Psychopathology

• Statistical Infrequency


  Definition:

  • Deviating from the statistical norm or average
  • Many individual human characteristics can be measured and plotted on a normal distribution
  • Behaviours 2SD above or below the normal distribution can be considered abnormal

  Examples: Mood, Height, Weight
• Statistical Infrequency AO3

  • Does not recognise many known disorders
  • Schizophrenia - behaviours and symptoms are noticeable but not measurable
  • The cut-off point is subjective
  • Symptoms are difficult to measure and assign a 'statistical' cut-off point to show where help is needed
  • Cultural relativism
• Deviation from Social Norms


  Definition:

  • Society sets norms and values - both written and unwritten
  • Any behaviour that deviates from these norms is considered abnormal

  Examples: Cannibalism, Naked Thursdays
• Deviation from Social Norms AO3

  • Usefulness - clinical practice
  • E.g. to define characteristics of antisocial personality disorder, depression, OCD
  • Deviance is related to context
  • e.g. bikini on the beach vs in a classroom
  • Cultural Relativism
• Failure to function adequately


  Definition:

  • Unable to live a 'normal' day-to-day life
  • Do not possess a 'normal' range of physical abilities, emotions or behaviours
  • Behaviours which disrupt a person's ability to work and form/maintain relationships

  Examples: Disabilities, mood disorders, phobias
• Failure to Function Adequately AO3

  • Abnormality isn't always accompanied by disfunction
  • Psychopaths can lead a seemingly functional life
  • e.g. Harold Shipman
  • Functional disfunction
  • e.g. Attention seeking behaviours that gain wanted attention
  • Cultural relativism
• Failure to function adequately - Checklist of Dysfunction

  1. Personal distress
  2. Maladaptive behaviour
  3. Stops you from achieving goals
  4. Unpredictable behaviour
  5. Doesn't suit circumstances
  6. Irrational behaviour
  7. Unexplainable
  8. Cause observer discomfort
  9. Deviation from social norms and values
• Deviation from Ideal Mental Health


  Definition:

  • Jahoda defines 'normal' mental health characteristics
  • Abnormality is seen as anything which deviates from these characteristics

  Examples: depression, hallucinations, anxiety
• Deviation from Ideal Mental Health AO3

  • Overdemanding unrealistic criteria
  • Most people don't meet demands
  • Subjective
  • Temporal validity
  • Seeing spirits = hallucinations now but godliness before
  • Cultural relativism
• Deviation from Ideal Mental Health - Jahoda's checklist

  1. No symptoms of distress
  2. Rational and accurate perception of the self
  3. Can self-actualise
  4. Can cope with stress
  5. Realistic view of the world
  6. Good self-esteem
  7. Independent of other people
  8. Can successfully work, love and enjoy leisure
• Phobia Definition

  • A phobia is an overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal.
  • An exaggerated or unrealistic sense of danger about a situation or object (disproportionate to the actual danger).
  • If a phobia becomes very severe, a person will organise their life around avoiding the thing that's causing them anxiety.
  • As well as disrupting their day-to-day life, it will also cause them considerable anguish.
• Phobia: Behavioural Characteristics

  • Avoidance
  • Panic (fight, flight, freeze)
• Phobia: Emotional Characteristics

  • Anxiety
  • Panic and Fear
• Phobia: Cognitive Characteristics

  • Irrational beliefs
  • Selective attention
• Behavioural Explanations of Phobias - Classical Conditioning

  • Association
  • Pavlov's Dogs
  • Little Albert
  • (Learn association rules)
• Behavioural Explanations of Phobias - Operant Conditioning

  • Consequences
  • Skinner
  • Negative reinforcement
• Behavioural Explanations of Phobias AO3

  • Clear predictions can be made - scientific
  • Little Albert
  • Reductionist
• Behavioural Approach to Treating Phobias - Counter-conditioning

  • Maladaptive (mislearned) behaviour can be corrected by replacing it with a new and appropriate conditioned (learned) behaviour
  • Unlearning
• Behavioural Approach to Treating Phobias - Systematic Desensitisation

  • Wolpe
  • Can cure phobias
  • Reciprocal inhibition
  • New association

  1. Training the patient to relax (on demand), e.g. breathing techniques/mindfulness.
  2. Establishing an anxiety hierarchy of the feared stimulus (identify steps; from a picture to interaction with the stimulus).
  3. Counter-conditioning a relaxation response (instead of a fear response) to the feared stimulus at each step of the hierarchy.
• Behavioural Approach to Treating Phobias - Systematic Desensitisation AO3

  • Little Peter
  • Good for people who lack insight, as no 'thinking' is required
  • Reciprocal inhibition = unnecessary
• Reciprocal Inhibition

  Suggests that it's impossible to hold two opposite emotions

  e.g. relaxation is incompatible with fear
• Behavioural Approach to Treating Phobias - Flooding

  • Prevents avoidance
  • After initial fight/flight phobia will run into extinction
  • Cure
  • Ethical safeguards - needs consent and medical checks

  1. Patient taught to relax muscles totally.
  2. One long immediate exposure to the (worst case of the) feared stimulus.
• Behavioural Approach to Treating Phobias - Flooding AO3

  • Quicker than Systematic Desensitisation
  • Good for people who lack insight, as no 'thinking' is required
  • Ethical Issues
• Behavioural Approach to Treating Phobias - Issue and Debate

  • These behaviourist treatments are reductionist, seeing a change in behaviour as purely a result of conditioning is reducing the explanation to simple terms.
  • Phobia cases could be more complex than this and involve biological (heritability), psychodynamic (trauma) or cognitive (irrational beliefs) elements too.
  • An interaction with a more holistic view (involving more of these explanations in the treatment of phobias) may lead to a more valid treatment of phobias.
• Characteristics of Depression - Emotional Characteristics

  • Low mood
  • Anger
• Characteristics of Depression - Cognitive Characteristics

  • Irrational thinking
  • Poor concentration
• Characteristics of Depression - Behavioural Characteristics

  • Change to activity levels
  • Reduced or increased energy
  • Appetite may be reduced or increased
• Cognitive explanation of depression - Ellis's ABC Model

  • Activating Event - don't know the reason for
  • Belief - from schema can be rational or irrational
  • Consequence - action
• Musterbatory Beliefs

  Thinking that certain ideals must hold true for one to be happy. e.g:

  • I must do well, or I’m worthless
  • I must be accepted by people I find important
  • The world must bring me happiness

  Such thoughts can cause irrational beliefs as they are being applied to the activating event, wrongly – causing negative thinking an depression
• Cognitive explanation of depression - Beck's Negative Triad

  Cognitive errors can be held in our schemas: These cause a negative cognitive bias

  • Magnification
  • Over-generalisation
  • Minimisation
  • Selective Abstraction
  • Arbitrary Inference
  • Personalisation

  These negative beliefs cause cognitions to become irrational.
• Cognitive explanation of depression AO3

  • Grazioli and Terry
  • CBT Treatments - real world application
  • Reductionism
• What does REBT stand for?


  Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy
• What are the three types of disputes in REBT?

  • Empirical Dispute
  • Logical Dispute
  • Pragmatic Dispute
• What is the purpose of Empirical Dispute in REBT?

  To question the evidence for a belief
• What does Logical Dispute assess in REBT?

  Whether the belief is logical
• What is the focus of Pragmatic Dispute in REBT?

  To evaluate the usefulness of a belief
• Ellis's ABC - How do challenges to irrational thoughts affect patients?

  They influence the patient's behavior and thoughts
• What is the long-term effect of REBT on depression?

  It reduces emotional, behavioral, and cognitive symptoms
• What is Behavioral Activation in treating depression?

  Encouraging physical activity and enjoyable activities
• What does Unconditional Positive Regard aim to achieve?

  Convince patients of their inherent value