PSYCH108 - CLINICAL 30 KEY POINTS

What is clinical psychology?

The application of psychological science to understand, prevent, and treat mental health issues using evidence-based approaches, including talking therapies.

What are the 3 criteria that can indicate a mental health disorder?

Distress: internal emotional suffering; Impairment in functioning: disruption to work, study, relationships, or self-care; Atypical/culturally unexpected: behaviour or experiences outside expected social or cultural norms.

What is the difference between normal sadness/fear and a clinical disorder?

Normal sadness and fear are common and adaptive emotional responses. A clinical disorder involves patterns that are persistent/severe enough to cause significant distress or impairment, and/or are culturally unexpected.

What is the difference between diagnosis and formulation?

Diagnosis classifies symptoms into a disorder using criteria such as the DSM-5-TR. Formulation explains why an individual's difficulties developed and what factors are maintaining them.

What is the Scientist-Practitioner Model?

A professional approach where clinical practice is grounded in scientific research and evidence. For example, using CBT for anxiety because research supports its effectiveness.

What is the Biopsychosocial Model?

A model that understands psychological difficulties through interacting biological, psychological, and social/environmental factors.

How could the Biopsychosocial Model be applied to a clinical case?

Biological: genetics or sleep; Psychological: thoughts or coping styles; Social/environmental: relationships, housing, or financial stress.

What are some advantages of diagnosis?

It can validate a person's experience, guide evidence-based treatment, improve professional communication, and help people access resources/services.

What are some disadvantages of diagnosis?

Stigma/labeling, reductionism, diagnostic inflation, low reliability, and cultural insensitivity.

What is the DSM-5-TR?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition, Text Revision, published by the American Psychiatric Association, which provides diagnostic criteria for mental disorders.

What is comorbidity?

The co-occurrence of two or more diagnosable disorders in the same person, such as Major Depressive Disorder and Generalised Anxiety Disorder.

What are Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and what is the dose-response relationship?

ACEs are adverse experiences during childhood. A dose-response relationship means that greater exposure to childhood adversity is associated with increased later mental and physical health risks, although protective factors can promote resilience.

Why should brain scans and neurotransmitter differences not automatically be treated as causes of mental disorders?

They generally show associations rather than direct individual causes. They are not standalone diagnostic tools, and correlation does not necessarily mean causation.

What is Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)?

A persistent clinical pattern involving low mood and/or loss of interest or pleasure that causes significant distress or impairment.

What is the diagnostic rule for MDD from the lecture?

A person must have at least 5 of 9 symptoms for at least 2 weeks, with at least one symptom being depressed mood or loss of interest/pleasure (anhedonia).

What is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)?

A practical, structured therapy that examines how thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and behaviours interact, and uses strategies to change unhelpful patterns.

What are the 4 interconnected nodes in the CBT model?

Thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and behaviours.

What is the Cognitive Model of psychological difficulties?

The idea that how we interpret situations influences our emotions and behaviours. For example, interpreting a bad test mark as “I'm useless” can contribute to low mood and withdrawal.

What is Beck's Cognitive Triad?

A model of depression involving negative beliefs about the Self, World, and Future.

Give an example of Beck's Cognitive Triad.

Self: “I'm failing at everything.” World: “Everything is too hard.” Future: “I won't catch up.”

What is behavioural activation?

A CBT strategy involving scheduling small, rewarding or meaningful activities to rebuild routine, engagement, and a sense of mastery.

What is Specific Phobia?

A marked and persistent fear or anxiety about a specific object or situation, lasting 6 months or more and causing significant distress or impairment.

What is the Avoidance Cycle?

Avoiding a feared situation produces short-term relief, which reinforces avoidance and prevents the person from learning that the feared situation may be safe, maintaining long-term anxiety.

What is exposure therapy?

A treatment involving gradually facing feared situations so the person can experience anxiety without avoiding the situation and develop new learning about safety.

What is the difference between avoidance and exposure?

Avoidance: short-term relief → long-term anxiety persistence.
Exposure: temporary anxiety increase → new learning/anxiety reduction over time.

What are a fear hierarchy and SUDS?

A fear hierarchy ranks feared situations from least to most distressing. SUDS (Subjective Units of Distress Scale)measures the person's subjective level of distress, helping guide gradual exposure.

What are the 3 domains of awareness needed for effective interpersonal communication?

Self-awareness: awareness of your own emotions, thoughts, sensations, triggers and biases.
Awareness of others: noticing verbal/non-verbal cues and using perspective-taking.
Cultural/contextual awareness: understanding culture, relationships, power, colonisation and inequity.

What is co-regulation, and how does it relate to self-regulation?

Co-regulation occurs when one person's calm, regulated nervous system helps settle another person's dysregulated state through their tone, pace and presence. Co-regulation can precede self-regulation, because a distressed person may first need safety and external regulation before they can regulate themselves.

What are Rogers' three core conditions for the therapeutic relationship?

Empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence (genuineness). Rogers emphasised the therapeutic relationship itself as an important agent of change.

What are the key cultural and interpersonal concepts important in clinical psychology?

Cultural humility: an ongoing commitment to self-critique, recognising one's limitations and avoiding assumptions about another person's culture.
Positionality: awareness of how one's social position, identity and relationship to power shape interactions.
Whanaungatanga: relational connectedness, kinship and meaningful relationships.
“Name it to tame it”: labelling emotional experiences can help regulate distress.
Acknowledge–Validate–Invite: acknowledge the emotion, validate why it makes sense, then invite further sharing.
Empathy blocks: interrupting, judging, minimising, story-matching, or prematurely trying to fix the problem.