Psychopathology

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What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias?
Panic, Avoidance and Endurance
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what are the emotional characteristics of phobias?
Anxiety, Emotional responses are unreasonable
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What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias?
Selective attention to the phobic stimulus, Irrational beliefs, cognitive distortions
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What are the behavioural characteristics of depression?
Activity levels, Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour, Agression and self-harm
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What are the emotional characteristics of depression?
Lowered mood, Anger, Lowered self esteem
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What are the cognitive characteristics of depression?
Poor concerntration, Attending to and dwelling on the negative, Absolutist thinking
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What are the behavioural characteristics of OCD?
Compulsions (repetitive and reduce anxiety), Avoidance
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What are the emotional characteristics of OCD?
Anxiety and distress, Accompying depression, Guilt and disgust
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What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD?
Obsessive thoughts, Cognitive stratergies to deal with obsessions, Insight into excessive anxiety
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What is classical conditioning?
Its a learning via association and occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together (UCS and NS) so that eventually the NS produces the same response that was first produced by the UCS in the first place.
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What is positive reinforcement?
Carrying out a certain behaviour and then getting a reward for it i.e. a baby cries because it knows the reward will be food.
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What is negative reinforcement?
Avoiding a situation which is unpleasant in order for the individual recieves a desirable consequence i.e. giving a baby food so that it doesnt cry.
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What is the behavioural approach to explaining phobias?
The two-process model (classical and operant conditioning)
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Evaluation of phobias
It has good explanatory power - It explains how they are maintained over time and this had important implications for therapies because it explains why patients need to be exposed to the feared stimulus. The application to therapy is a strength.
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Alternative explanations for avoidance behaviour - not all avoidance behaviour with phobias is the result of anxiety reduction. There is evidence to suggest that avoidance behaviour appears to be motivated more by positive feelings of safety.
Phobias dont always follow trauma - Sometimes phobias appear following a bad experience so you can see the result of conditioning. However some develop phobias and have not had a bad experience with it, suggesting other factors must be involved.
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What is the cognitive aproach to explaining depression?
Becks cognitive theory of depression and Ellis's ABC model.
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What does faulty information processing involve?
Instead of focusing on the positives of a situation, you attend on the negative i.e. last week someone won £10 million on the lottery and this week you win £1 million but you're annoyed as you didnt win £10 million.
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What is a negative self-schema?
A schema is a package of ideas/information developed through experience acting as a mental framework for the interpretation of information. A negative self-schema is therefore interpreting info about ourselves in a negative way.
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What are the aspects of the negative triad?
Negative view of the world, Negative view of the future, Negative view of the self.
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What does Ellis's ABC model involve?
An Activating event (A), Beliefs (B), Consequences (C)
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Evaluation of Becks cognitive theory of depression
Good supporting evidence - Grazioli and Terry assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive vulnerability and depression before + after birth and found that women judged to be high in cognitive vulnerability were more likely to suffer post-natal depresion
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Practical applications in CBT - It forms the basis for CBT as all aspects of depression can be identified and challenged by CBT i.e. the negative triad is easily identifiable therefore it translate well into therapy.
Doesn't explain all aspects of depression - Becks theory explains neatly the basic symptoms of depression however its complex (some extreme emotion). Some may suffer Cotard syndrome (delusion they are a zombie) Beck cannot easily explain these cases.
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Evaluation of Ellis's ABC model
A partial explanation - Theres no doubt depression can follow an activating event (reactive depression) but its different from depression arising without no clear cause so Ellis's model only applies to some kinds of depression and not others.
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Practical application in CBT - By challenging irrational negative beliefs, a person can reduce their depression is supported by research (Lipsky et al.) supporting the basic theory as it suggests that irrational beliefs had some role in depression.
Doesn't explain all aspects of depression - His theory explains why some appear more vulnerable to depression than others as a result of their cognitions but it doesnt explain the anger associated with depression.
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What is CBT?
A method for treating mental disorders based on both cognitive and behavioral techniques. From the cognitive viewpoint the therapy aims to deal with thinking, such as challenging negative thoughts.
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CBT: Becks cognitive therapy
This applies to Becks therapy because you can identify thoughts about the negative triad and from this, they can be challenged i.e. by setting homework and keeping a record of positive times.
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CBT: Ellis's rational emotive behavioural therapy (REBT)
It extends the ABC model to the ABCDE model (D for dispute and E for effect). The central technique is to dispute irrational thoughts and the intended effect is to change the irrational belief. There are different methods for disputing beliefs.
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Evaluation for the cognitive approach to treating depression
Its effective - March et al. compared the effects of CBT with antidepressant drugs and a combination of the 2 in 327 adolescents. After 36 weeks, 81% of the CBT group, 81% of the antidepressant group and 86% of the combined group had improved.
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CBT may not work for severe cases - It can be so severe, patients can't motivate themselves to engage and with the hard cognitive work of CBT i.e. may not even be able to pay attention in a session (antidepressant medication may be better).
Success may be due to the therapist-patient relationship - It may be the quality of the relationship that determines success rather than any particular technique that is used.
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Genetic explanation to OCD - Lewis observed that from his OCD patients, 37% had parents with OCD and 21% had siblings with OCD, suggesting it runs in families (genetic vulnerability).
Candidate genes (genetic explanation) - Researchers have identified certain genes which create vulnerability for OCD. Some of these genes are involved in regulating the development of the serotonin system.
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OCD is polygenic (genetic explanation) - Taylor analysed findings of previous studies and found evidence that up to 230 different genes may be involved in OCD.
Different types of OCD (genetic explanation) - One group of genes in one person may cause OCD but a different lot may cause the disorder in another. This is known as aetiologically heterogeneous, meaning that the origin of OCD has different causes.
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The role of serotonin (neural explanation) - If a person has low levels of serotonin then normal transmission of mood relevant information are affected, explained by a reduction in functioning of the serotonin system in the brain.
Decision-making systems (neural explanation) - Some cases of OCD seem to be associated with impaired decision making which may be associated with abnormal functioning of the lateral of the frontal lobes (responsible for logical thinking).
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Evaluation of the biological approach to explaining OCD (genetic explanations)
Good supporting evidence - Nestadt et al. reviews previous twin studies and found 68% of MZ twins shared OCD as opposed to 31% of DZ twins, strongly suggesting a genetic influence on OCD.
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Too many candidate genes - Although twins studies suggest OCD is largely under genetic control, psychologists have been less successful at pinpointing the genes involved i.e. too many and each genetic variation only increases the risk by a fraction
Environmental risk factors - Cromer et al. found that over 1/2 of OCD patients in the sample had a traumatic event in the past and that OCD was more severe in those with more than one traumatic event, suggesting it cant be completely genetic.
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Evaluation for the biological approach to explaining OCD (neural explanations)
Some supporting evidence - Some antidepressants work purely on the serotonin system, increasing levels of this neurotransmitter. Such drugs are effectie in reducing OCD symptoms, suggesting the serotonin system is involved in OCD.
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Not clear which mechanisms are involved - You cant claim to understand the neural mechanisms involved in OCD as research has identified other brain systems that may be involved sometimes but no system has been found to always play a role in OCD.
SSRIs prevent the re-absorption and breakdown of serotonin and effectively increase its levels in the synapse and thus continue to stimulate the postsynaptic neuron, compensating for whats wrong with the serotonin system in OCD.
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Drugs can be used alongside CBT to treat OCD. The drugs reduce a petients emotional symptoms such as feeling anxious. This means that patients can engage more effectively with CBT.
An alternative to SSRIs include tricyclics (older antidepressant) such as clomipramine but they have more sever side effects so are generally kept as reserves.
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An alternative to SSRIs include SNRIs (serotonin-nonadrenaline reuptake inhibitors), these are also like a second defence line for patients.
Evaluation of the biological approach to treating OCD
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Its effective - Soomro et al. reviewed studies comparing SSRIs to placebos in the treatment to OCD and found that 17 studies showed significantly better results than the placebo group. Effectiveness is greatest when SSRIs are combined with CBT.
They are cost-effective - Drug therapies are cheaper than psychological tratments (CBT) and are non-disruptive to peoples lives.
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