psycopathology

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Psychopathology:
Definitions of abnormality
1) Deviation from social norms
2) Failure to function adequately
3) Statistical infrequency
4) Deviation from ideal mental health
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1) Deviation from social norms:
Evaluation:

+ Real life- Its used in clinical practise. Psychiatrists use the term 'strange' to characterise thinking and behaviour.

- Lacks temporal validity/ Context and culture is important as norms vary.
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2) Statistical infrequency
Evaluation:

+ Real-life application in clinical practise (assesses severity of symptoms and establishes a cut-off point for abnormality

- Cannot determine between desirable and undesirable behaviour (unusual can sometimes be positive, eg high IQ).
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3) Failure to function adequately:
Evaluation:
+ Represents a threshold for when people need to get help/see a professional

- Failure to function properly may not be linked to a mental health illness, eg losing a job.
- Its also context/culture dependent.
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4) Deviation from ideal mental health:
Evaluation:
+ Provides a comprehensive definition- a checklist to assess ourselves.

- Ignores Cultures where self growth is ignored in society ( cultural dependency)
- Few will actually be able to reach the full criteria
- There are benefits of stress th
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Characteristics of mental disorders:
(Behavioural, Emotional & Cognitive)

Depression: Characterised by sadness and general withdrawal
B: isolation,lack of motivation, irritable
E: Worthless, lonely,numbness
C: Suicidal/ Negative thoughts
Phobias: Irrational fear of object/situation
B: Avoidance,acting violently
E: Panic, overwhelmed, anxiety, uneasy
C: Negative mindset, irrational thoughts

OCD: Obsessive (thoughts & images)/ compulsive behaviour (repetitive actions)
B: Repetitive
E: Anx
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Behavioural approach to explaining phobias:
The two process model proposed by Orval Mowere 1947:

CC: Associating something of no fear with something that already triggers a feared response
OC: Increases frequency of a behaviour. By avoiding a phobia , a
Step 1: Acquiring Phobia: Either through CC (traumatic experience) or SL (observing others)
Step 2: Maintaining phobia: Reduction in anxiety when avoiding stimulus, reinforces avoidance and maintains phobia.
Evaluation:
+ Supporting evidence: Watson + Ray
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1st Behavioural treatment of Phobias:
systematic desensitisation:

This is a behavioural therapy that is used to unlearn conditioned responses. In this therapy sufferers learn relaxation techniques which are used when facing the hierarchy of exposure to o
How it works:
1) relaxation- visualising fear while breathing/meditating 2) Anxiety hierarchy is created- most to least fearful situations
3) Exposure: completing stages of the hierarchy
4) Mastery: Over sessions client will learn to cope
Evaluation:
+
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2nd Behavioural treatments of phobias:
Flooding:

This is the immediate exposure to the anxiety provoking stimulus. Repeated presentation of feared stimulus in order to reduce influence of stimulus on behaviour (stimulus statation)
How it works:
1) A person is in a state of panic & anxiety
2) They have no choice but to confront their fear
3) Exhaustion keeps in and anxiety goes down
4) Realise no harm is done and fear is extinguished
Evaluation:
+ Cost effective in comparison to ot
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The Cognitive approach to explaining depression:

The 1st explanation: Becks cognitive/ negative triad:

Beck believes depression is a result of negative thinking/negative interpretation of the world
He suggested 3 parts to cognitive vulnerability:

1) Faulty information processing: Attending negative aspects of situations and ignoring the positives. 'Black & white'
Eg: Minimisation- underplaying positive event
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2) Negative self schema: Through early trauma people develop negative schema- set of beliefs that are self blaming and pessimistic

3) The cognitive triad: Dysfunctional view of ourselves is developed through 3 types of negative thinking; Negative view of
Evaluation:
+ Supporting evidence: Bourey et al (2001) monitored students who showed feelings of hopelessness
+ Real life- psychiatrists can screen young people to see who is vulnerable to depression (high ecological validity)
- Not all aspects of depress
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2nd explanation of depression: Ellis ABC model:

Ellis Believed good mental health was the result of rational thinking that allowed people to be happy. While depression resulted from irrational thoughts.
The ABC model:

A= Activating event: We get depressed when we experience a negative event that triggers irrational beliefs. Eg failing an important test

B= Beliefs: The belief system. Eg irrational beliefs such as 'i must achieve perfection'
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C= Consequences: When activating event triggers irrational beliefs there are emotional and behavioural consequences. Eg: a person who believes they should always succeed and then fail, this can trigger depression.

'Must' Abatory thinking: This is a sour
Evaluation:

+ Real world application: Successful treatment of depression using REBT (David et al 2018 showed that it can change negative beliefs)

- It only explains reactive depression and not endogenous depression (depression that isn't traceable to a
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Cognitive treatments of depression: CBT

Cognitive: Identify/ alter dysfunctional thinking
Behavioural: Working to change negative thoughts

Becks cognitive therapy- The idea is to identify automatic thoughts on the world, self and the future (negative t
Phases to CBT: 1) Drawing up a schedule of activities to become more active. 2) Recognise negative thoughts (record to challenge in session). 3) Therapists help identify thinking processes, 4) Therapists help change these negative thoughts
Clients are giv
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Ellis's REBT therapy: ABCDE
REBT is used to identify and dispute irrational thoughts

D= Disputing belief( argument to break link),
E= Effective belief (eg ' i am loved'), F= Functional behaviour/emotion (excitement about the future)
Evaluation:
+ Effectiveness: Keller et al (2000) found that with CBT recovery rates were 52% & combination of CBT & medicine recovery rates were 85%
+ Its also effective and long lasting with no side-effects
- Lacks effectiveness for severe cases and for
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The Biological approach to explaining OCD
The 1st explanation: Genetic:

This explanation suggests OCD is inherited and that whether a person develops OCD is partly due to their genes. This explains why patients have family members with OCD
Evidence:
- Lewis 1936 found 37% of OCD patients have parents with OCD
- Diathethis-stress model- certain genes leave some people more likely if certain environmental stresses are present (act as trigger)
- Family studies: Bellodi et al (2001) using twi
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Candidate genes: Implicated in development of OCD. CG's includes SERT gene (regulate serotonin) and COMT gene (regulates production of dopamine)
OCD is polygenetic- caused by a combination of genes. Stenev Taylor found 230 different genes.
Different types
Evaluation:
+ Supporting evidence to show vulnerability comes from genes- Twin studies: Nestadt et al (2010) found 68% of identical twins share OCD compared to 31% non-identical. A person with a family member with OCD is 4 times as likely to develop it (
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2nd explanation of OCD: Neural explanation: This explanation suggests that abnormal levels of neurotransmitters (serotonin & dopamine) are implicated in OCD.

Serotonin (effect on mood)- Lower levels in OCD sufferers
Dopamine (Effect on motivation & drive
Brain: Decision making systems:
Neuroimaging allows researchers to study and compare normal/abnormal brain patterns. Some cases of OCD have been linked to impaired decision making which is associated with the functions of the lateral of the frontal lobe
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Brain parts involved in OCD are OFC (decision making, worries about social behaviour) and thalamus (cleaning,checking & safety). OFC & thalamus are overactive. An overactive thalamus results in increased motivation to clean. If one is overactive so is the
Evaluation:
+ Supporting evidence: Antidepressants that work on serotonin reduce OCD symptoms- shows its involved in OCD
- Serotonin may not be unique to OCD as many with OCD are also depressed. Depression may be what's disrupting actions of serotonin n
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The biological approach to treating OCD:
Drug therapy (Gava et al 2007):

This therapy assumes there is a chemical imbalance in the brain, that can be corrected by drugs which can increase/decease levels of neurotransmitters in the brain.
SSRI's work on increasing certain neurotransmitters in the brain by preventing the re-absorption of serotonin (this increases serotonin levels in synapse which simulates post-synaptic neurons)

SSRI's are often combined with CBT. Drug reduces suffers emo
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Alternatives to SSRI's: If SSRI's are not effective it can be combined with other drugs such as Tricyclic and SNRI's (kept for people who don't respond to SSRI's
Alternative therapy: Psycosurgery:
Used or patients that don't respond to medications or
Evaluation:
+ Drug therapy has proven effective for reducing OCD symptoms; Soomro et al 2008 found SSRI's were more effective than placebos in 17 different trials.
- Drugs can have more side-effects than benefits- weight gain,dry mouth etc. Coming off d
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

1) Deviation from social norms:

Back

Evaluation:

+ Real life- Its used in clinical practise. Psychiatrists use the term 'strange' to characterise thinking and behaviour.

- Lacks temporal validity/ Context and culture is important as norms vary.

Card 3

Front

2) Statistical infrequency

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

3) Failure to function adequately:

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

4) Deviation from ideal mental health:

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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