Psychopathology

• What are the four definitions of abnormality

  Deviation from social norms

  statistical infrequency

  failure to function adequately

  deviation from ideal mental health
• What is deviation from social norms 


  Behaviour that is not considered to the socially acceptable is abnormal e.g. wearing flip flops in winter
• What is statistical infrequency 


  Infrequent and rare behaviour is considered abnormal e.g. have an IQ over 130
• What is failure to function adequately 


  Behaviour that suggests an individual cannot cope with everyday life
• What is deviation from ideal mental health 


  Behaviour that is signs of an absence of well-being in mental health
• What are the 6 characteristics Marie Jahoda devised

  Positive self attitude towards self - high self esteem and absence of strong identity

  self actualisation - focused on the future and their development and self-growth

  resistance to stress - coping strategies to deal with stress

  autonomy - independent and self-reliant

  accurate perception of reality - a truthful and realistic view of the world

  mastery of the environment - ability to love, function at work and interpersonal relationships, adjust to new situations and solve problems
• What do we use to diagnose phobias 


  DS—V (Diagnostic Statistical Manual of mental disorders version 5)
• In the DSM, what are the three recognised ‘types’ of phobias

  Specific phobia - phobia of a specific object or situation

  Social anxiety - phobia of social situations

  Agoraphobia - phobia of outside/being in public
• What are the three characteristics categories

  Behavioural- how we act

  Emotional - how we feel

  Cognitive - how we think
• What are some behavioural characteristics of phobias


  Panic - range of crying, screaming or running away (reactions differ with age

  Avoidance - extreme efforts to avoid their phobic stimulus

  Endurance - staying in presence of phobic stimulus but experiences high anxiety levels
• what are the emotional characteristics of phobias 


  Fear - immediate response

  Anxiety - longer term response (unpleasant high arousal)

  emotional responses to phobias are considered to be beyond the “reasonable” or “usual”
• What are the cognitive characteristics of phobias


  Selective attention - the inability to direct attention away from the phonic stimulus when it is present

  Irrational beliefs - ideas Or beliefs that the sufferers hold that are extreme

  Cognitive distortion - people with phobias tend to see things as worse than they are
• What’s the model to explain phobias 


  The Two-Process Model (Mowrer 1960)
• How does it explain phobias

  acquired through classical conditioning

  maintained through operant conditioning
• Explain acquired through Classical Conditioning using balloons 


  NS (balloon) ———> no response

  UCS (loud noise) ----> UCR (crying/fear)

  UCS + NS ---> UCR

  CS (balloon) ---> CR (crying/fear)
• explain maintained through operant conditioning 


  avoiding the situation that is unpleasant takes away that feeling of fear and anxiety felt when near phobic stimulus. this is negative reienforcement which strengthenes the phobia the more it is avoided
• summerise the case study if Little Albert and explain how it supports the two-process model


  Watson + Raynor (1920) presented a 9 month old with a range of objects to see his emotional reaction (e.g. presented with a white mouse). Albert displayed no signs of distress to any object. At 11 months he was presented with the rat again but this time W+R made a loud noise behinde him and scared Albert. Albert moved away from the rat meaning he associated the rat with a loud noise that scares him.
• what is one strength of the two-process model


  supporting evidence - Little Albert study supports classical conditioning

  • adds reliability and validity onto the model
• whats one strength of the two-process model


  practical application - treatment of phobias

  • systematic desensitzation - breaking the association with something relaxing as the they suggest you can not feel relaxed and anxious at the same time
• what is a limitation of the two-process model 


  alternative explanation - biological

  • doesnt take into account biological factors
  • Martin Seligman (1971) argues that humans are predisposed or susceptible to learn an association with something highly fearful due to past associations (biological preparedness)
  • BP - an increased likelihood of developing phobias because of specific variation in out DNA which predisposes us to this fear. As a result it could be argued that the behaviouist explaination is too simplistic.
• what is one limitation of the two-process model 


  alternative explaination - cognitive

  • doesn't take into account the role of cognitive factors a there are aspects of phobias that cannot be explained simply through behaviour
  • Beck - irrational thoughts --> overgeneralising + catatrophising these thoughts
  • so it could be argued that the behaviourist explanation of phobias is oversimplified as it neglects such cognitive processes
• what are the treatments of phobias

  systematic desensitisation and flooding
• what is systematic desensitisation 


  counter-conditioning

  • person is taught to associate the object or stimulus they fear with a new response (something relaxing)
  • idea of reciprocal inhibition - two opposite emotions cannot coexist (e.g. fear + relaxation) so one takes over the other
• what is an anxiety hierarchy 


  producing a list of scenarios about the feared object or situation that would produce anxiety + order them into the least frightening or intense and most frightening/intense
• summarise how relaxation and an anxiety hierarchy are used in systematic desensitisation

  the person is taught to deeply relax through techniques like breathing exercises or visualisation to reduce the activity of the sympathetic nervous system which produces the flight or fight response and activate the parasympathetic nervous system
• explain how gradual exposure of the anxiety hierarchy could be used with a phobia of balloons 


  patient simply starts with taking about balloons and uses their relaxation techniques. when they can stay relaxed at that level they can progress to the next (looking at pictures and using relaxation techniques etc.) eventually they work all the way up to top where they hold a balloon and is able to be relaxed
• what is VRET


  Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

  • patients can work through the hierarchy with the added control and safety of VR
• what is flooding 


  exposing the person to the very object or situation they are afraid of and this is done suddenly with no gradual build up or exposure

  • immediate + direct exposure
  • no effort is made to reduce or avoid anxiety
  • if they cant avoid the situation they are afraid of then they should learn that it is not as harmful as they thought
  • based on extinction --> trying to extinguish the learnt association they have formed through continuous exposure so their anxiety levels decrease