Psychpathology

• Statistical infrequency occurs when an individual has a less common characteristic, for example being more depressed or less intelligent than most of the population
• Deviation from social norms concerns behaviour that is different from the accepted standards of behaviour in a community or society
• Norms are specific to the culture we live in and are shared by the majority of people in that culture.
• The antisocial personality disorder is acting impulsive, aggressive and irresponsible. One important symptom is an absence of prosocial internal standards associated with failure to conform to lawful and culturally normative ethical behaviour
• Statistical infrequency is used in clinical practice, it helps form a formal diagnosis and as a way to assess the severity of an individuals symptoms so it provides good usefulness
• Failure to function adequately occurs when someone is unable to cope with ordinary demands of day-to-day living
• Rosenhan and Seligman have proposed signs that can be used to determine when someone is not coping. For example, when someone no longer conforms to social rules, severe personal distress and irrational or dangerous behaviours
• Deviation from ideal mental health occurs when someone does not meet a set of criteria for good mental health
• Phobias are an irrational fear of an object or situation
• Specific phobias are phobias of an object or situation
• Social anxiety is a phobia of social situation
• Agoraphobia is a phobia of being outside or in a public space
• Behaviour characteristics of phobias are panic, avoidance and endurance
• Emotional characteristics of phobias are anxiety and fear
• Cognitive characteristics of phobias are selective attention to phobic stimulus, irrational beliefs and cognitive disortions
• Depression is a mental disorder characterised by low mood and low energy levels
• The 5 categories of depression are major depressive disorder, persistant depressive disorder, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder and premenstural dysphoric disorder
• Behavioural characteristics of depression are change in activity levels, disruption to sleep and eating behaviour and agression and self-harm
• Emotional characteristics of depression are poor concentration, dwelling and focusing attention on negatives and absolutist thinking
• OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) is a condition characterised by obsessions and/or compulsive behaviour. Obsessions are cognitive whereas compulsions are behavioural
• The five categories of OCD are: OCD, tritchotillomania, hoarding disorder and excoriation disorder
• Behavioural characteristics of OCD are that compulsions are repetitive, compulsions reduce anxiety and avoidance
• Emotional characteristics are anxiety and distress, accompyanying depression, guilt and disgust
• Cognitive characteristics of OCD are obsessive thoughts, cognitive coping strategies and insight into excessive anxiety
• The behavioural approach is a way of explaining behviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning
• The two-process model is an explanation for the onset and persistence of disorders that create anxiety such as phobias. The two processes are classical conditioning for onset and operant conditioning for persistence
• Classical conditioning is learning by association and occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together
• Watson and Rayner created a phobia in a 9 month old baby called "Little Albert". The researchers used an UCS (loud noise) which created an UR of fear. The rat is a NS and the UCS is paired enough for them to both produce a fear response
• Operant conditioning is a form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences. Consequences are positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or punishment.
• Mowner suggests that whenever we avoid a phobic stimulus we successfully escape the fear and anxiety we would have experienced. This reinforces avoidance behaviour and phobia is maintained
• A strength of the two-process model is real-world application in exposure therapies. The idea of the two-process model is that phobias are maintained by avoidance of the phobic stimulus. It is important in explaining how exposure to the phobic stimulus is beneficial. The phobia is the avoidance behaviour so if avoidance is prevented then phobia is cured. This process identifies a mean of treating phobias
• A limitation of the two-process model is that it does not account for the cognitive aspects of phobias. Phobias are not simply avoidance responses but they also have a significant cognitive component. The two-process model explains avoidance behaviour but does not offer an explanation for phobic cognitions so it does not completely explain the symptoms of phobias
• Systematic desensitisation is a behvioural therapy designed to reduce an unwanted response such as anxiety. SD involves drawing up a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking situations related to a persons phobic stimulus, teaching the person to relax and then exposing them to phobic situations.
• Flooding is a behavioural therapy in which a person with a phobias is exposed to an extreme form of a phobic stimulus in order to reduce anxiety triggered by that stimulus. This takes place across a small number of long therapy sessions.
• Flooding is effective because there is no option of avoidance behaviour. When the conditioned stimulus is presented without the unconditioned stimulus the conditioned stimulus no longer produces fear
• One strength of systematic desensitisation is that it can be used to help people with learning disabilities because it does not require complex rational thought.
• One strength of flooding is that it is highly cost-effective, Flooding can be done in as little as one session as opposed to many sessions of CBT. This means that more people can be treated at the same cost with flooding than with SD or other therapies
• One limitation of flooding is that it is highly unethical and can cause anxiety and distress. The traumatic nature of flooding means that the dropout rates are higher than for SD, this suggests that overall therapists may avoid using this treatment
• The cognitive approach is the mental process so it focuses on how our mental process affects behaviour
• Becks negative triad is a cognitive approach used to explain why some people are more vulnerable to depression than others