AO3- psychopathology

• It can be used to identify people who need psychiatric help


  • The behaviour of someone who hears voices differs from the norm, so they would be likely to be diagnosed as schizophrenic, and to receive treatment
• Homosexuality was regarded as a mental illness until 1973, but not any more


  • Cross cultural misunderstandings are common, and may contribute to e.g. high diagnosis rate of schizophrenia amongst non-white British people
• Same behaviour might be normal or abnormal in different contexts


  • e.g. undressing in bathroom or classroom
• People who do not fit into society's norms are often labelled as "abnormal", and may even be institutionalised


  • For example, young unmarried mothers in the past were often locked up in mental institutions because their behaviour was seen as unacceptable
• People with antisocial personality disorder (psychopaths) do not feel guilt and therefore can harm or kill others without it causing them distress


  • as in the case of Harold Shipman
• This is because it is more ethical than therapies such as drugs because it allows the patient to be in control
• SD also does not require high communication skills or insight into their disorder, so may be more suited to people such as patients with learning difficulties
• HOWEVER a problem with SD is that it is not suitable for all phobias
• For example, Öhman et al. (1975) suggest that SD may not be as effective in treating anxieties that have an underlying evolutionary survival component (eg, fear of the dark, fear of heights, or fear of dangerous animals) than in treating phobias that have been acquired as a result of personal experience
• A strength of flooding is that it is effective as it can be used to treat a wide range of phobias
• For example, flooding can be used in vivo (actual exposure), In vitro (imagination) or via virtual reality. As flooding can be quite traumatic, virtual reality may be a suitable balance between imagination and actual exposure
• For example Rothbaum et al., (2000) found that virtual reality exposure and standard flooding were both more effective for treating flying phobia than being on a waiting list for treatment (a control group). At a 6 month follow up, both virtual reality exposure and standard flooding were found to be equally effective. 93% of participants having received these treatments had flown in that time
• HOWEVER, flooding is only likely to be effective for specific phobias and not social phobias
• This is because with a specific phobia it is possible to identify a particular object or situation as the source of the phobia. For example, it would be possible to treat arachnophobia (fear of spiders) in flooding by exposing the individual to spiders. However, a social phobia is more complex than this as the particular source of the phobia cannot be identified. Social phobias can also have cognitive aspects.
• Therefore other treatments may be more effective as a treatment for some phobias and CBT
• A strength of flooding is that it is appropriate because it is cost effective
• HOWEVER, flooding may not be an appropriate treatment for phobias due to the high dropout rate
• One strength of the cognitive approach to explaining depression are the practical applications that are used based on Beck and Ellis's ideas
• For example Beck's ideas are used in CBT in terms of the negative triad. CBT aims to identify automatic thoughts about the self, world and the future and to then challenge these thoughts
• Ellis's ideas have been used in rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) whereby the therapist works with the patient to identify and challenge irrational thoughts that occur in relation to events. This should in turn lead to a more positive emotional state
• This is a strength as CBT has been shown to be effective. This suggests that cognitions are therefore involved in the development of depression if by changing them we can treat depression
• HOWEVER the relationship between thought processes and depression may not be this straight-forward
• Cuijpers et al., (2013) found that CBT was most effective when combined with drugs (eg. SSRIs). This suggests that it is not as simple as negative thoughts causing depression, there must also be a biological element as well, otherwise CBT alone would be most effective
• This is a weakness as by not considering biological factors we may be missing important influences on depression which in turn may lead to ineffective treatments being used
• A further strength of the cognitive approach is that there is research evidence to support that irrational thinking is involved in depression
• For example, Lloyd and Lishman (1975) gave participants with depression stimulus words in response to which they were required to recall pleasant or unpleasant experiences from their past. They found that participants with low level depression responded faster when recalling pleasant memories than those participants with deeper depression, with response times increasing with the severity of depression
• This supports the idea that depressed people have automatic negative thinking, suggesting that this negative thinking may lead to depression
• HOWEVER this research does not show that irrational thinking causes depression
• Research that tests irrational thinking in those with depression does so after the individual has been diagnosed with depression, therefore it is difficult to distinguish as to whether the irrational thinking is a cause or consequence of depression. For example, one of the symptoms of depression is that the individual experiences feelings of worthlessness and it is clear to see that this could lead to irrational thoughts
• This is a limitation of the cognitive approach as it means we may be missing the cause of depression and we may need to turn to other approaches such as the psychodynamic and their explanation of anger turned to self-hatred as a cause of depression
• HOWEVER CBT is not effective for everyone
• Simon et al, (1995) suggest that CBT is not suitable for people who have high levels of stress that reflect realistic stressors in the person's life, as the therapy cannot resolve these and therefore cannot help the depression
• It may therefore be important that the person suffering from depression is treated as an Individual and their individual circumstances are taken into account before treatment is decided for the sufferer of depression
• Another strength of CBT is that it is appropriate because it teaches the client skills that tackle the problem
• For example patients are taught how to challenge irrational thoughts and how to look for the evidence to support irrational thoughts (which when there is none demonstrates they are irrational).
• HOWEVER, the therapy relies on the assumption that an individual can change their own thought patterns and this may not be the case
• Our personalities are highly ingrained and take a lifetime to develop, therefore in the space of a course of CBT we cannot expect to fully change someone's thinking patterns. In particular this may be a problem in severe depression.
• Therefore we cannot assume that CBT is appropriate for all sufferers of depression and it may be more appropriate to use medication alongside CBT
• One strength of the biological approach to explaining OCD is there is research evidence to support the link between biology and OCD
• HOWEVER the relationship between biology and OCD is not this clear cut