Psych problems

• Name 3 effects MH problems can have on an individual

  Damaging relationships, physical wellbeing, difficulty coping day to day
• Name 3 effects MH problems can have on society

  Increased crime rate, social care system, economic stress
• 2x more women are diagnosed and treated for depression than men
• 2 Factors leading to MH issues

  Economic deprivation, social isolation
• Example of cultural variations in mental illness


  Hearing noises

  • West: hallucination or schizophrenia
  • India, Africa: positive association
• Culture bound syndromes

  Illnesses only experienced in some parts of the world
• Example of culture bound syndromes

  Koro - men believe their penis will retract into their abdomen and they'll die

  • Only common in Asia
• Where is anorexia nervosa most common

  West
• What did Johada 1958 say

  Look at absence of healthy traits in a person when trying to diagnose mental illness, instead of presence of unhealthy traits
• Criticism of spotting mental illness symptoms

  Lack of socialising, difficulty sleeping, not getting up in the morning - all subjective
• Johada's 6 categories of mental health

  Self attitudes, personal growth, integration, autonomy, perception of reality, mastery of environment
• Most common type of treatment for depression?

  Drug therapies
• Most common type of drug therapy for depression?

  SSRI
• Sadness vs depression

  S: Normal, human, everyday

  D: Abnormal, long-term, disabling
• Unipolar vs bipolar depression

  U: one emotional state of depression

  B: switches between depression and mania
• Define mania

  State of short term euphoria, where one feels like the world is theirs for taking - excitement, rushing around, making future plans
• 3 key symptoms of depression

  Low mood, reduced energy, loss of interest
• How many symptoms are needed to diagnose moderate or severe depression

  4 +
• How many symptoms are needed to diagnose mild depression

  2 of key symptoms + 2 more
• Name 5 other symptoms of depression

  Low self esteem, no attention span, self harm, suicidal thoughts, changes in sleep
• What does SSRI stand for

  Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor
• Where are serotonin molecules stored

  Vesicles in end of presynaptic neuron
• What triggers a neuron to release serotonin

  Electrical signals travelling
• Where does a neuron release serotonin into

  Synaptic cleft
• Does the serotonin molecule lock into the pre or post synaptic neuron

  Post
• Where is serotonin broken down and reused?

  Pre synaptic neuron
• Why is serotonin in the synaptic cleft increased?

  Reuptake is blocked
• How do SSRI molecules block reuptake of serotonin

  Occupy reuptake transmitter
• Chemicals that transport messages between neurons?

  Neurotransmitters
• Serotonin is a neurotransmitter
• 4 things serotonin is linked with

  Depression, sleeping, memory, attention
• What happens if theres not enough serotonin in the synaptic cleft

  Message cannot be transmitted
• 2 reasons for low serotonin levels

  genetics, environment
• Which chemical is found in comfort foods to increase our mood

  Trytophan
• 1 strength of biological approach of depression

  Research supports it - one proved that depressed people had less serotonin than non-depressed
• 2 weaknesses of biological approach of depression

  Serotonin levels may be an effect, not cause - negative thoughts alter psychological aspects, so low levels could be because of psych experiences

  Neurotransmitter imbalance may not be the only effect - some with low serotonin aren't depressed
• Psychological approach to depression

  Faulty or irrational thinking
• Negative self schemas

  Mental framework, determining how we process sensory info. If they are encoded negatively, we'll always think this way
• What did Seligman propose

  Some have a learned negative attributional style, and find it hard to imagine change
• Attributions

  Process of finding causes for certain behaviour, and linking it with personality