Psychopathology Flashcards
(30 cards)
what is statistical infrequency and what are 2 limitations?
Abnormality is statistically rare, people who are 2 standard deviations above/ below the mean.
-Doesn’t take into account desirability of behaviour, there are many desirable behaviours that are statistically infrequent but we don’t call them abnormal as they are beneficial.
-Inaccuracy of statistical data- statistical infrequency relies on accurate data. For example gender bias may be an issue (females are more likely to see a doctor about depression than males).
what is deviation from social norms and what are 2 limitations?
behaviour is abnormal if it deviates from notion of what society considers acceptable.
-Moral standards vary over time, thus if you used this definition, abnormality would change over time, making it inconsistent.
-Social standards vary from culture to culture, using this definition may lead to incorrect diagnosis of abnormality.
what is the failure to function adequately and what are 2 limitations?
behaviour that prevent people from coping with demands of everyday life, can be measured using global assessment of functioning scale (0-100). 100 is superior functions, 10 is danger of hurting someone or self etc;. 60 is moderate.
-involves making subjective judgement as to what constitutes failure to function adequately.
-many normal people fail to cope with demands of life at certain times.
what is deviation from ideal mental health and what are 3 limitations?
those who don’t meat the criteria for how people should behave with ideal mental health (jahoda 1958)
-positive attitude towards oneself
-opportunity to self-actualise
-ability to resist stress
-personal autonomy
-accurate perception of reality
-ability to adapt to ones environment
-demanding criteria, everyone old be considered abnormal to some extent
-criteria is ethnocentric, describes individualistic cultures
-suggested that accurate perception of reality isn’t a characteristic of normal people. Taylor (1989) depressed patients perceive the world more accurately than normal people
-perceptions of reality change with time and new knowledge
what are phobias and the 3 types?
Type of anxiety disorder, primary symptom is extreme anxiety. Phobias are irrational fears, that produce a conscious avoidance of that thing.
Types:
Specific- fear of snakes, spider etc.
Agoraphobic- fear of being in public with no escape.
Social phobia- fear of interacting in social situations.
what are the emotional, behavioural and cognitive characteristics of phobias?
Emotional- feelings of anxiety/ panic/ persistent fear; brought on by prescience/ thought of specific object/ situation. Feelings of anxiety are out of proportion to actual danger.
Behavioural- will avoid source of fear/ freeze (fight or flight) if they come into contact with phobic stimulus. Avoiding source of fear can lead to disruption of daily routine.
Cognitive- phobic will have irrational thought processes. Resistant to rational arguments. The person recognises their fear is irrational.
how does operant conditioning explain maintaining phobias?
Operant conditioning explains why the fear continues and why people avoid the fear object.
-rewards reinforce behaviour. Avoiding feared object reduces fear. Reduced fear is rewarding; therefore the person will repeat the behaviour. (Negative reinforcement).
how does classical conditioning explain initiation of phobias? (including little albert)
Phobias are learnt via association.
Little Albert- learnt to be scared of white rat which he associated with the fear brought about from loud noise.
Loud noise > fear
White rat > no fear
Loud noise + white rat > fear
White rat > fear
what are 4 evaluation points of behaviour explaining phobias?
+: high validity- based on scientific lab experiments (pavlov’s dogs/ skinner’s rats) that support operant/ classical conditioning. Supported by little Albert.
+: treatments- systematic dessentisation/ flooding involve exposure to phobia to help break learnt association.
-: reductionist- reduces phobias to learnt behaviours, this is too simplistic. Some phobias may be learnt through different processes/ models.
Evolutionary explanation says we are programmed to make associations between life-threatening stimuli and fear.
-: deterministic- suggests people have no control over phobia. States learnt association will lead to phobias.
what is systematic dissentitisation and how does it treat phobias?
-individual constructs an anxiety heirachy.
-relaxation training is then given which aims to achieve complete relaxation.
-the patient is asked to vividly imagine the scene at the bottom of the heirachy.
-when they are relaxed, they work their way up the heirachy (graded pairings)
-we can use SD with the real stimulus or the imagined stimulus (real stimulus has longer lasting effect)
what are 3 evaluation points of SD?
-ethical- patients in control of when they move on so they don’t have to experience intense anxiety
-Works fast and requires little effort from patient
-Treatment given under set conditions, different to real life experiences.
what is flooding and how does it treat phobias?
Consists of one long session where patient experience phobia at its worst. They practice relaxation until anxiety disappears. Session may last 2-3 hours as fear has a response time limit
what are 3 evaluation points of flooding?
-ethical issues- can be highly traumatic, no control.
-if patients quit it could make phobia worse as P’s are more likely to quit when fear is at highest.
-fast- one treatment session, works on basis that fear has a time limit.
what is one general evaluation point of treating phobias?
-treats symptoms not cause- symptoms of phobia may be removed but underlying cause isn’t removed, therefore phobia may resurface later on.
what are emotional, behavioural and cognitive characteristics of depression?
Emotional:
-Feelings of sadness/empty/worthless/anger/despair and general low self-esteem.
-social withdrawal, loss of interest in usual hobbies
-preference to be alone.
Behavioral:
-shift in energy level.
-wanting to sleep constantly/ inability to sleep (insomnia)
-agitated/ restless
-appetite affected
Cognitive:
-negative self-concept/ low self-esteem
-negative expectations about life
(To be diagnosed with depression, patients must have 5+ of these characteristics and they must have persisted for a minimum of 2 weeks.)
how does Eliis’ ABC model explain depression?
A: activating event E.g., getting fired
B: belief (either rational or irrational)
C: consequences (emotions/ behavior about the event)
Rational beliefs = healthy emotions
Irrational beliefs = unhealthy emotions (depression)
Ellis argued source of irrational beliefs lie in mustabatory thinking (thinking certain assumptions must be true in order to be happy)
3 main ones:
-I must be approved/ accepted by others.
-I must do well or I am worthless.
-the world must give me happiness or i will die.
People that think like this will be disappointed all the time and maybe depressed.
what are 4 evaluation points of cognitive approach explaining depression?
-: correlational data- can’t determine cause + effect. Some argue negative thinking is an efffect of depression not a cause. Pregnant women with cognitive vulnerability more likely to have post-natal depression (negative thoughts do come first)
+: treatments- lead to development of CBT.
-: deterministic- negative thoughts may not be specific to depression, may lead to other disorders.
-: reductionist- reduces depression to faulty thinking, other explanations better (biological approach, diathesis stress model)
what is REBT and how does it help?
REBT is a type of CBT developed by Ellis, based on idea that many problems (consequences) are the result of irrational thoughts/ beliefs.
People often develop self-defeating habits because of faulty beliefs about themselves/ world.
REBT helps clients understand irrationality and the consequences of thinking this way. Helps them substitute irrational beliefs for rational beliefs and develop more problem solving methods. (Cognitive restructuring)
what are the 3 disputing methods?
Logical disputing- self-defeating beliefs don’t follow logically from info available (does thinking thus way make sense)
Empirical disputing- beliefs may not be consistent with facts/reality. (Where is the proof)
Pragmatic disputing- lack of usefulness of self beliefs. (How is this likely to help me)
what are 4 evaluation points of REBT?
+/-: researcher bias- Ellis found his treatment had 90% success rate, however Ellis conducted this research, thus it may be bias. However, meta-analysis shows REBT has second highest success rate.
-: appropriateness- some may lack motivation to attend. Evidence suggests drugs and treatment combined is more effective than just one alone.
-: symptoms not cause- changes faulty thinking (symptom) not why it initially developed.
+/-: ethical- patient is in control and its less traumatic, however it is judgemental of thoughts.
what are emotional, cognitive and behavioural characteristics of OCD?
Emotional- feelings that OCD causes. Sufferers are aware their behaviour is excessive, this causes feelings of shame.
Cognitive- obsessions (excessive fears of germs, doubts you have forgotten something)
Behavioural- compulsions (checking behaviours, ritualistic hand washing)
how can genetics cause OCD?
The COMT gene may contribute to OCD. This regulates production of dopamine. One form of this gene is more common in OCD patients than people without OCD. This variation produces lower activity of the COMT gene, producing higher levels of dopamine.
The SERT gene is also linked to OCD, this affects transport of seretonin, variations in seretonin causes lower levels of this neurotransmitter.
Taylor (2013)- might be 230 different genes involved in OCD, thus OCD may be polygenic.
what is the family study in testing if OCD is genetic?
Family studies- we would expect multiple other members of family to have the same disorder
Nestadt et.al. (2000)- patients with ocd and their first degree relative, compared to control patients and their first degree relatives. First degree relatives of ocd sufferers had 5x more risk of ocd than control group.
what is the twin study in testing wether OCD is genetic?
Twin studies- compare twins to see if both have the disorder.
MZ (identical) share 100% of genes
DZ (non- identical) share 50% of genes
If mz twin had OCD, 68% chance other twin would develop it
If dz twin had OCD, 31% chance other would develop it.
Evaluation:
-assumes both mz and dz twins share 100% of same environment with twin
However mz may have more similar environments than dz twins as mz are identical.
