A-Level Psychology – Psychopathology question and answer rated A+ TO PASS!

A-Level Psychology – Psychopathology question and answer rated A+ TO PASS!AO1 + AO3 | Deviation from social norms Concerns behaviour that is different from the accepted standards of behaviour in a community or society. ️cultural relative (homosexuality, jaw bones) ️can lead to systematic abuse of human rights (drapetomania - black slaves trying to escape, nymphomania - women attracted to working-class men) ️similar to failure to function adequately AO1 + AO3 | Failure to function adequately Occurs when someone is unable to cope with ordinary demands of day-to-day living. • They no longer conform to interpersonal rules e.g. mantaining personal space • they experience personal distress • they behave in a way that is irrational ️recognises patient's perspective ️same as deviation from social norms ️subjective judgement ️psychopaths are capable of functioning but are still abnormal ️we can't maintain personal space on public transport however that doesn't necessarily mean we are failing to function adequately ️we sometimes do things without thinking but that doesn't mean we are failing to function adequately ️we may experience personal distress but that doesn't mean we will be unable to cope with the demands of day-to-day living. E.g. sufferers of high functioning depression are capable of keeping up with the demands of everyday life but still experience depression. AO1 + AO3 | Statistical infrequency Occurs when an individual has a less common characteristic, for example having OCD or less intelligent than most of the population. ️ real-life application - used in clinical assessment ️unusual characteristics can be positive ️not everyone benefits from a label AO1 + AO3 | Deviation from ideal mental health Deviation from characteristics required to meet Jahoda's 8 criteria for optimal living. 1. We have no symptoms of distress 2. We are rational and perceive ourselves accurately 3. We self-actualise 4. We can cope with stress 5. We have a realistic view of the world 6. We have good self-esteem and lack guilt 7. We are independent of other people 8. We can successfully work, love and enjoy our leisure ️ useful in real life ️western biased ️ unrealistically high standard - we will experience distress at one point or another in our lives but that doesn't mean we're mentally ill ️everyone has a different perception of the world so it's impossible to have a rational and accurate perception of yourself ️very few people self-actualise because we don't know what our full potential may be ️we may not be able to always cope with stress ️everyone has a different experience of life so our view of the world can never be realistic ️we may experience guilt and low self-esteem at one point in our lives ️we are never fully independent of other people because as children we are dependant on our parents and within relationships, we are still dependant on others. We are also dependant on others in things like food and services as we depend on others to make those available to us ️it is difficult to always have success in all areas of life AO1 | Characteristics of Phobia Behavioural: • Panic • Avoidance Emotional: • Anxiety and fear • Responses are unreasonable Cognitive: • Selective attention to phobic stimulus • Irrational beliefs AO1 | Characteristics of Depression Behavioural: • Low activity levels • Disruption to sleep and eating behaviour Emotional: • Lowered mood (feelings of worthlessness) • Anger Cognitive: • Poor concentration • Absolutist thinking AO1 | Characteristics of OCD Behavioural: • Compulsions • Avoidance Emotional: • Anxiety and distress • Guilt and disgust Cognitive: • Obsessive • Insight into excessive anxiety AO1 | Explaining Phobias • Acquisition by Classical Conditioning ↳ learning by association ↳ occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together • Maintenance by Operant Conditioning ↳ Positive reinforcement - a person who receives attention when they have a panic attack may continue to have panic attacks ↳ Negative reinforcement - for arachnophobia, anxiety reduces when we walk away from a dark place where we might meet a spider AO3 | Explaining Phobias ️ Little Albert ↳ unethical ↳ hard to generalise ️ many therapies (hypnotherapy, behavioural therapy, flooding therapy, systematic desensitisation) ️ phobias don't always follow trauma eg being in a car accident doesn't inevitably lead to phobia ️ explanation is incomplete bc it ignores biology. Evolution takes a big part wg those who were afraid of snakes and spiders went on to breed and mate. Those who weren't died. Seligman - biological preparedness ️ alternative explanation is phobia - positive reinforcement. Agoraphobics will go outside as long as they have safety around themselves eg a friend. Feeling of safety gets rid of anxiety. Buck. AO1 | Systematic Desensitisation • Based on classical conditioning. • Sufferers learn to relax in the presence of phobic stimulus. • This learning of a different response is called counter balancing. • Impossible to be afraid and relaxed at the same time so one emotion replaces the other, reciprocal inhibition 1. Relaxation - therapist teaches patient relaxation techniques like breathing and imagery. Relaxation could also be obtained using a drug called Valium 2. The anxiety hierarchy - this is a list arranged by patient and therapist of situations related to phobic stimulus, that provoke anxiety arranged in order from least to most frightening. 3. Exposure - the patient is exposed to the phobic stimulus while in a relaxed state AO3 | Systematic Desensitisation ️ costly ️ time consuming ️ when one phobia disappears another may appear in its place. However evidence is mixed. ️ Gilroy followed up 42 patients who had SD for spider phobia in three 45 minute sessions. SD group less fearful than control group ️ appropriate for a wide range of patients eg having a learning disability can make it very hard for some patients to understand what is happening during flooding or to engage w/ cog therapies which require reflection. AO1 | Flooding • Flooding involves immediate exposure of patient to their phobic stimulus. • Flooding stops phobic responses very quickly. This may be bc, w/o the option of avoidance behaviour, the patient quickly learns the phobic stimulus is harmless. In classical conditioning terms this process is called extinction. • Fully informed consent is required. This is a very unpleasant experience so flooding can be traumatic. AO3 | Flooding ️ Ougrin found flooding is highly cost effective and quicker than alternatives ️ quick effect ️ patients often unwilling to finish therapy Δ not effective, time and money wasted ️ less effective for complex phobias like social phobia. Social phobia has cog aspects and would benefit from cog therapies AO1 | Genetic explanation • OCD is inherited via our genes eg COMT gene affects the action of dopamine and SERT gene affects the action of serotonin ↳ high dopamine + low serotonin = OCD • OCD is polygenic so OCD is not caused by one single gene but several genes are involved. Taylor found evidence that up to 230 different genes may be included in OCD • there is also evidence that different types of OCD may be the result of particular genetic variations, such as hoarding disorder and religious obsession. AO3 | Genetic explanation ️ Lewis examined patients with OCD and found 37% of the patients with OCD had parents with the disorder and 22% had siblings who suffered ️ Nestadt conducted a review of previously twin studies examining OCD. They did 68% of identical twins and 31% of non-identical twins experience OCD ️ No twin study has found a concordance rage of 100% in identical twins Δ bio factors are not the only contributing to OCD and there must be environmental factors which also contribute to this disorder ️ some psychologists suggest that OCD may be learnt through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning ️ the bio app doesn't take into account cognitions (thinking) and learning AO1 | Neural explanation • low levels of serotonin lowers mood • serotonin is a neurotransmitter with an excitatory function, it is responsible for relaying info from one neuron to another. So if a person has a low levels of serotonin then normal transmission of mood-relevant info doesn't take place and mood (and sometimes other mental processes) is affected. • the same goes for high levels of dopamine bc dopamine is inhibitory and therefore Hugh levels of it will lower mood. • the decision-making systems in frontal lobes impaired. Hoarding disorder seems to be associated with impaired decision making. This may be associated with abnormal functioning of the lateral frontal lobes of the brain. The frontal lobes are responsible for logical thinking and making decisions. • parahippocampal gyrus is associated with processing unpleasant emotions but when dysfunctional it behaves abnormally in OCD AO3 | Neural explanation ️ anti-depressants typically work by increasing levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin. These drugs are effective in reducing the symptoms of OCD. ️ Hu fd serotonin levels to lower in OCD sufferers compared to non sufferers ️ whether low serotonin causes OCD is unknown. All that's known is that low serotonin is related to OCD. Difficult to establish whether the low levels of neurotransmitter cause OCD, are an effect of having OCD or are merely associated. ️ treatment fallacy - OCD causing low levels of serotonin causing OCD ️ when a person w/ a germ obsession is asked to hold a dirty cloth PET scans show heightened anxiety in OFC (orbito frontal cortex) AO1 | Drug treatment • Anti-depressant ↳ Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) boosts the amount of serotonin available by blocking the reuptake mechanisms on the presynaptic neuron. So neurotransmitters left in the synapse are not reabsorbed by the presynaptic neutron and they accumulate in the synapse which can reduce the symptoms of OCD. Fluoxetine is a commonly used SSRI, a typical daily doe is 20mg either via liquid or capsules. It takes around 3-4 months to work. ↳ If SSRIs don't work therapists can use stronger drugs such Clomipramine , a tricyclic. These drugs were used to treat OCD before SSRIs appeared but are not preferred due to the many side effects they cause. SNRIs (Serotonin Noradrenaline Reuptake Inhibitors) on the other hand is a stronger drug with fewer side effects. • Anti-Anxiety ↳ other drugs include Benzodiazepine (BZs), these include trade names like Valium and Diazepam. BZs work by enhancing the action of the neurotransmitter GABA. This neurotransmitter tells neutrons in the brain to 'slow down' and 'stop firing' which means that BZs have a general quietening influence on the brain and so reduce anxiety experience as a result of the obsessive thoughts. AO3 | Drug treatment | Support • Sansone fd SSRIs significantly reduce symptoms in around 70% of patients • Soomro - review of 17 studies (3097 ps) fed improvement for patients on SSRIs than on placebos • drugs cost little to produce, do not require a trained therapist, do not interrupt people's busy lives • Mallet reported significant dedication in OCD symptoms following deep brain stimulation (magnetic pulses on the motor areas around the orbito-frontal cortex and caudate nucleus) as opposed to sham simulation (pretend - no waves) AO3 | Drug Treatment | Challenge • 30% of Soomro's sample did not respond to SSRIs • side effects of SSRIs include blurred vision, indigestion and loss of sex drive • Koran points out that many meta-analyses track down patients improvement for only 3-4 months. Little data is collected for the long term • Koran reviewed treatments for the APA (American Psychiatric Association) argue that drugs are not a long lasting cure and that CBT should be used in the first instance ↳ however O'Connor fd that OCD ps who were given drugs in combination with CBT showed greatest improvements, especially if drugs were given slightly before CBT • OCD sometimes follows a trauma so biological treatments may not be the most suitable to the situation • ignores environmental factors AO1 | Beck | Negative triad • Overview: some ppl are more vulnerable to depression than others for reasons such as the way we think • Core Idea 1: faulty processing (over generalising) - focus on the negatives and ignore the positives. We tend to make small problems big and think in 'black and white' (absolutist thinking). Guessing what other people are thinking • Core Idea 3: negative self-schemas - a schema is a 'package' of ideas and info developed through experience. We use schemes to interpret the world, so if a new resin has a negative self-schemes they interpret all info abt themselves in a negative way • Beck is a psychoanalyst, then moved into cog psych. Negative and positive self-schemes are developed from how parents treat you AO3 | Beck | Support • practical applications - CBT • Lincoln gave CBT to 19 depressed stroke victims for four months. This resulted in reduced symptoms • Graziolli and Terri assessed 65 pregnant women for cog vulnerability and deep before and after birth. Those women judged to have been high in cog vulnerability were more likely to suffer post-natal dep