Abnormaity/Psychopathy

Abnormal = deviating from the average (norm)

• however if we adopt this term literally, we could conclude that any rare behaviour is abnormal
• this is not a useful way of defining abnormality as it doesn't take into account whether that abnormal behaviour is desireable or not
• to counter act this definition, there are 4 other definitions that can be used instead

1) statistical infrequency (SI)

2) deviation from social norms (DFSN)

3) failure to function adequately (FTFA)

4) deviation form ideal mental health (DFIDMH)

SI:

• under this definition, a persons thinking/behaviour is classified as abnormal if it is statistically infrequent (rare)
• is based around how frequently a behaviour occurs and so states that abnormality is when a person behaves in a way that the majority don't
• eg. one may say that an individual who has an IQ below or above the average level of society is abnormal

+ provides objective way, based on quantitative data, to define abnormality

- fails to recognize desireability of behaviour (high IQ = infrequent but desireable)

- some characteristics have no bearing on normality or abnormality but are rare (lefthandedness)

- some characteristics are regarded as abnormal even though they're quite frequent (depression)

DFSN:

• social norms consist of explicit + implicit rules that society has about what are acceptable behaviours, values and beliefs
• having set of moral standards and rules that everyone follows allows society to run smoothly
• Explicit rules = stated clearly and made known to all, violating them may mean breaking the law
• these behaviours that violate legal norms are called criminal
• Implicit rules = agreed as a matter of convention within particular society
• eg. of implicit rules include queueing in a shop or not standing too close when in convo
• ppl violating explicit and implicit rules are often regarded as abnormal/deviants

+ gives a social dimension to idea of abnormality which is no other definition considers, provides a fresh perspective which may influence the work of other psychologists into abnormality

- social norms vary from culture to culture and so what is deemed abnormal also differs from culture to culture (cultural relativism)

- social norms vary over time eg. homosexuality was once socially unacceptable

- subjective ---> social norms are not real, but are based on the opinions of ruling elites in society rather than majority opinion ---> issue cos means social norms can be used to "control" those seen as a threat to social order

- behaviours where legal norms are violated are usually regarded as criminal and the behaviour is rarely attributed to an underlying psychological disorder

- role of context is not considered eg. normality of wearing a bikini at beach and in a mall differs

FTFA:

• FTFA refers to abnormality as anything that makes an individual unable to cope with the demands of everyday activities eg. going to work or taking part in social activities (peers etc)
• implications of this definition are if an individual's behaviour appears strange or abnormal, then provided they aren't hamring themselves or acting dysfunctional (can still go work etc) them not intervention is required
• view of abnormality therefore means that an individual who's problem falls outside of the criteria should only be given proffession help if they begin to experience a dysfunction in daily living

+ most people seeking help believe they're suffering from psychological problems that interfere with ability to function properly (matches sufferer's perceptions)

- failure to keep job may be due to economic situation not abnormality (not considered other factors)

- person with OCD may exhibit excessive rituls that prevent them from functioning adequately, as they constantly miss work, whereas others may suffer from same excessive rituals but find time to complete these and attend work on time (individual diff)

- way of determining the extent of a person's problems and the likelihood that they might need proffessional help (not a true definition)

- what may be seen as functioning adequately in one culture may not be adequate in another (cultural relativism)

- not eating/moving may be seen as failing to function adequately but hunger strikes/protests are seen in a different light (context dependant)

DFIMH:

• turns traditional approach to abnormality around by looking at positives rather than negatives
• Jahoda suggested 6 criteria neccesary for ideal mental health (no abnormality)
• an absence of any of these characteristics increases a person's vulnerability to a mental disorder

6 criteria:

• resistance to stress: ability to tolerate anxiety without disintegration
• self actualization: growing to our max potential
• positive attitudes towards self: having positive self-concept + high self-esteem
• personal autonomy: being independant, self reliatnt etc
• accurate perception of reality: having objective and realistic view of the world
• master of environment

+ refreshing approachas it focuses on positive rather than negative aspects of life

- very few ppl achieve their full potential in life (difficulty self-actualizing)

- very few ppl meet it all, suggests that majority of people are psychologically unhealthy? (difficulty meeting all of criteria)

- some people work more efficiently in moderatly stresful situations (individual differences)

- Jahoda's ideas are based on Western ideals of self-fulfillment and individuality (cultural issues)

- mastery of environment is too vague

OCD:

• anxiety disorder characterised with intrusive uncontrollable thoughts (obsessions) coupled with the need to perform specific acts repeatedly (compulsions)
• fear of contamination (germophobe) + repetetive thoughts of violence (killing) etc are all within the mind (cognitive) and so are the obsessions
• Compulsions are the behavioural responses inteded to neutralize these obsessions such as constant cleaning + harming another individual
• some OCD sufferes will meticulously perform their rituals hundreds of times and experience extreme anxiety if prevented from carrying them out

Behavioural characteristics:

• centres on the compulsive behaviour, and for sufferes of OCD compulsions have 2 properties
• compulsions are repetetive and sufferers often feel compelled to repeat a behaviour (eg. clean)
• compulsions are used to manage or reduce anxiety (eg. excessive cleaning caused by excessive fear of bacteria and therefore is a direct response to the obsession

Emotional characteristics:

• characterised by anxiety which is caused by the obsessions 
• constantly high levels of anxiety can often lead to depression, as the anxiety experienced can result in a low mood and loss of pleasure in everyday activities

Cognitive characteristics:

• obsessive thoughts are main cognitive feature of OCD
• these thoughts occur over and over again

Biological approach states OCD is the result of physiological cause linked to:

Genetics:

• OCD seems to be a polygenic condition where a number of genes are involved in its development
• family + twin studies siggest the involvement of genetic factors

Specific genes involved:

• SERT gene appears to be mutated in individuals with OCD
• mutation causes increase in transporter proteins at a neuron's membrane
• leads to increase in reuptake of serotonin into neuron which decreases level of serotonin in synapse
• COMT gene regulates function of dopamine and appears to be mutated in individuals with OCD
• however mutation causes a decrease in COMT activity and therefore, higher level of dopamine

Researcher = Gottesman (1981)

• found that identical twins showed a concordance rate of 87% for obsessive symptoms and features compared to 47% in fraternal twins
• difference suggests that genetic factors are moderately important

- higher concordance rate found for identical twins may be due to nurture as they are likely to experience same environment as opposed to fraternal trwins

- CR are not 100% therefore, genes alone cannot determine who will develop OCD so genes must only create a vulnerability towards it and not a direct cause (other factors to consider)

- OCD may be culturally rather than genetially transmitted as family members may observe and imitate each others behaviour (SLT/VR)

Neural explanations:

• neural mechanisms refer to regions of the brain and structures such as neurons and neurotransmitters involved in sending messages through the nervous system
• Prefrontal cortex (PFC) is involved in decision making and regulation of primitive aspects of our behaviour ---> over active PFC causes exaggerated control of primal impulses
• eg. primal instict when exiting bathroom is to wash hands to avoid harmful germs
• due to over activation of PFC in OCD, obsessions about avoiding germs and compulsions to wash hands continue over and over again

• abnormalities/imbalance in neurotransmitter serotonin could also be related to OCD
• high high lebels of dopamine 
• https://www.simplypsychology.org/a-level-psychopathology.html
• https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/g/revision-cards/psychopathology-76

+ brains of OCD patients are structured and function differently from those of other people, brain scans of OCD patients show increased activity in the PFC (research support)

- whether low serotonin causes OCD is unknown, all we know is that they are related, difficult to establish whether low serotonin causes OCD or is a result of it ---> cannot establish c+e relationship

- low serotonin levels are also found in other mental disorders thus, these biochemical abnormalities are not specific to OCD and may be true of any form of mental distress

2 classes of drug have proved to be effctive in the treatment of OCD: 

• Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs)
• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)

=  both classes of drug increase serotonin levels, and so support the neural/biochemical explanation

+ drugs that increase serotonin have been shown to reduce OCD symptoms

- drugs seem to show only partial alleviation of the symptoms so the process is not fully understood, the exact function of neurotransmitters in the development of OCD is far from understood

- most SSRIs have side effects which can be unpleasant eg. constipation, weightgain, dry mouth

- drug treatments only attack the symptoms of a disorder and not the underlying cause and so ceasing from taking them will most likely bring back OCD

Phobias:

• phobias lie within the category of anxiety disorders
• categorised by the irrational fear of an environment, situation or object
• phobic disorders are cases of irrational fears that produce a conscious avoidance of the fearerd object or situation

Behavioural characteristics

• avoidance ---> confrontation with feared object/stimulus produces high anxiety response so efforts are made to avoid places phobic stimulus could be eg socially phobic ppl will choose to avoid crowded places before even experiencing that anxiety
• panic ---> cannot always avoid fear, and so when confronted with phobic stimulus ppl panic. Panic can be mild eg. crying/screaming or severe eg. "freezing," one of the fight-flight responses

Emotional characteristics

• emotional response is triggered by presence or anticipation of phobic stimulus which are unreasonable as phobic stimulus usually harmless eg. panic attacks to house spiders

Cognitive characteristics

• selective attention towards phobic stimulus so experience difficulty focusing in its presence
• irrational thinking towards object/situation eg. "one touch of a spider will be fatal"

Depression is often classed as a mood disorder where an individual struggles in day to day life

Behavioural characterstics

• shift in activity levels ---> likely experience reduced energy levels, sense of tiredness
• disturbances in sleeping patterns ---> sleeping significantly more and others, insomnia
• appetite ---> great variation here as some individuals eat more/less than normal

Emotional characteristics

• deep sadness ---> may feel worthless, hope-les or have low self-esteem
• loss of interest/pleasure ---> in usual hobbies + activities
• anger ---> verbal aggression directed to others or may begin to self-harm (directed to self)

Cognitive characteristics

• diminished ability to concentrate and poor decision making
• sufferes focus on negative aspects of a situation/memory and ignore the positives

Classical conditioning:

• process of learning by associating 2 stimuli together to learn a response, and phobias can be acquired the same way
• CC can explain how we learn to associate something we do not fear (NS) eg. lift
• NS is associated with something which triggers a fear response (US) eg. being trapped
• now that there's an association, the lift becomes a CS and causes a response of fear CR

Watson + Rayner (1920) conducted a case study on an 11month child called little albert

• before the ex, Albert showed no response to a white rat
• to investigate whether they could induce a fear response they struck metal to create a loud noise to startle him every time her went to reach for the rat numeroud times

= thereafter, albert began to cry whenever he saw the rat

= suggests that a fear response could be induced through process of CC

Operant conditioning:

• phobias are maintained through OC, in particular negative reinforcement
• this is where a behaviour is strengthened because an unpleasant conseqience is removed
• eg. by always taking the stairs, an individual scared of lifts is constantly avoiding their phobia

= avoidance reduces their feelings of anxiety and so negatively reinforces their behaviour, making the person more likely to repeat this behaviour (avoidance) in the future

= therefore, according to the 2-process model, phobias are initiated thru CC but maintained thru OC

+ Watson + Rayner conducted a study that supports the idea that CC is involved in acquiring phobias in humans. The fact that there is research evidence to support the behav expl of phobias suggests that this is more than just a theory

+ another strength is its application to therapy, the behaviourist ideas have been used to develop treatments, including SD and flooding. These have proven to be effective methods of treatments.

- behav explan for the development of phobias ignores the role of cognition as phobias may develop as a result of irrational thinking, not just learning. Furthermore, the cog app has also led to the development of CBT, a treatment said to be more successful than behav treatments

- there are claims that behav app may not provide a complete explan of phobias because it has been highlighted the fact that evolutionary factors could play a role in phobias, especially if the avoidance of a particular stimulus (eg. snakes) could protect against pain or even death

- sometimes phobias are a result of a biological preparedness which have acted as a survival mechanism for our ancestors and casts doubt on the 2-process model

Flooding:

• where the sufferer is directly exposed to their phobic stimulus
• are encouraged to remain in the room/situation for a period of time until their anxiety peaks
• this level of anxiety cannot be prolonged and eventually decreases

= by not allowing ppt to remove themselves from phobic stimulus they are prevented from negatively reinforcing their fear

+ research support from Wolpe (1960) + Solter (2007) provide evidence to suggest that flooding is an effective treatment, even with small children, intense in vivo exposure to a stimulus, rapidly removed the fear responses previously found in the patients

+ provides cost-effective treatment, with rsearch finding that it is equally effective to other treatments such as SD, but takes much less time in achieving these positive results meaning less money spent by health service providers

- raises ethical concerns because during treatment the sufferer is under extreme stress and is an issue because patients with poor health are at risk of collapsing and having a heart attack

Systematic desentisisation:

• gradual method of exposure (either in vivo or in vitro)
• uses principles of CC to systematically replace one CR with another (fear with calm) 
• this is called counter conditioning

1) sufferer is taught relaxation techniques such as deep, rhythmic breathing, muscle relaxation, picture calm setting to slow down heart rate

2) sufferer contructs anxiety hierachy in which they rate situation with an anxiety score so that exposure can progress from least feared to most

3) after its construction the sufferer moves through the hierachy (least->most), relaxing at each ethical and tolerable method compared to flooding

- requires on average 6-8 sessions which may be unsuitable for individuals needing a quick fix stage before moving onto the next stage

+ empowers sufferer as they are actively involved in the treatment process, and is more due to needing to return to work or just simply time contraints (time consuming)

Depression:

• form of affective mood disorder involving lengthy emotional disturbances
• can occur from adolescence onwards with the average age of onset being mid 20s
• for a diagnosis to be made, at least 5 symptoms must be apparent everyday for 2 weeks that is not accountable for by any other medical condition or event

Characteristics:

• Behavioural ---> weight changes, loss of energy, sleep disturbances
• Emotional ---> feelings of emptiness, loss of enthusiasm, worthlessness, low mood
• Cognitive ---> memory/concentration issues, negative thoughts, personal inadequacy

Cog approach:

• explains depression as a result of faulty and irrational thought processes and perceptions
• two theories ---> Beck's neg triad + Ellis' ABC model

Beck's cog triad:

• believed depression is caused because individual sees themselves and the world due to cog vulnerability
• 3 parts: cog biases, neg schemas, neg triad

Cog biases = tendencies to think in a certain way that is illogical or deviant from the norm

1) selective abstraction - conclusions drawn from just one part of the situation

2) overgeneralisation - making general conclusions bases on a single event

3) magnification/minimalisation - make exagg when evaluationg a performance or stuation

Negative self schemas = dominate thinking with negative information we hold about ourselves based on negative past experiences

Negative triad =

> criticisms for being reductionist and overly simplistic in its reduction of human behaviour to a simple stimulus-response association, it ignored the role of cognition in the formation of pnobias with cog psychologists proposing that phobias may develop as result of irrational thinking, not just learning

> also subject to environmental determinism in ignoring role of individual free will in formation of phobias

> is a nomothetic app that has created universal laws regarding the formation and maintenance of phobias, yet, if we accept individual cognition plays a part, a more idiographic app may be effectiv

Ellis took a diff app to explaining depression and started by explaining what is required for "good" mental health, according to Ellis, good mental health is the result of rational thinking which allows ppl to be happy and pain free, whereas depression is the result of irrational thinking, which prevents ppl to be happy and pain free.

= believed that individuals with depression interpret external events in an irrational and maladaptive way, leading to an undersirable experience

A ---> Activating event ---> an event occurs eg, pass a friend in corridor and he ignores your "hello"

B ---> Beliefs ---> belief is interpretation of the event, which could either be rational or irrational

• rational inter eg. maybe the friend was busy/stressed and did not see/hear you
• irrational inter eg. maybe the friend dislikes you and never wants to talk to you again

Consequences ---> rational beliefs lead to healthy emotional outcomes whereas irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy emotional outcomes