Section 4: Psychopathology

Question 1

Define phobia

Answer 1

A phobia is a persistent, excessive or unreasonable fear of something to the point of impairment

Question 2

What are the two types of phobia?

Answer 2

Simple/ Specific
Complex

Question 3

What is the DSM- 5?

Answer 3

The diagnostic and statistical manual

Question 4

What can the DSM-5 recognise about phobias?

Answer 4

1. Specific phobias (of an object, or situation etc)
2. Social phobia (social situations)
3. Agoraphobia (being outside or in a public place)

Question 5

How does age effect simple phobias?

Answer 5

They often develop during childhood or adolescence, and may become less severe as you get older.

Question 6

How does age effect complex phobias?

Answer 6

They usually develop during adulthood.

Question 7

What is the most common complex phobia?

Answer 7

Agoraphobia

Question 8

Describe agoraphobia

Answer 8

Fear of open spaces- they can feel anxious about being in a place or situation where escaping may be difficult if they have a panic attack.

Question 9

What are the characteristics of a phobia?

Answer 9

Behavioural, Emotional, Cognitive

Question 10

Label the PHOBIAS acronym

Answer 10

P- panic
H- high levels of anxiety
O- out of proportional fear
B- beliefs which are irrational
I- irrational and immediate fear
A- avoidance
S- selective attention

Question 11

What did Mowrer (1947) put forward?

Answer 11

The two-process model

Question 12

Describe the two process model

Answer 12

• phobias are learned through classical conditioning (initiation). Phobias can be learned through association, often involving traumatic event.
• phobias are maintained through operant conditioning (maintenance) The ongoing avoidance or unpleasant involuntary physical response negatively reinforces the association

Question 13

Name the case study used for phobias

Answer 13

The “Little Albert” experiment

Question 14

When was the little albert experiment done?

Answer 14

1920

Question 15

Who conducted the little albert experiment?

Answer 15

Watson and Rayner

Question 16

What happened in the little albert experiment?

Answer 16

They made him learn a fear to rats (and then other furry things) by striking a metal bar with a hammer whenever he saw the rat. Within 7 pairings, a fear of rats was learned.

Question 17

What are the two behavioural treatments phobias?

Answer 17

Flooding and Systematic desensitisation

Question 18

Outline systematic desensitisation

Answer 18

This is the main behaviourist therapy to treat phobias and it is designed to slowly reduce the anxiety caused by the phobia using classical conditioning.

Question 19

What are the three processes of systematic desensitisation?

Answer 19

1. Anxiety hierarchy
2. Relaxation
3. Exposure

Question 20

What is an anxiety hierarchy?

Answer 20

A list of situations that involve the phobic stimulus from least to most frightening, created by the patient and therapist.

Question 21

How can the therapist relax the patient in systematic desensitisation?

Answer 21

• breathing techniques
• imagining calm places
• medication e.g. Valium

Question 22

What are some strengths of systematic desensitisation?

Answer 22

• more ethical than flooding
• more approproate for patients with severe anxiety disorders

Question 23

What are some weaknesses of systematic desensitization?

Answer 23

• many participants do not complete treatment as it is too stressful
• not effective in treating all phobias
• not as cost effective
• symptom substitution

Question 24

What are some strengths of flooding?

Answer 24

• highly effective in treating simple phobias
• cost effective treatment

Question 25

What are some weaknesses of flooding?

Answer 25

- ethical issues - less effective for treating other types of phobia - symptom substitution

Question 26

Define depression

Answer 26

A category of mood disorders

Question 27

What are the two types of depression?

Answer 27

- Unipolar - Bipolar

Question 28

How long must symptoms be shown for?

Answer 28

2 weeks

Question 29

What did the DSM-5 recognize about depressive disorders?

Answer 29

Major depressive disorder: Severe but often short-term depression Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: Childhood tantrums Persistent depressive disorder: Long-term, reoccurring depression, including sustained major depression Premenstrual dysphoric disorder: Disruption of mood before and/or during menstruation

Question 30

List some behavioral characteristics of depression

Answer 30

- shift in activity level - insomnia/ hypersomnia - affected appetite - aggression and self harm

Question 31

List some emotional characteristics of depression

Answer 31

- sadness - anger - loss of interest - lower self esteem

Question 32

List some cognitive characteristics of depression

Answer 32

- negative veiw of the world - irrational thoughts - poor concentration - negative expectations of themselves

Question 33

How can cognitive psychologists explain depression?

Answer 33

Cognitive Psychologists look at how irrational thinking (cognition) leads the patient to suffer from depression. Beck's negative triad Ellis's ABC model

Question 34

How did Beck explain depression?

Answer 34

Aaron Beck (1967) explains depression as a vulnerability that can be caused by the person's cognition (the way they think) and their negative schemas.

Question 35

What are the three parts that Becks suggested made up cognitive vulnerability?

Answer 35

- faulty information processing - negative self schema - the negative triad

Question 36

How did Beck describe faulty information processing?

Answer 36

- When depressed the person tends to ignore the positives in their lives and only focus on the negatives - The depressed person will blow small problems out of proportion - These cognitive biases cause the depressed person to constantly see themselves as worthless and useless

Question 37

How did Beck describe negative self-schema?

Answer 37

A schema is a shortcut that acts as a mental framework for the individual A self-schema is the framework of information they have about themselves When depressed, the person will have a negative self-schema, which means they interpret all of the information about or around themselves negatively

Question 38

What is the negative triad?

Answer 38

Negative view of the... - self - future - world

Question 39

What are some strengths to Beck's negative triad?

Answer 39

- research support - real world application

Question 40

What are some weaknesses of Beck's negative triad?

Answer 40

- some symptoms e.g. extreme anger, delusions, hallucinations cant be described by this

Question 41

What are some strengths to Ellis's ABC model of depression?

Answer 41

- real world application - can make depressed people achieve more resilience and feel better

Question 42

What are some weaknesses of reactive depression?

Answer 42

- only explains reactive depression, not endogenous depression - model locates responsibility for depression purely on the depressed person

Question 43

What did Ellis theorise?

Answer 43

Albert Ellis (1962) had a slightly different view to Beck and suggested depression is caused by irrational thoughts and that rational thoughts cause good mental health.

Question 44

What did Ellis state about irrational thoughts?

Answer 44

Ellis defined irrational thoughts as not logical or realistic thoughts.

Question 45

What is the ABC theory?

Answer 45

Ellis developed the ABC model to explain how irrational thoughts affect individuals: A: Activating event. This is a negative event that triggers the irrational thoughts, E.g. Losing your job B: Beliefs. The thoughts which the person associates with the event, and why it happened: These can be either rational (healthy), E.g. I didn't really like the job anyway and wanted a new one, or irrational (unhealthy), E.g. I am so useless, I will never get another job as I do not deserve one C: Consequences. Rational beliefs lead to health consequences (new job or job searching), Irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy consequences (believing you will never deserve another job, which leads to depression)