psychopathology

• Statistical infrequency


  Implies that a disorder is abnormal if its frequency is more than two standard deviations away from the mean incidence rates represented on a normally-distributed bell curve
• Statistical infrequency is almost always used in the clinical diagnoses of mental health disorders as a comparison with a baseline or 'normal' value
• Statistical infrequency makes the assumption that any abnormal characteristics are automatically negative, whereas this is not always the case
• Failure to function adequately definition of abnormality


  If a person's current mental state is preventing them from leading a 'normal' life, alongside the associated normal levels of motivation and obedience to social norms, then such individuals may be considered as abnormal
• Failure to function adequately definition of abnormality


  • May lead to the labelling of some patients as 'strange' or 'crazy', which does little to challenge traditional negative stereotypes about mental health disorders
  • Not everyone with a mental health disorder requires a diagnosis, especially if they have a high quality of life and their illness has little impact upon themselves or others
• Deviation from social norms definition of abnormality

  'Abnormal' behaviour is based upon straying away from the social norms specific to a certain culture
• The fact that mental health diagnoses based on this definition vary so significantly between different cultures has historically led to discrimination, as a mechanism for social control
• Deviation from ideal mental health

  Jahoda (1958) looked at what would comprise the ideal mental state of an individual, including being able to self-actualise, having an accurate perception of ourselves, not being distressed, being able to maintain normal levels of motivation to carry out day-to-day tasks and displaying high self-esteem
• Deviation from ideal mental health


  • Jahoda may have had an unrealistic expectation of ideal mental health, with the vast majority of people being unable to acquire, let alone maintain, all of the criteria listed
  • Suffers from cultural relativism as the concept of self-actualisation may be viewed differently in individualist vs collectivist cultures
• Panic


  The patient suffers from heightened physiological arousal upon exposure to the phobic stimulus, caused by the hypothalamus triggering increased levels of activity in the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system
• Avoidance


  Avoidance behaviour is negatively reinforced (in classical conditioning terms) because it is carried out to avoid the unpleasant consequence of exposure to the phobic stimulus
• Endurance


  This occurs when the patient remains exposed to the phobic stimulus for an extended period of time, but also experiences heightened levels of anxiety during this time
• Emotional characteristics of phobias

  • Anxiety
  • Unawareness that the anxiety experienced towards the phobic stimulus is irrational
• Cognitive characteristics of phobias

  • Selective attention to the phobic stimulus
  • Irrational beliefs
  • Cognitive distortions
• Irrational beliefs


  May be the cause of unreasonable responses of anxiety towards the phobic stimulus, due to the patient's incorrect perception as to what the danger posed actually is
• Behavioural characteristics of depression


  • Changed activity levels
  • Aggression
  • Changed patterns of sleeping and eating
• Emotional characteristics of depression

  • Lowered self-esteem
  • Constant poor mood
  • High levels of anger
• Cognitive characteristics of depression

  • Absolutist thinking
  • Selective attention towards negative events
  • Poor concentration
• Emotional characteristics of OCD

  • Guilt
  • Disgust
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
• Behavioural Approach to Treating Phobias (Systematic Desensitisation)


  1. Gradual exposure to the phobic stimulus

  2. Learning relaxation techniques

  3. Working through an anxiety hierarchy
• Systematic desensitisation

  1. Patient and therapist draw up an anxiety hierarchy

  2. Therapist teaches patient relaxation techniques

  3. Patient works their way up through the hierarchy

  4. Phobia is cured when patient can remain calm at the highest anxiety level
• Systematic desensitisation showed a reduction in symptoms compared to the control group
• Flooding


  Behavioural therapy designed to reduce phobic anxiety in one session, through immediate exposure to the phobic stimulus
• Flooding is cost-effective

  Ougrin compared it to cognitive therapies and found it to be cheaper
• Beck's cognitive theory of depression

  • Grazioli and Terry's evaluation of 65 pregnant women found a positive correlation between increased cognitive vulnerability and increased likelihood of acquiring depression after birth
• Ellis' ABC model cannot explain all types of depression, apart from those which clearly have an activating event
• CBT for depression


  • March followed a group of 327 adolescents with a main diagnosis of depression, with 81-86% improvement rates across different experimental conditions
• CBT may not be appropriate for all cases of depression


  Particularly the most severe cases, where patients may lack motivation or feel hopeless
• The cognitive approach focuses on present life and challenges, but some patients may be aware of specific past events responsible for their depression
• Genetic explanation of OCD

  • Nestadt et al. found that 68% of identical twins, compared to 31% of non-identical twins, share OCD
• The genetic explanation ignores environmental factors in the development of OCD
• Pharmacological treatments for OCD

  • SSRIs prevent the reuptake and breakdown of serotonin, increasing its concentration
  • Tricyclics and SNRIs have similar effects on other neurotransmitters