psychopathy

Question 1

How many people will meet diagnostic criteria for a mental health disorder by the time they reach 18 years of age

Answer 1

1 in 2

Question 2

How many people may receive evidence based treatment.

Answer 2

1 in 6

Question 3

Where is evidence based treatment lowest

Answer 3

such as racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ communities, immigrant and migrant populations and low income

Question 4

Why is our current approach to mental health not meeting peoples needs

Answer 4

1) treatment gap. Many people do not seek treatment because of the cost, lack of access to services, stigma, distrust, racism, and a lack of culturally responsive clinicians who speak a client’s language (Barnett et al., 2017(opens in a new tab); Misra et al., 2021
2) research-to-practice gap. Clinicians are not delivering the most efficacious treatments.

Question 5

Give an example of a research to practice gap for depression

Answer 5

Has been shown that activity schelduling helps, however, as they help you feel accomplished and produce pleasure. Less than half of clinicians recommended it in their treatment

Question 6

What is efficacy

Answer 6

efficacy is the ability of an intervention to produce a desired effect under highly controlled circumstances.

Question 7

Give an example of a research to practice gap for anxiety

Answer 7

less than two-thirds of clinicians reported conducting exposures for anxiety (Cho et al., 2019. Another study found that when clinicians treat anxiety, they use exposure less than 36% of the time. When they do use it, they are more likely to ask the client to engage in imaginal exposure therapy or direct the exposure activity themselves, rather than get the patient to do it in real life.

Question 8

What is exposure therapy

Answer 8

involves exposing individuals to the things they fear, in a controlled and safe manner, so that they can learn that these things are not dangerous. Exposure therapy is the most effective treatment for anxiety, including obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, and the ONLY effective treatment for a phobia.

Question 9

What kind of treatment approach do we need

Answer 9

We need to help people in their homes, at school, at work, and in the community. We need to have free or almost free care.

Question 10

What is psycopathology

Answer 10

1) patterns of thoughts feeling behaviour that affect their well being
2) some behaviours are considered abnormal in all cultures, some only in some cultures. There are multiple indicators of abnormality.

Question 11

What are the indicators of abnormal behaviour

Answer 11

Subjective distress
maladaptiveness
statistical deviancy
violation of standards of society
irrationality and unpredictability
Dangerousness

Question 12

Who experiences subjective distress

Answer 12

Although people experiencing depression and excessive anxiety report subjective distress, those experiencing mania do not.

Question 13

What is maladaptive behaviour. Give some examples

Answer 13

Maladaptive behaviour interferes with our wellbeing. Sometimes the behavior is maladaptive for the individual (e.g., someone restricting their food intake may need to be hospitalized as they have become emaciated) and sometimes it is maladaptive for others (when someone cons another person out of their lifesavings).

Question 14

What is statistical deviancy

Answer 14

it’s rare

Question 15

What is violation of standards of society

Answer 15

When someone violates an implicit or unwritten social rule, those around them may experience discomfort. For example, if someone gets on an empty bus and sits right next to you. There is no law that says they can’t sit right next to you, but if you do not know who they are, you may feel quite uncomfortable.

Question 16

What needs to be considered in psychopathology

Answer 16

Indicators of abnormal behaviour, culture, time in history

Question 17

What is mental health

Answer 17

State of emotional and social wellbeing. Its when Individuals can cope with the normal stresses of life.

Question 18

What are mental health problems

Answer 18

Emotional and behavioural abnormalities which impair functioning.

Question 19

What is a mental disorder

Answer 19

Clinically recognisable symptoms that cause distress and impair functioning, generally requiring treatment. eg something like frequently coming to work late or calling in sick multiple times a month or screaming at one’s family each night when they come home from work.

Question 20

What are the at risk populations for mental health disorders

Answer 20

Children and adolescents

Older people

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Those living in rural and remote areas

Homeless individuals

Incarcerated individuals

Culturally and linguistically diverse individuals

Question 21

What does the biological perspective look at in terms of psychopathology

Answer 21

Hormones, genetics and neurobiology can influence psychopathology

Question 22

How do genetic vulnerabilities contribute to psychopathology

Answer 22

One example is the diathesis – stress model. This model indicates that mental disorders develop from a genetic or biological predisposition for that illness (diathesis) combined with stressful conditions that play a precipitating or facilitating role. 

Question 23

How do gene environment interactions contribute to psychopathology

Answer 23

our genes may influence our neural activity, and our neural activity can influence our behaviour, and then our behaviour can influence our neural activity.

Question 24

What are neurotransnmitters? Why are they important

Answer 24

Neurotransmitters are chemical substances released into the synapse when a nerve impulse occurs. Imbalances in these neurotransmitters have been implicated in several mental health disorders

Question 25

What is an excitatory neurotransmitter

Answer 25

type of neurotransmitter that promotes the generation of electrical signals in the receiving neuron, making it more likely for that neuron to fire an action potential. Action potentials are the electrical impulses that allow neurons to communicate with each other.

Question 26

What is an inhibitory neurotransmitter

Answer 26

type of neurotransmitter that tends to decrease the likelihood of the receiving neuron firing an action potential.

Question 27

What is a glutamate

Answer 27

excitatory neurotransmitter involved in learning and memory. Too much glutamate it is implicated in schizophrenia.

Question 28

What is GABA

Answer 28

an inhibitory neurotransmitter that helps regulate anxiety. Low levels of GABA are associated with high levels of arousal/anxiety.

Question 29

What is serotonin

Answer 29

mostly an inhibitory neurotransmitter that is involved in thinking and processing information from the environment, and helps to regulate mood. Too little serotonin may be associated with depression.

Question 30

What does dopamine do

Answer 30

plays a role in pleasure and reward, attention and focus, and learning and memory. Dopamine can have both excitatory and inhibitory effects. Too much dopamine is linked to having poor impulse control.

Question 31

What does the psychodynamic approach focus on

Answer 31

emphasises the role of unconscious processes and early childhood experiences in shaping human behaviour, thoughts, and emotions.

Question 32

Describe the object relations perspective

Answer 32

Theoretical framework within the psychanalytic theory that focuses on interpersonal relationships and emotional bonds formed with others. Objects - which are significant others are carried around in the form of internal mental representations. These representations can influence how people interact with others later in life.

Question 33

What is the interpersonal perspective

Answer 33

The interpersonal perspective recognises the importance of the broader social context in shaping personality. It considers cultural and social forces rather than inner instincts as determinants of behaviour.

Question 34

What is attachment theory

Answer 34

Emphasises the importance of early attachment relationships as laying the foundation for later functioning throughout life. Quality parental care is needed to develop secure attachments. Infants with secure attachment styles feel confident that their caregiver will meet their needs, as a result, they explore their environment. They also learn how to support themselves and others and develop adaptive ways of managing emotions.

Question 35

What is the behavioural approach

Answer 35

The behavioural perspective of psychopathology focuses on observable behaviour and the reinforcing properties of behaviour. This perspective emphasises the role of learning, conditioning, and environmental factors in the development and maintenance of maladaptive behaviour.

Question 36

What is classical conditioning? How can we use it in the context of psychopathology

Answer 36

classical conditioning involves learning associations between stimuli. In the context of psychopathology, maladaptive behaviours may develop through the pairing of certain stimuli with negative experiences or emotions. eg Reive a shock when you see a white rate you will come to hate white rats

Question 37

How can we acquire fear responses

Answer 37

either through direct learning, by verbally being told about danger, or by vicariously seeing something aversive happen to someone else.

Question 38

What is operant conditioning

Answer 38

method of learning that uses rewards and punishment to modify behaviour. Positive reinforcement (reward) and negative reinforcement (removal of aversive stimuli) can strengthen or maintain behaviour, while punishment can weaken behaviour. Put simply, animals including humans, act to obtain a reward or avoid punishment.

Question 39

Explain punishment and reinforcement

Answer 39

Punishment is involved in decreases in behaviour, while reinforcement is involved in increases in behaviour. Positive and negative refer to adding or taking something away from the environment—they do NOT mean good or bad.

Question 40

What is the cognitive perspective of psychopathology

Answer 40

focuses on how thoughts, beliefs, and cognitive processes contribute to the development and maintenance of psychological disorders. It emphasises the role of cognitive factors in shaping emotions and behaviour.

Question 41

What are the key concepts on the cognitive perspective

Answer 41

Cognitive processes Information processing biases Cognitive distortions

Question 42

What are cognitive processes

Answer 42

Cognitive processes refer to mental activities such as perception, attention, memory, and problem-solving. The cognitive perspective examines how these processes may be altered or unhelpful in individuals with psychological disorders.

Question 43

What are information processing biases

Answer 43

Information-processing bias is evident when an individual processes information in a given cognitive domain (e.g., memory, interpretation) in an unhelpful way. Biases in attention, interpretation, memory, and imagery may lead individuals to view situations in an unrealistic way, and motivate them to behave in ways that contribute to the maintenance of unhelpful behaviour. Essentially, information processing biases are systemic errors in cognitive processing.

Question 44

Give some egs of information processing biases

Answer 44

selectively focus on all the money they have won through gambling and ignore the greater amount of money they have lost. Another person may tend to negatively interpret ambiguous situations such as by assuming that their friends have been talking poorly about them after walking up to them and noticing that they stopped their conversation upon their approach.

Question 45

What are cognitive distortions

Answer 45

Cognitive distortions are irrational and biased ways of thinking that can contribute to negative emotions and unhelpful behaviour. Common cognitive distortions include catastrophising (expecting the worst), black-and-white thinking (seeing things in extremes), and overgeneralization (drawing broad conclusions from limited evidence).

Question 46

What is the character structure model

Answer 46

theory based in the psychodynamic perspective. In brief, character structures are thought to develop in response to early life experiences and play a role in shaping an individual's personality

Question 47

Why should rebirthing therapy never be used

Answer 47

Candace Newmaker, a 10-year-old, died during one of these, so-called, attachment-based therapy sessions. She choked on own vomit and died. It is important that there is scientific evidence to support the work that you do, otherwise in could lead to people wasting money and time or worse causing harm.

Question 48

Why is critical thinking important

Answer 48

Sometimes when we are desperate we will try things that have no evidence. Testimonials are not scientific evidence. They are subjective. May discuss private info about clients. Can help professional make money but they are there to help clients.

Question 49

What do you need to do to be a critically thinking therapist

Answer 49

Need to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of theories and interventions that you practice in.

Question 50

The ____________________ model posits that mental disorders develop from a genetic or biological predisposition for that illness combined with stressful conditions that play a precipitating or facilitating role. 

Answer 50

diathesis - stress model

Question 51

Dopamine plays a role in addiction, whereas _____________ plays a role in anxiety and depression.

Answer 51

serotonin

Question 52

-------------theorists distinguish three broad classes of psychopathology (neuroticism, personality, psychosis) that form a continuum of functioning, from the least to the most disturbed.

Answer 52

psychodynamic

Question 53

------------conditioning has long been applied as an etiological model for anxiety and depression.

Answer 53

Pavlovian, fear conditioning

Question 54

The behavioural perspective has taught us that maladaptive behaviour is the result of _______________.

Answer 54

Learning

Question 55

What is psychopathology

Answer 55

The scientific study of psychological disorders, including their symptoms, causes, and treatment. Patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that disrupt functioning or wellbeing A branch of psychology concerned with matters outside of our awareness A branch of psychology focused on treating mental disorders

Question 56

What is the relationship between mental health problems and mental disorders?

Answer 56

Mental health problems are less severe

Question 57

Which of the following statements is TRUE regarding the definition of abnormality in human behavior?

Answer 57

Multiple indicators are needed