psychopathology

DEFINITION

numerically unusual behaviour or characteristic

INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY DISORDER

IQ below 70 is part of the diagnosis of IDD

EVALUATION

REAL-LIFE APPLICATION

simple means of assessing patients

UNUSUAL CHARACTERISTICS CAN BE POSITIVE

some unusual behaviours dont require treatment

NOT EVERYONE UNUSUAL BENEFITS FROM A LABEL

some people with low IQ funciton adequately and dont benefit from being labelled

DEFINITION

social judgement about what it acceptable

NORMS ARE CULTURE-SPECIFIC

what is normal in one culture may not be in another

ANITSOCIAL PERSONALITY DISORDER

impulsive, aggresive, irresponsible behaviour is not socially acceptable

EVALUATION

NOT A SOLE EXPLANANTION

other factors matter such as distress to others

CULTURAL RELATIVISM 

unfair to judge someone from another culture

CAN LEAD TO HUMAN RIGHT ABUSES

the social norm approach maintains control over minority groups e.g. women

DEFINITION

failing to cope with demands of everyday life

WHEN IS SOMEONE FAILING?

signs e,g, not conforming to interpersonal rules, personal distress

INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY DISORDER

failing to function is part of the diagnosis of IDD as well as low IQ

PATIENTS PERSPECTIVE

captures experiences of people with mental distress problems

IS IT DIFFERENT FROM DEVIATION FROM SOCIAL NORMS?

alternative lifestyles or doing extreme sports may be examples of both

SUBJECTIVE JUDGEMENTS

requires a subjective judgement during assessment.

DEFINITION

jahoda considered normality rather than abnormality

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

includes lack of symptoms; rationality, self-actualisation, coping with stress

EVALUATION

COMPREHENSIVE DEFINITION

includes all the reasons anyone might seek help

CULTURAL REALISM

ideas specific to western cultures, e.g. self-actualisation

UNIVERSALLY HIGH STANDARD OF MENTAL HEALTH

few people achieve all or even most of the ideals

BEHAVIOURAL

panic

avoidance or endurance

EMOTIONAL

irrational and unreasonable

fear and anxiety

COGNITIVE

selective attention

irrational beliefs

cognitive disorders

EVALUATION

GOOD EXPLANATORY POWER

explains how phobias can be bothe acquired and maintained

ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION FOR AVOIDANCE

may be motivated more by seeking safety rather than anxiety reduction

INCOMPLETE EXPLANATION OF PHOBIAS

cannot account for preparedness to acquire phobias of some stimuli and not others.

ANXIETY HIERARCHY

a list of situations ranked for how much anxiety they produce

RELAXATION

reciporcal inhibition

relaxation includes imagery or breathing techniques

EXPOSURE

exposed to phobic stimulus whilst relaxed at each stage of the anxiety hierarchy

EFFECTIVE 

more effective than relaxation alone after 33 months (gilroy et al)

DIVERSE RANGE OF PATIENTS

e.g. appropriate for patients with learning difficulties

ACCEPTABLE TO PATIENTS

patients prefer to flood so drop out rates are lower

EXTRA

some phobias dont follow like trauma

cognitive aspects of phobias not explained

WHAT IS IT?

exposes people to a very frightening situation without a build up

HOW DOES IT WORK?

works by extinction of the conditioned fear response

ETHICAL SAFEGUARDS

patients must give informed consent to and be prepared for flooding

COST-EFFECTIVE

more effective than systematic desensitisation and quicker, therefore cheaper

LESS EFFECTIVE FOR SOME

less effective for complex phobias like social phobias

TRAUMATIC TREATMENT

drop out rate is high so ineffective

EXTRA

sympton substitution

BEHAVIOURAL

lethargy or agitation

increased or decreased sleeping/ eating

 aggression and self harm

EMOTIONAL 

lowered mood

anger towards self and others

low self-esteem

COGNITIVE

poor concentration

negative bias

FAULTY INFORMATION PROCESSING

attending to the negative aspects of a situation

NEGATIVE SELF-SCHEMAS

negative information about ourselves is accessed whenever we encounter a self-relevant situation

THE NEGATIVE TRIAD

negative views of the world, the self and the future

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

solid support for idea that certain cognitions make us vulnerable to depression (clark and beck)

PRACTICAL APPLICATION IN CBT

negative thoughts can be identified and challenged by a therapist

DOESNT EXPLAIN ALL ASPECTS

cannot easily explain extermes of anger or hallucinations and delusions

ACTIVATING EVENT

a negative life event that triggers a response

BELIEFS

beliefs that lead us to over react to the activating event e.g. that life should always be fair

CONSEQUENCES

depression results when we over react to negative life events

PARTIAL EXPLANATION

some cases of depression follow life events but not all

PRACTICAL APPLICATION IN CBT

irrational thought can be identified and challenged by a therapist

DOESNT EXPLAIN ALL ASPECTS

cannot easily explain extremes of anger or hallucinatins and delusions

EXTRA

cognitive primacy

insure attachment linked to depression

BECKS CT

aims to identify negative thoughts and challenge them, including through testing them

ELLIS'S REBT

aims to identify and challenge irrational beliefs by arguement

BEHAVIOURAL ACTIVATION

includes techniques from CT and REBT but also behavioural techniques

IT IS EFFECTIVE

significantly more effectivge than no treatment (culipers et al)

MAY NOT WORK FOR THE MOST SEVERE CASES

not effective where patients are too depressed to engage with therapy

PATIENT- THERAPIST RELATIONSHIP

all therapies fairly similar (luborsky et al)

EXTRA

some patients want to explore their past

overemphasis on cognition

BEHAVIOURAL

compulsions usually decrease anxiety.

avoid situations that trigger anxiety

EMOTIONAL

intense anxiety

depression

guilt and disgust

COGNITIVE

obsessive thoughts

cognitive strategies e.g. prayer

self insight

 CANDIDATE GENES

genes that may be involved in produing symproms of OCD e.g. 5HT1-D beta

OCD IS POLYGENIC

different combinations of up to 230 genetic variations

DIFFERENT TYPES OF OCD

different combinations of gene variations may cause different kinds of OCD

GOOD SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

twin studies show OCD is influenced by genes (nestadt et al)

TOO MANY CANDIDATE GENES

so many genes invloved means little predictive value

ENVIRONMENTAL RISK FACTORS

OCD is associared with trauma, so it is clearly not entirely genetic in origin

SEROTONIN

low levels of serotonin linked to OCD

DECISION MAKING SYSTEM

frontal lobes and parahippocrampal gyrus may be malfunctioning

SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

antidepressants that work on the serotonin system alleviate ocd (nestadt el al)

NOT CLEAR WHAT MECHANISMS ARE INVLOVED

all the neural systems associated with ocd are only invloved in some cases

SHOULDNT ASSUME NEURAL MECHANISMS CAUSE OCD

neural abnormalities may be the result of ocd not the cause

EXTRA

serotonin ocd link mat be co morbidity within depression

twin studies are flawed as genetic evidence

SSIRs

antidepressants that increase levels of serotonin at the synapse

COMBINING SSRIs WITH OTHER TREATMENTS

combine with CBT or other drugs

ALTERNATIVES TO SSRIs

clomipramine (acts on serotonin plus other systems) or SNRIs (noradrenaline)

EFFECTIVE AT TACKLING SYMPTOMS

SSRIs are superior to placebos in treating OCD (soomiro et al)

COST-EFFECTIVE

compared to psychological treatments drugs are cheap and non-disruptive

CAN HAVE SIDE EFFECTS

indigestion, blurred vision and loos of sex drive; worse for clomipramine

EXTRA

unreliable evidence for drug treatments,

some cases of OCD follow trauma