Psychopathology

• what is a phobia?

  an anxiety disorder where the person feels a persistent,irrational fear towards an object or situation

  to avoid this fear, they avoid their phobic stimulus to the point that it is maladaptive
• what are the behavioural categories of a disorder?

  how a person with a disorder behaves
• what are the emotional characteristics of a disorder?

  how a person with the disorder feels
• what are the cognitive characteristics of a disorder?

  how a person with the disorder thinks
• what are the behavioural characteristics of a phobia?

  avoidance - the person will refuse to go near their phobic stimulus to the extent that it is maladaptive

  panic - the person will show panic behaviours such as screaming or crying when in the presence of their phobic stimulus
• what are the emotional characteristics of a phobia?

  fear - the person will feel a persistent feeling of fear when in the presence of their phobic stimulus, which is considered irrational

  anxiety - the person will worry when anticipating being in the presence of their phobic stimulus
• what are the cognitive characteristics of a phobia?

  thoughts that their phobic stimulus will cause them harm , which is considered irrational

  the person recognises that their phobia is excessive in that it is unlikely to cause them real harm, but this fails to reduce their feelings of fear
• what is the two-process model?

  phobias develop through classical conditioning and are maintained through operant conditioning

  fear generalisation can also occur whereby the individual will fear similar objects or situations
• how does classical conditioning cause phobias?

  an individual learns to associate a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus that produces an unconditioned response that causes fear
• how does operant conditioning maintain phobias?

  the individual will negatively reinforce their phobia every time they avoid their phobic stimulus because it removes the unpleasant feeling of fear
• what is a strength of the two-process model?

  the study of little Albert showed how an infant could be made to develop a phobia of a white rat, initially the neutral stimulus, by striking a metal bar to make a loud noise, the unconditioned stimulus

  little Albert also became afraid of similar objects such as white rabbits

  this shows how people can be classically conditioned to develop a phobia which strengthens credibility
• what is a limitation of the two-process model?

  too environmentally reductionist since research found that 50% of people who had a traumatic experience with a dog did not develop a phobia

  suggests that cognitive factors may also play a role such as a positive schema of dogs which therefore questions credibility
• what is a limitation of the two-process model?

  overly focused on nurture since it proposes that all phobias are learnt through environmental experiences

  biological psychologists propose that due to our evolutionary past, we are likely to develop phobias that will aid our survival, which explains phobias in people who have not had a traumatic experience

  this therefore questions credibility
• what is a strength of the two-process model?

  has resulted in treatments for phobias such as systematic desensitization or flooding

  both treatments have been found to be effective, and if the treatment developed out of the two-process model is effective then the theory must have merit
• what is systematic desensitisation?

  involves the gradual process of counterconditioning a persons phobia by helping them associate their phobic stimulus with feelings of relaxation rather than fear
• what is the process of systematic desensitisation?

  the therapist teaches the client relaxation techniques

  the client and therapist create an anxiety hierarchy whereby they rank the client's feared situations regarding their phobic stimulus from least to most fearful

  the person is then exposed to their least feared situation and once they become relaxed, they can progress to the next level
• what is flooding?

  a more direct process of counterconditioning a person's phobic which involves direct exposure for an extended period of time which prevents them from negative reinforcement
• what is a strength of systematic desensitisation?

  has been found to be effective with a 75% success rate

  in-vitro flooding has not been equally effective

  which suggests that clients recognise what they see in virtual reality exposure is not real and cannot apply it to real life exposure

  this adds to the effectiveness of systematic desensitization over flooding
• what is a strength of systematic desensitisation?

  unlikely to cause unnecessary distress since it involves gradual exposure meaning that the client can progress at their own pace

  this means that the client is less likely to drop out which increases success rates

  flooding is likely to cause unnecessary distress since it involves immediate exposure

  this adds to the effectiveness of systematic desensitisation over flooding
• what is a strength of flooding?

  cost-effective since in-viva flooding has a 75% success rate, meaning it requires a lot less time

  systematic desensitization has the same success rate but requires more time so it costs more and less people will be treated

  this therefore adds to the appropriateness of flooding over systematic desensitisation
• what is depression?

  a mood disorder

  the person will experience a low mood for most of the day for at leat two weeks

  experience a diminished interest in activities they used to enjoy
• what are behavioural characteristics of depression?

  change in sleeping patterns, could experience insomnia or hypersomnia

  change in eating habits, could experience increased or decreased appetite
• what are the emotion characteristics of depression?

  a low mood, they have to experience this for at least two weeks

  a diminished interest in activities they used to enjoy
• what are the cognitve characteristics of depression?

  low self-esteem, they may think they are incompetent or not good enough which can make them sensitive to others opinions

  poor concentration, they may experience difficulty focusing
• what are the cognitive explanations of depression?

  Beck's negative triad and Eliss' ABC model
• what is Beck's negative triad?

  depression can occur when negative experiences lead to negative schemas, which results in cognitive biases which maintain a negative triad

  the individual thinks negatively about themselves, the world, and their future, which leads to depressive symptoms such as low mood
• what is one of the cognitive biases from Beck's negative triad?

  selective perception, whereby a person only focuses on the negative and ignores the positives
• what is one of the cognitive biases from Beck's negative triad?

  magnification, whereby the person exaggerates negative consequences
• what is one of the cognitive biases from Beck's negative triad?

  overgeneralisation, whereby the person expects the same negative outcome for all future experiences
• what is Ellis' ABC model?

  depression can be explained through a sequence: an activating event, a belief about the event, and the consequence of that belief

  an activating event occurs and the person can either have rational or irrational beliefs about the event, which can lead to either negative or positive emotions

  people with depression have irrational beliefs that lead to their negative emotions and behaviours
• what is the cause of irrational thoughts according to Ellis' ABC model?

  mustabatory thinking, believing that certain assumptions must be true for an individual to be happy and if this doesn't happen the begin to have irrational thoughts
• what is a limitation of cognitive explanations of depression?

  difficult to establish cause and effect since it is not clear whether irrational thinking causes depression or is a symptom of it

  means that any treatment developed out of this explanation is palliative and doesn't treat the root cause which therefore questions credibility
• what is a strength of cognitive explanations of depression?

  resulted in the development of CBT as a treatment since both explanations propose that depression is caused by how an individual thinks and so CBT works by disputing the clients irrational thoughts through logical, pragmatic and empirical disputing

  this has been found to be an effective treatment for depression and if the treatment developed out of the cognitive explanation of depression is effective the theory must have merit
• what is a limitation of cognitive explanations of depression?

  cannot explain every case of depression since it fails to explain depression when there has been no activating event

  this suggests that depression might have a biological basis, such as a lack of serotonin, SSRIs have been found to be an effective treatment
• what is a strength of the cognitive explanations of depression?

  has more positive implications than biological explanations since they propose the depression results from irrational thinking

  this can reduce feelings of hopelessness
• how does CBT treat depression?

  a talking therapy that aims to treat depression by changing clients irrational thinking into more rational ways of thinking

  begins by identifying irrational thoughts through thought catching or a diary

  discuss more accurate and helpful ways of thinking

  logical, empirical and pragmatic disputing

  clients then evaluate their own thoughts outside the therapy session
• what is a strength of CBT?

  has been found to be effective since research found that it is equally effective as drug therapies, but is more appropriate since it doesn't produce any side effects

  this means that it suffers low drop-out rate, adding to the effectiveness
• what is a strength of CBT?

  takes a more idiographic approach since it involved disputing the client's unique thoughts whereas drug therapies are more nomothetic since all people take the same drug

  means that CBT is a more tailored treatment so can be adapted to maximise success which adds to the effectiveness
• what is a limitation of CBT?

  not an effective treatment for every case of depression since depression can also be caused by biological factors such as low serotonin so changing the way they think will not address the root cause

  suggest that treatments like SSRIs are more effective for people with biologically-caused depression, which questions effectiveness
• what is a limitation of CBT?


  may not be easy to access since it requires engagement in numeral talking therapy sessions over a period of time

  people with depression can struggle with energy and motivation so they may find it difficult to engage with, meaning that SSRIs may be easier to access since they can be taken home with little effort

  this therefore questions appropriateness