Psychopathology

• Definitions of abnormality (A01)

  DEVIATION FROM STATISTICAL NORMS= falling out of the regular statistical range- using quantitative stats to analyse and judge wether someone’s abnormal

  EXAMPLE: most people have an IQ of 85-115… intellectual disability disorder requires an IQ in the bottom 2% of the population.. an IQ below 70.
• definitions of abnormality (A01)

  DEVIATION FROM SOCIAL NORMS- abnormality by society’s expectations and standards.. we cact in a certain way to facilitate relationships with other people- those who don’t are seen as abnormal..

  EXAMPLE: antisocial personality disorder / also certain behaviours such as politeness/ aggression/ spitting/ sexual habits.
• Definitions of abnormality (A01)

  FAILURE TO FUNCTION ADEQUATELY= this states that you cannot function in your life on a day to day basis, and doing typically day to day things that you should be doing

  EXAMPLE: sustaining a job, relationships, hygeine, not eating, going shopping, sleeping. Also can be perceived as not functioning adequately if you do things that are harmful to yourself and others..
• definitions of abnormality (A01)

  DEVIATION FROM THE IDEAL MENTAL HEALTH= proposed by Jahoda… proposed several characteristics of ideal mental health.. if you don’t meet the criteria your seen as abnormal.

  1.positive self attitudes(high self esteem- lacking guilt)

  2.self actualisation(developing full potential)

  3.autonomy(autonomous state.. being in control)

  4.accurate perception of reality

  5.adaptability

  6.lack of stress/resistant to stress
• Deviation from social norms (A03)

  .those who anted plastic surgery were once seen as unusual and having issues.. now seen as normal.. changes over time..years ago if women shown their breasts in public it was inappropriate.. now it’s okay.

  .depends on the context: defining abnormality thisway may be inappropriate because it depends on the context that behaviours performed in.. eg.. a man in chicken suit for charity is normal.. but just walking down street is abnormal..

  .cultural relativism: can’t be applied across cultures.. tribal communities have rings to stretch neck..seen as normal
• deviation from the ideal mental health (A03)

  Cultural specific= This definition is specific for western cultures, in fact, collectivist cultures would see autonomy as undesirable

  Subjective criteria= This definition tries to treat mental health in the same way as physical health, however, mental health is much more subjective and needs to be looked at in the context of the patient

  unrealistic= having bad news may alter your attitude.. doesn't mean you have mental health or are abnormal
• Deviation from statistically norms (A03)

  In 1994, it was reported that 48% of Americans have had a period of time of mental health… using the statistical infrequency definition it can only be a matter of time before that figure exceeds above 50%.. therefore making those who haven’t had mental health as the minority.. making them abnormal…. Not accurate way of measuring..
• Failure to function (A03)

  Abnormality does not always stop the person functioning: . People may appear fine to others as they fit into society and have jobs and homes, but they may have distorted thinking which is causing them inner distress that they hide.

  Behaviour is observable: can be seen by others around the individual because they may not get out of bed on a morning/be able to hold a job down/ problems can be picked up by others and if the individual is incapable of making a decision or helping themselves others can intervene.
• PHOBIAS


  Categories of phobia:

  Specific phobia= phobia of object or situation

  Social phobia= phobia of social situations

  Agoraphobia= phobia of being outside or public place
• Behavioural characteristics of a phobia

  PANIC, AVOIDANCE AND ENDURANCE (FROZEN.. UNAVOIDABLE IN SITUATIONS SUCH AS FLYING)
• emotional characteristics of phobia

  ANXIETY, UNREASONABLE RESPONSE (CRYING, HYSTERICAL)
• cognitive characteristics of a phobia

  SELECTIVE ATTENTION OF PHOBIS (THREAT), IRRATIONAL BELIEFS (IT COULD KILL), COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS (SEEING IT AS SOMETHING IT ISNT… BELLY BUTTONS ARE UGLY)
• depression

  Categories of depression:

  Major depressive disorder= severe and short term

  Persistent depressive disorder= log term and recurring depression

  Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder= childhood temper tantrums
• Behavioural characteristics of depression

  ACTIVENESS, DISRUPTION TO SLEEP AND EATING BEHAVIOUR, AGRESSION AND SELF HARM.
• Emotional characteristics of depression

  LOWERED MOOD, ANGER, LOWERED SELF ESTEEM.
• Cognitive characteristics of depression

  POOR CONCENTRATION, ATTENDING AND DWELLING ON THE NEGATIVE, ABSOLUTE THINKING (SEEN THINGS AS ALL GOOD OR ALL BAD)
• Behavioural characteristics of OCD

  COMPULSIONS ( REPETITIVE BEHAVIOURS.. THEY DO THIS TO REDUCE ANXIETY, AVOIDANCE (REDUCE ANXIETY FROM KEEPING AWY FROM IT, EG. WASHING HANDS COMPULSIVELY.. THEYLL STAY AWAY FROM GERMS)
• emotional characteristics of OCD

  ANXIETY AND DISTRESS (REPEATING BEHAVIOURS…COMPULSIONS…CAUSES ANXIETY), ACCOMPANY DEPRESSION, DISGUST AND GUILT
• cognitive characteristics of OCD

  OBSESSIVE THOUGHTS (RECURRING), COGNITIVE STRATEGIES TO COPE WITH OBSESSIONS (SUCH AS A RELIGIOUS PERSON WITH GUILT PRAYING), INSIGHT INTO EXCESSIVE ANXIETY (THOSE MAY HAVE CATASTROPHIC THOUGHTS IF THEIR ANXIETY WAS JUSTIFIED)
• The behaviouralists approach to explaining phobias (A01)

  The two-process model- proposed my mowrer… he said that a phobia is learnt through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning (positive and negative reinforcement)
• Explaining phobias- Watson and rayner (lil Albert) gaining a phobia ..


  Conducted a study on a baby lil Albert.

  when first shown a white rat he had no anxiety response.

  then present a loud noise.. metal pole banging..(UCS) which created a fear response (UCR)

  then they presented the white rat (ns) with the noise, which created a fear response. Lil Albert then learned to associate that noise with the rat. Therefore when shown the rat on its own he had a feared response.. the rat is now the CS and the fear is the CR.

  The conditioning is also generalised to similar objects.
• Explaining phobias- maintained by operant conditioning


  Mowrer explained that a behaviour is either reaped due to reinforcement or punishment. Negative reinforcement is where a behaviour is repeated to avoid something unpleasant… in phobias sense when we avoid the phobia itself it then decreases that sense of fear and anxiety. This reduction in anxiety reinforces the avoidance behaviour, so the fear is maintained because its never faced head on..
• Behaviourists approach to phobias (A03)

  Seligman theory- the behaviourist approach fails to explain why we gain phobias for some objects and not others… may be because some phobias could be developed through evolutionary processes.. such as fear of dangerous animals.. Seligman called this ‘BIOLOGICAL PREPAREDNESS’- the innate disposition to acquire certain fears.

  Lead to behavioural therapies-flooding.. systematic desensitisation.

  Ignores freewill (deterministic)

  too simplistic
• Behaviouralists approach to treating PHOBIAS

  Systematic desensitisation=Behavioural therapy used to treat phobias/involve the patient learning to associate their phobic stimulus with relaxation (classical conditioning)

  occurs in 3 stages:

  1.anxiety hierarchy is put together/List of situations relating to phobia/starting off at least anxiety and then up to most anxiety/a patient can only move onto next stage of hierarchy once mastered the one before.

  2. Relaxation/ therapist teaches breathing techniques and meditation to help keep calm

  3. Exposure/exposed to phobia in calm state
• behaviouralists approach to treating phobias

  FLOODING- patients are exposed to their phobia..immediately fully immersed in the phobic stimulus for a long period of time/ flooding stops the phobia response quickly because without having the avoidance behaviour it is quickly learned that the phobic stimulus isn’t harmful..

  classical conditioning- being with the conditioned stimulus without the conditioned response means they’ll learn to unassociate them.
• Evaluation for systematic desensitisation

  Strength- research support from gilroy/ he followed up 42 patients who had been treated for spider phobias using SD. The spider phobia was assessed by a questionnaire and response to a spider. There w a control group which only did relaxin techniques and no exposre. At 3 and 33 months the SD group had less fear of spiders/ strength bc reduces anxiety and results are long lasting..

  time consuming=flooding better for those who want to get rid of it quickly.
• Evaluation of flooding 


  .the treatment is less effective for other types of phobia, including social phobia and agoraphobia. Some psychologists suggest that social phobias are caused by irrational thinking and are not caused by an unpleasant experiences (or learning through classical conditioning). Therefore, more complex phobias cannot be treated by behaviourist treatments and may be more responsive to other forms of treatment, for example CBT, which treats the irrational thinking.
• evaluation of flooding

  Flooding only removes symptoms of the phobia (anxiety) and not the underlying cause. If there is an underlying problem behind the phobia (like trauma in the patients past), then that will still be there and will carry on causing difficulties, even if the phobia is temporarily eased.
• cognitive approach to explaining depression (A01)

  Becks cognitive theory of depression: explaining why some people are more vulnerable than others..

  Faulty information processing=focusing on the negative/blowing small things out of proportion/ black and white thinking

  Negative self-schemas= interpreting all information about ourself in a negative way.

  The negative triad: negative view on the world/ negative view on the future/ negative view on self (low self esteem)
• cognitive approach to explaining depression (A01)

  Ellis ABC model= he says depression and anxiety is created based on irrational beliefs.. his is how these beliefs effect behaviour:

  . A=activating event… a situation where irrational belief gets trigger by external events (failing a test)

  . B=beliefs… an irrational thought about the event occurred (i am worthless and don’t deserve any better)

  . C=consequence… an abnormal behaviour or emotional response as a result of this (becomes depressed, and doesnt focus on revision anymore)
• becks theory evaluation

  Strengths:

  1.grazioli and terry assessed 65 women on their cognitive vulnerability and found that women who were deemed more vulnerable were more likely to get postnatal depression. This shows that cognitions can be shown before depression emerges and agreeing with becks theory.

  2.Boury et al found patients with depression were more likely to misinterpret info negatively and feel hopeless about their future.

  3.practical application= basis of CBT/components of triad are easily identified and challenged.
• becks theory evaluation

  weakness:

  it does not explain all aspects of depression: patients will often experience multiple emotions with depression, from anger to sadness. becks theory does not take into account those extreme emotions. sufferers may get hallucinations or bizarre beliefs caused by other delusions. therefore becks theory cannot explain all cases of depression, only focusing on the one aspect.
• Ellis ABC model evaluation

  Strength:

  it provides a practical application in CBT. The effectiveness of CBT suggests that identifying and challenged irrational beliefs are at the cure of treating depression, which supports Ellis theory.

  weakness:

  Cannot explain all types of depression/ only explain those who have an activating event/ expel may have depression who haven’t got an apparent cause.

  model can’t explain all aspects of depression/such as hallucinations, anger/therefore doesn't explain why depression also has these other symptoms.
• the cognitive approach to treating depression (A01)

  COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY= treatment of depression

  challenges irrational thoughts..
• CBT=BECKS COGNITIVE THERAPY

  The idea of cognitive therapy is where they identify automatic thoughts about the world, self and future (he triad)- these thoughts are then challenged.

  Aims to test the reality of their thoughts= set homework= to write down where they enjoyed an event or someone was nice to them… therefore when the patient comes back as says something such as people don’t like them.. the therapist can refer to the hw as evidence that it’s not true.
• CBT- ELLIS RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOUR THERPY (REBT)

  ABCDE MODEL (extended version of ABC)

  D-dispute

  E-effect

  identify and dispute negative thoughts.

  empirical disputing= disputing if their enough evidence to support the belief…. logical disputing= is it factual…. Pragmatic disputing= is this thought useful?

  effect= this is where the therapist would try break the link between negative life events and depression, to overcome the negative beliefs.
• CBT..

  behavioural activation= where the therapist will encourage the patient to be engaging with fun activities.
• CBT EVALUATION

  One issue with CBT is that it requires motivation. Patients with severe depression may not engage with CBT, or even attend the sessions and therefore this treatment will be ineffective in treating these patients. Alternate treatments, for example antidepressants, do not require the same level of motivation and maybe more effective in these cases. This poses a problem for CBT, as CBT cannot be used as the sole treatment for severely depressed patients.
• CBT EVALUATION

  March et al: compared CBT to antidepressants and combination therapy when treating 327 depressed adolescents, they found that after 36 weeks, 81% of the CBT group, 81% of the antidepressant group and 86% of the combination group were all significantly improved, showing CBT is as effective as antidepressants and even more so when used in combination with them.
• CBT EVALUATION

  Diverse applications: CBT is becoming more popular and diverse in their use. It is increasingly becoming the most widely used therapy by clinical psychologists in the NHS, partly because they’re short term and economic.

  .CBT is useful in variety of areas reared to stress, martial problems and family problems, all of which are often linked to depression.