Psychopathology

    Cards (14)

    • Definitions of abnormality: deviation from social norms, failure to function adequately, statistical infrequency, deviation from ideal mental health
    • Social norms
      Unwritten behavioral expectations that vary depending on culture, time and context
    • Social deviants
      Individuals who break the norms of their society and are seen as abnormal
    • Evaluating abnormality using social norms does not impose a western view on other non-western cultures
    • Failure to function adequately refers to individuals who cannot cope with the day-to-day challenges of daily life
    • Statistical infrequency
      Someone is mentally abnormal if their mental condition is very rare in the population
    • Deviation from ideal mental health
      Defined by features like environmental mastery, autonomy, resisting stress, self-actualization, positive attitude, and accurate perception of reality
    • Characteristics of phobias, depression, and OCD
      • Phobias:
      • Behavioral avoidance
      • Panic and uncontrollable physical response
      • Irrational thoughts and fears
      Depression:
      • Behavioral reduction in activity level
      • Emotional sadness
      • Cognitive poor concentration and negative schemas
      OCD:
      • Behavioral compulsions
      • Emotional anxiety
      • Cognitive obsessions and hyper vigilance
    • Behavioral approach to explaining and treating phobias
      Acquisition (classical conditioning):
      • Phobic object becomes a conditioned stimulus that elicits fear
      Maintenance (operant conditioning):
      • Avoidance behavior is negatively reinforced, strengthening the phobic response
      Generalization:
      • Conditioned fear response experienced with similar stimuli
    • Behavioral therapies for phobias
      • Counter conditioning (systematic desensitization and flooding):
      • Replace fear association with relaxation
      • Gradual exposure (systematic desensitization) vs immediate full exposure (flooding)
    • Cognitive approach to explaining depression
      Beck's negative triad: negative biases about the self, the world, and the future
      Ellis' ABC model: Activating event, Belief, Consequence
    • CBT and drug therapy are equally effective in treating depression
    • Biological approach to explaining OCD
      • Genetic factors: Predisposition due to multiple genes
      Neural factors: Overactive "worry circuit" in the brain
    • Drug therapies for OCD
      SSRIs: Inhibit serotonin reuptake, normalizing activity in the worry circuit
      Benzodiazepines: Enhance GABA, slowing the central nervous system
      Tricyclics and SNRIs: Increase serotonin and noradrenaline