Alternative Explanations

• What does cognitive believe about mental health?

  • Mental health is down to faulty processing
  • Came around as it is against behaviourism as they didn’t take into account mind and thinking
  • Cognitive explanations assume irrational thinking are the root cause of abnormal behaviour
  • It is the individual’s interpretation of the event that causes mental health
• COGNITIVE - What is Ellis’ explanation of depression?

  Ellis:

  • Proposed depression occurs as result of irrational thinking
  • A – Activating event
  • B – irrational or rational thought about activating event
  • C– Consequence - depression symptoms due to habitual irrational beliefs
  • Therapy tries to change the irrational thought to rational for a positive consequence
• COGNITIVE - What is Beck’s explanation of depression?

  Beck:  - Negative Triad

  • The world – negative view = no hope
  • The self – negative view = low self esteem
  • The future – negative view = no hope for change so don’t try
  • Once depressed, person selects info from environment confirming negative thoughts (negative bias) which are focus of attention 
  • Research on 33 depressed females and 34 non depressed supports idea people with depression have distorted thinking
• COGNITIVE - What was Beck‘s explanation of phobias?

  2 forms of cognitive bias:

  • Attentional bias – selectively focussing on threat paying extreme attention to situations and objects that produced fear. Also hyper vigilant constantly scanning for phobic stimulus before detected
  • Negative appraisal bias – people who develop phobia appraise (interpret) harmless situations and objects as dangerous and exaggerate the extent of the risk of danger and underestimate ability to cope
  • This is a result of irrational beliefs and thoughts that are maladaptive e.g. overgeneralisation and catastrophizing
• COGNITIVE - What is Frith’s explanation of schizophrenia?

  • Schizophrenia symptoms caused by disordered thinking

  Frith: - Cognitive Deficit Theory:

  • Suggests people with schizophrenia are more consciously aware of the many cognitive processes that usually take place out of our awareness 
  • Thoughts that would normally be filtered before reaching conscious awareness are not filtered so processing is conscious
  • Therefore too much information is being processed which leads to sensory overload
• Compare the Medical Model with the Cognitive explanations of mental health:

  Similarities:

  • Scientific as objective
  • Reductionist
  • Deterministic (deficit theory deterministic)
  • Social sensitivity (discrimination)
  • Individual (med model brain dysfunction and ABC, neg triad personality)

  Differences:

  • Freewill (ABC model, Negative Triad)
  • Social sensitivity (blame - ABC and neg triad
  • Cognitive more on nurture (ABC, neg triad -activating event external)
• What do behaviourists believe about mental health?

  • Mental health is determined by external events (environmental determinism) and driven by past experiences or anticipation of future
  • Mental health is learned from the environment
• BEHAVIOURIST: How does Social Learning Theory explain depression?

  • Individual observes role model they identify with experiencing depression symptoms and they imitate the depression symptoms.
  • They are vicariously reinforced by seeing the role model being rewarded with attention or directly reinforced by getting attention themselves.
  • This is internalised and the individual now has depression.
• BEHAVIOURIST: How does classical conditioning explain depression?

  Maier:

  Placed dog in cage and classically conditioned to receive shock after they heard a tone and could not escape. Dog stayed there when had chance to escape as learned they could not escape so did not try.

  • Learned helplessness – associating depression with certain situations that can’t be helped so don’t try to get help
• BEHAVIOURIST: How does operant conditioning explain depression?

  Lewishon – Explains depression arguing it occurs when positive reinforcers are removed e.g. losing job and less interactions with colleagues
• BEHAVIOURIST: How does classical conditioning explain phobias?

  UCS – Unconditioned stimulus e.g. blow into someone’s eye

  
  

  UCR – Unconditioned response e.g. blink 

  
  

  NS – Neutral stimulus

  
  

  CS – Conditioned stimulus e.g. spider

  
  

  CR – Conditioned response e.g. anxiety

  • CS and CR are the phobia
• What does the psychodynamic approach believe about mental health?

  • Mental health is the result of unresolved conflict in childhood and unconscious forces and motivations
• PSYCHODYNAMIC: What is the psychodynamic explanation of depression?

  • Depression closely resembles grief which is the loss of something real or symbolic – this is a normal response

  
  

  • Difference between normal grief and depression is self hatred which comes from childhood, where the parents are responsible E.g. Parents are cold and rejecting

  
  

  ID – Wants to lash out due to anger

  Superego – Cannot express anger out of fear of punishment

  Ego – Represses anger turning it inwards which leads to self hatred which leads to depression
• PSYCHODYNAMIC: What is the psychodynamic explanation of phobias?

  • Anxiety manifests in childhood conflict – more than likely with parent (mother)
  • The ID represents the fear response (animal instinct)
  • The Ego is threatened so it defends itself by displacing initial conflict onto a neutral stimulus e.g. spider and this then represents the initial feared situation

   

  Ralph Little:

  A spider is symbolic of a “devouring mother” – a person’s fear of spiders is actually a fear of being emotionally and psychologically consumed by their own mother
• BEHAVIOURIST: How does Social Learning Theory explain schizophrenia?

  • Individual observes role model they identify with experiencing schizophrenia symptoms e.g. hallucinations and they imitate the hallucinations.
  • They are vicariously reinforced by seeing the role model being rewarded with attention or directly reinforced by getting attention themselves.
  • This is internalised and the individual now has schizophrenia.
• PSYCHODYNAMIC: How does regression to primary narcissism explain schizophrenia?

  • Assumed adults with sch. experienced harsh environment in childhood.
  • Child copes by regressing to earlier state of development – primary narcissism
  • State before Ego developed and only concern is own needs regardless of reality
  • Believed this state is detected in symptoms e.g. delusions being self centred which is triggered by extreme stress causing similar regression
  • Adults regression to primary narcissism triggers Ego to attempt to reestablish control by regaining contact with reality resulting in symptoms
• What are the humanist assumptions?

  • Believes the individual has Freewill and each person is responsible for themselves and has the capacity for self-direction
  • More holistic than other explanations by accounting all factors that interact and is more optimistic than the psychodynamic approach
• HUMAINIST: What is Rogers‘ explanation of depression?

  • External factors inhibit personal growth and if person remains controlled by them they can‘t take responsibility and outcome is depression
  • Not living to ideal self and feel under constant threat, reducing self esteem
  • Defence mechanism of distorting perception of threat becomes self defeating as perception is reduced and not threat itself
  • Threats to self become harder to defend against and if congruence persistent, defence mechanisms stop working and become depressed as gap between self concept and idea self not closed
• HUMANIST: What is Rogers & Maslow explanation of schizophrenia?

  Striving and meaning for growth:

  • Person with schizophrenia experiencing form of immaturity
  • Development to be healthy and fulfilled off track due to circumstances forcing them to be dysfunctional and develop schizophrenia e.g. abuse
  • Schizophrenia is an interruption of normal developmental processes towards emotional growth so they have to make new connection with world
• HUMANIST: What is Rogers explanation of schizophrenia?

  Self esteem and parenting:

  • Possible dysfunctional outcome of lack of unconditional positive regard from parents towards children
  • Harsh, abusive and neglectful parenting drastically lowers child’s self esteem causing greater vulnerability to schizophrenia in adulthood
• HUMANIST: What is Rogers’ explanation of phobias?

  • Phobias are a result of extreme distortion of a threat.
  • This becomes self defeating because they are reducing the perception of the threat until it fits the self concept where they are fearful of the threat, instead of reducing the threat itself