Psychopathology Flashcards
(64 cards)
1
Q
Definitions of abnormality
A
- Statistical Infrequency
- Deviation from Social Norms
- Failure to function adequately
- Deviation from ideal mental health
2
Q
Statistical Infrequency
A
- Any behaviour that is statistically rare is abnormal, the minorities on statistical scale are abnormal.
- Observed on normal distribution, abnormal behaviour lays on the 2 ends
3
Q
Statistical infrequency evaluation
A
- Real life applications: Useful in clinical applications.Can be used to diagnose intellectual disability disorder. Often useful across many disorders in clinical assessment because we have to see how far they are different from the statistical average or norm.
- Abnormality is seen as negative but unusual characteristics can be good, could be a misdiagnosis:eg low IQ ands high IQ are statistically rare, society sees high IQ as good and low IQ as bad so stat inf isnt an accurate measure of abnormality+ high iq doesnt need treatment. Cant be used alone to diagnose someone because could be a misdiagnosis.
- If someone is living a fulfilled life but are labelled as abnormal, they may be negatively influenced and seen badly by others. doesn’t regard persons perspective
4
Q
Deviation from Social Norms
A
- Social Norm is a rule for behaviour based on moral standards.
- When someone behaves in a way which is different to what we expect(norm), they would be seen as abnormal
5
Q
Deviation from Social Norms Evaluation
A
- Cultural relativism: Problem as eg hearing voices may be normal in african culture but seen as a sign of schizophrenia in uk. Traditions and values influence what we see as abnormal- this def is an imposed etic
- Social norms vary over time: eg homosexuality was seen as abnormal 100 years ago but not anymore.Judgements base from known social norms, if the norm of that period is unknown, misjudgement is likely.
- Real life app in anti-social personality disorder. Social norms provide a guide of what is acceptable
6
Q
Failure to function adequately
A
- When an individuals behaviour interfere in their functioning so they can’t meet demands of day to day life
- Signs:Dont conform to interpersonal rules, experience personal distress, irrational behaviours and cause observer discomfort
7
Q
Failure to function adequately evaluation
A
- Lacks inter-rater reliability: too subjective as criterias observed, different psychologists may see distress differently.Behavioural categories must be operationalised
- Failure to function adequately may just be deviation from norms, eg if someone has no permanent residence, it may just be lifestyle choice- risks discrimination+lacks explanation
- Addresses experience of the person and help can be given
8
Q
Deviation from ideal mental health
A
- Looks at factors which make us seem normal and abnormal people will deviate from it
- No symptoms of distress
- Rational+perceive ourselves acurately
- Self-actualise (reach full potential)
- Good self-esteem+see the world realistically
9
Q
Deviation from ideal mental health evaluation
A
- Culturally relative:Jahodas criteria is an imposed etic as it is based on individualistic cultures+focuses on independence but wont generalise to collectivist cultures which emphasise community
- Unrealistic standards:sets standards which are too high to achieve all at once so it isnt an accurate measure so its not valid
- Comprehensive definition and covers most reasons to seek help.
10
Q
Phobias
A
- Irrational fear of object or situation
- This is an anxiety disorder
11
Q
Behavioural characteristics of phobias
A
- Panic: respond with panic in presence of stimulus(crying,screaming,running away)
- Avoidance: avoids fear which disrupts daily life(fear of toilets means you may limit the time you spend outside disrupting work)
- Endurance: can’t avoid situation so endures it and faces high level of anxiety (fear of flying, on a plane you cant escape this)
12
Q
Behavioural characteristics
A
-How you act in a situation
13
Q
Emotional characteristics
A
-How you feel in a situation
14
Q
Cognitive characteristics
A
-How you think/process info in a situation
15
Q
Emotional characteristics of phobias
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- Anxiety: phobias are anxiety disorders. Anxiety are an unpleasant state of high arousal +prevents relaxation(eg:arachnophobia means whenever faced with spiders anxiety levels rise)
- Excessive fear+panic+stress
16
Q
Cognitive characteristics of phobias
A
- Selective attention to phobic stimulus: if the object is in the room it becomes hard to concentrate for the person
- Irrational beliefs:Phobic may hold irrational belief about stimulus (eg:i must always sound smart may lead to social phobia) unrealistic expectation
- Cognitive distortions: Phobics perception of the stimulus may be distorted (eg:omphalics see navals as ugly)
17
Q
Behavioural approach: explanation of phobias
A
- Two-process model
- Believes behaviour is learnt through conditioning
- Only explains outward behaviour demonstrated+not emotional or cognitive aspects.
18
Q
Two-process model
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- Argues phobias are acquired through classical conditioning then continue due to operant conditioning
- Acquisition by classical conditioning and maintenance by operant conditioning
19
Q
Little Albert: Acquisition by classical conditioning
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- Watson+Rayner conditioned 9 month old albert with a phobia of white rats.
- The white rat was the NS, the loud bang was a UCS, the UCR was fear. After albert was shown the bang and rat at the same time, the rat became the CS and fear of the rat became a CR. Albert was shown other similar looking things and he showed distress so he generalised it.
20
Q
Maintenance by operant conditioning
A
- Negative reinforcement=when a stimulus gives an unpleasant experience so you avoid it more often
- Avoiding the phobic stimulus means fear is escaped. The reduction of fear is desirable and negatively reinforces so avoidant behaviour recurs and phobia remains
21
Q
Evaluation of behavioural explanation of phobias
A
- Real-life app:Strength bc it explains why phobias stay for a long time and this allowed successful treatment (flooding+SD) to develop. This gives the exp credibility
- Environmentally reductionist: Limits exp to learning in CC+OC. Ignores other factors+should be more interactionist (SLT/BIOLOGY)
- Little Albert: demonstrates the 2 process model+shows it is evident+not just theory, but the sample is too small to generalise+lacks pop validity
- Environmental determinism: Ignores freewill+assumes environment determines all behaviour but doesnt explain why some may become phobic without experience or learning
22
Q
Behavioural treaments
A
-Aim: to reduce phobic anxiety through counter-conditioning (pairing phobic stimulus with relaxation)
Reduce phobic anxiety through operant conditioning, don’t give the option to avoid the stimulus
23
Q
Systematic Desensitisation (SD)
A
- 2 competitive emotions cannot occur together, if fear is replaced with relaxation, fear can’t continue
- SD aims to teach patient a more appropriate association+reduces unwanted responses(anxiety)
- Reciprocal inhibition:Process of inhibiting anxiety by substituting it with a competing response
24
Q
3 processes involved in SD
A
- Anxiety hierarchy is made by patient+therapist. Stepped approach to get person to face fear from least to most frightening
- Patient trained in relaxation techniques so they can relax quickly in stressful situation
- Patient is exposed to phobic stimulus whilst practising relaxation tech. When completed, process repeats moving up the hierarchy
25
Evaluation of SD
- Research support:Gilroy et al followed 42 patients with arachnophobia.Control group was treated with only relaxation tech+no exposure. At 3+33 months, SD group were less fearful than control group. SD is effective
- Patients prefer it: Low refusal+attrition rates bc other option is flooding which is more scary. More people will be treated+implications for economy are good
- Environmentally reductionist as its based from behaviourist exp. Should combine therapies eg SD+CBT
26
Flooding
- Involves overwhelming patient senses with phobic stimuli so person realises there's no harm from it
- No relaxation tech or stepped build up
- Individual is flooded repeatedly + intensively with thoughts, images+ experiences of phobic stimuli
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Why flooding works
- Stops phobic responses quickly.
- Extinction: without ability to avoid behaviour, patient learns stimuli is harmless
- Learned response is extinguished when CS (eg dog)is encountered without the UCS (eg being bit)
- Is ethical as informed consent is gained+are prepared
28
Flooding evaluation
- Cost-effective: effective results+cheap to conduct. Strength as its more practical as less sessions are needed to time+money is saved. May be negative implication for economy if phobic ppl arent working+drain NHS resources
- Traumatic treatment: ppl are unwilling to do it as it causes trauma so there may be high refusal+attrition rates, wont be cured+funds will be wasted
- Environmentally reductionist: Limits cause of phobia to be due to environment, extinction tries to dissociate CS with UCS+UCR, ignores other factors like biology
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Depression
-Mood disorder
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Behavioural characteristics of depression
- Activity levels:reduced energy making them lethargic (may cause withdrawal from work,school)
- Disrupted sleep+eating:irregular sleeping pattern. Appetite may increase/decrease
- Aggression+self harm: Become more irritable + display verbal, physical aggression
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Emotional characteristics of depression
- Lowered mood: feelings of being worthless or empty
- Lowered self-esteem: dislike themself sometimes self loathing
- Anger: not always just sad, can have display of anger to others or to themselves
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Cognitive characteristics of depression
- Poor concentration: unable to stick to tasks or make decisions which are straightforward
- Attending+dwelling on negatives: More attentive to negative aspects of things+recall negative experiences more
- Black and white thinking: things can only be really good or really bad (if a situation is unfortunate they'll see it as a disaster)
33
Cognitive approach:explaining depression
- Depression is due to disturbance in thinking
- Focus on individuals negative thoughts, irrational beliefs and misinterpretation of events as being the cause of depression
34
Beck's negative triad
- Maladaptive responses (don't respond normally or as expected), depressed ppl get stuck in a cycle of negative thoughts
- Three parts to this cognitive vulnerability
1. faulty information processing
2. negative self schemas
3. negative triad
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1. Faulty information processing:
- Depressed people selectively attend negative aspects of situations+ignore positives
- have black and white thinking
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2.Negative self-schemas:
- Self-schema are ideas about ourselves.
| - Depressed people think badly of themselves, interpret all info about themselves negatively
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3.Negative triad
- Negative view of self (i am incompetent)
- Negative view of the world (it is a hostile place)
- Negative view of future (problems wont go+there will always be emotional pain)
38
Evaluation of Beck's theory
- Research support: Grazioli+Terry studied 65 pregnant women for cog vulnerability+dep after birth. Those high in cog vulnerability were more likely to have postnatal dep. Correlation but it's a small gynocentric sample
- Real-life app: CBT is a successful therapy based on Becks theory so it provides validity
- Doesn't explain all parts of depression: Explains basic symptoms +but its a complex disorder+unique symptoms arent explained. Is reductionist too for cog so other explanations like biological might explain this
39
Ellis' ABC model
- Good mental health due to rational thinking.
- Depression comes from irrational thinking (thoughts interfering with you being happy) bc sufferers base their lives from these beliefs
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Activating event
When an event occurs triggering B (beliefs)
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Beliefs
You can either have normal beliefs or irrational about the situation, if you have irrational beliefs you're more likely to be depressed
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Consequence
When A triggers irrational beliefs, consequences can be emotional and behavioural (feel+act)
43
Evaluation of Ellis' ABC model
- Partial exp: Only useful for dep with obvious causes (eg:death in family), but not for dep which has no specific cause. Lacks exp so is only valid for dep with activating events
- Real life app: Successful therapy based on the abc model has been made, CBT, so this gives validity to the model
- Doesnt exp all aspects of dep: Symptoms like anger, hallucinations or delusions are unexplained so it only explains dep with basic symptoms and cant be applied to all types
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Evaluation of BOTH, Ellis+Beck
- Corr not cause: it is unknown whether negative thoughts cause dep or if neg thoughts are an effect of dep, this means we dont know what to treat
- Machine reductionist: Reduces ppl down to information processors+ignores other factors like freewill or biology. Needs to be more interactionist
45
Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)
- Treats depression mainly
- Based on behavioural+cognitive techniques
- Aims to make client aware of thought, emotion and actions
- CBT helps people change how they think (cognitive) and what they can do better (behaviour)
- Helps break cycle of maladaptive thinking, feeling+ behaviour
- Focuses on 'here+now' problems+ignores cause of distress
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What happens in CBT
- Discuss what the person thinks about themselves, the world and future (-ve triad) + how what you do affects your thoughts and feelings.
- Cognitive: aims to combat thinking by challenge -ve thoughts
- Behavioural techniques: behavioural activation, encouraging them to do things they avoid
47
CBT: Becks cognitive therapy
-Client is first assessed to see severity of condition
-Therapist establishes a baseline prior to treatment to help monitor improvement
-Told to feel better you must think positively, client has to provide info of how they see themselves, world+future
Therapist uses process of reality testing to see if their views are realistic
May get hmw 'patient as scientist', have to gather proof+record when people are nice to them etc as proof against -ve thoughts
-Clients are made aware of -ve beliefs so they can change for +ve ideas
48
CBT: Ellis' rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT)
-extends ABC model to ABCDE model; D= dispute (challenge -ve thought) and E=Effect (see more beneficial eff on behaviour)
-REBT challenges client to prove -ve statements about themselves+replace them with more reasonable ones.
May show utopianism but is disputed with vigorous argument to break link between event+dep
eg Empirical argument: is there actual evidence to support claim?
49
Evaluation of CBT
- Research support:March et al compared eff of CBT with antidepressant drugs + combo in 327 adults. 81% in both groups showed improvement+86% of combo group.
- Too demanding for severe patients: some cant motivate themselves to do the work needed for CBT, means it can only work for able patients not suited for all depressed
- Ignores past influence
- Reduces importance of environment: Living circumstance may impact dep eg if in poverty or abuse, they need to change environment to get better.
- Machine reductionist
50
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
-Mental disorder where a person feels the need to perform behaviours repeatedly to prevent or reduce anxiety
51
Behavioural characteristics of OCD
- Compulsive behaviour: feel compelled to repeat behaviour (eg washing hands). Compulsions reduce anxiety produced by obsessions (eg compulsive hand washing to prevent anxiety from obsessive fear of germs)
- Avoidance:reduce anxiety by avoiding the situation that triggers it (eg avoid germs by not emptying bins)
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Emotional characteristics of OCD
- Anxiety+distress:obsessive thoughts can be unpleasant which lead to overwhelming anxiety. urge to repeat behaviour also creates anxiety
- Depression can accompany OCD: low mood+lack of enjoyment in activities
- Guilt+disgust may occur directing inwards or outwards
53
Cognitive characteristics of OCD
-Obsessive thoughts: thoughts which recur constantly
(eg being contaminated by germs)
-Excessive thoughts: can have catastrophic thoughts about the worst case scenario possible.
-May be hypervigilant + high alert+keep attention of potential hazards
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Cycle of OCD
1. Obsessive thought
2. Anxiety
3. Compulsive behaviour
4. Temporary relief
55
Biological explanation of OCD: Genetics
-Genetic component of OCD which predisposes some to to the disorder
-Lewis found 37% of his OCD patients had parents with it
+21% had siblings with it. May be a genetic link passing genetic vulnerability
-Diathesis stress model suggests you need an environmental stressor aswell as the gene to trigger OCD such as bereavement.
-OCD is polygenic, estimated 230 genes involved so little predictive power of what gene causes ocd, different genes may cause different types of ocd.
56
Bio explanation: COMT gene
- COMT gene involved in producing an enzyme which regulates production of dopamine (neurotransmitter) in the brain
- This gene causes low levels of enzyme which means high level of dopamine because theres not enough enzyme to regulate dopamine
- High dopamine levels link to OCD
57
Bio explanation: SERT gene
- Gene creates protein which removes serotonin then recycles it
- When this gene creates too much of the protein, serotonin levels go down as it recycles too quickly
- Low serotonin levels link to OCD
58
Biological explanation of OCD: Neural
- Looks at neurotransmitters + brain structures affecting OCD.
- Serotonin(neurotransmitter) regulates mood + prevents repetition of behaviour, low levels of serotonin mean more severe OCD symptoms + more repetitive behaviour
- Basal ganglia, brain structure: distributes serotonin and is involved in emotional + cognitive functions > anxiety + obsessive thoughts can occur if basal ganglia is damaged.
- Orbitofrontal cortex turns sensory info into thoughts + actions (obsessive thoughts + compulsions). Greater activity in the OFC is linked to OCD as there is increased sensory info being converted into actions aka compulsions + prevents stopping it.
59
Evaluation of biological explanation of OCD
-Support for genetic influence: Nestadt et al found 68% concordance in MZ+31% concordance in DZ twins.
but Conc arent 100%:means other factors are involved as traits arent the same. other factors may be explained by SLT > more interactionist
-Twins share same environment+exposed to same influences so basis for them may not be on their genes but on experience. Twins with OCD are rare so cant generalise as sample is too small + lacks pop validity
-Real-life app:drug therapy to increase serotonin+reduce OCD symptoms are effective
-Cause+effect:someone might have changes in brain or fluctuating neurotransmitters but it may not cause OCD but be a symptom of it.
-Biologically reductionist:neural exp only looks at neurotransmitters as cause of OCD
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Biological app to treating OCD: Drug therapy
- Biological common therapy for OCD is drug therapy
- Therapy assumes there is a chemical imbalance in the brain which can be fixed by drugs which increase/decrease level of neurotransmitter in the brain
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Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
- Increase serotonin levels in brain by preventing the re-absorption of serotonin.
- SSRIs effectively increase its levels in synapse+continue to stimulate post synaptic neuron
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Combination of SSRIs with CBT
- Drugs can be used with CBT
- Drugs reduce sufferers emotional symptoms like anxiety or depression
- This allows patient to engage in CBT more effectively
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Alternative to SSRIs
- If SSRIs arent effective after 3-4 months, dosage can increase or be combined with other drugs
- Patients respond differently to different drugs so alternatives work better for some
- eg Tricyclics: same effect but more side effects
64
Evaluation of bio approach to treating OCD: drug therapy
- Research support: Soomro et al did a meta analysis studies comparing SSRIs to placebos, in all 17 studies SSRI showed better results in reducing effects of ocd. Shows therapy is effective
- SSRI is more effective when combined: Interactionist app which helps maximise treatment for patient. CBT and SSRI's.
- Side effects can be major:Side effects may impact persons life like indigestion or blurred vision so they may drop out causing high attrition which means people wont be treated+funds wasted > negative impact on economy.
- Biologically reductionist:Traumatic life experience may have caused OCD not biology, so the wrong things may be treated. > more interactionist approach needed.
