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Psychopathology Flashcards

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1
Q

Define statistical infrequency

A

Someone is mentally abnormal if their mental condition is very rare in the population the rarity of the behaviour is judged objectively using statistics comparing the individual behaviour to the rest of the population

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2
Q

What does the normal distribution curve show?

A

Shows a population average spread of specific characteristics. The mean median and modal scores are all at the highest point, the most common behaviour. At each end there are fewer people with those behaviours
E.g. IQ levels

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3
Q

Why it is a strength that statistical infrequency is objective?

A

Those who are assessed as being abnormal have been evaluated objectively this is better than other definitions that depend on the subjective opinion of a clinician

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4
Q

What is a criticism of statistical infrequency about the cutoff point?

A

The psychological community decides the cutoff point for what is statistically rare enough to be defined as abnormal this is a subjective decision with real implications. E.g people just under 70 iq might be refused support

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5
Q

Why is it a criticism of statistical infrequency if not all rare traits are negative?

A

This definition also includes those people at the higher end of intelligence. A good definition of abnormality shouldn’t identity people with high intelligence as having a psychopathology and in need of support

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6
Q

Why is it a criticism of statistical infrequency for there to be a range of common psychopathologies ?

A

The nhs found 17% of people surveyed met the criteria for a common mental health disorder so this definition isn’t appropriate when considering society’s high incidence of mental health disorders

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7
Q

Define failure to function adequately

A

The individual is defined as abnormal if they can’t cope in their daily lives including their ability to interact with the world and meet their challenges

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8
Q

What are the 5 features of rosenhan and seligmans features of failure to function?

A

Maladaptive behaviour- individuals behave in a way that go against their long term interests
Personal anguish- the individual suffers from anxiety and distress
Observer discomfort- the individuals behaviour causes distress to. Those around them
Irrationality- it is difficult to understand the motivation behind the individuals/unpredictability: unexpected behaviour
Unconventionality-behaviour doesn’t match what is typically expected by society

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9
Q

Why might failure to function adequately be biased?

A

Decision about whether someone is coping is subjective and based on the clinicians opinion so two observers might not agree on whether someone is managing

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10
Q

Why it is a criticism of FFA that it only includes people who can’t cope?

A

Psychopaths can often function in society in ways that benefit them personally having lower empathy can lead to success in politics however psychopathy often has negative implications for the people around them

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11
Q

Why is FFA a criticism that not all maladaptive behaviour indicated mental illness?

A

Taking part in extreme sports to drinking alcohol all risk health so they are arguable maladaptive however most people would disagree that these behaviours indicate mental illnesses

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12
Q

What is a strength of FFA which benefits the persons personal experience?

A

The definition respects the individual and their own personal experience

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13
Q

Define deviation from social norms?

A

A social norm is an unwritten expectation of behaviour that can vary from culture to culture and change over time. Additionally what is accepted in one context may not be acceptable in another
E.g. homosexuality, face and hair covering

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14
Q

Why it is a strength that deviation from social norms doesn’t impose a western view ?

A

It doesn’t impose a western view on other non western cultures so it isn’t ethnocentric and respects other cultures

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15
Q

Why is it a criticism to define people who move to a new culture as abnormal?

A

People from Afro Caribbean backgrounds living in the uk are seven times more likely to be diagnosed with sz than people living in the uk this is due to category failure which is a western definition of mental illness

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16
Q

Why it is a cirtisicm that deviation from social norms can be seen as punishing people who are trying to express their individuality?

A

It punishes people that try to express themselves and those who don’t conform to the repressive norms of their culture e.g the world health organisation declassified homosexuality as a mental illness in 1992

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17
Q

Define deviation from ideal mental health?

A

Marie jahodas definition comes from a humanistic perspective focusing on ways to improve and become a better person rather than dysfunction or deficit

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18
Q

What are the Marie jahodas 6 features of deviation from mental health ?

A

Environmental mastery- the ability to adapt and thrive in new situations
Autonomy- the ability to act independently and trust in ones own abilities
Resistance to stress- the internal strength to cope with anxiety caused by daily life
Self actualisation- the ability to reach one’s potential through personal growth
Positive attitude towards oneself-characterised by high self esteem and self respect
Accurate perception of reality-the ability to see the world as it is without being distorted by personal biases

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19
Q

Why can deviation from ideal mentla health be seen as culturally biased?

A

It reflects a western perspective on mental health as it is applied to all people
Many people value playing a role in supporting a family not focusing of them selves

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20
Q

Why is it a criticism of deviation from ideal mental health being strict ?

A

Many people would be defined as abnormal as its difficult to achieve the criteria

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21
Q

Why is it a strength of DIMH being a holistic approach?

A

DIMH considers multiple factors in diagnosis and provides a suggestions for personal development and suggests how the problem can be overcome

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22
Q

Define phobia

A

An extreme and irrational fear of objects or some situations.

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23
Q

What are the behavioural characteristics for phobias?

A

Avoidance-physically adapting normal behavior to avoid phobic objects
Panic-an uncontrollable physical response and its most likely to happen at the sudden appearance of the phobic object
Failure to function-difficulty taking part in activities required to perform a normal life

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24
Q

What are the emotional characteristics of phobias?

A

Anxiety- an uncomfortably high and persistant state of arousal making it difficult to relax
Fear-an intense emotional state linked to the fight or flight response a sensation of extreme and unpleasant alertness in the presence of phobia that only subsides when the phobic object is removed

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25
What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
Irrational thoughts- negative and irrational mental processes that include an exaggerated belief in the harm the phobic object could cause them Selective attention Cognitive distortion
26
What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?
Reeducation in activity level- includes lethargy lacking the energy needed to perform everyday activities Anhedonia is the lack of pleasure usually felt doing enjoyable activism leading to a reduction in social behaviour A change in eating behaviour: often results in either significant weight gain or weight loss An increase in aggression:this can be towards other people but these aggressive acts often take the form of self harm
27
What are emotional characteristics of depression ?
Sadness Guilt Lowered self esteem
28
What are cognitive characteristics of depression?
Poor concentration Negative schemas: automatic negative biases when thinking about themselves the world and the future
29
Define ocd
Defined by obsessions which are constant intrusive thoughts that cause high anxiety levels compulsions that are the behavioural response an attempt to deal with the continuous invasive thought processes
30
What are behavioural characteristics of ocd?
Compulsions- behaviours performed repeatedly to reduce anxiety however any anxiety reduction is only temporary Avoidance-take or resist actions to avoid being in the presence of objects/situations that trigger obsessions Social impairment: not ppts in enjoyable social activities. This social withdrawal is often due to difficulty leaving the house without triggering obsessions or the need to carry out compulsions becomes time consuming
31
What are emotional characteristics of ocd?
Anxiety Depression Guilt Disgust
32
What are cognitive characteristics of ocd?
Obsessions- intrusive, irrational and recurrent thoughts that tend to be unpleasant catastrophic thoughts about potential dangers Hypervigilance-a permanent state of alertness where the sufferer is looking for the source of their obsessive thoughts Selective attention-this means the individual with ocd is so focused on the objects connected to the obsession they can’t focus on other things in their environment
33
Who introduced the two process model and what is it?
Mower Phobias are acquired through classical conditioning. Phobias are maintained through operant conditioning.
34
How is phobia acquired through classical conditioning bee example?
NS (bee) - NR (no response) UCS (sting) - UCR (fear) UCS (sting) + NS (bee) - UCR(fear) CS (bee)- CR (fear)
35
How are phobias maintained with operant conditioning bee example?
The person with the bee phobia will be aware of it and try to avoid it The avoidance behaviour leads to a reduction in anxiety, which is a pleasant sensation this strengthens the phobia making them more likely to avoid the phobia
36
Which study supports classical conditioning to acquire phobias?
Watson and rayner little Albert where they paired a rat with hitting a large metal pole behind the child’s head scaring Albert. A phobic response formed and a fear of rats
37
What did dinardo counter research to Albert’s experiment ?
Showed while conditioning events like dog bites were common in ppts with dog phobias 56% they were just as common in ppts with no dog phobia 65% These findings show behaviourists don’t fully explain all phobias
38
What is a better explanation for phobias?
An evolutionary explanation as spiders and snakes were dangers that many ancestors faced Those with that fear are more likely to survive and reproduce sellingman
39
How is the behaviourists approach used irl for phobias?
Used in therapy like flooding and desensitisation
40
Define reciprocal inhibition
Fear and relaxation are two antagonistic emotions as u can’t feel two opposite emotions sitmulatenously If the therapist can help the client hold the phobic object without fear they have been successfully counter conditioned
41
What are the 4 stages of systematic desensitisation?
1) therapist teaches the client relaxation techniques like breathing excercsies 2) the client creates an anxiety hierarchy a list of feared situations with the phobic object from the least to the most feared 3)the client is exposed to each level of anxiety hierarchy the client must relax at each stage and they can only move onto the next step when that has happened 4) when the client can hold the phobic object without fear the association is extinct and a new association with relaxation is formed
42
What are the steps of flooding?
Immediate exposure to max level of phobic stimulus which can cause panic and the therapist has to stop the client from escaping the situation The client will eventually calm down anxiety will now decrease with the phobia
43
Why is the client controlling systematic desensitatisation. A strength?
It makes it a more pleasurable experience as they limit their anxiety
44
Why might the therapy’s not be transferable to real life?
The office environment might not translate to real life experiences
45
Why is it a limitation that these therapy’s are only good at treating specific phobias?
They can’t treat social phobias
46
Why are therapies not the only option to treat phobias?
There are drugs like antidepressants which decrease anxiety and are cheaper and less stressful
47
What are the real life applications of therapies for phobias?
The principles of systematic desensitisation have been applied to virtual reality exposure therapy Garcia palacios found 83% of ppts treated with vr exposure to spiders showed clinically significant improvement compared to 0% in the control group
48
Define a cognitive approach of depression ?
Depression is due to irrational thoughts resulting from maladaptive internal mental processes
49
Define schema
Mental framework/ expectations based on experience. Schemas allow us to quickly process large amounts of sensory information and make automatic assumptions and responses. Negative schemas result in automatically negative schemas result in automatically negative cognitive biases
50
What is the negative triad and its three features?
Three schemas with a persistent automatic negative bias The self: aka self schemas, feeling “inadequate or unworthy” The world: thinking people are “hostile or threatening” The future: thinking “things will always turn out badly” This can lead to avoidance social withdrawal and inaction
51
When does the negative triad develop?
Develops in childhood but provides the framework for persistent biases in adulthood leading to cognitive disortions pericving the world inaccurately
52
What are the two types of cognitive distortions and what are they?
Overgeneralisation: one negative experience results in an assumption that the same thing will always happen Selectively abstraction: mentally filtering out positive experiences and focusing on the negative
53
What are the three features of the Ellis abc model?
A: activating event. It can be anything that happens to someone B: beleif. For people without depression beliefs about A are rational. People with depression have irrational beliefs C: consequences. Rational beliefs lead to positive consequences, irrational beliefs lead to to negative C
54
What is mustabatory thinking ?
The consequence of not accepting we don’t live in a perfect world The fact that we fail to achieve unrealistic goals othe people don’t behave the way we want them to or an unexpected event happens and ruins our plans leads to disappointment
55
What research supports the cognitive approach to depression?
Grazioli and Terry assessed the thinking styles of 65 women before giving birth and six weeks after it was found that those women with negative thinking styles were most likely to develop postpartum depression. This supports the idea that faulty thinking leads to depression
56
What cognitive therapies have come out of the cognitive theories?
March showed CBT had an effectiveness rate of 81% after 36 weeks of treatment the same as drug therapy the fact these treatments are successful suggests the underlying cognitive explanations are valid.
57
Why is it hard to explain some features of some types of depressions ? Comorbidity
Many people with depression also experience anger and people with bipolar depression experience manic phases these features are hard to explain using theories like becks model as schemas are resistant to change
58
What do families studies suggest about depression and why is that a negative of the cognitive theories?
Family studies and genetic research suggest a predisposition to depression is inherited likely genes that influence the activity of neurochemicals like serotonin in the brain which shows this definition isn’t complete
59
What do cognitive theories depend on and why is that a criticism ?
Cognitive theories depend on the assumption that the person with depressions thoughts are irrational it could be depression is a reasonable response to the challenges they face for example poverty
60
How can you use becks cbt to challenge irrational thoughts through cognitive restructuring ?
Patient as a scientist: patient generates and tests hypotheses about the validity of their irrational thoughts Thought catching: identifying irrational thoughts coming from the negative triad of schemas Homework tasks: include keeping a diary which is used to record negative thoughts Behavioural activation: taking part in activities that the sufferer used to enjoy
61
How does Ellis rebt model work to treat depression?
Dispute: therapist confronting the clients irrational beliefs Empirical arguments: challenge the client to provide evindence for their thoughts Effect: reconstructing beliefs leading to better consequences Abcde approach
62
What research supports the cognitive approach to treating depression?
March randomly assigned 327 patients to one of three groups cbt drug therapy and the thrid group was given a combined treatment of cbt and drug therapy after 36 weeks cbt and drug therapy had an effectiveness rate of 81% cbt also had a more significant reduction in suicidal events than drug treatment the best results came from the combination treatment with an effectiveness rate of 86% and fewer suicidal events than either treatment alone
63
Why can cbt not be helpful for all people with depression?
Some people with depression are too severely depressed to engage with the demands of cbt therefore drugs maybe a better option
64
Why is it expensive cbt
Takes a lot of sessions and is a lot of Monet but it’s cost effective for the economy
65
What is the biological approach ?
Explains mental health conditions as being due to faulty physical process. This explanations includes the physical structure of your DNA inherited from your parents
66
What is OCD?
OCD affects approximately 1 in 50 people its symptoms include obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours. Obsessive thoughts are repetitive, distressing mental images or concerns that provoke anxiety Complusions are actions that individuals feel the need to perform to reduce the discomfort caused by these thoughts
67
What is the genetic explanation to ocd?
There is no one gene for ocd however its thought a vulnerability or predisposition to ocd is inherited from parents There are 230 separate candidate genes found in people with ocd This suggests ocd is polygenic
68
What evidence is there for heritability of ocd?
Evidence comes from family and twin studies as the rate of ocd in the general population is 2% the concordance rate between someone with OCD and a stranger is also 2% But there’s a 10% concordance rate with first degree relatives and 31% with non identical twins and 68% with identical twins
69
What are the neural explanations for ocd?
Include biochemical causes an imbalance of neurotransmitters and the large neural structures in the brain that are made of many neurons
70
How does serotonin affect ocd?
Low serotonin levels are thought to cause obsessive thoughts and the low level of serotonin is likely due to it being removed too quickly from the synapse before it has been able to transmit its signal/influence the post synaptic cell Serotonin and other neurotransmitters are chemical messengers: presynaptic neurons release neurotransmitters and receptors on the post synaptic neuron detect these if the signal is strong enough then the message is passed on the neurotransmitters detach from the receptors and are taken back to the presynaptic neuron through a process called reuptake this process happens too quickly in people with OCD leading to reduced serotonin levels
71
What gene is responsible for serotonin transportation in the synapse?
SERT gene
72
How do neural structures affect ocd? And what is the worry circuit?
The worry circuit is a set of brain structures including the orbitofrontal cortex (rational decision making) the basal ganglia system especially the caudate nucleus and the thalamus Communication between these structures in the worry circuit appears to be overactive in people with ocd
73
How does the worry circuit work in normal people?
The basal ganglia filer out minor worries coming from the orbitofronal cortex but if this area is hyperactive even small worries get the the thalamus which is then passed back to the OFC forming a loop(recurring obsessive thoughts
74
How is the parahippocampal gryus involved in ocd?
An area of cortex close to the hippocampus on the brains underside is also linked to ocd it is responsible for regulating and processing unpleasant emotions and has been seen to function abnormally in cases of ocd
75
How study supports that ocd can be inherited?
Nestadt shows for ocd there is a high concordance rate between close family members non identical twins have a 31% concordance and identical twins have a 68%. MZ and DZ twins grow up sharing similar environments like food,upbringing and education and life events this suggest that the additional shared dna is responsible for the increased concordance
76
What does the not 100% concordance rate between MZ twins suggest?
The correlation in family and twin studies doesn’t equal causation it may not be shared genetics behind the high concordance rate it may be due to the environment
77
What could be a more valid response for ocd than biological processes alone? And how does Cromer back this
The diathesis stress model. Individuals inherit a genetic vulnerability to ocd however the disorder doesn’t develop unless there is an environmental factors such as a traumatic life experience. Cromer showed 54% of 265 ppts with ocd reported at least one traumatic life event and those with traumatic life events reported increased severity of ocd symptoms
78
What have neuroimaging shown to support neural correlates to cause ocd?
PET scanners have shown hyperactivity in the OFC and the caudate nucleus in people with OCD both while scanning the brain at rest and when symptoms are stimulated but there is a problem with this evidence as they can’t be sure if this is the cause of ocd or the consequence of it
79
What is the primary drug to control ocd?
Antidepressant drugs called SSRIs
80
What are SSRIs and how do they work?
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors Which influence serotonin and act as reuptake inhibitors They inhibit the reuptake process in the synapse within hours Therefore serotonin is still present in the synaptic cleft and continues to stimulate the postsynaptic neuron this decreases anxiety by normalising the activity of the worry circuit
81
How long do SSRIs take to reduce symptoms and which drugs can be used instead?
3-4months Anti anxiety meds can be used instead like benzodiazepines these work by enchancing a neurotransmitter called GABA SNRIS work by increasing serotonin and noradrenaline these drugs can be a replacement if SSRIs fail but these have more side effects
82
What does soomros meta analysis support about ssris?
Soomro conducted a meta analysis combining the data from 17 studies that compared ssris to placebos in total there were 3097 ppts the results of this showed that ssris significantly reduced the symptoms of ocd compared to placebos between 6 and 17 weeks post treatment. Drug therapy is effective in the short term
83
Why is it a problem that ssris are tested by companies that created them?
Goldacre points out that most research studies on drug therapies are conducted by the pharmaceutical companies that created them. This means they have a financial interest in showing the drugs are effective
84
What is good about drug therapy compared to therapy?
Drug therapy is relatively inexpensive and less time consuming
85
Why do some patients prefer cbt?
Drugs have a range of side effects like nausea heachache and insomnia and people can become dependant on drugs and it takes 4 months to work
86
Why might drug therapy not be effective when getting rid of ocd?
Doesn’t treat the cause only covers up the symptoms
87
What was Watson and Rayners experiment ?
Little Albert associated the fear caused by a loud bang with a white rat this condition then generalised to other white fluffy objects
88
AO3 of study for avoidance behaviour and behaviourists approach?
Buck suggested that safety is a greater motivator for avoidance behaviour rather than simply avoiding the anxiety e.g ppl with social anxiety will venture out with a trusted friend despite still being exposed to hundreds of strangers So mowers explanation of phobias may be incomplete and only suited for some
89
Supporting evidence for treating phobia ?
Gilroy et al. followed up 42 patients treated in three sessions of systematic desensitisation for a spider phobia. Their progress was compared to a control group of 50 patients who learnt only relaxation techniques. The extent of such phobias was measured using the Spider Questionnaire and through observation. At both 3 and 33 months, the systematic desensitisation group showed a reduction in their symptoms as compared to the control group, and so has been used as evidence supporting the effectiveness of flooding.
90
What did Ali et al find?
Assessed depression for 12 months following a course of CBT 42% relapsed within 6 months of ending treatment and 53% within a year
91
What type of disorder is depression?
Mood

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