Issues in Mental health

• 16th century belief about causes


  super natural causes such as possession from devil
• 16th- 17th century who cared for ill?


  family , friends , church
• 16th- 17th century treatment of mentally ill people


  like animals or criminals
• 16th- 17th century treatments


  physical punishments to get rid of evil / trephine etc
• definitions of abnormality


  Statistical infrequency

  Deviation from social norms

  Failure to function adequately

  Deviation from ideal mental health
• Statistical infrequency


  Abnormality is defined as those behaviours that are extremely rare (moving away from statistical norm)
• Deviation from social norms


  Abnormal behaviour is seen as a deviation from social rules about how one 'ought' to behave. Anything that violates these rules is considered abnormal.
• Failure to function adequately


  Occurs when someone is unable to cope with ordinary demands of day-to-day living.
• Deviation from ideal mental health


  Deviation from characteristics required to meet Jahoda's 6 criteria for optimal living.
• Jahoda's characteristics of ideal mental health


  - Positive Attitude Towards Oneself

  - Self-Actualisation

  - Autonomy

  - Resisting Stress

  - Accurate Perception of Reality

  - Environmental Mastery
• What are the two methods of categorising mental disorders?

  -Diagnostic and statistical Manual of Mental disorders (DSM-5)

  -International classification of disorders (ICD-10)
• Give an example of an update that was made to the DSM :


  -Homosexuality was removed from the DSM in 1986.

  -Internet gaming disorder was added in DSM-5 (2013)
• State 2 similarities and differences between ICD-10 and DSM-5 :


  -Both use categories.

  -Both are officially recognised.

  -ICD lists both physical and mental disorders.

  -ICD is used internationally, however DSM is mainly used in the US.
• Advantages to categorizing mental health

  - improves consistency between physicians

  - enables people to gain a diagnosis

  - DSM and ICD are regularly maintained and updated
• Disadvantages to categorizing mental health

  - bias ( dsm ethnocentric to usa / doctor or environmental bias to the conditions in which the diagnosis takes place )

  - individual differences in mental health

  - labels can cause stigma
• Rosenhan Aim


  to investigate whether psychiatric staff can reliably and accurately distinguish the sane from the insane
• Rosenhan Sample


  placed 8 pseudopatients into 12 psychiatric hospitals across 5 american states
• Rosenhan symptom


  hearing words: "thud , hollow and empty"

  purposely too vague to determine a diagnosis
• Rosenhan diagnosis


  schizophrenia (one with manic depression)
• Rosenhan study was a ...


  field experiment with participant observation
• Rosenhan average stay


  19 days (7-52)
• Rosenhan discharged with..


  schizophrenia in remission
• Describe the characteristics of an Affective Disorder :


  -Depression.

  -Broad group of illnesses affecting mood which can range from mild to severe.

  -Symptoms include ; low mood, loss of appetite and angry outbursts.

  -Must be present everyday or nearly every day over the course of 2 consecutive weeks.
• Describe the characteristics of a Psychotic Disorder :

  -Schizophrenia.

  -Long term mental health condition that affects peoples thoughts and behaviour.

  -Those with the diagnosis come to perceive things around them very differently to others.

  -Positive symptoms - hallucinations or delusions.

  -Neg symptoms - lack of outward emotion or a reduction in speech.

  -Has to occur for period of at least one month.
• anxiety disorder: agrophobia


  Marked fear or anxiety about two or more of these situations:

  -Using public transport

  -Being in open spaces

  -Being in enclosed places

  -Standing in line or in a crowd

  -Being outside of the home alone

  Should last more than 6 months and cause significant distress and impairment of normal functioning.
• Biochemical explanation


  Our bodies have a balance of chemicals- such as dopamine - that can become unbalanced, which is linked to psychological disorders
• Brain abnormality explanation for mental illness :


  Aspects of the brain structure and function are associated with mental illness.

  (eg certain structures in brain may dev with a different size or shape)
• links between Brain Abnormality and Depression


  Links between depression and the frontal lobes.

  >Region at the front of the brain cortex that is particularly involved in thinking.

  -Coffey et al (1993) Found that the mean frontal-lobe vol in the depressed patients was significantly smaller.
• links between brain abnormality and Schizophrenia


  Ev to suggest that in schizo left hemisphere of brain doesn't function normally.
• Conclusion of Gottesman et al :


  Having both parents with a serious mental illness is associated with a significantly increased risk of developing not only that disorder but mental illness in general.

  >Having one parent with serious mental illness lowers the risk.
• practical application of the study conducted by Gottesman et al:


  Provides useful info for genetic counselling, which involves advising people of their own risks of developing an illness or of passing on genetic vulnerability to their children.
• How do MAOIs work? (antidepressant treatment)


  MAOI's prevent the breakdown of serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine so that levels of all 3 monoamines build up.
• How do SSRIs work? (antidepressant treatment)


  SSRIs ease depression by increasing levels of serotonin in the brain. SSRIs block the reabsorption (reuptake) and breakdown after it has crossed a synapse
• difference between SSRI'S and NRI'S


  noradrenalinereuptake inhibitors (NRI's) do the same with noradrenaline. (stop reuptake)
• ECT


  Electro Convulsive Therapy (electroshock); used to provide relief from psychiatric illnesses (depression). (induces seizures lasting 15-60 seconds)
• How can phobias and addiction be treated using Classical conditioning?


  Systematic desensitisation : systematic programme for reducing anxiety before exposure to the phobic stimulus.
• What is operant conditioning?


  A method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for certain behaviours.
• How can mental illness be treated using Operant conditioning?


  Token economy systems : based on pos reinforcement.

  -required behaviour is rewarded with tokens, which can be exchanged for something the individual wants.
• Outline the cognitive explanation for mental illness :


  Addresses symptoms and causes of mental disorder through examining irrational or maladaptive beliefs.
• State the 4 main cognitive distortions :


  -Over-generalisation.

  -Filtering.

  -Catastrophisation.

  -Dichotomous reasoning.