Psychopathology

• Definitions of Abnormality

  Deviation from social norms, failure to function adequately, statistical infrequency, and deviation from ideal mental health
• Definitions of abnormality


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

  • A person's thinking or behaviour violates the unwritten rules (social norms) about what is acceptable within a particular society
• Deviation from social norms(Example)

  • Walking around the streets of London practically naked
  • The same behaviour being considered normal in a remote African tribe
• Social norms differ between cultures and what is considered normal in one culture may be abnormal in another
• Social norms change over time, which raises the issue of hindsight bias
• Historically, reliance on the deviation from social norm definition of abnormality may have resulted in violations of human rights where people, by today's standards, are deemed "abnormal"
• Failure to Function Adequately (FFA)


  A person is considered abnormal if they are unable to cope with the demands of everyday life and live independently in society, and their behaviour causes personal suffering and distress or distress/discomfort to others
• Failure to Function Adequately

  • Someone is considered abnormal if they are unable to cope with the demands of everyday life and live independently in society
• A persons behaviour should cause personal suffering and distress to themselves, and possibly friends and family as a consequence of failure to function adequately
• Failure to function adequately evaluation

  • One weakness is that it stems from individual differences - two people with the same symptoms may be diagnosed differently
  • One strength is that it considers the subjective personal experiences of the patient
• Distinguishing between failure to function adequately and deviation from social norms


  A behaviour which appears to be a failure to function adequately may in fact also be a deviation from the social norm if the person is choosing an alternative lifestyle
• Statistical Infrequency definition


  A behaviour is seen as abnormal if it is statistically uncommon or not seen very often in society
• Statistical Infrequency Example:IQ distribution

  • Average IQ is approximately 100 and 65% of the population have an IQ in the region of 85 to 115
  • 95% of the population have an IQ in the region of 70 to 130
  • A small percentage of the population (approximately 5%) have an IQ below 70 or above 130 and these people are statistically uncommon and consequently, they would be classified as abnormal
• A normal distribution curve can be used to represent the proportions of the population who share a particular characteristic
• Statistically infrequent


  Classed as abnormal
• People with IQ above 130 are 5% of the population
• Evaluation of statistical infrequency

  • One problem is the issue of misdiagnosis
  • Certain behaviours are statistically common but considered abnormal
  • Labelling someone as abnormal can be unhelpful and cause distress
  • Some statistically infrequent behaviours are desirable traits
• Deviation from ideal mental health

  • Abnormal behaviour should be defined by the absence of particular (ideal) characteristics
  • Jahoda's 6 principles of ideal mental health: positive self-view, personal growth, autonomy, accurate reality view, stress resistance, environmental mastery
• If an individual does not demonstrate one of Jahoda's criteria, they would be classified as abnormal
• The development of criteria takes a nomothetic approach, but an idiographic approach may be more fruitful
• Defining abnormality can be ethnocentric, especially regarding Jahoda's criteria which apply more to Western individualistic cultures
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)


  Classified as an anxiety disorder with two main components: obsessions (recurring and persistent thoughts) and compulsions (repetitive behaviours)
• Percentage of OCD sufferers

  • 20% experience combined obsessions and compulsions
  • 20% experience just obsessions
  • 10% experience just compulsions
• Compulsions in OCD


  • Repetitive in nature
  • Used to manage or reduce anxiety
• Obsessions in OCD


  Persistent and/or forbidden thoughts and ideas that cause high levels of anxiety
• Phobias


  • An anxiety disorder causing an irrational fear of a particular object or situation
• Types of phobias


  • Simple (specific) phobias
  • Social phobias
  • Agoraphobia
• Simple (specific) phobias


  Most common type, fear of a specific object in the environment (e.g. arachnophobia - fear of spiders)
• Social phobias


  Feelings of anxiety in social situations (e.g. fear of public speaking)
• Agoraphobia


  Fear of open or public spaces, can lead to panic attacks
• Most research and information on these disorders comes from Western cultures, leading to an ethnocentric bias
• Phobias and OCD can be seen as learned responses to stress triggers, allowing for stress reduction through avoidance and obsessive rituals
• Process model deciding cheesical e


  Decay role and use of hierarchy f
• Evaluate the behaviouralproach to explaining phobias

  1. Through the two-process

  2. The action of phobias through classical conditioning

  3. Sequence of phets through operant conditioning
• Due and eve bal treatments of phobias

  1. Introduction

  2. Pasconding and seda learning theory
• According to the behavioural approach, abnormal behaviour can be caused by: 1) classical conditioning. 2)
• Mener (247) praposed a two-process model


  • To explain how phobias are learned through classical
  • onditioning and rained through operant conditioning
• Explaining Phobias-The Two-Process Model


  Associative learning
• According to the two process model, phobias can be acquired through classical conditioning and

  1. Classical Conditioning

  2. Classical conditioning is a process of learning by

  3. associating two stimull together to condition

  4. Jearn a response. According to the theory of

  5. dassical conditioning, phobias can be acquired

  6. through associative learning. The process of

  7. classical conditioning can explain how we learn to

  8. associate something we do not fear (neutral

  9. stimadas, for example a ift, with something

  10. which triggers a fear response (unconditioned

  11. stimulus, for example being trapped. After an

  12. association has formed, the lift (now a

  13. conditioned stimulus) causes a response of fear

  14. conditioned response) and consequently, we

  15. develop a phobia of aft, following a single

  16. incident of being trapped in a lift