse - Therefore serotonin is still present in the synaptic cleft and continues to stimulate the postsynaptic neuron

Question 43

What are some strengths to the biological approach to treating OCD?

Answer 43

Drug therapies are far less expensive then CBT Soomro - Meta analysis of 17 studies comparing SSRIs to placebos and found that SSRIs significantly reduced the symptoms of OCD which suggests drug therapy is effective

Question 44

What are some limitations of the biological approach to treating OCD?

Answer 44

Goldacre - Drug therapies are researched and funded by companies looking for financial gain not actually the effectiveness of the drug