AO3s

• deviation from social norms AO3

  Strength,good face validity-easy to identify by others

  Weakness,social norms are always changing eg.historical,contextual and cultural-could case misdiagnosis
• stat infrequency AO3

  Strength,objective definition

  Weakness,culutural bias-abnormal behaviour in one culture may be normal in another

  Weakness,statistically infrequent behaviour can be good- IQ of 130 is abnormal from average of 100 but is a positive thing

  Weakness,some disorders are not infrequent eg.depression/anxiety
• failure to function adequately AO3

  Strength,good face vailidity

  Weakness,cultural bias-very westernised criteria

  Weakness,subjective definition-may cause varied diagnosis by different clinicians

  Weakness,this definition doesn’t always fit-it’s normal to be dysfunctional somtimes
• deviation from ideal mental health AO3

  Strength,wide range of critieria-can link to multiple disorders

  Weakness,cultural bias-personal autonomy is not normal in collectivist cultures

  Weakness,self actualisation is an unrealistic standard
• AO3 of behavioural approach to phobias

  Strength,supportive government evidence-Watson and Rayner with Little Albert,he gained a phobia of white rats and similar objects via classical conditioning

  Strength,practical applications-successful therapy’s and treatments

  Weakness,incomplete concept-Bounton, evolutionary factors play an important role (biological preparedness)
• Treatment AO3

  systematic desensitisation

  Strength,suitable for a range of patients-suitable for a range of needs as hierarchy is decided with client and psychologist and the treatment is adaptable

  Strength, reasearch evidence-Gilroy found 42 patients treated with SD,followed up at 3 months and 33months were less fearful of spiders than the control group who just used relaxation techniques
• Treatment AO3

  systematic desensitisation

  Strength,less traumatic-there is less trauma to SD than flooding as there’s gradual exposure and relaxation techniques

  Weakness,no underlying cause of phobia found-therapy just masks the symptoms rather than finding the cause
• Treatment AO3

  flooding

  Strength,cost effective-highly effective and quick treatment of phobias

  Weakness,traumatic-many clients can get distressed by large scale exposure to their phobia

  Weakness,effectiveness-less effective for other types of phobias other than specific( social phobias) so more complex phobias cannot be treated by flooding

  Weakness,no underlying cause of phobia found-therapy just masks the symptoms rather than finding the cause
• cognitive approach to depression AO3

  Weakness,cause and effect-negative thoughts are a symptom not a cause of depression

  Strength,practical application-Becks cognitive vulnerability is the basis of CBT (the negative triad)

  Weakness,there’s not always an activating event-reactive depression is caused by activating events not genera, depression
• cognitive approach to depression AO3

  Weakness,alternative explanation for depression-biological approach says there’s a neurochemical imbalance and the psychodynamic approach (and Beck) say negative experience in childhood causes negative thinking

  Weakness,can’t explain al, aspects of depression-Beck and Ellis don’t explain all aspects of depression eg. anger,delusions or hallucinations

  Strength,supporting evidence-Cohen et al. tracked 473 teens development and found cognitive vulnerability predicted later depression
• genetic explanation of OCD AO3

  Strength,supporting evidence-Nestadt et al. found 68% of MZ twins shared the OCD gene opposed to 31% of DZ twins,however if MZ twins share 100% DNA then there should be a 100% concordance rate

  Weakness,environmental risk factors-Cromer et al. found over half of OCD clients have experience a traumatic experience in their past

  Weakness,socially sensitive-gene therapy is the manipulation ov genes such as the OCD gene which reduces expense on treatment, however this shows a negative view of those with OCD
• neural explanations of OCD AO3

  Strength,supporting evidence for neurotransmitters- Soomoro et al. found 70% of SSRI takers had reduced symptoms meaning low seratonin is linked to OCD

  Weakness,seratonin and OCD link may coincidental- OCD and depressions is linked so low seratonin may be due to depression not OCD
• neural explanations of OCD AO3

  Strength,supporting evidence-Rappoport found OCD patients have smaller caudate nucleus than healthy patients in CAT scans

  Weakness,cause and effect-seratonin and a faulty caudate nucleus are linked with OCD however research identified other brain areas to link to OCD, no one brain system has been found to be consistent with OCD
• biological treatment for OCD AO3

  Strength,supporting evidence-Soomoro et al. found 70% of SSRI takers had reduced symptom, however CBT and SSRIs are the most effective together meaning OCD needs cognitive and behavioural treatment

  Weakness,side effects-drug therapy can cause indigestion,blurred vision and loss of sex libido which are usually temporary, however SSRIs take 3 to 4 months to have an effect meaning OCD sufferers may stop taking them if they have instant bad symptoms but no instant ’cure’
• biological treatments for OCD AO3

  Strength,positive economic contribution-drug therapy is cheap and quick compared to other therapies meaning there’s less expense on therapies and people can return to work quicker, however as drug therapy doesn’t vure OCD they’ll have to be taken long term causin them to become more expensive

  Weakness,supporting research is over exaggerated-the file drawer effect occurs as the positive results of drug therapy are usually only published not the negative ones