Psychopathology studies

Two-process model - classical conditioning

Watson and Rayner

Used classical conditioning to cause 11 month old child to develop a phobia. At beginning he showed no fear of a range of stimuli. Paired a tame white rat (neutral stimulus) with a sudden loud noise (unconditioned stimulus) which caused fear (unconditioned response). Eventually he was conditioned to associate the rat with fear. Phobias can be learnt through classical conditioning

Link between bad experiences and phobias

De Jongh

Found that 73% of people with a fear of dental treatment had experienced a traumatic event, mostly involving dentistry. Suggests their phobia began when classical conditioning caused an association between the dentist and fear

Systematic desensitisation effectiveness

Gilroy

Followed up 42 people who had SD for spider phobia in 3 45min sessions. At both 3 and 33 months, the SD group were less fearful than a control group who were treated by relaxation without exposure.

Flooding as unpleasant experience

Schumacher

Found that ppts and therapists rated flooding as significantly more stressful than SD. This raises the ethical issue for psychologists of knowingly causing stress to their clients (not serious as they obtain informed consent). Means attrition rates are higher than for SD

Link between cognitive vulnerability and depression

Cohen

tracked development of 473 adolescents, regularly measuring cognitive vulnerability and tested them for depression later (it predicted depression)

Link between negative thinking and depression

Grazioli and Terry

Studies 65 pregnant women before and after birth. Those showing negative patterns of thinking were more likely to develop post-natal depression. The fact that negative cognitions were seen before depression developed suggests they may have been the cause

CBT effectiveness

March

Compared CBT to antidepressant drugs and combination of both to treat 327 depressed adolescents.

After 36 weeks, 81% of CBT group, 81% of antidepressant group and 86% of combination group significantly improved.

CBT just as effective on its own and more so when used alongside drugs

CBR relapse rates

Ali

Assessed depression in 439 clients every month for a year following a course of CBT. 42% of clients relapsed into depression within 6 months of ending treatment and 53% relapsed within a year.

Role of genes in OCD - twin studies

Nestadt

Reviewed twin studies and found that 68% of identical twins shared OCD compared to 31% of non-identical twins, suggests genetic influence on OCD

Role of genes in OCD - family studies

Lewis

Observed that of his OCD patients, 37% had parents with OCD and 21% had siblings with OCD

OCD triggered by environmental factors

Cromer

Over half the OCD patients in their sample had a traumatic event in the past and OCD more severe in those with more than one trauma.

Effectiveness of SSRIs

Soomro

Reviewed 17 studies that compared SSRIs to placebos to treat OCD. All 17 studies showed better outcomes for SSRIs than placebo conditions.