psychopathology Flashcards

Question

what is the strength of deviation from ideal mental health

Answer 1

it is a postive approach to defining abnormality focuses to look for characterisitics that are desirable so a person can strive to have a level of stability

Answer 2

an approach explaining behaviour based on what is observable and in terms of learning

Answer 3

step 1. initiation -classical conditioning Step 2.maintenance -operant conditioning

Answer 4

firstly have a neutral stimulus (NS) that triggers no response This is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that produces an unconditioned response After repeated pairings, the two stimuli produce a conditioned response

Answer 5

here they conditioned a 9-month-old infant named "Albert" to fear a white rat by pairing it with a loud noise. Albert later showed fear responses to the rat and other similar stimuli.

Answer 6

if a person avoids phobic stimulus they are rewarded with not feeling anxious . this negatively reinforces the behaviour as they will continue to avoid the stimulus and continue to experience anxiety from it.

Answer 7

there are real world applications: has lead to the introduction of treatment such as systematic desensitisation and flooding which have proven to be successful in treating the condition The explanation has uses beyond its explanatory power – it can be used in the real world which gives it credibility

Answer 8

it ignores cognitive factors There cognitive aspects to phobias that cannot be explained by the behavioural model The cognitive approach says that phobias are caused by irrational thinking CBT- which has been successful in treating many mental disorders incomplete explanation: phobias have an underlying survival component linked to our evolutionary past.e.g snakes are a common phobia because they were a threat in our evolutionary past. humans are innately programmed to rapidly associate snakes with fear therefore increasing our survival.

Answer 9

through classical conditioning ,patients are taught a new response to phobic stimuli through relation techniques. Patient and therapist work together to form an anxiety hierarchy where the most extreme stimuli at the top and the least intense stimuli at the bottom.

Answer 10

the patient is flooded with immediate exposure tot the stimuli without any gradual build up flooding stops the phobic responses quickly because the patient is unable to avoid the phobia

Answer 11

research support -- suggesting SD has high internal validity Gilroy -carried out an experiment on 42 patients with spider phobia through 3 -45 minutes session on SD they all carried out a questionaire on spiders before and after the group that had followed through with the SD procedure showed signs of reduced fear of spiders compared to control group after both 3 months and 33 months Also suitable for a diverse group of patients with phobias have learning difficulties – patients with learning difficulties may find it very hard to understand what is happening during flooding

Answer 12

The effectiveness of flooding can be observed after only one session in some cases This is much more time and cost effective than having to attend multiple sessions of SD Being rid of symptoms quicker consequently makes treatment cheaper A “quick-fix” can be much more appealing to patients, especially those with busy lifestyles or phobias that affect their daily lives

Answer 13

Flooding is less effective for more complex phobias such as? Social phobias – these are difficult to treat via flooding as they usually have cognitive aspects more complex phobias are beyond just the behavioural response we see – there are cognitive/emotional reasons for irrational fear, not at all being tackled or considered with flooding Overall, the treatment isn’t applicable to all (variety of keywords and extended evaluation you could use here) Counter (comparison) – easy to come up with a solution to this problem – if behavioural treatment cannot cater for the complexity of some phobias, find a therapy that can – CBT (COGNITIVE behavioural therapy) – tackles both behavioural and cognitive aspects of disorders more traumatic way of dealing with depression less people are inclined to undergo the treatment less research can be carried out on it more economical implications surrounding the method of treatment

Answer 14

Mental processes include thoughts, perceptions and attention When explaining depression, the cognitive approach is interested in negative patterns of thinking and other cognitive processes such as schema

Answer 15

the ABC model-Ellis becks cognitive theory of depression

Answer 16

He suggested there are three parts to cognitive vulnerability Faulty information processing Negative self-schemas The negative triad

Answer 17

When depressed, an individual attends to the negative aspects of a situation and ignores the positives also known as absolutist thinking

Answer 18

A schema is a ‘package’ of ideas and information developed through experience A self-schema is the package of information we have about ourselves If an individual has a negative self-schema, they will interpret all information about themselves in a negative way

Answer 19

negative view on the self future and the world

Answer 20

Beck’s theory has been criticised for only explaining the basic symptoms of depression However, depression is more complex Others experience hallucinations and bizarre beliefs he theory is incomplete and not adequate enough to explain the complexity of depression – lacks credibility

Answer 21

Beck’s cognitive theory has formed the basis of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) CBT allows for any faulty cognition to be identified and challenged These include components of the negative triad A therapist can challenge them and encourage the patient to test whether they are true

Answer 22

A – Activating event (bereavement) We get depressed when we experience negative events – these trigger irrational beliefs B – Beliefs These can be rational or irrational – these can include musturbatory thinking (thinking that certain ideas must be true in order for an individual to be happy) Holding these beliefs eventually lead to disappointment C – Consequences When an activating event triggers irrational beliefs there are emotional and behavioural consequences 🡪 depression

Answer 23

The model has been criticised for only explaining a certain type of depression – not all types of depression follow activating events This type of depression is known as reactive depression – however, there are other types that do not have an obvious cause The model lacks explanatory power and credibility – it cannot explain all types of depression, only one The model may be too reductionist to explain the complexities of depression (simplifies the cause down to irrational beliefs) Low credibility – there may be better alternative explanations that have higher explanatory power than Ellis’s model doesnt expalin different aspects such as emotional factors

Answer 24

practical applications CBT

Answer 25

aims to deal with the mental processes involved in depression, such as challenging negative thoughts CBT can help to break the vicious circle of maladaptive thinking, feelings and behaviour.

Answer 26

You meet with a therapist for between 5-20, weekly, or fortnightly sessions. Each session will last between 30 and 60 minutes.

Answer 27

Beck’s cognitive therapy is a direct application of Beck’s cognitive theory Firstly, automatic thoughts about the world, self and future are identified Once identified, the thoughts are challenged – usually by helping patients test the reality of their beliefs

Answer 28

challenging thinking set homework for patient

Answer 29

Ellis’s rational emotive behavioural therapy (REBT) REBT extends the ABC model to an ABCDE model D = Dispute (challenge the thoughts) E = Effect (see a more beneficial effect on thought and behaviour) Therefore the central technique of REBT is to identify and dispute (challenge) the patient’s irrational thought

Answer 30

These would be challenged with vigorous argument – providing empirical evidence and challenging logic

Answer 31

March et al. (2007) compared treatments for depression for 327 adolescents that either had ⚫ CBT ⚫ Antidepressant drugs ⚫ CBT and antidepressant drugs ⚫ They found that after 36 weeks, 81% of the CBT group, 81% of the antidepressant group and 86% of the combined group had a significant decrease in depression symptoms

Answer 32

May not be as effective for severe depression ⚫ In some cases depression may be so severe that patients cannot motivate themselves to engage with CBT ⚫ CBT is very cognitively demanding (homework tasks, etc.) ⚫ They may not even be able to concentrate during a session ⚫ Because of this, some patients need to be treated with antidepressants first Success due to relationship with the therapist? ⚫ Some have argued that CBT is effective due to the strong therapist-patient relationship involved ⚫ Rosenzweig (1936) suggested that differences between successful therapies (like CBT and systematic desensitisation) are actually very small ⚫ The key factor in most of them is the therapist-patient relationship

Answer 33

genetic explanation neural explanation

Answer 34

Candidate genes These are genes that have been identified that create a vulnerability for OCD Some of which have been found to be involved in regulating the development of serotonin SERT gene (5-HTT) affects the transport of serotonin, creating lower levels of serotonin

Answer 35

Polygenic – refers to something that is not caused by one single gene but several genes are involved

Answer 36

Found that of his patients with OCD, 37% had least one parent with OCD and 21% had at least one sibling with OCD This suggests that OCD runs in families –suggests that it is the vulnerability that is passed on, not the certainty of OCD

Answer 37

meaning that the origin of OCD has different causes (heterogeneous)

Answer 38

All studies compare behaviour between those most genetically similar (MZ twins) and those least genetically similar(DZ twins) So in regards to twins, identical (MZ) twins are 2x more genetically similar than non-identical (DZ) twins (100% vs 50%)

Answer 39

twin studies family history study adoption studies

Answer 40

Concordance rate: the rate of which two twins share the same characteristic In other words, the % of twins that share the same characteristic We use concordance rates to determine how strong a genetic link is

Answer 41

Nestadt et al. (2010) did a review of previous twin studies and found that 68% of monozygotic twins shared OCD compared to only 31% of dizygotic twins Although there is a significant no. of MZ twin that share OCD, there is still 32% that do not share it -never 100% This means you’ll never find a characteristic that is completely genetic (even things like eye colour are ultimately affected by the environment) If no characteristic can be 100% genetic, what does this mean for the genetic explanation, of anything?? Genetics alone will never be enough to explain behaviour – in this case, OCD, 32% is left unexplained – why does one identical twin have OCD but the other doesn’t? This suggests that there must be other factors that explanation OCD – the genetic influence is never 100%

Answer 42

Although there is a clear genetic link for OCD, researchers have not been able to pin point exactly which genes are involved This is because too many genes have been identified to be involved Furthermore, each genetic variation only increases the risk of OCD by a fraction L .environmental factors can also trigger or increase the risk of developing OCD (the diathesis-stress model) Cromer et al. (2007) – found that over half of the OCD patients in their sample had a traumatic event in their past The OCD was more severe in those with more than one trauma Cromer et al.’s research suggest we may be looking at the wrong risk factor altogether – is it really the genes that cause a significant vulnerability? Or is it trauma? Maybe it is traumatic experiences we should be focusing on – even if it’s not the explanation for OCD, it could at least be more helpful to look at. Strength?: (a flip-side for discussion) – although it shows environment (trauma) is an important risk factor, it still suggests genes are important if we consider the diathesis-stress model – genes alone aren’t a good enough explanation but neither is the environment – it suggests BOTH are still needed, so the genetic explanation may still be of value

Answer 43

the view that physical and psychological characteristics are determined by the behaviour of the nervous system ,in particular the brain

Answer 44

Role of serotonin Neurotransmitters are responsible for relaying information from one neuron to another – serotonin regulates mood If an individual has low levels of serotonin, normal transmission of mood-relevant information does not take place

Answer 45

Some types of OCD have been associated with impaired decision-making This may be associated with abnormal functioning of the frontal lobes in the brain (behind the forehead) These are parts of the brain that are responsible for logical thinking and making decisions

Answer 46

there is an area called the para-hippocampal gyrus

Answer 47

research support There has been evidence to support the role of some neural mechanisms in OCD Antidepressants that work purely on the serotonin system (increasing serotonin) have been given to patients with OCD Such drugs have been effective in reducing OCD symptoms If high levels of serotonin reduce the symptoms, it’s likely that low levels of serotonin in the first place must cause the symptoms! – validating the neural explanation high real life application

Answer 48

We cannot assume that there is a causal relationship between neural mechanisms and OCD E.g. we do not know if low levels of serotonin cause OCD or is it just as likely that OCD causes low levels of serotonin Similarly, abnormal functioning may not cause OCD, OCD may cause abnormal functioning Do OCD patients start off with impaired decision making? Or does the OCD cause their decision making to become impaired? Co-morbidity – when people suffer from more than one disorder Those that suffer from OCD usually also suffer from depression – depression involves disruption to serotonin levels (affecting mood) Why is this an issue? The link between OCD and serotonin may actually be due to comorbidity with depression This means there is a lack of internal validity in this explanation for OCD

Answer 49

Drug therapy refers to using chemicals to increase/decrease/restore neurotransmitter levels in the brain, which have a knock-on effect on the functioning of the brain or bodily system

Answer 50

Serotonin is released from one neuron (presynaptic neuron) to another neuron (postsynaptic neuron) To reach the postsynaptic neuron, serotonin must travel across a synapse (the gap between two neurons) Some serotonin successfully travels to the postsynaptic neuron Consequently, the excess serotonin is reabsorbed into the presynaptic neuron

Answer 51

selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors

Answer 52

SSRIs prevent the breakdown and reabsorption of serotonin in the presynaptic neuron. SSRIs block the sites where reabsorption takes place, leaving excess serotonin in the synapse However, chemicals cannot stay in the synapse – they must move into a neuron Serotonin then has no choice but the move into the post-synaptic neuron This means that there is more serotonin than usual travelling from one neuron to the next – increasing the overall amount of serotonin in the brain

Answer 53

tricylics SNRI

Answer 54

Soomro et al. (2009) Reviewed 17 studies (3097 ppts) that compared the effects of SSRIs to placebos () for treating OCD They found that in all 17 studies there were significantly better results for the SSRIs than placebo conditions A reduction in symptoms 6-13 weeks post treatment What do these findings suggest? Why is this a strength? Extra: effectiveness is usually best when combined with psychological treatment (CBT) SSRIs reduce symptoms in around 70% of patients – the other 30% are given alternative/combinations of drugs and psychological treatment

Answer 55

Drug treatment is much cheaper compared to psychological treatment Many drugs are prescribed via a GP whereas therapies like CBT are more expensive Additionally, drugs are less disruptive to people’s lives All that is needed is to swallow a pill to reduce symptoms – compared to the demanding psychological engagement required for CBT Why is this a strength? Drug therapy is good value (particularly for a public health system) – therefore more popularly used in real-life

Answer 56

Although drug therapy is effective for most OCD patients, there is still a small minority that receive no benefit at all Some suffer side-effects such as indigestion, blurred vision and loss of sex-drive These are usually temporary, however Side-effects of tricyclics are usually more severe More than one in ten patients have erection problems, tremors and weight gain More than one in a hundred become aggressive and suffer disruption to blood pressure and heart rhythm

Answer 57

a perspective that emphasises the importance of physical processes in the body

psychopathology Flashcards

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