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Psycopathology Flashcards

1
Q

What are the for types of definitions of abnormality?

A

Statistical infrequency
Deviation from social norms
Failure to function adequately
Deviation from ideal mental health

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2
Q

Statistical infrequency?

A

This is when something numerically uncommon defining something as ‘normal’ or ‘abnormal’ depending on the number of time it occurs or how far it is from the mean median and mode.

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3
Q

Example of statistical infrequency.

A

Average IQ is 100 most people have an IQ between 85 and 115, 2.5% of people have an IQ below 70. Example of statistical infrequency.

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4
Q

Positives if statistical infrequency

A

+ real life application, intellectual disability disorder all assessments use measurements to see how abnormal something is

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5
Q

Negatives of statistical infrequency?

A
  • unusual characteristics can also be positive, e.g only 2% of people have an IQ over 130, this is an extremely high IQ and that isn’t a negative thing so just because something is uncommon it doesn’t mean it’s bad.
  • not everyone benefits from a label
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6
Q

What is Deviation from social norm?

A

This is when a person violates rules or expected behaviour of a particular group or society, very few universal abnormal behaviour, however deviations of social norms have changed over time and have varied from place to place.

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7
Q

What’s wrong the social norm definition ?

A
  • norms are culturally relative - we label others according to our own standards therefore less useful as a diagnostic tool for those who move culture , in Africa hearing voices is normal.
  • could also lead to human rights abuse, homosexuality used to be see as abnormal and against the social norm.
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8
Q

What is failure to function adequately?

A

Inability to cope with demands of everyday living, this is the closest to what medical professionals use e.g having low IQ is an intellectual disability disorder and may mean a person cant cope.

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9
Q

Evaluation - pros of failure to function adequately

A

+ it considers the patients perspective, whilst difficult to measure distress and what’s normal functioning it’s acknowledges patients experience matters.

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10
Q

Evaluation - failure to function adequately?

A
  • hard to distinguish e.g not having a job may just be a lifestyle choice not failure to function adequately
  • involves subjective judgement
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11
Q

Deviation from ideal mental health?

A

Abnormality is defined in terms of mental health, its a more positive definition, behaviours that are ‘normal’ are associated with happiness and competence for example a positive attitude towards the self

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12
Q

Evaluation - positive of deviation from ideal mental health

A

It covers a broad range of criteria most reasons why someone would need mental health support re involved with this definition

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13
Q

Evaluation - cons deviation from ideal mental health

A
  • It is biased towards individualistic cultures e.g personal autonomy and self actualisation can seem self indulgent to collective cultures
  • unrealistically high expectations- not many people self actualise so many people may be considered abnormal
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14
Q

What are the three mental disorders looked at in psychopathology ?

A

. Phobias
. Depression
. OCD

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15
Q

What is a phobia ?

A

Phobias are a group of mental disorders characterised by high levels of anxiety in response to a particular stimulis or a group of stimuli, this anxiety cased by the fear of the stimulus interferes with normal living.

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16
Q

Examples of phobias ?

A

Agoraphobia - fear of a large open public space and not being able to escape
Social phobias - anxiety related with social situations e.g talking to a group of people.
And specific phobias - fears about specific objects or like snakes or spiders or specific situations like heights or seeing blood.

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17
Q

Emotional characteristics of phobias?

A

The primary emotional characteristics of a phobia is fear and anxiety that is marked and persistent this responses to the phobia is likely to be unreasonable and excessive along with fear panic and heightened anxiety that is disproportionate to the threat

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18
Q

Behavioural characteristics of phobias?

A

Avoidance - when a person is faced with their phobia weather it be an object or situation they avoid it this is because the fear is so great that that their response might be to run away or scream or have a massive panic or on the complete other hand some people might freeze with fear or faint and become unresponsive, people tend to avoid their phobias all together

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19
Q

Cognitive characteristics of phobias ?

A

cognitive characteristics relate to a thought process, in the case of phobias the characteristic is the irrational nature of the persons thinking and resistance to rational logical argument the person may realise that they are being irrational but can not help it, for example telling someone who has a phobia of flying that planes are the safest mode of transport probably wont help, the person may also show selective attention to phobic stimuli and persist with their irrational beliefs even when told otherwise.

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20
Q

What is depression?

A

Depression is classed as a mood disorder , patient feels low and sad

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21
Q

Emotional characteristics of depression ?

A

• Low mood
• Anger

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22
Q

Behavioural characteristics of depression

A

• Changes to energy levels, such as lethargy (reduction) or psychomotor agitation (increase)
• Aggression and self harm
• Changes to sleep and eating

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23
Q

Cognitive characteristics of depression

A

Poor concentration
Difficulty making decisions
Irrational beliefs, e.g. everyone hates me
As well as poor self esteem

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24
Q

What is OCD?

A

OCD stands for obsessive compulsive disorder. It is an anxiety disorder where anxiety arises from both obsessions these are persistent thoughts and compulsions these are behaviours repeated over and over again, compulsions are a response to obsessions they believe the compulsion with reduce the anxiety caused by the obsessions

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25
Q

Emotional characteristics of OCD ?

A

Anxiety and distress
• Guilt and disgust, towards self or
external stimuli e.g. dirt

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26
Q

Behavioural characteristics of OCD?

A

Compulsions, ritually repeating behaviours, e.g. hand washing

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27
Q

Cognitive characteristics of OCD ?

A

Obsessive thoughts which are recurring and intrusive.
• Insight into excessive anxiety (over- aware).

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28
Q

What is the behavioural explanation for phobias ?

A

. Two process model

29
Q

What is the two process model

A

Phobias learned by classical conditioning and maintained by operant conditioning.

30
Q

Classical conditioning and the two process model ?

A

NS is paired with UCS which causes fear (UCS).
Leads to the creation of CS leading to fear (CR) Generalisation of fear to other stimuli.
E.G Bitten (UCS) by dog (NS) leading to fear (creates CR).

31
Q

Operant conditioning and the two process model?

A

Operant conditioning – avoiding phobia causes relief of anxiety (negative reinforcement).
e.g. fear of spiders is reinforced by relief from running away or fear of clowns reinforced by avoiding circuses.

32
Q

Key study for behavioural explanations of phobias?

A

Little Albert (Watson and Rayner)

33
Q

What was the little Albert study ?

A

Procedure - 11 month old boy exposed to a association of white rats NS with a loud bang USC

Findings - rats become the CS leading to fear the baby became afraid of the white rats even without the bang this could also be genlised to other stimuli little Albert was afraid of white furry objects

34
Q

Evaluation - Pros of behavioural explanations for phobias ?

A

✓Application to therapy – phobia treated by preventing avoidance (e.g. systematic desensitisation is effective, Gilroy et al. with spiders).

✓People can often remember traumatic event. (Sue et al.)

35
Q

Evaluation - cons of the behavioural explanations for phobias ?

A

× Incomplete explanation – ‘Biological preparedness’ explains innate phobias. Even if two process model is correct, its easier to acquire phobias of threats from our evolutionary past. Therefore it is not just learning involved.
× Not all bad experiences lead to phobias
× Sometimes phobias don’t follow trauma. E.g. snake phobias? Could be cognitive aspects or biological preparedness. Ost says may be repressed.

36
Q

Di Nardo et al 1988?

A

Dogs 56% of phobics had unpleasant experience, 50% of controls did too without phobia. Diathesis-stress. Showing not all bad experiences lead to phobias

37
Q

What are the 2 behavioural treatments for phobias?

A

Systematic desensitisation
Flooding

38
Q

What is systemic desensitisation ?

A

It is a behavioural treatment for phobias, Based on counter conditioning (learning new association) and reciprocal inhibition (two conflicting emotions can’t co-exist).
Anxiety hierarchy –with therapist list feared stimuli from least to most frightening.
Relaxation techniques learned e.g. progressive muscle relaxation. Practise these at each level (gradual exposure) until relaxed at top of hierarchy.

39
Q

Evaluation - pros of Systematic desensitisation

A

✓Effective for specific phobias.

✓More acceptable. Less traumatic than flooding – low dropout rates. Suitable for diverse patients e.g. learning difficulties or the young.

40
Q

Gilroy et al ?

A

Gilroy et al - 42 patients, three 45-minute sessions of SD; Control group just relaxation. At 3 and 33 months SD group less fearful.

41
Q

Evaluation - cons of Systematic desensitisation

A

Time and cost - a lot of sessions with a therapist and it takes a lot of time and effort and commitment

42
Q

What is flooding ?

A

Flooding is a behavioural explanation for phobias

Immediate exposure to phobic stimulus.
Fear response is exhausted, phobias become extinct as avoidance is prevented.
Patients have given fully informed consent. One long session lasting a few hours.

43
Q

Evaluation of flooding ?
Pro

A

✓Cost-effective and quick – Flooding is highly effective when compared to cognitive therapies and much quicker (therefore cheaper) (Ougrin).

44
Q

Evaluation of flooding ?
Con

A

× Less effective for social phobias. This may involve cognitive aspects e.g. unpleasant thoughts. Therefore may need cognitive therapies.

45
Q

What are the two biological explanations for OCD?

A

. Genetic explanation
. Neural explanations

46
Q

What is the genetic explanation for OCD ?

A

. OCD is inherited in family’s
. Candidate genes (specific genes are cause): SERT,
COMT, 5HT1-D beta, gene 9.
. Polygenic (many genes involved, each increases the likelihood a bit): Taylor, 230.
. Aetiologically heterogeneous: One group of genes in some, different groups in others, or different genes for different types of OCD (hoarding).

47
Q

Evaluation of the genetic explanation - pro +

A

✓Supporting evidence. Twin studies Concordance rate of 68% MZ twins and 31% DZ twins. (Nestadt et al.)

48
Q

Evaluation of the genetic explanation - cons -

A

× Too many candidate genes implicated to have predictive value. Therefore is a less useful explanation.
× Environmental risk. OCD often follows trauma (Cromer et al.). Diathesis-stress may be better explanation.

49
Q

What is the neural explanation for OCD?

A

Abnormal levels of neurotransmitters implicated, e.g. Low levels of serotonin has effect on transmission of mood relevant information, which in turn affects mood
Scans show abnormal functioning in certain areas of the brain correlate with OCD, e.g. abnormal functioning of the lateral frontal lobes (responsible for logical thinking and making decisions) is correlated with hoarding.

50
Q

Evaluation of neural explanation - pro +

A

✓Research support. Antidepressants reduce OCD by increasing serotonin. 17 studies showed SSRIs more effective than placebos (Soomro et al.)

51
Q

Evaluation of neural explanation - cons. -

A

× Correlation doesn’t mean causation. OCD causes abnormal functioning? Or third factor?
× Serotonin OCD link may just be because patients are depressed (co-morbidity)

52
Q

What is the Biological treatment for OCD ?

A

Drug therapy’s

53
Q

How do drug therapies work - anti depressants?

A

Most patients are prescribed anti depressants they Increase level of neurotransmitter serotonin
in the synapse. SSRIs prevent the re absorption of serration in the brain.
Typical dose of fluoxetine (an SSRI) is 20- 60mg, depending on effectiveness.
• Combining SSRIs with CBT often most effective treatment.

54
Q

Alternative drug therapies?

A

Tricyclics (older type of antidepressant) e.g. clomipramine (more side-effects).
Or
Newer SNRIs increase levels of serotonin and noradrenaline.

55
Q

Evaluation of drug therapies for OCD - pros +

A

✓Research support. 17 studies showed SSRIs more effective than placebos (Soomro et al.)
✓Drugs are cheaper and non-disruptive to patients compared to alternatives e.g. CBT takes between 5-20 sessions and is expensive to the NHS.

56
Q

Evaluation of drug therapies for OCD - cons -

A

Drugs have side effects, e.g. indigestion, blurred vision and loss of sex drive which may effect whether treatment continues.
× Evidence favouring drug treatments may be biased – often funded by drugs companies. (Goldacre)

57
Q

Cromer et al ?

A

Found that OCD follows trauma so biological treatments may be ineffective

58
Q

What are the two cognitive explanations for depression ?

A

. Becks negative triad
. Ellis ABC model

59
Q

Beck’s negative triad ?

A

• Depressives have faulty information processing. E.g. attend to the negative or blow small problems out of proportion.
• Negative self-schema – interpret info about themselves in a negative way. Schema is a ‘package’ of information based on experience, used to interpet the world.
• Negative triad – negative views about the world, the future and the self.

60
Q

Evaluation of becks negative triad ? - pro

A

✓Good supporting evidence –– 65 pregnant women with faulty thoughts – more likely to develop post natal depression. (Grazioli and Terry)
✓Real world applications. Forms the basis of CBT. Therapist can challenge negative triad and patient can test it.

61
Q

Ellis ABC model ?

A

A ctivating event – We get depressed when we
experience negative events. That trigger irrational beliefs.
B eliefs – Range of irrational beliefs e.g. musterbation, utopianism.
C onsequences – emotional and behavioural consequences.

62
Q

Evaluation of Ellis ABC model - pro + ?

A

✓real world application Led to successful therapy e.g. CBT works. Supports role of irrational thoughts in depression. (Lipsky et al)

63
Q

Evaluation of Ellis ABC model - con ?

A

× Explains reactive depression but depression doesn’t always follow an event. Therefore is only a partial explanation.
× Ignores other explanations. E.g. Biological. We know that SSRIs which increase serotonin help depression which implies there is a role for the neurotransmitter.

64
Q

What is CBT ?

A

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - a combination of cognitive therapy helps to change maladaptive thoughts and beliefs and behavioural therapy helps to change behaviour in response to these thoughts.

65
Q

Becks theory on cognitive treatment for depression?

A

Identify – Helped to identify negative thoughts in relation to themselves, their world and their future, using Beck’s negative triad. Called ‘thought catching’.
Challenge - Challenge these irrational thoughts, by discussing evidence for and against them.
Test -
Patient as scientist’ Patient encouraged to test the validity of thoughts/set homework, e.g. keep a diary, experiences then compared to beliefs in therapy.

66
Q

Ellis theory on cognitive treatment for depression?

A

Ellis’ rational emotive behaviour therapy
• Extends ABC model with D (dispute) and E (effect or effective).
• Challenge irrational thoughts through vigorous argument (dispute) to replace irrational beliefs with effective beliefs and attitudes.
• Empirical dispute – therapists seeks evidence for person’s thoughts, e.g. ‘where is the evidence that your beliefs are true?’
• logical dispute – therapist questions logic of a person’s thoughts, e.g: ‘does the way you think about that situation make any sense/follow from the facts?’

67
Q

Evaluation of cognitive treatment for depression- pros ?

A

✓Research support. March et al.CBT vs. antidepressants or combination a combination. 327 adolescents. 81% improvements for both, 86% when both.

68
Q

Evaluation of cognitive treatment for depression- cons

A

× Other treatments may have advantages over CBT. SSRIs less commitment. Ellis required 27 sessions of REBT.
× CBT appears to be less effective for people who have high levels of irrational beliefs (Elkin et al., 1985).

69
Q

What is Behavioural activation support ?

A

Babyak et al. 156 adult volunteers. four-month course of aerobic exercise, drug treatment or a combination of the two. All improved –exercise group had lowest relapse rate

Psychology Flash Cards (12 decks)

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