Psychopathology

• What are the 4 definitions of abnormality?

  deviation from social norms

  deviation from ideal mental health

  failure to function adequately

  statistical infrequency
• what is deviation from social norms?

  behaviour that goes against the accepted standards or expectations of a society
• what is failure to function adequately ?

  when individuals cannot cope with day to day challenges of. life such as maintaining personal hygiene

  show maladaptive behaviour like irrational and unpredictable actions that go against their long term best interests
• what is statistical infrequency?

  someone is mentally abnormal if their mental condition is rare in the population, judged objectively using statistics

  normal distribution curve shows a populations average spread of specific characteristics
• What is a strength of statistical infrequency ?

  objective evaluation compared to a subjective opinion of a clinician
• what is deviation from ideal mental health?

  jahoda proposed 6 features of ideal mental health and any deviation from these indicates abnormality

  those 6 features are environmental mastery, resisting stress, self actualisation, accurate perception of reality, autonomy and positive attitude to yourself
• what is a limitation of deviation from ideal mental health ?

  too strict set of criteria

  challenging to achieve all requirements at one time therefore according do the definition most people would be defined as abnormal
• what are the behavioural characteristics of phobias ?

  avoidance; physically adapting behaviour to avoid phobic objects

  panic; unconscious physical response

  failure to function ; difficulty taking part in normal day to day activities
• what are the emotional characteristics of phobias ?

  anxiety; uncomfortably high and persistent state of arousal

  fear; intense emotional sensation of extreme and unpleasant alertness that only subsides when the phobic object is removed
• what are the cognitive characteristics of phobias ?

  irrational thoughts; negative mental processes that include an exaggerated belief in the harm that a phobic object can cause

  reduced cognitive capacity; due to attentional focus on the phobic object
• what are the emotional characteristics of depression?

  sadness; persistent very low mood

  guilt; linked to helplessness and a feeling that they have no value in comparison to other people
• what are behavioural characteristics of depression?

  reduction in activity; lethargy, lacking energy needed to perform every day activities

  change in eating; significant weight gain or weight loss

  aggression; to others or self harm
• what are cognitive characteristics of depression?

  poor concentration; cannot give full attention to tasks

  negative schemas; automatic negative biases when thinking about them selves the world and the future
• what are behavioural characteristics of ocd?

  compulsions; behaviours performed repeatedly to reduce anxiety

  avoidance; take actions to avoid objects that trigger obsessions
• what are emotional characteristics of ocd ?

  anxiety; persistent and uncomfortably high state of arousal making it hard to relax

  depression; consistent and long lasting sense of sadness due to being unable to control thoughts
• what are cognitive characteristics of ocd ?

  obsessions ; intrusive, irrational recurrent thoughts that tend to be unpleasant, catastrophic thoughts

  hyper-vigilance; a permanent state of alertness, looking for source of obsessive thoughts
• What is the behaviourist approach to explaining phobias ?

  the two process model
• what is the two process model?

  phobias are acquired through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning

  acquisition; phobic object goes from neutral stimulus with no fear response to a conditioned stimulus with a fear response by being presented at the same time as unconditioned stimulus that has a natural fear response forming an association

  maintenance; avoidance leads to reduction in anxiety which is pleasant so this negative reinforcement strengthens the phobic response
• what is a strength of the two process model ?

  little Albert

  Watson and rayner

  paired showing a rat with a large metal pole producing a bang so there was a phobic response formed between any white fluffy object and a loud noise producing a fear response

  shows that it was acquired through association
• what is a limitation of the two process model ?

  humans don’t often display phobic responses to objects that cause most pain in day to day life like knife or cars

  but phobias of snakes and spiders are very common so maybe phobias are better explained by the evolutionary theory that we have evolved to be scared of certain things
• what is the behaviourist approach to treating phobias ?

  counter conditioning by replacing the fear association with a calm and relaxing association

  behaviourists assume that fear and reaction are opposite emotions and cannot coexist ; reciprocal inhibition

  there are two methods

  systematic desensitisation

  flooding
• what is flooding ?


  involves immediate and full exposure to max level of phobic stimulus

  causes temporary panic in client and they may attempt to escape

  clinician will keep client in this situation until the temporary panic has stopped due to exhaustion an d client is now calm in the presence of the phobic object
• what is systematic desensitisation ?

  therapist begins by teaching relaxation techniques like breathing

  progress through an anxiety hierarchy created by the client and therapist form least to most feared

  stepped approach is used; relaxation taught at each stage

  this gradual exposure leads to extinction of fear association and new association with relaxation is formed
• what is a strength of behaviourist approach to treating phobias ?

  garcia palacios

  83% of ppts treated with virtual reality exposure to spiders improved compared to 0% in control group which suggests that the principles of systematic desensitisation are valued
• what are weaknesses of behaviourist approach to treating phobias ?

  — both methods are more effective at treating specific phobias than social phobias as it is hard to stimulate social situations and interactions with unfamiliar individuals in a therapists office

  — lack of real world application; controlled environment in therapists office compared to outside world
• what is the cognitive approach to explaining depression ?

  argues depression is due to irrational thoughts from maladaptive internal mental processes

  two explanations;

  becks negative triad

  ellis’ abc model
• what is becks negative triad ?

  3 schemas that have a persistent automatic negative bias;

  the self - self schemas, feeling inadequate or unworthy

  the world - thinking people are hostile or threatening

  the future- thinking things will always turn out badly

  • develops in childhood but provides framework for persistent biases in adulthood leading to negative distortions and perceiving the world inaccurately
• what is Ellis’s abc model ?

  there is an Activating event that happens to someone

  Belief; for those without depression these are rational but for those with depression the beliefs are irrational

  consequence; when belief is irrational there are negative consequences
• what is mustabatory thinking ?


  thinking the world must be a certain way which ultimately leads to disappointment
• what is the cognitive approach to treating depression ?

  change negative schemas and challenge irrational thoughts with cognitive restructuring;

  becks CBT

  ellis‘ REBT abcde model
• what is becks cbt ?

  patient is the scientist; generates and tests hypotheses about the validity of irrational thoughts

  when they realise thoughts done match reality it will change schemas and irrational thoughts can be discarded

  thought catching; identifying irrational thoughts coming from the negative triad

  patient is set homework for example keeping a diary to identify sources of negative thinking
• what is Ellis’s rebt ?


  ABCDE

  Dispute> therapist confronts clients irrational beliefs ;

  empirical arguments; is there evidence

  logical arguments; do they make sense

  Effect> reduction of irrational thoughts leading to better consequences in the future
• what is one weakness of the cognitive approach to treating depression?

  some people with depression are too severely depressed to engage with the demands of CBT; homework and attendance requires commitment and motivation that might not be possible if the individual is severely depressed
• what is the biological approach to explaining ocd?

  genetic and neural explanations
• what is the genetic explanation of ocd?

  disorder is inherited

  230 candidate genes for ocd

  SERT gene is one and it effects the reuptake of secretion which regulates mood

  COMT gene also involved
• what is the neural explanation of ocd ?

  low levels of serotonin leads to ocd;

  removed too quickly at the synapse before it has been able to transmit its signal

  worry circuit is disrupted;

  set of brain structures including OFC (rational decision making), basal ganglia system, caudate nucleus and thalamus- in someone with ocd the communication between these structures is overactive leading to obsessive thinking
• what is a strength of the genetic explanation of ocd ?

  NESTDAT twin study

  concordance rate= MZ; 68% and DZ; 31%

  shared environment is the same and DNA is halved so concordance rate is doubles showing a genetic link

  — however the concordance rates are not 100% and 50% so it cannot be entirely genetic meaning there must be a role for environment as correlation does not equal causation
• evaluate biological approach to explaining ocd ?

  +/- diathesis stress model combines genetic vulnerability to ocd with an environmental stressor that triggers the development of ocd, so although genes play a role so does the environment
• what is the biological approach to treating ocd ?

  drug therpaies

  primary drug group used to control symptoms of ocd are antidepressants called SSRI‘s

  eg fluoxetine known as prozac
• what are SSRI’s and how do they help treat ocd ?

  selective seretonin reuptake inibiters

  only influence select serotonin in brain

  they inhibit re uptake process in synapse;

  serotonin is still present in synaptic cleft and continues to stimulate post synaptic neuron

  this decreases anxiety by normalising the activity of the worry circuit