Clinical Psychology

What is Statistical Infrequency?

implies that a disorder is abnormal if its frequency is more than two standard deviations away from mean incidence rates (BELL curve)
- used in clinical diagnoses however assumes all things rare are negative

Failure to Function Adequately

A person is “abnormal” if their behaviour prevents them from living a normal, healthy, independent life.
Not following social/interpersonal rules (e.g., standing too close).

• Experiencing distress or causing distress to others.

• Behaviour becoming dangerous to themselves or others

Strength of Failure to Function Adequately

• Considers the patient’s perspective (subjective experience) combined with clinician judgement.

• Avoids purely statistical cut-offs, so often produces a more realistic diagnosis.

Limitation of Failure to Function Adequately

• Can lead to labelling someone as “strange” or “crazy”, which reinforces stigma.

• Some people may function well despite symptoms, so a label may be unnecessary and lead to discrimination.

What is Deviation from Social Norms?

Abnormality is defined as behaviour that goes against social norms — rules and expectations of a specific culture.

• Norms can be universal or culture-specific.

• Example: Antisocial Personality Disorder involves violating widely held norms (e.g., aggression).

Weakness of deviation from social norms?

• Historical misuse & discrimination.
  E.g., 19th-century Britain diagnosed “nymphomania” in women as a way to control female sexuality and enforce class boundaries.

• Cultural relativism.
  What is “abnormal” in one culture can be valued in another.
  Example: Hallucinations may be interpreted as spirituality in some African/Asian cultures, not a symptom of schizophrenia.

Deviation from Ideal Mental Health

Instead of defining abnormality, Jahoda defined what ideal mental health looks like, including:

• Self-actualisation (reaching your full potential)

• Positive self-esteem

• Accurate self-perception

• No distress

• Motivation for daily tasks

Weakness from Deviation from Ideal Mental Health

• The criteria are unrealistically high — very few people can meet all of them all the time.
  Therefore, almost everyone could be considered “abnormal”.

Strength of Deviation from Ideal Mental Health

ather than focusing on what is “wrong,” Jahoda’s criteria outline what good mental health looks like — a holistic, optimistic approach.
This helps clinicians work towards improvement, not just diagnosis

Behavioural characteristics of phobias

panic avoidance and endurance.

Panic

the patient suffers from heightened

physiological arousal upon exposure to the

phobic stimulus, caused by the

hypothalamus triggering increased levels of

activity in the sympathetic branch of the

autonomic nervous system.

avoidance

avoidance behaviour is

negatively reinforced (in classical

conditioning terms) because it is carried out

to avoid the unpleasant consequence of

exposure to the phobic stimulus. Therefore,

avoidance severely impacts the patient’s

ability to continue with their day to day lives.

Endurance

his occurs when the patient

remains exposed to the phobic stimulus for

an extended period of time, but also

experiences heightened levels of anxiety during this time.

Anxiety

the emotional consequence of the hobic stimulus is irrational

What are the cognative characteristics of phobias

selective attention to the phobic stimulus, irrational

beliefs and cognitive distortions

Selective Attention

 this means that the patient remains focused on the phobic stimulus, even

when it is causing them severe anxiety. This may be the result of irrational beliefs or cognitive

distortions.

irrational beliefs

this may be the cause of unreasonable responses of anxiety towards the

phobic stimulus, due to the patient’s incorrect perception as to what the danger posed actually

is.

Cognitive Distortions

the patient does not perceive the phobic stimulus accurately. Therefore,

it may often appear grossly distorted or irrational e.g. mycophobia (a phobia of mushrooms) and

rectaphobia (a phobia of bottoms).

Behavioural Characteristics of depression

hanged activity levels (may result in

psychomotor agitation or, on the other end of the spectrum, an inability to wake up and get out

of bed in the morning), aggression (towards oneself and towards others, which may be verbal or

physical) and changed in patterns of sleeping and eating (insomnia and obesity on one end of

the spectrum, whilst constant lethargia and anorexia may appear on the other)

Emotional Characteristics Of Depression

lowered self-esteem, constant poor mood

(lasting for months at a time and high in severity, therefore not simply ‘feeling down’) and high

levels of anger (towards oneself and towards others)

Cognitive characteristics of depression

absolutist thinking (jumping to irrational
conclusions e.g. “I am unable to visit my mother today and so I am a failure of a son”), selective

attention towards negative events (patients with depression often recall only negative events in

their lives, as opposed to positive) and poor concentration (the consequent disruptions to

school and work add to the feelings of worthlessness and anger).

Behavioural Characteristics Of OCD 

are compulsions (repetitive and intrusive thoughts

focused around the stimulus which reduce anxiety through being a method of acting upon

obsessive thoughts) and avoidance behaviour. This avoidance behaviour is once again

negatively reinforced (in terms of classical conditioning) because an individual who avoids the

specific stimulus will avoid the anxiety associated with having to carry out compulsive

behaviours and suffer from obsessive thoughts

Emotional Characteristics of OCD

guilt and disgust, depression (due to the constant

compulsion to carry out compulsive/repetitive behaviours, which often interfere with day to day

functioning and relationships) and anxiety (associated with the acknowledgement that the

obsessive thoughts are irrational, but despair at the fact that they will always lead to

compulsive behaviours)

Cognative characteristics of OCD

he patient’s acknowledgement that their anxiety is

excessive and irrational (a hallmark of OCD), the development of cognitive strategies to deal

with obsessions (such as always carrying multiple bottles of hand sanitiser) and obsessive

thoughts (these are repetitive, focus on the stimulus, are intrusive, cause excessive amounts of

anxiety and lead to compulsive behaviours)