Psychopathology Flashcards
(30 cards)
1
Q
Deviation from social norms AO1
A
- Behaviour is abnormal if it is different to the acceptable behaviour being produced by the group
- The behaviour is abnormal if it is unexpected by other members of the group
- The behaviour somehow offends other members of the group
- these norms vary from culture to culture
- E.g. homosexuality used to be regarded as a mental disorder, however, as society has changed, so has our decision to classify homosexuality as a mental disorder.
- There are several types of social norms to which we are expected to adhere to like gender norms.
2
Q
Deviation from social norms AO3
A
- susceptible to abuse, Szasz argues that mental illness is a myth and a form of social control, it results in people being labelled and discriminated against. he argues that behaviour is not and cannot be a disease as there must be a biological cause for something to be classed an illness, and therefore requiring treatment. the fact that abnormality changes with prevailing norms suggests the definition is not objective otherwise it would be free from opinion. this means that this definition could have led to a violation of human rights- e.g. homosexuality- and therefore should be used with caution.
- strength- unlike statistical infrequency, it gives a clear idea of what is desirable or undesirable. for example, being a genius is statistically unusual but not necessarily undesirable. this means that a combination of the definition is the best way to assess abnormality as on it’s own it is limited
3
Q
Statistical infrequency AO1
A
-this is behaviour that is numerically rare
- these behaviours are less common in society
- this focuses on the quantity of behaviour away from the mean rather than the quality of the behaviour
- this is defined as behaviour that is 2 standard deviations away from the mean
- e.g. IQ- only 5% of people have an IQ below 70 or above 130 as this is 2SD away from the mean of 100
- if someone has an IQ under 70 hey are labelled with intellectual disability disorder.
4
Q
Statistical infrequency AO3
A
- provides an objective definition for who is abnormal. this allows us to treat mental illness like we do physical illness. however the cut off point is based on statistics without any consideration for the individual. e.g. someone with an eating disorder may want help but not be the certain weight to receive the help- this could lead to them losing more weight to try and reach the threshold and this can be very damaging and shows the negative impact of a definition based on statistics alone.
- unusual characteristics can be positive- some behaviours that are statistically rare are actually desirable like a very high IQ which is statistically rare. therefore, this definition does not taken into account whether a behaviour is desirable or undesirable meaning that combining it with deviation from social norms may be a more effective way to define abnormality.
5
Q
Failure to function adequately AO1
A
-this is someone who is unable to cope with day to day life.
- behaviour is considered abnormal when it causes distress to the individual or others.
- this includes disrupting social or occupational goals.
- the GAF( global assessment functioning scale) rates the levels of social, occupational and psychological functioning and is used to assess how well people cope with everyday life
- the DSM includes an assessment of ability to function called the WHODAS
- this considers 6 areas including self care and relationships and each are is scored on a scale of 1-5 with a total score out of 180.
6
Q
Failure to function adequately AO3
A
- We need to consider whether there is anything influencing the individuals behaviour like bereavement or are they choosing to behave outside of the common system because this would mean we are wrongly diagnosing an individual just because it is causing personal distress to others and is therefore squashing their personal freedom. therefore we need to ensure that we have a universal concept of functioning.
- a strength of this definition is that it takes on board the individuals personal perspective and experiences which the other definitions of abnormality don’t. people usually seek help when they are struggling to function so this therefore makes this definition a useful one for assessing psychological behaviour.
7
Q
Deviation from ideal mental health AO1
A
- absence of signs mental health used to define abnormality
- failure to meet Jahoda’s criteria of good mental health
- this had 6 key characteristics including integration and autonomy
- the absence of these characteristics would mean someone was abnormal
- the more that were absent, the more abnormal the person was
8
Q
Deviation from ideal mental health AO3
A
- limitation= the criteria are more of an ideal rather than a reality which means that most people would not meet all of the criteria consistently. as a result, the majority of people would be abnormal and therefore is not an adequate definition of abnormality
- strength= this definition focuses on the desirable rather than focusing on failure and distress and considers the whole person and therefore this takes a holistic approach to abnormality which means individuals can focus on particular areas of growth, allowing goals to be set, making it a comprehensive definition of abnormality.
9
Q
Cognitive characteristics - Phobias
A
Irrational beliefs
aware anxiety is out of proportion to stimuli
10
Q
Emotional characteristics- Phobias
A
extreme levels of fear
anxious and worry in presence of stimuli
11
Q
Behavioural characteristics- phobias
A
avoid/ run
panic behaviours- fainting
12
Q
cognitive characteristics- depression
A
irrational thoughts, negative thoughts
think in absolutes
13
Q
emotional characteristics- depression
A
feeling worthless
low self esteem
14
Q
behavioural characteristics- depression
A
reduced/ increased appetite
reduced energy
15
Q
cognitive characteristics - OCD
A
irrational thoughts
hypervigilant
16
Q
emotional characteristics - OCD
A
anxiety
self-loathing
17
Q
behavioural characteristics - OCD
A
repetitive behaviours/ compulsions
avoidance
18
Q
behavioural approach explaining phobias - AO1
A
- the two part process is used to explain behaviour
- the first part is classical conditioning which suggests we acquire a phobia through association of the neutral stimuli and the unconditioned stimuli
- this means that the fear felt from the unconditioned stimuli is generalised to the neutral stimuli
- this means that the fear is triggered when the person encounters the neutral stimuli
- the second part is operant conditioning and negative reinforcement
- the person keeps the phobia because they avoid the unconditioned stimuli through anxiety so therefore maintain the fear
- this is because the can’t break the association and also increases avoidance behaviours through negative reinforcement
- the phobia is generalised to other similar situations
19
Q
behavioural approach explaining phobias- AO3
A
- strength= research to support from Watson and Raynor who found that they could teach little albert to fear rats. they did this by pairing the rat(NS) with a loud noise (UCS), which startled him and he began to cry (UCR). hen then started to cry (CR) when the rat (CS) was introduced without the loud noise. this suggests that he learnt the phobia of a rat through association and suggests it can explain how we acquire phobias
- limitation= some people can’t remember there being a traumatic event where they have learnt the association. this could be explained due to preparedness which is the idea that we are genetically programmed to rapidly fear certain situations that were dangerous to our ancestors. this suggests a diathesis stress approach would be a better explanation as we may have innate tendencies meaning behavioural approach alone isn’t accurate
20
Q
behavioural approach treating phobias- AO1
A
- flooding treats phobias by exposing a patient to the stimuli and not letting them leave the situation
- the aim of this is to get the patients anxiety so high that it can’t increase any more and it therefore has to reduce, calming them down and realising their phobia isn’t that bad
- systematic desensitisation tries to gradually reduce anxiety and relace with calm
- the first process is teaching relaxation techniques like meditation and breathing exercises
- they also use an anxiety hierarchy to create a list of situations that increase in fear
- they then use gradual exposure, only move patient to next level when they are calm
- this means that the patients anxiety is replaced by calm
21
Q
behavioural approach treating phobias- AO3
A
- strength= supporting research- Gilroy, effectiveness of systematic desensitisation, found after using SD that patients were less fearful in a relaxation control group. this suggests that SD and behavioural approach is a valid successful treatment of phobias
- limitation= not applicable to all phobias. social phobia isn’t treated effectively which could be because it is the result of a cognitive factor which explains why CBT is effective at treating it. this suggests that behavioural approach alone isn’t adequate to treat all phobias and other factors need to be taken into account
22
Q
cognitive approach to explaining depression-AO1
A
- explains depression in terms of faulty and irrational thought processes
- Ellis believes that depressed people mistakenly blame external events on their unhappiness.
- developed ABC model. A is the activating event which is the situation that causes negative thinking.
- B is the beliefs about the activating event which is irrational if you are depressed and can be out of proportion.
- C is the consequences of these beliefs and tends to be feelings of worthlessness.
- Ellis believed that therapy can be used to help people challenge these beliefs.
23
Q
cognitive approach to explaining depression-AO3
A
- strength= supporting evidence from Hammen and Kratz- found that depressed clients made more errors when asked to interpret some writing than non-depressed people- suggesting depression is a result of thinking. this therefore suggests that the cognitive approach is a valid explanation of depression as thoughts are the cause of there depression.
- weakness= can’t explain all aspects of depression. can’t explain why a lot of people get extremely angry when they have depression and Ellis also can’t explain endogenous depression as this doesn’t have an activating event. this means that cognitive approach can’t account for all cases of depression and something else must contribute to the cause of depression.
24
Q
Beck AO1 (4)
A
- Beck believes that people with depression see the world through negative schemas which dominate their thinking.
- these negative schemas are thought to develop in adolescence when people in authority place unrealistic expectations on children and are overly critical
- these provide a negative framework for a pessimistic view on life.
- our negative schemas are fuelled by negative biases and as a result the individual misperceives reality. these together keep the triad going
- Beck created the negative triad which connects negative view about the world, negative view about the future and negative views about oneself
25
cognitive approach to treating depression- AO1
- one way to treat depression is CBT, this is where the patient and therapist work together in an attempt to modify irrational beliefs and negative schemas to alleviate the symptoms of depressions.
- they identify goals and put together a plan for achieving them
- the primary concept is to challenge the irrational thoughts and to replace them with more positive thoughts through cognitive restructuring
- one strategy for this is becks cognitive therapy. this is where the client is asked to conduct thought catching where they try to identify irrational beliefs.
- the patient then creates hypotheses to test the validity of these thoughts
- the patient then collects evidence through homework tasks such as diary entries and then assesses the validity of the hypothesis
26
cognitive approach to treating depression- AO3
- strength= there is research to support that CBT is effective. March compared CBT, antidepressants and a combo and found after 3 6 weeks 81% of CBT and 81% of the drug groups had improved suggesting that CBT was just as effective as drug therapy however CBT does not have the same harmful side effects that drug therapy does. therefore, when you weight the cost benefit of both, CBT is a more suitable approach. However when used in conjunction the success rate was 86%, suggesting an interactionist approach the most effective.
27
biological approach to explaining OCD-AO1
- genetic explanation says we have inherited specific genes from our parents, meaning the vulnerability has been passed across generations.
- OCD sufferers have inherited a variation of the COMT gene which regulates the production of dopamine
- the SERT gene is linked to serotonin and is also involved and a mutation of this has been linked to low mood in OCD
- neural explanations are due to the abnormal levels of dopamine and serotonin lead to the brain malfunctioning - high levels of dopamine leads to an overactive orbitofrontal cortex which leads to compulsions.
28
biological approach to explaining OCD- AO3
- genetic strength = supporting research from Nestadt et al who found that 68% of identical twins and 31% of non-identical twins experience OCD. this suggests that the closer related people are, the higher the concordance rate which suggests genetics plays a part in OCD and therefore the explanation is valid
- neural strength= led to development of medication that can help people manage their symptoms. it has also been able to create treatments targeted at brain regeneration. this therefore shows the benefit of taking a reductionist approach towards understanding the causes of OCD as it has led to the development of new treatments.
29
biological approach to treating OCD- AO1
- SSRIs inhibit the process of reabsorption of serotonin into the pre-synaptic neuron
- this is done through blocking reuptake meaning serotonin spends longer in the synaptic gap
- this means it is more likely to bind to receptors and move to the post-synaptic neuron which will then reduce anxiety
- this takes 3-4 months for SSRIs to impact symptoms
- benzodiazepines slow down the CNS by enhancing the neurotransmitter GABA
- this produces a calming effect on the CNS through a relaxation effect which therefore reduces anxiety
30
biological approach to treating OCD-AO3
- strength=it has research to support SSRIs effectiveness at reducing OCD symptoms. Julien found that 50-80% of OCD patients improve when given SSRIs compared to a placebo which suggests it is effective at treating OCD. however, much of this research looks into the short term effects meaning we are unsure whether there are long term benefits which may explain why treatment is more effective when paired with CBT.
- weakness- publication bias- Turner argues that only research that shows the drugs work is published so they can sell the drugs for a profit, putting profits before people. this is socially sensitive research and we should always consider who's paying and benefitting from the research meaning caution needs to be taken when drawing conclusions about the benefits of drug therapy
