Psychopathology

• What are the definitions of abnormality

  • Deviation from social norms
  • statistical infrequency
  • deviation from ideal mental health
  • failure to function adequately
• Define deviation from social norms

  • When an individual violates the rules or expected behaviours of society or a group
• Define statistical infrequency

  An abnormal behaviour that is defined as numerically uncommon or rare
• Define failure to function adequately

  The inability to cope with the demands of everyday life
• How is deviation from ideal mental health defined

  This is defined by the criteria that an individual needs to meet to have psychological well-being

  The fewer criteria met the more abnormal an individual is
• Who created the criteria needed in order to meet good psychological well-being (ideal mental health)

  Jahoda
• What is the criteria set by Jahoda - ideal mental health

  (SPEARS)

  • self actualisation
  • personal autonomy
  • environmental mastery
  • accurate perception of reality
  • resistance to stress
  • self esteem
• Who created the criteria to identify individuals that are failing to function adequately

  Rosenhan and Seligman
• Give examples of the criteria for failing to function adequately

  • Personal distress
  • observer discomfort
  • unpredictable behaviour
• Evaluation - deviation from social norms

  limitation - norms are culturally relative

  strength - real world application as used in clinical practices
• Evaluation - statistical infrequency

  Limitation - abnormal characteristics can also be positive
• Evaluation - deviation from ideal mental health

  Limitation - cultural relativism

  strength - covers a broad range of criteria
• Evaluation - failure to function adequately

  Limitation - involves subjective judgements

  strength - real world application
• What are the behavioural characteristics of phobias

  • Avoidance
  • panic
• What are the emotional characteristics for phobias

  • Fear
  • anxiety
• What are the cognitive characteristics for phobias

  • irrational beliefs
  • selective attention towards the phobic stimuli
• What is the explanation for phobias

  Mowrer’s two process model - classical conditioning and operant conditioning
• What are the treatments for phobias

  • Flooding
  • systematic desensitisation
• What are the behavioural characteristics for OCD

  • compulsions
  • avoidance
• What are the emotional characteristics for OCD

  • Anxiety
  • guilt and disgust towards external stimuli
• What are the cognitive characteristics for OCD

  • Obsessive thoughts
  • hypervigilance (constantly assessing threats)
  • often over aware
• What are the explanations for OCD

  • Neural
  • genetic
• What is the treatment for OCD

  drug therapies
• What are the behavioural characteristics for depression

  • Changes to activity levels
  • changes to sleep pattern
  • changes to eating pattern
• What are the emotional characteristics for depression

  • Low mood
  • anger
• What are the cognitive characteristics for depression

  • Poor concentration
  • irrational beliefs
  • difficulty decision making
• What are the explanation for depression

  • Beck - depression is caused by a negative schema and faulty thoughts
  • Ellis - irrational thoughts affect our behavioural and mental state
• What are the treatments for depression

  Beck - CBT

  Ellis - rational emotive behavioural therapy
• What are the evaluation points for the phobia explanation

  • Limitation - Phobias are hereditary
  • Strength - research support - Little Albert
  • Strength - the principles of the behaviourist theory are valid
• Define reciprocal inhibition

  • This means that you cannot feel two opposite emotions simultaneously
• Define counter conditioning

  This means that a new positive association is made with a stimulus
• Ideal mental health strength

  • Covers a broad range of criteria
  • the criteria acknowledges most reasons to why someone would access mental health services
  • it is a useful checklist for clinicians to use to assess others as well as so that we can assess ourselves
• Social norms strength

  • Real world application
  • used in clinical practices
  • e.g antisocial personality disorder uses failure to conform to social standards for diagnosis
  • criteria has a usefulness in psychiatry
• Failure to function adequately strength

  • Real world application
  • the definition considers the patients perspective
  • it is difficult to measure distress so it acknowledges the patients perspective
  • usually gives a threshold for when to provide help
• Define candidate genes

  A specific gene that gives an individual a predisposition to a specific condition