Psychopathology

• What does deviation from social norms mean?

  • not following the socials norms that are set by society
  • anyone who doesn’t and deviates from social norms are seen as abnormal
• What is an explicit social norm

  • a written rule/law e.g not using your phone while driving
  • in terms of abnormality someone who is agoraphobic may not leave their house and so not go to school. This goes against the law in the UK that states all children need to be in education till 18
• What is an implicit social norm

  • unwritten rule that we tend to follow collectively as a society e.g queuing up in a line in the shop
  • in terms of abnormality, someone with OCD may have compulsive disorders to turn on and off the light many times. This goes against the social norm of just turning the light switch off once
• Strengths of deviation from social norms

  • comprehensive - covers a range of criteria most of which encourages them to seek help from mental health services or referred for help - makes it a good tool for mental health
  • helps distinguish between what’s typical and atypical: gives a clear indication of what is seen as typical behaviour
• Limitations of deviation from social norms

  • This definition is an example of cultural relativism. Social norms vary from culture to culture. What is seen as normal from one culture may not be seen as normal in another
  • Norms can vary over time. Being gay was seen as abnormal and a criminal offence till 1967, so it may be seen as a norm in one era compared to another era
• What does failure to function adequately?

  • a person who can’t carry on doing normal everyday activities e.g going to work, washing etc would be considered as abnormal
  • failure to function adequately is a general sign of a mental illness and isn’t specific to one disorder
• Rosenhan and Seligman propose features of behaviour that indicate whether or not is failing to function adequately 1/2 :

  • observer discomfort - when a persons behaviour causes distress and discomfort to the observer
  • unpredictability - we rely on people’s behaviour to be predictable, so when a persons behaviour is unpredictable and uncontrolled suggest there’s somethings wrong
• Rosenhan and Seligman propose features of behaviour that indicates if a person is failing to function adequately 2/2 :

  • irrationality - if a behaviour doesn‘t seem rational and hard to understand there is a problem
  • maladaptiveness- behaviour that is not helpful, limits ability of people to adjust to situations
  • personal suffering and distress - inability to cope with everyday life
• Strengths of failure to function adequately

  • Definitions provides a practical checklist that allowed people to check their level of abnormality. Assesses degree of abnormality and is a global assessment.
  • Matches sufferers perception - most people who seek help know they are suffering from a psychological problem and can’t function properly so it supports teh definition
• Limitations of failure to function adequately

  • Abnormality is not always accompanied by dysfunction: psychopaths or personality disorders can cause great harm to people but may appear normal
  • FFA is context dependant - not eating can be seen as a failure to function adequately but prisoners on a hunger strike as a protest can be seen in a different light
• What is statistical infrequency

  • defines abnormality as a behaviour that deviates from mean average, thus the less obvious a behaviour occurs (statistically) the more abnormal it is. So the majority of people are normal and the minority are abnormal
  • concept of normal distribution is used to decide which behaviour is typical and atypical
  • you can calculate standard deviation as long as the mean and the scores are known for any measure characteristic
  • any score more than 2 SD away from mean = abnormality
• Standard deviation

  • a measure of dispersion which shows how far spread out the data is from the mean
  • majority of data clusters around mean and 68% fall within one SD from the mean
  • approximately 95% fall within 2 SD of the mean
  • 5% fall more than 2 SD from the mean. These 5% are considered statistically abnormal

  
• Strength of statistical infrequency

  • Provides objective data to identify abnormality and a cut off point can be established. Its bases on real data and real life application
  • no value judgement - it is not seen as wrong but just less frequent
• Limitation of statistical infrequency

  • Fails to distinguish between desirable and undesirable behaviour. Statistically many gifted individuals could be classified as abnormal by this definition but the term is inappropriate here
• What is deviation from ideal mental health

  • if you don’t meet the criteria for ideal mental health you are seen as abnormal
  • there are 6 characteristic proposed by Jahoda required to be normal
  • an absence of any of these characteristics can be seen as abnormal
• Jahodas characteristics of ideal mental health

  • positive attitude towards oneself - having self respect and positive self concept
  • self actualisation - experiencing personal growth and development
  • autonomy
  • resisting stress - having effective coping strategies
  • accurate perception of reality - perceiving world in an objective and realistic view
  • environmental mastery - being competent in all aspect of life and having flexibility to adapt
• Strengths of deviation from ideal mental health

  • Positivity - emphasises achievements rather than distress. It has a positive approach
  • assessment is similar to physical health assessments as it looks at the absence of wellbeing
• Limitations of deviation from ideal mental health

  • Difficulty in self actualising. Few people in their life achieve their full potential. If this is a criterial for good mental health, then we will all be regarded as mentally unhealthy
  • cultural relativism - jahodas idea is based on western ideas of self fulfilment and individuality
• What are phobias

  • a phobia is an anxiety disorder involving a persistent fear of an object, place, or situation which is disproportional to the threat or danger posed by the object of fear
  • the person who has a phobia will go to great lengths to avoid the object of fear and will experience great distress if encountered with object of fear
  • to be diagnosed with a phobia under the DSM-5 the irrational fear and reaction must interfere with their social and work life
• What are the 3 types of phobias the DSM-5 recognises

  • specific phobia
  • social phobia
  • agoraphobia
• what are behavioural characteristics of phobias

  • panic - responses to stimulus includes panic attack in adults or tantrums in children, clinging, crying. These interfere with persons normal routine and relationships
  • avoidance - person goes to great lengths to avoid the stimulus. This interferes with persons normal routine and relationships and causes distress
  • endurance - individual may endure situation while feeling immense distress or anxiety, if they can’t physically escape e.g fear of flying
• What are the emotional characteristics of phobias

  • anxiety - occurs in the presence of stimulus and can arise when anticipating the presence of the stimulus
  • increased heart rate
  • dizziness
  • nausea
  • sweating
  • shaking
• What are cognitive characteristics of phobias

  • irrational beliefs - when person suffers from persistent fear that is unreasonable or excessive compared to the actual threat the stimulus has
  • recognition of exaggerated anxiety - person recognises their fear is disproportionate to the perceived threat or danger
• What is depression

  • depression is a mood disorder which is more than a few days of ‘feeling down‘, but it lasts for an extended period of time
  • to be diagnosed with depression under the DSM-5, the person must have at least 5 symptoms present during the same 2 week period
  • severity of symptoms can range from low mood to feeling suicidal
• What are behavioural characteristics of depression

  • reduced activity - loss of pleasure in almost all activities
  • weight - significant weight loss or weight gain
  • sleep - insomnia or hypersomnia nearly every day
  • energy - fatigue every day
• What are emotional characteristics of depression

  • low mood - depressed mood most of the day
  • worthlessness- person feels worthless or have excessive/inappropriate guilt
  • suicidal - person has continuous thoughts of death
• What are cognitive characteristics of depression

  • concentration - person may find it difficult to concentrate and to stay on task. This could interfere with their work
  • focus on negatives - person hyperfixates on negative things and forgets the good things so are more likely to recall bad memory’s instead of good one
• What is OCD

  • obsessive compulsive disorder
  • mental health condition where someone has obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions
  • symptoms can range from mild to others
  • for some to be diagnosed with OCD obsessiveness and compulsion may interfere with daily routine and social functioning
• What are behavioural characteristics of OCD

  • behavioural characteristics are the compulsions (repetitive behaviour)
  • Excessive and repetitive behaviour that person feels that they must do or something bad will happen
  • compulsions take at least 1hr of the day
  • compulsions reduce anxiety caused by obsessive work
• What are the emotional characteristics of OCD

  • the anxiety created by the obsession and urge to complete compulsions
  • OCD can lead to negative emotions such as irrational guilt or disgust
  • anxiety may also be accompanied with depression
• What are the cognitive characteristics of OCD

  • the obsessions
  • the obsessions are intrusive, repetitive, impulsive thoughts
  • they realise the obsessions are unreasonable
  • a person with OCD may be hyper vigilant and be on constant alert for potential hazards
• What is the two process model

  • suggests phobias are learnt through classical conditioning and then maintained through operant conditioning
  • so we learn our behaviour from our environment and the experiences within our environment reinforces the phobia
• What is classical conditioning

  • learning to associate something we initially have no fear of (neutral stimulus) with something that already naturally leads to a fear response (unconditioned stimulus)
  • a natural response to an unconditioned stimulus is an unconditioned response (fear)
  • if the UCS is paired with a NS then you learn to react to the NS the same way you react to the UCS
  • the NS becomes a conditioned stimulus leading to a conditioned response
• E.g of classical conditioning fear of dentist

  before conditioning

  • nerve being hit (UCS) —> pain (UCR)
  • drill (NS) —> no response

  during conditioning

  • nerve being hit (UCS) —> pain (UCR)
  • drill (NS) —> no response

  after conditioning

  • drill (CS) —> pain (CR)
• What is operant conditioning

  • explains how phobias can be maintained after being learn by classical conditioning
  • suggests the consequences of our actions can lead to behaviour being reinforced
  • one way this is done is through negative reinforcement
  • this refers to an action that stops something unpleasant from occurring, which makes it more likely you will carry out that action again
  • This is because stopping the negative consequences (e.g fear) is rewarding
• example of operant conditioning e.g fear or dentist

  • as the person already developed a fear of the dentist, they will avoid this by no longer going to the dentist
  • this is reinforcing as by avoiding the dentist, the person isn‘t experiencing the fear of the dentist
  • the individual will continue to carry out this behaviour as long as it removes the fear (negative reinforcement) and the phobia is maintained
• what is the key assumption of the behavioural approach

  • all behaviour, including phobias are learnt
• Strengths of the behavioural approach to explaining phobias 1/3

  • research evidence to support initiation of phobias via classical conditioning

  Watson and Rayner created a phobia in a 9 month old (Albert), by repeatedly pairing a loud noise (UCS) which provoked fear (UCR) with a white rat (NS)

  overtime Albert responded to the rat (CS) with fear (CR), without the loud sound being present

  this demonstrates phobias can be learnt through associating an UCS with a NS
• Strengths of the behavioural approach to explaining phobias 2/3

  • however one problem with the little Albert experiment is that it has low ecological validity
  • the experiment was carried out in a highly controlled environment with the rat being pair with the loud noise a number of times without extraneous variable
  • but in real life we are only likely to experience the 2 stimuli together once
  • therefore an association with UCS and NS may not be made due to a one of pairing meaning classical conditioning cant ’t explain initiation of all phobias
• Strengths of the behavioural approach to explaining phobias 3/3

  • there are practical applications
  • e.g systematic desensitisation assumes if a phobia can be learnt via association it can also be unlearned using association
  • it aims to replace a fear response to a CS with a response of relaxation
  • Gilroy et al used this to treat a spider phobia
  • systematic desensitisation is based on the fact that classical conditioning causes phobias, and it has shown to treat phobias which suggests it is learnt