psychopathology

Definitions of abnormality:

  • statistical infrequency , statistically uncommon or not seen very often in society
  • deviation from social norms, doesn't fit within what is socially acceptable
  • deviation from ideal mental health, when someone doesn't meet the criteria for good mental health
  • failure to function adequately, when someone is unable to cope with the ordinary demands of day to day living

cultural differences: social norms will vary between cultures and generations e.g. being gay is accepted in the majority of the western world but can still be illegal in other countries

Jahoda- proposed 6 principles for an ideal mental health:

  • positive attitude towards the self
  • self actualisation
  • personal autonomy
  • resistance to stress
  • environmental mastery
  • accurate perception of reality

phobias: these are characterised by excessive fear and anxiety, triggered by an object place or situation

Behaviourist approach: Phobias can be explained through classical conditioning:

  1. neutral stimulus is a stimulus that provides no sense of fear or anxiety
  2. the neutral stimulus and conditioned stimulus are paired together
  3. an unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus which creates an unconditioned response to fear
  4. the neutral stimulus becomes associated with the unconditioned stimulus becoming the conditioned stimulus
  5. this produces a conditioned response

behaviourist approach treatments

Systematic Desensitisation:

  1. Anxiety hierarchy - the client and therapist work together to develop a fear hierarchy where they create a list of phobic situations and rank them from most to least frightening
  2. . relaxation - the individual is taught relaxation techniques - relaxation prevents anxiety which is called reciprocal inhibition
  3. exposure - exposing their patient to their phobic situation while relaxed this takes place across many sessions starting at the bottom of the hierarchy list

Flooding - a more extreme behavioural therapy is flooding. Rather than exposing a person to their phobia gradually a person is exposed to the most frightening situation immediately

depression and cognitive explanation - depression is a mental disorder characterised by low moods and low energy levels

OCD - bio explanation - OCD: characterised by either obsessions and or compulsions e.g. repetitive hand washing

biological explantation

Treatment: SSRI's (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) diagram on pink sticky note

other approaches: Evolutionary approach - some phobias (e.g. snakes and heights ) are not learned but in fact are innate as such phobias acted as a survival mechanism for our ancestors. this innate predisposition to certain phobias is called biological preparedness

Behavioural characteristics:

  • aggression and self harm e.g. verbal aggression to others of physical harm to ones self
  • disruption to sleep and eating e.g. insomnia - pre-mature waking or Hypersonic - oversleeping
  • activity levels e.g. usually lowered energy level making them lethargic

Emotional characteristics: people with depression often describe themselves as feeling empty, usually having low self esteem and self loathing (anger sadness aggression)

Cognitive characteristics: people with depression tend to process information about the world differently e.g. black and white thinking, poor levels of concentration , find it hard to make decisions

the Cognitive explanation: depression is the result of cognitive distortions (irrational thinking)

Becks Negative triad

Ellis' ABC model

Beliefs: the belief that things are a major disaster when things don't go smoothy (Utopianism life is always meant to be fair)

Consequences: the consequences on the first two can be depression

Activating event: negative events that trigger irrational beliefs

Negative self schema: schemas develop In childhood and depressed people posses negative self schemas which come from negative experiences e.g. self Balme schema

The negative triad:

  • negative view of the world (the world is a cold hard place)
    • negative view of themselves (I am a failure)
    • negative view of the future (there is much chance that the economy will really get better)

Faulty information processing: when people with depression attend to negative parts of a situation and ignore the positives - think in black and white terms

treatment:
Cognitive behavioural therapy: a method for treating mental disorders which aims to deal with thinking such as challenging negative thoughts


irrational thoughts: also known as dysfunctional thoughts (Ellis' model - thoughts that interfere with someones happiness)

characteristics

Emotional :
anxiety and distress, accompanying depression, guilt and disgust

cognitive:
obsessive thoughts, cognitive coping strategies, insight into excessive anxiety

behavioural -
compulsions are repetitive, reduce anxiety and avoidance

brain structure
- Basal ganglia - is a cluster of neuron's at the base of the forebrain - head injuries can result in OCD
- Orbitofrontal cortex - converts sensory information into thoughts and actions - higher activity in OCD patients

Genetic + neurotransmitters :
polygeneic condition several genes are involved (230)
COMT gene associated with production of COMT which regulates dopamine, CODT gene results in higher dopamine commonly found in OCD patietnts
SERT gene (5-HTT) linked to serotonin - serotonin transportation Issues can lead to OCD and Depression