Psychopathology

• definition of abnormality


  statical infrequency, deviation from social norms, failure to function adequately and deviation from ideal mental health
• statical infrequency


  occurs when an individual has a less common characteristic eg. the average IQ is 100 and only 2% of people score below 70, making them abnormal
• statical infrequency evaluation


  support- useful and used in clinical practice as a part of formal diagnosis and as a way to assess the severity of the case eg. intellectual disorders

  -can benefit from being diagnosed but not everyone does

  limitation- infrequent characteristics can be positive or negative like high IQ or low depression score aren't seen as abnormal so doesn't make them abnormal
• deviation from social norms


  concerns behaviour that is different from the accepted standards for behaviour in a community or society- what people think as acceptable eg. antisocial personality disorder
• deviation from social norms evaluation


  support- used in clinical practice and helps diagnose antisocial personality as it's failure to conform to culturally normal ethical behaviour

  limitation- might use their standards on a person with other standards so difficult to judge and carries risk of unfair labelling
• failure to function adequately


  Occurs when someone is unable to cope with ordinary demands of day-to-day living

  -seligman (1989) proposed signs to determine if someone if not coping

  -no longer conforming to to standards, when they experience severe personal distress and when behaviour becomes irrational
• failure to function adequately evaluation

  support- helps identify people who may need professional help as 25% of UK experience mental health problems but only some need help

  limitations- easy to label non-standard lifestyle choices as abnormal eg. choosing to live off-grid and all of us won't be able to function adequately at points
• deviation from ideal mental health


  Occurs when someone doesn't meet a set of criteria for good mental health

  -jahoda (1958) suggested good mental health was:

  -no symptoms of distress, are rational and perceive ourselves accurately, have realistic view of the world, have good self-esteem and lack guilt, are independent of other people and can successfully work, love and enjoy our leisure
• deviation for ideal mental health evaluation

  support- Johado's concept included a range of criteria that is highly comprehensive

  limitations- her criteria is located in context of us and self-actualisation would be dismissed as self-indulgent in much of the work

  - has high standards none of us can achieve all of them at the same time or keep them up for long
• DSM-5 categories of phobia

  characterised by excessive fear and anxiety triggered by a situation - extent is out of proportion to any real dangers.

  -Specific phobia - phobia of a certain object

  -Social anxiety - phobia of a social situation

  -Agoraphobia - being outside or public place
• behaviour characteristics of phobia

  -panic (would panic in response to the presence of the phobic stimulus)

  -avoidance (tend to make a lot of effort to prevent coming in contact with with the phobic stimulus)

  -endurance ( occurs when person chooses to remain in the presence of the phobic stimulus)
• Emotional characteristics of phobias

  -anxiety

  -fear

  -emotional response is unreasonable
• Cognitive characteristics of phobias

  -Selective attention (find it hard to look away from it)

  -irrational beliefs (may have unfound thoughts like it can't be easily explained or no basis for reality)

  -cognitive distortions (their perception is inaccurate and unrealistic)
• DSM-5 categories of depression

  Characterised by changes to mood

  Major depressive disorder - severe but short term

  Persistent depressive disorder - long term or recurring depression

  Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder

  Premenstrual dysphoric disorder
• Behavioural characteristics of depression

  -activity levels (reduced levels of energy)

  -disruption to sleep and eating behaviour

  -aggression and self harm
• emotional characteristics of depression

  -lowered mood

  -anger

  -lowered self-esteem
• cognitive characteristics of depression

  -poor concentration

  -attending to and dwelling on the negative (pay more attention to negative aspect)

  -absolutist thinking (tend to think everything is 'black and white
• DSM-5 categories of OCD

  repetitive obsessions and compulsions

  -Trichotillomania - hair pulling

  -Hoarding - gathering and storage of possessions

  -Excoriation - skin picking
• behavioural characteristics of OCD

  -compulsions are repetitive

  -compulsions reduce anxiety

  -avoidance
• emotional characteristics of OCD

  -anxiety and distress

  -accompanying depression

  -guilt and disgust
• cognitive characteristics of OCD

  -obsessive thoughts

  -cognitive coping strategies (have copying strategies that help manage anxiety)

  -insight into excessive anxiety (are aware their obsessions and compulsions aren't rational but can't stop)
• behavioural approach to explaining phobias

  Two-process model (Mowrer 1960)

  1. acquisition by classical conditioning- study about little albert where the presented him with a rat where he tried to play with it then made a loud scary noise when albert was given the rat, which made him scared of the rat and would cry

  2. maintenance by operant conditioning- takes place when behaviour is reinforced or punished. in negative reinforcement and individual avoids a situation that is unpleasant as we will escape the fear
• behavioural approach to explaining phobias evaluation

  support- has real-world application in exposure therapies once avoidance behaviour is prevented and phobia is cured

  - little albert study shows how a bad experience can lead to a phobia - Jongh (2006) found 73% of people with a phobia of dental treatment had had a bad experience whereas people with low dental anxiety where only 21% had experienced a traumatic event

  limitation- not all phobias appear following a bad experience eg. snakes

  -doesn't account for cognitive aspects and aren't dimply avoidance response and have a cognitive component
• behavioural approach to treating phobias: systematic desensitisation


  SD is a behavioural therapy designed to gradually reduce phobic anxiety through principle of classical conditioning. the three processes

  1. anxiety hierarchy- make list of situations that provoke anxiety arranged in order from least to most frightening

  2. relaxation- teaches client to relax as deeply as possible called reciprocal inhibition

  3. exposure client is exposed to phobic stimulus while in relaxed state
• behavioural approach to treating phobias: flooding


  involves exposing people with a phobia to their phobia stimulus but without gradual buildup of an anxiety hierarchy. involves immediate exposure to a very frightening situation

  -works by stopping phobic responses quickly as without avoidance behaviour and client learns that the phobic stimulus is harmless called extinction
• behavioural approach to treating phobias evaluation: systematic desensitisation


  support- has evidence for its effectiveness Gilray (2003) followed 42 people who did SD for spider phobia and the SD group were less fearful than the control group without exposure

  - used to treat people with learning disabilities as alternatives aren't suitable as they struggle with cognitive therapies

  limitation- VR exposure may be less effective than real exposure for social phobias because it lacks realism
• behavioural approach to treating phobias evaluation: flooding


  support- highly cost effective as clinically effective and not expensive and can work as little as one session

  limitation- can be traumatic, Schumacher (2015) found participants and therapists rated flooding as significantly more stressful than SD, which raised ethical issues

  -only masks symptoms and doesn't tackle underlying causes of phobias
• cognitive approach to explaining depression: becks negative triad


  1. faulty information processing- people attend to the negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positives

  2. negative self-schema- we interpret all information about themselves in a negative way

  3. negative triad- negative view of the world, self and the future
• cognitive approach to explaining depression: Ellis' ABC model


  anxiety and depression results from irrational thoughts

  A- activating event- irrational thoughts are triggered by external events

  B- beliefs- a range of irrational beliefs eg. we must always succeed or achieve perfection

  C- consequences- when an activating event trigger irrational beliefs, there are emotional and behavioural consequences
• cognitive approach to explaining depression evaluation: becks negative triad


  support- has supporting research Clark and Beck (1999) reviews the triad and found these cognitive vulnerabilities were more common in depressed people but they preceded it

  -Cohan said that assessing cognitive vulnerability allows psychologists to screen young people, identifying those at at risk and monitoring them

  limitation- some parts of depression aren't particularly well explained by cognitive explanations
• cognitive approach to explaining depression evaluation: Ellis' ABC model

  support- has real world application REBT is that by rigorously arguing with a depressed person, they can alter irrational beliefs that make them unhappy

  limitation- only explains reactive depression not endogenous which is not traceable to life events and not obvious as to why/how they became depressed so ABC is less helpful

  - located blame on depressed person so unethical
• cognitive approach to treating depression: CBT


  cognitive element- assessment where the patient and therapist work out the client problems and identify goals

  behavioural element- involves working to change negative and irrational thoughts
• cognitive approach to treating depression: beck's cognitive therapy


  is to identify automatic thoughts about world, self and future then challenge them.

  -> aims to help clients test the reality of their negative beliefs
• cognitive approach to treating depression: ellis's rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT)


  ABCDE model, D- dispute and E- effort

  -identify and dispute irrational thoughts by rigorous argument to change irrational belief

  behavioural activation-> grandually decrease their avoidance and isolation and increase their activities
• cognitive approach to treating depression evaluation

  support- effective, March, compared CBT to antidepressants and combination. after 36 weeks, 81% CBT group improved, 81% of antidepressant and 86% of combined

  -Taylor concluded with used effectively, CBT is effective for people with learning disability

  limitation - lack of suitability for severe cases as can't motivate themselves to engage and for people with learning disabilities

  -high relapse rates, Ali assessed depression and found 42% of clients replace within 6 moths and 53% within a year
• biological approach to explaining OCD: genetic explanations

  genetic explanations- Lewis (1936) found 37% had parents with OCD and 21% has siblings with OCD suggesting it runs in family/genes

  candidate genes- researchers have identified genes, which create vulnerability for OCD and are involved in regulating developments of serotonin system

  OCD is polygenic- is not caused by one single gene but by several genes

  different types- on group of genes may cause OCD is one person but a different group of genes may cause the disorder in another person
• biological approach to explaining OCD: neural explanations


  role of serotonin- believed to help regulate mood, if have low levels of serotonin then the person may experience low mood

  decision-making system- seems to be associated with impaired decision making, may be associated with abnormal functions of the lateral of the frontal lobes of the brain
• biological approach to explaining OCD evaluation: genetic explanations

  support- has strong evidence base, that you can be vulnerable to OCD as a result of genetic makeup, Nestadt (2010) found 65% of identical twins shared OCD as opposed to 31% of non-identical

  -use animal studies as difficult to find candidate genes

  limitations- are environmental risk factors that can trigger or increase the risk of developing OCD, Cromer (2007) found over half of OCD clients had experienced a traumatic event

  -animal studies can be seen as unethical
• biological approach to explaining OCD evaluation: neural explanations

  support- has supporting evidence, antidepressants work on serotonin and are effective in reducing OCD symptoms, suggesting serotonin may be involved in OCD

  -evidence to show some neural systems don't work normally with OCD

  limitation- may not be unique to OCD, many people with OCD also experience depression, which involves disruption of serotonin so it reduces OCD symptoms because it helps the depression
• biological approach to treating OCD

  aims to increase or decrease levels of neurotransmitters in the brain or to increase/decrease their activitySSRIs-selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor and work on the serotonin system that is released by certain neurons in the brain and travels down the synapse where neurotransmitters convey signals and is reabsorbed by presynaptic neuron where its been broken down and reused-> when serotonin is released from synaptic vesicle, its released into the synapse and some is absorbed to the postsynaptic nerve, but some serotonin is reabsorbed into the sending cell, SSRI's stop this reabsorption to maximise serotonin absorbed into postsynaptic cell as will increase levels of serotonincombining SSRIs with other treatments- often used alongside CBT and drug reduce emotional symptoms so people with OCD can engage more effectively with CBT