topic 3 - alternatives to the medical model Flashcards
(22 cards)
describe how classical conditioning can cause phobias?
Watson and Raynor outlined how Little Albert was made phobic of rats
-they repeatedly paired loud noise with a white rat
-the fear was generalised to other white objects such as rabbits and father christmas’ beard
rat = conditioned stimulus
fear = conditioned response
describe how operant conditioning can cause phobias.
if a child shows a fear of a large dog, this may lead to comfort and attention from the parent, which could be interpreted as a reward and lead to the child keeping this fear
if someone with a lift phobia avoids the lift and takes the stairs, they are avoiding the stimulus = negative reinforcement
how can the social learning theory lead to a phobia.
if a child observes a significant adult in their life being fearful of something, they are likely to become fearful of the same thing
who are the two theorists in the cognitive explanation of mental illness.
Aaron Beck
Albert Ellis
describe Becks cognitive negative triad as a cognitive explanation.
Beck suggested there were three main dysfunctional belief themes in people with depression:
‘i am worthless or flawed’
‘the future is hopeless’
‘everything i do results in failure’
Beck suggested that once someone becomes depressed, they would seek information from their environment to confirm these negative thoughts
-such as if they were presented with majority positive things, the one negative thing would become a focal point
describe Beck’s diathesis stress model of schizophrenia.
Beck suggested genetic concordance rates were not 100% as genetics only provided a predisposition and the disorder only actually appeared as a result of a stressor such as the individuals environment or a trauma
describe Albert Ellis’ cognitive explanation of mental illness.
Ellis believed our irrational thoughts cause and sustain mental disorders, and that faulty cognitions people adopted could be summarised as:
‘i must be outstandingly competent or i am worthless’
‘others must treat me considerately or they are absolutely rotten’
‘the world should always give me happiness, or i will die’
these are high and unrealistic expectations, which means they are unattainable so people with this faulty way of thinking will feel like failures, which can lead to depression
what does humanism believe?
the perspective was created to challenge the behaviourist and psychodynamic perspectives of behaviour
-humanism is more optimistic as it does not believe people are ‘victims’ of their environment, and focuses on the here and now rather than what happened before
it tends to favour the free will side of the debate
what were 5 key levels in Malow’s hierarchy of needs?
self actualisation
esteem needs
belongingness and love needs
safety needs
physiological needs
what is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
-maslow believed people are trying to become the best person they can be - the process of this is known as self actualisation
-he says people learn from life lessons, by growing healthily and becoming someone they would have admired as a child
how does Maslow’s hierarchy of needs link to mental illness?
-he suggested that if anything blocks our path to self actualisation, this could lead to mental illness
for example, being bullied would affect someone’s self esteem which could lead to depression as they are unable to achieve self actualisation
who were the two theorists in the humanistic explanations?
Maslow
Carl Rogers
what was Carl Roger’s theory?
he was concerned about self image, and how this differs from someone’s ideal, self-actualising self
actual self = the way you see yourself
self esteem = determined by how close you think your actual self is to your ideal self
ideal self = the self-actualised best version of yourself
what are conditions of worth and what do they do?
they are believed to influence our view of ourselves
they are made up rules that people place on us, and if we don’t follow them, we are made to feel worthless
rogers believed this was wrong and we should all show unconditional positive regard - accept each other for who they are
how does Roger’s theory link to mental illness?
imposing conditions on people without making them feel loved can lead to depression and anxiety
people with schizophrenia won’t act in a way that meets conditions of worth, so will not achieve societal approval which may cause more suffering, such as not being able to get jobs etc.
what are the 3 behaviourist treatments of mental illness?
systematic desensitisation
flooding
aversion therapy
describe systematic desensitisation and give an example.
it teaches someone to gradually confront their fear, and is carried out in stages, with the person practicing relaxation techniques at each stage to calm down
McGrath and Lucy
-Lucy had a phobia of loud noises and balloons/party poppers
-she completed 10 sessions and her fear was reduced from 7/10 to 3/10 for balloons popping and 9/10 to 3/10 for party poppers
- a hierarchy of stimuli is created from least to most fearful, such as looking at a picture of the item, holding the picture etc.
- patient is taught relaxation techniques
- the therapist takes they through their hierarchy step by step, with the relaxation techniques being used at each stage.
describe flooding and give an issue with it.
the individual is presented with the feared stimuli immediately
the immediate fear response is caused by adrenaline and is not sustainable and will eventually calm down itself
the calm feeling is then associated with the feared object
issue:
can cause reinforcement of panic rather than get rid of it if for example, the person is able to leave the situation before adrenaline naturally reduces
describe aversion therapy.
can be used to produce and unpleasant association like nausea in alcohol addiction
-a drug such as emetic can be used
describe rational emotive therapy (cognitive treatment)
proposed by Ellis
looks for beliefs/thoughts that are irrational and unhelpful
client is helped to understand how these contribute to their illness
A- activating event (phobic stimulus)
B- beliefs (about stimulus)
C- consequences (actions to avoid stimulus
D- disputing (questioning irrational beliefs)
E- effects (restructured thoughts to help person cope)
what was Szasz’s original report?
written in the 1960s, titled ‘the myth of mental illness’
what were the two key points in Szasz’s report?
mental illness is medicalised
-there is too much emphasis on diagnosing and treating mental illness through medication
-psychiatrists hold too much power and have the ability to label, diagnose and treat individuals, with alternative medicines not being deemed legitimate enough
mental illness is politicised
-people in power such as politicians decided to label behaviours that don’t benefit society as mental illness
