Psychopathology

Cards (72)

  • Psychopathology
    The study of mental disorders and conditions that are considered psychologically abnormal
  • Definitions of abnormality
    • Deviation from social norms
    • Failure to function adequately
    • Statistical infrequency
    • Deviation from ideal mental health
  • Deviation from social norms
    Behaviour that deviates from the expected rules of behaviour in society
  • Deviation from social norms definition of abnormality
    • The social dimension can help both the abnormal individual and wider society
    • Social norms are flexible to account for the individual and situation
  • Deviation from social norms definition of abnormality
    • Social norms are not objective facts, they are subjective rules created by people
    • Social norms change over time and vary between cultures
    • A person who deviates from social norms may simply be different rather than psychologically abnormal
  • Failure to function adequately
    A person is unable to navigate everyday life or behave in the necessary ways to live a 'normal' life
  • Failure to function definition of abnormality
    • The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale provides a practical and measurable way of quantifying abnormality
    • The majority of people who seek clinical help do so because they believe the disorder is affecting their ability to function normally
  • Failure to function definition of abnormality
    • Not everyone with a mental disorder is unable to function in society
    • Not everyone who is unable to function is suffering from a mental disorder
    • What counts as failure to function adequately may differ between cultures
  • Statistical infrequency
    Defining abnormality as statistically rare characteristics and behaviours
  • Statistical infrequency definition of abnormalityadvantage
    • Provides a clear and objective way of determining abnormality
    • Does not imply any value judgements
  • Statistical infrequency definition of abnormality
    • Infrequency does not always mean abnormality or mental disorder
    • Abnormality does not necessarily mean infrequency
    • Some psychological disorders are difficult to measure objectively
  • Deviation from ideal mental health
    Abnormality defined as deviating from the features of ideal mental health
  • Deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality
    • Focuses on the entire person rather than specific symptoms
    • Provides a positive goal to strive towards
  • Deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality
    • Too idealistic, very few people meet all the criteria
    • Criteria are subjective and hard to measure
    • Ideal mental health may differ between cultures
  • Phobia
    An anxiety disorder characterised by extreme and irrational fear towards a stimuli
  • Examples of phobias
    • Arachnophobia (fear of spiders)
    • Aerophobia (fear of flying)
    • Agoraphobia (fear of leaving one's house)
    • Social phobias (fear of crowds, public speaking)
  • Characteristics of phobias
    • Emotional: Extreme, uncontrollable, disproportionate fear
    • Behavioural: Screaming, crying, freezing, avoiding the feared stimuli
    • Cognitive: Recognition that the fear is irrational, but this does little to reduce the fear
  • Activist cultures may view individual autonomy as undesirable
  • Emotional characteristics of phobias
    • It is natural to feel some fear in response to potential danger. But people with phobias experience extreme fear that is uncontrollable and disproportionate to the situation
  • Behavioural characteristics of phobias
    • Screaming, crying, freezing, or running away from the feared stimuli. A phobic person will typically try to avoid the feared stimuli
  • Cognitive characteristics of phobias
    • Most people with phobias recognise that their fear is irrational and disproportionate. However, this recognition does little to reduce the fear the phobic person feels
  • The syllabus focuses on the behaviourist approach to phobias, but other approaches can serve as a means to evaluate this approach
  • Behaviourist approach

    Analyses phobias based on external observations of environmental stimuli and behavioural responses (rather than e.g. the underlying thought processes)
  • Two-process model

    Explains how phobias are developed and maintained through behavioural conditioning
  • Classical conditioning (acquisition of phobia)

    An unconditioned fear response is associated with a neutral stimulus through experience, resulting in a conditioned fear response to that stimulus
  • Example of classical conditioning

    • Watson & Rayner (1920) - 'Little Albert' was conditioned to fear a white rat after being exposed to it paired with a loud noise
  • Operant conditioning (maintenance of phobia)

    Behaviours that reduce unpleasant feelings (e.g. avoiding feared stimuli) are negatively reinforced, maintaining the phobia
  • Not everyone who has an unpleasant experience at the same time as a neutral stimulus goes on to develop a phobia, which weakens the behaviourist claim that phobias are acquired through classical conditioning
  • Systematic desensitisation

    Gradually increasing exposure to the feared stimuli until it no longer induces anxiety
  • Example of systematic desensitisation
    • Jones (1924) - A 2 year old boy with a phobia of white rats was treated by progressively increasing his exposure to a white rabbit
  • Flooding
    Exposing the subject to the most extreme scenarios straight away, with the idea that extreme anxiety cannot be maintained indefinitely
  • Example of flooding

    • Wolpe (1969) - A girl with a phobia of cars was driven around in a car for four hours until her phobia disappeared
  • Behavioural treatment works better with some phobias than others, suggesting not all phobias can be explained or treated in behaviourist terms
  • Behaviourist treatment of phobias, particularly flooding, may raise ethical concerns
  • Unipolar depression

    Characterised by persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, low motivation, and inability to feel pleasure, with no manic episodes
  • Bipolar depression
    Characterised by the same symptoms as unipolar depression, plus occasional manic symptoms
  • Emotional characteristics of depression

    • Persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness, low mood that may come and go in cycles, feelings of worthlessness and lack of enthusiasm
  • Behavioural characteristics of depression

    • Low energy, reduced activity, reduced social interaction, irregular sleep patterns, over- or under-eating
  • Cognitive characteristics of depression

    • Exaggerated or delusional negative thoughts about self and others, difficulty concentrating and remembering, thoughts about death and suicide
  • The syllabus focuses on the cognitive approach to depression, but other approaches can serve as a means to evaluate this approach