Psychopathology AO3

Question 1

Name 2 weaknesses to the deviation from social norms definition of abnormality.

Answer 1

• Social norms are constantly changing with time
• Social norms are different within different cultures

Question 2

Name 1 strength of the statistical infrequency definition of abnormality.

Answer 2

Real-life application means that all assessments have a measurement to compare to

Question 3

Name 2 weaknesses of the statistical infrequency definition of abnormality.

Answer 3

• Unusual characteristics can be positive
• Not everyone benefits from a label, can result to bullying or other forms of discrimination

Question 4

Name 2 weaknesses of the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality.

Answer 4

• Who judges whether someone is failing to function adequately, it is subjective
• It is very similar to a deviation from social norms

Question 5

Name 1 strength of the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality.

Answer 5

It makes an attempt to include the patient’s subjective experience

Question 6

Name 1 strength of the deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality.

Answer 6

It covers a wide range of criteria for mental health

Question 7

Name 3 weaknesses of the deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality.

Answer 7

• The criteria is very demanding
• Jahoda used the same method to diagnose physical and mental health, though it’s not the same
• Cultural relativism, not all cultures view mental health the same way

Question 8

Name 2 general weaknesses of the two-process model.

Answer 8

• People can develop phobias without having a negative experience with their phobic stimulus
• Neglects the cognitive side of phobias

Question 9

Name one piece of evidence for the two-process model.

Answer 9

Little Albert - Watson and Rayner

Question 10

Name 2 specific (mention psychologists) weaknesses of the two-process model.

Answer 10

• Sue et al found that not all phobias can be explained by the two-process model
• The two-process model is an incomplete explanation of phobias, Bounton stated that evolutionary factors play a role into developing phobias

Question 11

Describe a piece of supporting evidence for systematic desensitisation.

Answer 11

Öst
- Found that 90% of patients treated by systematic desensitisation had no symptoms 4 years later

Question 12

Name 2 strengths of systematic desensitisation.

Answer 12

• Suitable for a wide range of patients, e.g. those with learning difficulties
• Less traumatic than flooding

Question 13

Describe a piece of supporting evidence for flooding.

Answer 13

Kaplan and Tolin
- Found that 65% of patients treated by flooding showed no symptoms after 4 years

Question 14

Name 2 strengths of flooding.

Answer 14

• Cost-effective
• Takes little time

Question 15

Name 2 weaknesses of flooding.

Answer 15

• Less-effective for some phobias, e.g. social phobias
• High attrition rates due to the traumatic nature of the treatment

Question 16

Describe piece of supporting evidence for Beck’s theory of depression.

Answer 16

Grazioli and Terry
Assessed 65 pregnant women before and after birth, they found that cognitively vulnerable women suffered post-natal depression

Question 17

Name 1 weakness of Beck’s theory of depression.

Answer 17

It doesn’t explain all aspects of depression, it is a complex mental disorder which results in various symptoms. E.g. Cotard syndrome - belief that you are dead or dying

Question 18

Name 2 strengths of Ellis’ ABC model.

Answer 18

• Practical application, lead to CBT
• Attachment studies show that insecurely attached people were vulnerable to depression

Question 19

Name 2 weaknesses of Ellis’ ABC model.

Answer 19

• Some depression doesn’t have an activating event
• The model doesn’t explain behaviour

Question 20

Describe a piece of supporting evidence for CBT.

Answer 20

March et al
- Compared patients with CBT and antidepressants
- After 36 weeks it was found that both treatments were equally effective (81%)

Question 21

Name 3 weaknesses of CBT.

Answer 21

• CBT may not work for everyone, some severe cases can only be cured by antidepressants
• Success may be due to a therapist-patient relationship, Rozenwig suggested that all psychotherapy shared a therapist-patient relationship
• Overemphasis on cognition

Question 22

Describe 2 pieces of supporting evidence for genetic explanations of OCD.

Answer 22

Nestadt et al
- Twin studies
- 68% of identical twins shared OCD
- Compared to 31% of non-identical twins
Billett et al
- Meta-analysis
- 14 twin studies
- Identical twins were 2x more likely to develop OCD than non-identical twins

Question 23

Describe a piece of non-supporting evidence for genetic explanations of OCD.

Answer 23

Cromer
- Over half of the OCD patients in their sample had suffered a traumatic experience

Question 24

What does the diathesis-stress model say about OCD?

Answer 24

People gain a vulnerability to OCD through genes but an environmental stressor is required

Question 25

Describe a piece of supporting evidence for neural explanations of OCD.

Answer 25

Nestadt et al found that OCD symptoms form other biological conditions

Question 26

Name 3 weaknesses for neural explanations of OCD.

Answer 26

- Assumptions shouldn't be made that neural mechanisms cause OCD, OCD could be the cause for biological abnormalities - Co-morbidity, depression could cause a disruption to the serotonin system - Twin studies are flawed, identical twins share the same environment whereas fraternal twins may not (e.g. gender)

Question 27

Name 2 strengths of SSRI's (drugs).

Answer 27

- Highly reliable, Soomro reviewed studies compared with placebos - all 17 studies showed effectiveness of the drug over the placebo - Cost-effective

Question 28

Name 3 weaknesses of drug treatment for OCD.

Answer 28

- Side-effects - Evidence is unreliable, Goldacre stated that drug research is sponsored by drug companies which makes them biased - Some cases of OCD follow trauma. meaning that the treatment cannot be biological since the cause wasn't