Psychopathology

Question 1

What is statistical frequency as a definition of abnormality?

Answer 1

States that those who’s behaviour isn’t usual and doesn’t fit into a majority are classed as abnormal.

Question 2

What is deviation from social norms as a definition of abnormality?

Answer 2

States that when a person behaves in a way that is different to how we are expected to behave they are abnormal.

Question 3

What is failure to function adequately as a definition of abnormality?

Answer 3

States that if a person cannot keep up with the demands of everyday life and they fail to function in their role in society they are seen as abnormal.

Question 4

What is deviation from ideal mental health as a definition of abnormality?

Answer 4

States that if you differ from a list of criteria for good mental health we are abnormal.

Question 5

Evaluation points for statistical infrequency

Answer 5

N: Not everyone abnormal benefits from being labelled, may lead to negative image of self.
N: unusual characteristics can be positive, limits the credibility of a diagnosis based off it.
P: real life application in diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder

Question 6

Evaluation for deviation from social norms

Answer 6

P: takes into account the effect behaviour, relates to rest of society
N: Cultural differences, different cultures have different social norms
N: Human rights abuse, can result in dislike of minority groups, reduced ethics.

Question 7

Evaluation of failure to function adequately

Answer 7

P: takes into account patient’s perspective, improved validity
N: Subjective judgements, people could be judged incorrectly, reduced validity.

Question 8

Evaluation of deviation from ideal mental health

Answer 8

N: sets too high a standard for mental health, reduced validity
P: is a comprehensive definition, considers lots of different criteria. Improved validity

Question 9

What are some behavioural characteristics of Phobias?

Answer 9

Panic: running, screaming, crying
Avoidance:
Endurance: High levels of anxiety in the situation

Question 10

What are some emotional characteristics of Phobias?

Answer 10

Anxiety: Negative response with high stress, sufferers are unable to relax
Unreasonable emotional responses: Disproportional to the danger

Question 11

What are some cognitive characteristics of Phobias?

Answer 11

Selective attention: Focus more intently on stimuli
Irrational beliefs: May have irrational beliefs about the phobia.
Cognitive distortions: More likely to see phobic stimulus in distorted way

Question 12

What are some behavioural characteristics of depression?

Answer 12

Low activity levels, disrupted sleeping and eating, aggression or self harm

Question 13

Cognitive characteristics of depression?

Answer 13

Poor concentration, focusing on negatives, absolutist thinking

Question 14

Emotional characteristics of depression?

Answer 14

Lowered mood, anger, lower self esteem

Question 15

Behavioural characteristics of OCD?

Answer 15

Compulsions, Avoidance of scenarios which trigger obsessions

Question 16

Cognitive characteristics of OCD?

Answer 16

Obsessive thoughts, strategies to deal with obsessions, cognitive insight into anxiety (aware they aren’t rational)

Question 17

Emotional characteristics of OCD?

Answer 17

Anxiety and distress, depression, guilt and disgust

Question 18

What is the two process model?

Answer 18

Mowrer (1947) suggested phobias were learnt through association (phase 1) and maintained through reinforcement and punishment (Phase 2).

Question 19

What is a case study in favour of the two process model?

Answer 19

Little Albert (1920) had a phobia of white rats created by researchers. Whenever the rat was present a loud noise was created. He was then conditioned into becoming scared whenever he saw the rat cause he associated it with the noise.

Question 20

Evaluation of two process model.

Answer 20

N: People can develop phobias without traumatic experience, reduced validity
N: Lots of research on animals, can’t be generalised to people
N: ignores role of biology where there is lots of evidence for a genetic component in phobias
P: Has lead to successful development of therapies (e.g. systematic desensitisation)
P: provides logical argument for some disorders

Question 21

Systematic desensitisation steps

Answer 21

Anxiety hierarchy: Put together by patient and therapist, list of situations that trigger anxiety from least to most spooky
Relaxation: Patient is taught to relax as much as possible with specific techniques
Exposure: Patient is exposed to stimulus from least to most frightening in relaxed state.

Question 22

What is flooding?

Answer 22

Immediate exposure to phobic stimulus, doesn’t allow for avoidance behaviour, patient learns the phobic stimulus is harmless.

Question 23

Systematic desensitisation evaluation

Answer 23

P: Suited to treat a range of patients (e.g. children)
P: preferred to patients who are opposed to flooding
N: May only treat symptom rather than cause so it may resurface again
N: More appropriate with phobias from personal experience rather than evolutionary ones

Question 24

Flooding evaluation

Answer 24

S: Is cost effective as it is quick
S: Ethical as patients give informed consent to it
N: Not effective for some kinds of phobias (e.g. social phobias)

Question 25

What are the stages in Ellis’ ABC model

Answer 25

A: Activating event = Irrational thoughts are triggered by external event, which tends to be negative
B: Beliefs = Negative beliefs then occur as a result of the activating event
C: Consequence = When these beliefs are triggered it leads to emotional and behavioural consequences

Question 26

Evaluation of ABC model

Answer 26

N: is only a partial explanation, only applies to reactive depression which is separate to other kinds. Decreases generalisability.
P: Practical application in CBT.
N: doesn’t explain all aspects of depression, difficult to explain symptoms like deep anger/depression. Reduced validity.

Question 27

What is Beck’s theory?

Answer 27

Suggests that depression occurs as a result of a cognitive vulnerability. This is separated into three parts:
Faulty info processing: Focus more on negatives of situation rather than positive. Blow small problems out of proportion, with very black and white views
Negative self schemas: Negative ideas of themselves, interpreting all info about them negatively
Negative triad: Three types of negative thinking that occur automatically.
Negative view of self –> Negative view of future –> Negative view of world

Question 28

Evaluation for Beck’s theory

Answer 28

P: Practical application in CBT, forms the basis for it as all aspects of depression can be identified/challenged within it.
P: Good supporting evidence. Terry (2000) found women judged to have high cognitive vulnerability were more likely to suffer from post natal depression,
N: Doesn’t explain all aspects of depression, as it is deeply complex and some cases can’t be easily explained by his theory, reducing validity.

Question 29

Who developed CBT and what are its steps?

Answer 29

• Examines negative triad
• Identify negative thoughts/feelings
• Test patient’s negative beliefs with outside work

Question 30

What did Ellis add to his ABC model in REBT (Rational Emotive behaviour therapy)?

Answer 30

He made it the ABCDE model with the D standing for Dispute (challenging irrational thoughts) and Effect (the effect of the debate)

Question 31

What are the three terms used in the Debate part of ABCDE model?

Answer 31

Logical argument: Disputing whether the negative thought logically follows from facts
Empirical argument: Involves disputing whether there is actual evidence to support the negative belief.
Behavioural activation: Encouragement from therapist to participate in enjoyable activities, which provide evidence for irrational nature of phobia.

Question 32

Evaluation of CBT.

Answer 32

P: It is effective, March et al compared effects of CBT vs effects of anti-depressants and combination of the two in 327 teens with depression. Found after 36 weeks, 81% of anti depressants and 86% of the CBT plus anti depressant group were better emotionally.
N: May not work for the most severe cases, depression may be so severe they cant bring themselves to participate in CBT.
N: Success may be due to patient/therapist relationship and not the treatment.

Question 33

What two factors are said to influence the likelihood of OCD being biological?

Answer 33

Genetic and neural explanations

Question 34

Describe the three key points to the genetic explanation surrounding OCD.

Answer 34

Is the idea that genes are involved in individual vulnerability to OCD.
OCD is polygenic, has up to 230 genes associated with it.
Different types of OCD: different genes may be responsible for different individuals with OCD. Therefore its origin may have different causes.

Question 35

State a study supporting the genetic explanation for OCD.

Answer 35

Lewis found that 37% of his patients with OCD had patients with OCD and 21% of them had siblings with OCD. Suggests that there are several genes which can predispose people to OCD.

Question 36

Describe the two key points to the neural explanation surrounding OCD.

Answer 36

Role of serotonin: if someone has low seratonin it is linked to mood relevant processes being unable to occur, possibly linking it to OCD.
Decision making system: OCD appears to be associated with impaired decision making/abnormal function of lateral frontal lobes in brain.

Question 37

Evaluation points for Genetic explanation

Answer 37

P: Good supporting evidence. Nestadt et al (2010) reviewed twin studies, found 68% of MZ twins shared OCD compared with 31% of DZ twins.
N: Too many candidate genes, each combination only increases chances of getting OCD fractionally so hard to pin down specific genes.