Psychopathology

What is statistical infrequency

Occurs when an individual has a less common characteristic compared to the rest of the population

Evaluate statistical infrequency

doesn't distinguish between positive and negative rare characteristics

Objective so factual and free from bias

What is deviation from social norms?

Behaviour that is different from the expected standards of behaviour in a community or society

Evaluation of deviation from social norms

Social norms change across time and culture

Pathologises antisocial criminal behaviour

Easy to notice

What is failure to function adequately?

Occurs when somebody is unable to cope with the ordinary demands of day to day living

Evaluation of failure to function adequately

Subjective of what is adequate, people with mental illnesses can force themself to function

Does mean that people struggling can get help

What is deviation from ideal metal health?

Occurs when someone does not meet a set of criteria for good mental health

Evaluation of deviation from ideal mental health

Risks pathologising majority of the population

Criteria for idea mental health by Jahoda

Rational thinking, accurate perception of self, strives to reach self-actualisation, copes well with stress, lack of distress, good self esteem, lack of guilt, independant, environmental mastery: works sucessfully and loves and enjoys leisure time

What is a phobia?

An irrational fear of an object or situation

3 categories of phobias

Specific- object, animal, situation

Social- social situations such as public speaking and using public toilets

Agoraphobia- being outside your home

Cognitive characteristics of phobias

Selective attention, difficult to look away, irrational thoughts, cognitive distortions: jumping to conclusions, focus on negative, mind reading

Emotional characteristics of phobias

Anxiety and fear, unreasonable emotional responce

Behavioural characteristics of phobias

Panic, avoidance and endurance

Two process model of treating phobias

1) acquisition by classical conditioning

2) maintenance by operant conditioning

Systematic desensitisation

1) Patient and therapist create and anxiety hierarchy

2) relaxation techniques

3) gradual exposure

Flooding technique to treat phobias

No gradual exposure, patient immediately placed in frightening situation, forces them to learn that stimulus is not harmful and anxiety will ease

Cognitive characteristics of depression

Poor concentration, dwelling on the negative, absolutist thinking

Emotional characteristics of depression

Lowered mood, anger, lowered self esteem

Behavioural characteristics of depression

Altered activity levels, sleep/eating disorders, aggression/self harm

Becks cognitive explanation for depression

Faulty information processing, negative self schemas and the negative triad

What is faulty information processing?

Cognitive distortions such as disregarding the positive, focusing on thr negative and absolutist thinking

What is a negative self schema?

Interpreting all information about ourself in a negative way

What is the negative triad?

Having a negative view of yourself, the world and the future

What is Ellis’ cognitive explanation for depression?

It’s a result of irrational beliefs and thoughts following an event that interferes with us from being happy

Ellis’ ABCDE model

Activating event

Beliefs (irrational such as utopionism)

Consequences- emotions and behaviours

Dispute beliefs

Effect - depression cured

How can we prove that faulty information processing is a cause of depression?

Cohens study tracking development of 437 adolescents found that frequent cognitive distortions predicted later depression

Strengths of cognitive explanations for depression

Cohens development report

CBT is 80% effective

Limitations of cognitive explanations for depression

Correlations dosn’t establish causation

Drug therapies can be just as effective as CBT

Different versions of CBT

Becks’ identifies negative thoughts and challenges them with evidence against it. Ellis’ changes the irrational beliefs to rational ones, easing symptoms

What is behavioral activation?

Encouraging CBT patients to do positive behaviours such as exercising and socialising with positive reinforcement

Neural explanation for depression

Low serotonin is a neural correlate of depression

Biological treatment of depression

SSRIs - selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors, increasing serotonin bindings in synaptic transmission, improving mood

Findings of March et al. study on 327 depressed adolescents

CBT and SSRIs resulted in 81% reporting significant improvements in 36 weeks, 86% if both used

what is ocd?

an anxiety disorder that involves repetitive obsessions and / or compulsions

cognitive characteristics of ocd

obsessive thoughts and insight

emotional characteristics of ocd

anxiety, distress, depression, guilt and disgust

behavioural characteristics of ocd

repetitive compulsions that temporarily reduce anxiety, avoidance of triggering situations

the cycle of ocd

obsessive thoughts → anxiety → compulsion → temporary relief (repeat)

2 Biological explanations for twin studies

Genes or neurons

Genetic evidence for ocd

Lewis observed that 37% of his ocd patients’ parents also had it and 21% had siblings with it

Nestadt et al. found that 68% of MZ twins shared ocd compared to 31% for DZ

What factor challenges twin studies?

MZ twins are more likely to be parented very similarly making nurture a possible explanation for any results

What are candidate genes?

Genes found to be more prevalent in people with mental disorders

What does polygenic mean?

Multiple genes are involved in a disorder

Neural explanation for ocd

Caused by abnormal levels of neurotransmitters, serotonin hypothesis

Environmental evidence for ocd

Cromor found that over half of people with ocd experienced past trauma and that there is a positive correlation between severity if symptoms and severity of trauma

What is the interactionist approach of ocd?

Both genes and the environment play a role in the development of ocd

What is the diathesis stress model?

Biological venerability and and environmental trigger is needed for a mental disorder to develop