mental health

• Attachment is a strong reciprocal emotional bond between an infant and a primary caregiver
• Schaffer and Emerson's 1964 study on attachment aimed to identify stages of attachment and find a pattern in the development of attachment between infants and parents, involving 60 babies from Glasgow
• Participants in the study were 60 babies from Glasgow, and the procedure involved analyzing interactions between infants and carers
• Findings from the study showed that babies of parents or carers who displayed 'sensitive responsiveness' were more likely to have formed an attachment
• Freud's superego is the moral component of the psyche, representing internalized societal values and standards
• Myth: Only certain people experience mental health problems, but in reality, anyone can experience a mental health problem at any time
• Myth: People experiencing mental health problems tend to be violent or dangerous, but in fact, they are statistically more likely to be victims of violence
• Myth: Young people do not experience mental health problems, but 1 in 10 young people are experiencing mental health problems at any one time
• Myth: Everyone has mental health, just as we all have physical health
• Myth: Lots of people recover from mental health problems and go on to live happy, fulfilling lives
• Myth: There are lots of places available for support if someone is experiencing mental health problems
• Myth: Mental health problems are about thoughts and feelings, not related to learning difficulties
• Myth: You can't tell if someone has a mental illness just by looking at them
• Myth: Over the past 10 years, the number of young people admitted to the hospital for self-harm has increased
• Myth: There are many things individuals can do to maintain positive wellbeing and look after their mental health, such as going for walks, listening to music, and talking to others about how they're feeling
• Historical views of mental health include supernatural explanations attributing abnormal behavior to witchcraft, religion, and demonic possession
• In Greek culture, Hippocrates proposed that mental illness was caused by an imbalance in the four bodily humors, leading to different personality dimensions
• During the late 19th century, the psychogenic approach focused on psychological factors as the cause of mental illnesses, with Freud suggesting they result from unconscious processes
• In the 20th century, the somatogenic approach renewed focus on physical explanations of mental illness, linking psychological problems to physical causes
• The Anti-Psychiatry Movement in the 1960s opposed the medical model/biological treatment of mental illness, arguing that unusual problems should be seen as 'problems in living'
• Normal distribution: In any human characteristic, the majority of people's scores will cluster around the average, with fewer people attaining scores further from the average, known as normal distribution
• Biochemical explanation of mental illness (Depression):

  • Low levels of neurotransmitters called monoamines (dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline) are linked to depression
  • Monoamines regulate the limbic system in the brain, controlling emotion, drive, and appetite
  • Serotonin is crucial for mood, well-being, stomach functioning, and memory
  • Noradrenaline affects heart rate, concentration, attention, alertness, and energy
  • Dopamine is responsible for motivation, pleasure, and reward
  • Supporting research by Meyer (2006) showed higher monoamine oxidase levels in depressed patients, supporting the monoamine hypothesis
• Average IQ is set at 100, with 68% of people having an IQ in the range from 85 to 115, while only 2.5% have a score below 70, which is considered very unusual or "abnormal" and could lead to a diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder
• Genetic explanation of mental illness (Depression):

  • Family studies show a higher likelihood of developing mental illness if direct relatives have it
  • Twin studies suggest a significantly causative genetic component in major depression
  • Adoption studies offer weak support for the genetic explanation, except for a study by Wender et al (2004) showing clear genetic support
  • Studies on the hSERT gene suggest a genetic link to inheriting depression
• Deviation from Social Norms: Abnormality can be measured by how far a person's behavior deviates from the socially accepted norms or values of their society, where norms govern behaviors like what to wear, when to wear it, queuing up, and politeness
• Example of Deviation from Social Norms: Antisocial personality disorder (psychopathy) is characterized by impulsivity, aggression, and irresponsibility, with a key symptom being an absence of prosocial internal standards associated with failure to conform to lawful or culturally normative ethical behavior
• Failure to Function Adequately: Abnormality is identified by examining an individual's thoughts and behavior from their own point of view, where dysfunction leads to an inability to cope with life, work, and relationships, resulting in a point of abnormality
• Brain Abnormality explanation:

  • The adult brain weighs about 3 pounds and contains approximately 100 billion neurons
  • About 75% of the brain is made up of water
  • The brain grows three times its size in the first year of life and continues to grow until about 18 years old
  • It is a myth that humans only use 10% of their brains; we actually use all of it
  • The fastest speed for information to pass between neurons is 250 mph
  • Phantom limb pain syndrome is when the central nervous system continues to feel the pain of an amputated limb
  • Brain freeze is a sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia caused by consuming something cold
• Failure to Function Adequately: Rosenhan & Seligman suggested that dysfunction could include personal distress, dysfunctional or maladaptive behavior, and irrational behavior, with the more present, the more the individual shows psychological and behavioral abnormality
• Failure to Function Adequately Example: The DSM includes an assessment of ability to function called WHODAS (World Health Organisation Disability Assessment) and considers 6 areas: understanding and communicating, getting around, self-care, getting along with people, life activities, and participation in society
• A "brain freeze" is scientifically known as sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia, occurring when consuming something cold that chills the blood vessels and arteries in the back of the throat, leading to pain in the forehead
• Applying Definitions: A young woman with an acute fear of snakes who experiences anxiety and distress when encountering snakes could be classified as abnormal based on the failure to function adequately definition, as her fear significantly impacts her daily life and functioning
• During the mummification process, Egyptians would usually remove the brains through the nose
• Categorizing mental health: Psychiatrists use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and the International Classification of Disorders (ICD-10) to classify mental disorders, with the DSM focusing solely on mental illnesses
• Eyewitness accounts of criminal suspects are usually only about 50% accurate because it is difficult for the brain to remember details of unfamiliar individuals
• Traumatic events can also affect the brain's ability to remember details
• DSM-5: The DSM undergoes reviews and developments, with changes made based on a substantial body of research, and significant changes between DSM-IV & DSM-5 include removing subtypes of schizophrenia and types of autism, as well as changing the structure by removing the "multiaxial" system
• Your brain uses 20% of the oxygen and blood in your body
• Behaviourist explanation of phobias:

  • Phobias are explained through classical and operant conditioning
  • Classical conditioning: learning by association, where a neutral stimulus (e.g., rat) becomes a conditioned stimulus causing fear (conditioned response)
  • Operant conditioning: phobias are maintained through reinforcement, like avoidance of the feared stimulus
• The brain develops back to front, with the frontal lobe still under construction until approximately 25-30 years old