PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

• Definitions of abnormality


  • Deviation from social norms
  • Failure to function adequately
  • Statistical infrequency
  • Deviation from ideal mental health
• Statistical infrequency definition of abnormality

  Abnormal behaviour is behaviour that is very rare
• Statistics measure how common behaviours or traits are when compared to the rest of the population. The most uncommon ones are defined as abnormal.
• Failure to function adequately


  Inability to cope with daily life (interacting with the world and people around us)
• Features of failure to function adequately

  • Maladaptive behaviour
  • Personal anguish
  • Observer discomfort
  • Irrationality and unpredictability
  • Unconventionality
• Deviation from social norms


  Unwritten social expectations of behaviour that may differ from one culture to the next and change over time
• Deviation from ideal mental health

  Marie Jahoda (1958) uses humanist principles in not defining abnormality but defining six features of ideal mental health, suggesting that deviation from these features would indicate an abnormality
• Six features of ideal mental health (EAR SPA)

  • Environmental mastery
  • Autonomy
  • Resisting stress
  • Self actualisation
  • Positive attitude towards oneself
  • Accurate perception of reality
• Characteristics of phobias, depression, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)

  • Phobias
  • Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
  • Depression
• Phobias


  • Extreme irrational fears of certain objects or situations
  • Examples: arachnophobia (fear of spiders), claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces)
• Behavioural characteristics of phobias

  • Avoidance
  • Panic
  • Failure to function
• Emotional characteristics of phobias

  • Anxiety
  • Fear
• Cognitive characteristics of phobias

  • Irrational beliefs
  • Reduced cognitive capacity
• Subtypes of phobias


  • Simple/specific phobias
  • Social phobias
  • Agoraphobia
• Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)


  An anxiety disorder defined by obsessions (constant intrusive thoughts) and compulsions (behavioural responses to the obsessions)
• Behavioural traits of OCD

  • Compulsions
  • Avoidance
  • Social impairment
• Emotional traits of OCD

  • Extreme anxiety
  • Distress/depression
• Cognitive traits of OCD

  • Recurrent thoughts
  • Understanding the irrationality
• Depression


  A category of mood disorders, which is often divided into two main types: unipolar and bipolar depression, otherwise known as manic-depression
• Behavioural traits of depression

  • Weight loss or gain
  • Low energy
  • Self harm
  • Poor personal hygiene
• Emotional characteristics of depression


  • Sadness
  • Reduced self worth
• Cognitive features of depression

  • Poor concentration
  • Persistent concern
• Unipolar/major depression effects 25% of women and 12% of men during their lifetimes, and includes only depressive episodes
• Bipolar/manic depression affects 2% of people. They also have manic episodes where they have high energy and high moods, engage in risk-taking behaviour, and potentially have delusions.
• Explaining Phobias - The two-process model

  1. Acquisition (classical conditioning - learning by association)

  2. Maintenance (operant conditioning - learning by trial and error)
• Systematic desensitisation


  1. Relaxation

  2. Use of hierarchy
• Flooding


  Exposing the person to the phobic object or situation until the fear response is extinguished
• Phobia


  An extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something
• Watson and Rayner (1920) used a child called little Albert to demonstrate how phobias could be induced in a child
• They did this by making a loud noise when presenting a white rat to the child, and were able to generalise this fear to other white fluffy objects
• Menzies and Clarke (1993) found that only 2% of children with a fear of water could recall a traumatic experience, suggesting the behaviourist explanation cannot account for all phobias
• Evolutionary biological theory


  Phobias of snakes, birds, and dogs had an evolutionary origin as our very early ancestors could have been hunted/attacked by these creatures
• Behaviourist theories of phobia formation and maintenance have led to effective counter-conditioning treatments
• Systematic desensitisation


  1. Break phobia down into anxiety hierarchy

  2. Teach relaxation techniques

  3. Expose client to hierarchy stages while relaxing

  4. Extinction of fear association, formation of relaxation association
• Flooding


  1. Immediate full exposure to maximum phobic stimulus

  2. Temporary panic, then anxiety recedes and fear is extinguished
• Alternative treatments for phobias include drug treatments, but talking therapies are more effective long-term
• Beck's negative triad


  Events are seen by the sufferer with a pessimistic/negative bias due to negative schemas about the world, the self, and the future
• Ellis' ABC model


  Activating event (A), belief (B), and consequence (C) - beliefs determine different reactions to the same event
• Hammen and Krantz (1976) found support for negative cognitive distortions in depressed undergraduates
• Beck's CBT


  1. Identify and challenge automatic negative/irrational thoughts

  2. Reality-test thoughts through homework

  3. Encourage enjoyable activities