Treatments for mental disorders

Question 1

What is trepanning?

Answer 1

Drilling hole into skull to release ‘evil spirits’

Question 2

What is lobotomy?

Answer 2

Ice pick pushed through corner of eye, wiggled to sever neural connections in frontal lobe.

Question 3

What is insulin coma therapy?

Answer 3

Induced coma using insulin, kept in coma for weeks, sometimes months.

Question 4

What was mosquito therapy?

Answer 4

Patient kept in room of malarial mosquitos.

Question 5

Example of Antidepressants? What does it act on?

Answer 5

SSRI - Prozac. Acts on serotonin.

Question 6

Example of anxiolytics? What does it act on?

Answer 6

Benzodiazepine - Valium. Acts on GABA.

Question 7

Example of antipsychotics? What does it act on?

Answer 7

Olanzapine - Zyprexa. Acts on dopamine.

Question 8

Examples of mood stabilisers? What do they act on?

Answer 8

Lithium - mechanism of action unclear.

Anticonvulsants - act on GABA and glutamate

Question 9

What is Electro-convulsive therapy used for?

Answer 9

Effective for the treatment of severe, treatment-refractory

depression

Question 10

What is ECT?

Answer 10

Electro-convulsive therapy. Involves passing a current through the brain of an anaesthetized patient

Question 11

What does deep brain stimulation involve?

Answer 11

It involves placing electrodes in ventral striatum in side skull, then connecting it to battery pack.

Question 12

What is deep brain stimulation used for?

Answer 12

Used for treatment-refractory OCD.

Question 13

What do pharmacological treatments target?

Answer 13

They target neurotransmitters.

Question 14

What do psychological therapies target?

Answer 14

They target maladaptive behaviour and thoughts. They indirectly target brain abnormalities.

Question 15

What is the psychoanalysis account of mental disorders?

Answer 15

Mental disorders arise because of unconscious conflict and overuse of defence mechanisms.

Question 16

What is the aim of psychoanalysis?

Answer 16

To identify hidden unconscious conflicts and allow them into conscious.

Question 17

What is the key idea of psychoanalytic therapy?

Answer 17

The idea is that making the patient aware (i.e. conscious) of their unconscious conflicts takes pressure off the ego, which is therapeutic.

Question 18

What are the criticisms of psychoanalysis?

Answer 18

Non-directive
Reliant on subject interpretations
Takes a long time (> 5 years)
Limited evidence as to effects

Question 19

What is the humanistic account of mental disorders?

Answer 19

Mental disorders occur when there is incongruence between what an individual wants to be and what society demands of them.

Question 20

What is the aim of the Rogerian therapist?

Answer 20

The role of the therapist is to create a non- judgmental environment in which clients can develop their own solutions to their problems.

Question 21

What are some techniques used in Rogerian therapy?

Answer 21

Listening, reflecting, empathising. Therapist should demonstrate genuiness, empathy, and unconditional positive regard.

Question 22

What are some criticisms of humanistic therapy?

Answer 22

Extremely non-directive, little external input
Few established therapeutic techniques
Hard to quantify results - self actualisation?
Questionable effectiveness against severe disorders (OCD, SZ, B 1)
Unconditional positive regard not always a good thing

Question 23

What is the behavioural account of mental disorders?

Answer 23

Mental disorders caused by maladaptive learned associations, reinforcement of maladaptive behaviours.

Question 24

What are the aims of behavioural therapy?

Answer 24

1. Extinguishing maladaptive learned associations.
2. Preventing reinforcement of maladaptive behaviours.
3. Reinforcing adaptive behaviours.

Question 25

What is the key idea of behavioural therapy?

Answer 25

Key idea: changing the client’s behaviour will end up changing their cognitions

Question 26

What is exposure therapy? What's the main idea?

Answer 26

Exposure therapy involves exposing people to fears, to enable extinction to occur. Avoidance of the feared stimulus maintains anxiety.

Question 27

What is an example of rewarding adaptive behaviour?

Answer 27

Cocaine abusers urine tested for cocaine 3 times per week for 9 weeks. Either given no reward, low reward, or high reward (money). High reward had most % of participants cocaine negative.

Question 28

What is the basis of behavioural activation? What does it involve?

Answer 28

Operates on basis that people with major depression have low energy and motivation, which makes up a vicious cycle. Behavioural activation involves the therapist working on getting the client engaged in pleasure based activities and mastery based activities.

Question 29

What does the cognitive account of mental illness argue?

Answer 29

 We evaluate events through the lens of our beliefs and cognitions  Irrational or unhelpful beliefs play a role in the development and maintenance of mental disorders

Question 30

What do cognitive therapies focus on?

Answer 30

Cognitive therapy aims to identify and modify cognitive distortions, maladaptive cognitive styles and irrational thoughts

Question 31

What is Beck's ABC model?

Answer 31

Beck’s ABC model:  A = Activating Event  B = Beliefs  C = Consequences Not A->C,but A->B->C Mental illnesses caused and maintained by maladaptive beliefs / interpretations.

Question 32

What are the 2 cognitive accounts of mental illness?

Answer 32

Mental illnesses arise from Ellis - Irrational thoughts Beck - Cognitive distortions and maladaptive cognitive styles

Question 33

What is cognitive restructuring?

Answer 33

Cognitive restructuring is a therapeutic technique which focuses on gathering evidence for and against a thought.

Question 34

What does a behavioural experiment involve?

Answer 34

1) Stating belief 2) Coming up with an alternative, more realistic, belief 3) Behavioural experiment - testing belief 4) Comparing observations to prediction 5) Reflection

Question 35

What do third-wave therapies focus on?

Answer 35

Rather than challenging cognitions, third- | wave therapies instead focus on ‘non- judgmental acceptance’ and ‘mindful awareness’ of cognitions.

Question 36

What is CBT best for?

Answer 36

Anxiety and mood disorders.

Question 37

What is pharmacotherapy best for?

Answer 37

Schizophrenia and bipolar 1.

Question 38

What is the single best treatment?

Answer 38

There is evidence that psychotherapy plus pharmacotherapy is more effective than either in isolation.