psychopathology Flashcards
(51 cards)
1
Q
What is psychopatholgy
A
Study of psychological disorders
2
Q
statistical infrequency
A
when an individual has a less than common characteristic
3
Q
How can statistical infrequency be used to detect a psychological disorder
A
- This approach can only be used when the characteristic can be reliably measured
- Such as IQ, a person having an IQ of lower than 70 will often be diagnosed with intellectual disability disorder (IDD)
4
Q
Deviation from social norms
A
when a behaviour deviates from what is socially acceptable
5
Q
Evaluation of statistical infrequency
A
Strengths
- practical use for diagnosis
- Beck depression inventroy - used to measure depression
- IQ - measure intellectuality
Limitations
- Can only be used when characteristics can be objectively measured
- Sometimes statistical infrequency could be positive, such as a high IQ
- Social stigma attached to labels , therefore sometimes people may not benefitted from being diagnosed as different, especially if they are able to function without treatment
6
Q
Evaluation of deviation from social norms
A
Strengths
- Real world application, used to diagnose mental disorders such as psychopathy
- Moral social norms are largely accepted across cultures
Limitations
- Social norms are different across cultures and generations
- Using social norms as a diagnosis carries the risk of unfair labelling, deviation from social norms can be unharmful to the person themself and the people around them
7
Q
Failure to function criteria
A
Rosenham and Seligman
- Failure to conform to standard interpersonal rules
- Experiences severe personal distress
- Irrational behaviour dangerous to themselves or others
8
Q
Ideal mental health
A
- deviation from ideal mental health can be used to define abnormality
- Jahoda proposes 8 criterion:
no symptoms or distress
accurate perception of ourselves
ability to self actualise
cope with stress
accurate perception of reality
independent
love, work and enjoy leisure time successfully
self esteem
9
Q
evalaution of failure to function
A
- Present a threshold for help, ensuring that the people who need the most help recieves it first, according to the charity mind 25% of the UK will experience a mental health problem in any given year
- In some circumstances failure to function can be mistaken for deviating from social norms
10
Q
Evaluation of Jahoda’s criteria for ideal mental health
A
- Comprehensive definition, but very high standards
- Specific to individualistic cultures - self actualisation
11
Q
DSM-5 categories for phobias
A
- specific phobia - situation or object
- social phobia - public situation or object
- agoraphobia - fear of leaving your house or being in a public space
12
Q
Three behavioural reactions to phobias
A
- Panic - physical reaction, crying or screaming
- Avoidance
- Endurance
13
Q
emotional reactions to phobias
A
- Fear
- Anxiety
Needs to be unreasonable or disproportionate to the phobic stimulus
14
Q
Cognitive reactions to phobias
A
- Selective attention, either looking at it if it poses a threat or looking away if it cant move closer to you
- irrational beliefs
- Cognitive distortions
15
Q
DSM-5 categories for depression
A
- Major depressive disorder - severe but short term
- Persistent depressive disorder - long term
- Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder - tantrums
- Premenstrual dysphoric disorder
16
Q
Behavioural characteristics of depression
A
- Activity levels; low or psychomotor agitation
- Sleeping; insomnia or hypersomnia
- Appetite increases or decreases
- Aggression and self harm - physical and verbal abuse
17
Q
Emotional characteristics of depression
A
- Anger
- low self esteem
- lowered mood - lethargic and sad
18
Q
cognitive characteristics of depression
A
- Low concentration and inability to make decisions
- Dwelling on the negative
- Absolutist thinking
19
Q
behavioural
A
the ways in which people act
20
Q
emotional
A
the way in which people feel
21
Q
cognitive
A
the way in which people think and their perspective
22
Q
DSM-5 categories for OCD
A
- OCD
- trichotillimania - compulsive hair pulling
- hoarding disorder
- Excoriation disorder - compulsive skin picking
23
Q
behavioural characteristics
A
- Compulsions are repetitive
- Compulsions reduce anxiety - around 10% of people with OCD dont have obsessions just irrational anxiety
- Avoidance, negative reinforcements of irrational fears
24
Q
Emotional characteristics of OCD
A
- Anxiety and distress
- Accompanying depression
- guilt and disgust
25
cognitive characteristics of OCD
- Obsessive thoughts - in 90% of cases it is the primary symptom
- Cognitive coping strategies - saying a phrase 3 times
- Insight into excessive anxiety - knowing their fears are irrational
26
The two process model to explaining phobias
- Proposed by Hobart Mowrer
- Acquired through classical conditioning, associating phobic stimulus with fear response
- Maintained through operant conditioning, negative reinforcement, avoidance of phobic stimulus
27
Evaluation of the two step process
Strengths
- exposure therapy
- demonstrates the link between bad experiences and phobias, eg. little albert, de Jongh et al. 73% of people with a fear of dentists had a traumatic experience
Limitations
- cognitive factors, phobias don't always arise from a negative experience
- evolutionary theory, that phobias are most often of objects/situation that were a threat to our ancestors, therefore it is predisposed
28
systematic desensitisation
- counter conditioning
- creating an anxiety hierarhcy
- Relaxation techniques - reciprocal inhibition - can't feel scared and relaxed at the same time
- exposure
29
flooding
- informed consent necessary
- exposed to phobic stimulus with no option for avoidance
- counterconditioning, lack of unconditioned stimulus when conditioned stimulus is present, therefore no conditioned response
30
Evaluation of systematic desensitisation
strengths
- Gilroy et al. 42 participants undergone systematic desensitisation, compared with control group at 3 and 33 months both times less fearful
- VR exposure, cost effective, avoids dangerous situations
- For people with learning disabilites is much more safe than exposure therapy
Limitations
- VR less effective especially for social phobias
- symptom substitution, doesn't tackle the cause of the phobia, therefore one phobia may be replaced by another
31
Flooding evaluation
strengths
- Cost effective - one session
limitations
- traumatic
- symptom substitution, doenst tackle the cause of the phobia, therefore one phobia may be replaced by another
32
Vulnerable cognitive thinking, proposed by Beck
- Explanation for depression
- faulty information processing - focusing on negative and ignoring positive
- negative self schema
- Beck's negative triad, negative veiw of the world, negative veiw of the future, negative veiw of oneself
33
Evaluation of Beck's vulnerable cognitive thinking
Strenghts
- Beck and clark, found that people with depression also had vulnerable cognitive thinking, which also preceeded the depression
- Cohen et al. trakced adolescents cognitive vulnerability, adolescents with these cognitive habits were more likely to develop depression, therefore can be used to help prevent depression developed
Weaknesses
- Partial explanation doesn't explain, anger and hallucinations as symptoms of depression
34
Ellis's ABC model
- explanation for depression
- Caused by irrational thoughts - any thought that gets in the way of happiness
- A - activating events, trigger the irrational thoughts
- B - beliefs, that you must always reach perfection, utopionism - beleif thatlife is fair
- C - consequences, emotional and behavioural consequences to not acheiveing perfection - depression
35
ABC model evaluation
Strenghts
- rational emotive behaviour therapy - REBT
- David et al. found REBT to be effective
weaknesses
- Only explains reactive depression not endogenous depression- depression caused by no particular event
36
CBT
- cognitive element - client and therapist work together to clarify problems, make goals, and make plans to acheive them
- behaviour element - changing the negative habits and/pr replacing them with positive habits
37
CBT:
Beck's cognitive therapy
- Identifying negative thoughts about the world, future and self - negative triad
- "client as scientist" told to find evidence against the reality of their negative thoughts, eg. no one is nice, recording anytime a person was nice
38
CBT:
REBT
- challenges the irrational beleifs which cause depression
- logical argument, whether the negative veiws are logcially based on facts
- empirical argument whether there is any evidence to support the negative beleif
39
|CBT:
Behavioural activation
- People with depression avoid diffucult situations, making them isolated and worsening their symptoms
- Therapists encourage clients to get out of their comfort zone
40
CBT evaluation
Strengths
- March et al. CBT just as effective as anti depressant, CBT + antidepressants most effective
- Lewis and Lewis effective for severe depression to an extent, as clients may lack motivation
- Taylor et al. effective for clients with learning disabilites to an extent, as includes complex thinking but when used right is effective
Limitations
- Relapse rates, ali et al. 50% of clients relapsed after after a year follwoing a course of CBT
- Most clients prefer antidepressants as its an easier and quicker fix
41
OCD: genetic explanation
- Candadite genes - genes that have been found to create vulnerability for OCD, some of them involved in regulating serotonin
- polygenic, not caused by a specific gene
- Different groups of genes can cause different types of OCD
42
Genetic explanation of OCD evaluation
strenghts
- Lewis observed that 37% of his OCD patients' parents had OCD and 21% had siblings
- Niestdat, 68% of identical twins share OCD, 30% of non identical
- Genes found in mice have been proven to cause repetitive behaviours
weaknesses
- Cromer et al. over half the OCD clients had experienced a traumatic event, the more trauma the worse the OCD
-
43
Neural explanation for OCD
- serotonin regulates mood , and reduction in serotonin can cause OCD
- inability to make decisions is a symptom of OCD, frontal and lateral lobe could be damaged
44
Evaluation of neural explanation for OCD
strengths
- antidepressants that work purely on serotonin are effective in reducing OCD symptoms
- Co morbidity - when a person has two mental disorders, many patients with OVCD also suffer from clinical depression, which irregulates serotonin, therefore this leads to logical problems when assuming serotonin is the basis of OCD
- Correlation between neural disfunctions and OCD not causation
45
SSRI treatment for OCD
- selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor
- left over serotonin in the synapse is not broken down, compensates for serotonin irregulations
- typically takes 4 months for a tangible change
46
SSRI with CBT
- Alongside CBT, as other symptoms are controlled, such as irrational fears, patient is much better able to engage
47
Alternatives to SSRI
- Tricyclics, acts ion various systems including serotonin, more severe side effects, only in the case that the patient is not responding to SSRI
- SNRIs, for patients not responsive to SSRI, also increases noradrenaline alongside serotonin and other hormones
48
Evaluation of drug treatment for OCD
Strenghts
- Soomro et al. found that drug was effective for 70% of patients compared to a placebo group
- cost effective and time efiicient, compared with therpay for health system and patient
wekanesses
- Skapinaki found CBT more effective than SSRI
- SSRI side effects: indigestion, blurred vision, loss of sex drive
- 1 in 100 people who take trcyclics experience heart related problems
49
Obsession
persistent thought, idea impulse or image that is experienced repeatedly feels intrusive and causes anxiety
50
Compulsion
a repetitive and rigid behaviour or mental act that a person feels driven to perform in order to prevent or reduce anxiety
51
cycle of OCD
Obsessive thought - anxiety - compulsive behaviour - temporary relief
