psychopathology

• definitions of abnormality

  • statistical infrequency
  • deviation from social norms
  • deviation from ideal mental health
  • failure to function adequately
• phobias 


  an intense, overwhelming and debilitating fear of an object, place, situation, feeling or animal - they're more prominent than fears and may lead to an individual organising their life around their phobia
• neurotic disorder 


  person is aware they have a disorder
• psychotic disorder 


  person is unaware they have the disorder
• depression 


  a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness or loss of interest
• obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) 


  an anxiety disorder that consists of obsessions (thoughts) and compulsions (behaviours)
• statistical infrequency 


  a person's trait, thinking or behaviour is classified as abnormal if it is rare or statistically unusual
• deviation from social norms 


  behaviour is abnormal if it goes against what most people in society would consider acceptable
• deviation from ideal mental health

  suggests abnormality is the absence of criteria for good mental health
• deviation from ideal mental health


  suggests abnormality is the absence of criteria for good mental health

  • positive attitude towards one self
  • accurate perception of reality
  • autonomy
  • resisting stress
  • self-actualisation
  • environmental mastery
• failure to function adequately 


  this theory suggests abnormal behaviour is when a person's behaviour prevents them from leading their everyday life

  • personal distress
  • maladaptive behaviour
  • unpredictability
  • irrationality
  • observer discomfort
  • violation of moral qualities
  • unconventionality
• behaviourist approach: explaining phobias

  2-process model

  1. classical conditioning (acquisition)
  2. operant conditioning (maintenance)
• classical conditioning (acquiring phobias)

  • main way a phobia is learned
  • a neutral stimulus (dog, does not cause pain) is paired or associated with an unconditioned stimulus (pain from bite) leading to the learning of a fear of dogs (conditioned response)
  • so the neutral stimulus does not initially cause a fearful response, the unconditioned stimulus does
  • during conditioning, the neutral stimulus is associated with the unconditioned stimulus
• operant conditioning (maintaining phobias)

  • learning via reinforcement to maintain the phobia
  • approaching phobic object/situation creates a conditioned anxiety response, retreating from the phobic object reduces anxiety
  • this is negative reinforcement - the more the phobia is avoided, the better they feel so are more likely they will avoid the phobia (so phobia is maintained)
  • avoidant behaviour is increased as it removes something unpleasant
• stimulus generalisation 


  can occur when anxiety can become generalised to all similar objects/situations (e.g. Little Albert study, white rabbit and white rat)
• higher order conditioning 


  if a person avoids all phobic objects and associated situations, this ultimately reduces their fear/anxiety through negative reinforcement - now, other related objects and situations have also been associated with the phobic object
• classical conditioning

  1. neutral stimulus = neutral response = no reaction
  2. unconditioned stimulus = unconditioned response = fear/pain
  3. natural stimulus + unconditioned stimulus = unconditioned response
  4. conditioned stimulus = conditioned response = fear
• behaviourist approach: treating phobias

  • systematic desensitisation
  • flooding
• systematic desensitisation

  1. fear hierarchy
  2. relaxation training
  3. graduated exposure (in vitro or in vivo)
  4. reciprocal inhibition
• in vitro 


  the client imagines exposure to the phobic stimulus
• in vivo 


  the client is actually exposed to the phobic stimulus
• reciprocal inhibition 


  2 opposite emotions (e.g. fear + relaxation) cannot co-exist at the same time, hence under very specific relaxation techniques you cannot be anxious - relaxation is associated with the phobia, so is counter-conditioned in this way
• flooding

  exposing the sufferer to the phobic object/situation for an extended period of time in a safe + controlled manner - this method revolves around the idea that fear is a limited physical response and that the bodily arousal caused by our hormones can only last so long
• result of flooding

  prolonged intense exposure eventually creates a new association with the feared stimulus and a calm response, it also prevents escape or avoidance so no negative reinforcement can occur
• cognitive approach: explaining depression

  • Beck's negative triad
  • Elli's ABC model
• Beck's negative triad

  beck proposed that depressed people tend to selectively attend to the negative aspects of a situation + ignore the positive aspects

  1. negative view of the self
  2. negative view of the world
  3. negative view of the future this stems from negative self-schemas, these are maintained by 'cognitive biases', which cause a misperception of reality
• cognitive biases

  • arbitrary interference - conclusions drawn without sufficient evidence
  • minimisation - minimising any positive events in life
  • magnification - exaggerating negative elements
  • overgeneralisation - sweeping conclusions drawn on the basis of a single event
• Ellis's ABC model

  Ellis proposed that depression is mainly the result of irrational beliefs about external events

  A: activating event

  B: beliefs (depressed = irrational beliefs)

  C: consequences (irrational beliefs lead to negative consequences)
• types of irrational thoughts

  • polarised thinking - seeing everything in black or white
  • overgeneralisation - making sweeping generalisations
  • tyranny of 'must', 'should' and 'ought' - something must happen
  • catastrophising - making a mountain out of a molehill
• utopianism

  the belief in to pursuit of a state in which everything is perfect, typically regarded as unrealistic or idealistic
• musterbatory thinking

  thinking that certain ideas/assumptions must be true in order for an individual to be happy, these individuals are bound to be disappointed, leading to depression
• cognitive approach: treating depression

  cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
• CBT

  1. identifying negative thinking patterns: encourage depressed patients to talk about specific difficulties + identity any negative automatic thoughts
  2. challenging irrational thoughts: Ellis used rational emotive behavioural therapy to change irrational thoughts, Beck used thought-catching
  3. skill acquisition and application: intervention techniques (relaxation, optimistic self-statements) to challenge negative cognitions
  4. follow-up: therapy then undergoes final assessments using self-reports (the BDI) to compare scores before + after CBT