psychopthology SE

Behavioural explanations of phobias

• Watson and Rayner- could condition a baby to have a phobia of a rat-may lack ecological validity as not naturally occurring and repetition of the pairing had to happen more than once

Systematic desensitisation

• Gilroy et al- found purple who recieved SD for a spider phobia were less fearful than control group treated with relaxation techniques but not exposure- suggests gradual exposure element of SD is important and makes it effective

• Wechsler et al- found that overall research suggests that SD is effective at treating specific phobias, social phobia and agoraphobia. Suggests SD is effective for wide range of phobias

flooding

• Ougrin- found overall research suggests flooding is comparable to other treatments including SD and cognitive therapies for specific phobias. However, research also found that flooding is less effective for social phobia and agoraphobia- could be combatant they involve irrational thoughts (cognitive processes) which flooding does not address

Genetic explanation of OCD

• nestadt- found 68% concordance for OCD in MZ but only 31

Treating OCD- SSRIs

• Soomro- found symptoms typically reduce for 70% on the drug, for remaining 30% most can be helpers by alternative drugs or combinations of drugs and psychological treatments. However, skapinakis found cognitive and behavioural exposure therapies were a more effective treatment than SSRIs

Cognitive approach to explaining depression

• Cohen et al- found that showing cognitive vulnerability (faulty information processing, negative schema and/or negative triad) predicted later depression in adolescents