AQA A Level Psychopathology GRADED A+ 2022/2023

What is psychopathology? the study of psychological disorders What are the 4 definitions of abnormality? - Statisical infrequency -Deviation from social norms -failure to function adequately -Deviation from ideal mental health What is statisfical infrequency? behaviours that are statisically rare should be seen as abnormal. depends on the normal distribution (majority of peoples scores cluster around the average, the further above or below, the less frequent) Evaluation of statistical infrequency - real life application in the diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder (score of below 70) - no value judgements - not all infrequent behaviours are abnormal (high IQ is desirable) - not all abnormal behaviours are infrequent (10% of people will be depressed) What is deviation from social norms? behaviour that is different from the accepted standards of behaviour in a community or society. society makes a collective judgement about what is right. Evaluation of deviation from social norms - social norms are culturally specific and vary alot between cultures - means that people living in different cultures may be diagnoised with something that they dont have (SZ) What is failure to function adequately? occurs when someone is unable to cope with ordinary demands of day to day living. causes distress to the individual or others What are the signs of failing to function adequately? - unable to maintain basic standards of nutrition and hygiene - cannot hold down a job - cannot maintain relationships Evaluation of failure to function adequately - attempts to include the subjective experience of the individual - value judgement - hard to distinguish between social norms and failing to function What is deviation from ideal mental health? occurs when someone does not meet a set of criteria for good mental health What is the criteria for good mental health? - no symptoms or distress - rational perception of ourselves - realistic world view - self actualise Evaluation of deviation from ideal mental health -comprehensive measure - includes all the reasons someone would seek help or be reffered - very few meet all the criteria - everyone would be abnormal What are phobias? a type of anxiety disorder, phobias are an irrational fear triggered by an object, place or situation what are the behavioural characteristics of phobias? - panic (crying, screaming or running away) - avoidance (avoid coming into contact with phobic stimulus) - endurance (remain in presence) what are the emotional characteristics of phobias? - anxiety (unpleasent state of arousal that prevents you feeling relaxed) - responses are unreasoable (disproportionate fear) what are the cogntive charactersitics of phobias? - selective attention to phobic stimulus (hard to look away) - irrational beliefs - cognitive distortions what is the two process model? phobias are aquired by classical conditioning and maintained by operant conditioning what is classical conditioning? learning to associate something of which we have no fear (NS) with something that already triggers a fear response (UCS) what are the processes in classical conditioning? UCS -- UCR NS -- no response UCS + NS -- UCR CS -- CR Watson and Raynor - Little Albert - fear of white rat - paired it with loud noise - frightened of rat without present of loud noise -generalised to other similar objects e.g. white rabbit how are phobias maintained? - operant conditioning - negative reinforcement - avoids the phobic object that is unpleasant experience - results in a desirable consequence - avoidance behaviour is repeated Evaluation of behaviour approach to treating phobias - supporting study: watson and raynor - not all traumatic events result in phobias and not all phobias come from traumatic events - incomplete explanation: bioloigcal prepardness - good explanatory power - effective therapies what are the two behavioural treatments? systematic desensitisation and flooding what is systematic desensitisation? - gradually reduces phobic anxiety through the principle of classical conditioning - phobic stimulus isparied with relaxaition instead of anxiety - counter conditioning Why does SD work? works on the basis of reciprocal inhibition. inability to feel two opposing emotions at the same time (relaxed and afraid) what are the processes involved in an anxiety hierarchy? - anxiety hierarchy - relaxation - exposure Evaluation of systematic desensitisation - effective (gilroy spider phobics 3 and 33 months) - acceptable to paients (prefered to flooding) - require less effort compared to CBT what is flooding? patients go straight to the top of hierarchy and have direct contact with their most feared scenario. longer sessions that SD, but sometimes only one long session is needed why does flooding work? - patients cannot make their usual avoidance behaviour, anxiety peaks at such high levels that it cannot be maintained and eventually subsides - extinction (learned response is extinguished when the conditioned stimulus is encoutered without the UCS - CS no longer produces fear Evaluation of flooding - cost effective - less effective for social phobias with cognitive aspects - traumatic treatment so patients drop out or refuse to start, wastes money what is depression? a mood disorder charactersited by low mood and low energy energy what are the behavioural charactersitics of depression - reduced energy levels, withdraw from work and school - disruption to sleep and eating behaviour - agression and self harm what are the emotional characterstics of depression? - lowered mood, feeling worthless and empty - anger, directed at the self or others - lowered self-esteem what are the cognitive characteristics of depression? - poor concentration - attending to and dwelling on the negative, ignoring the positivies - absolutist/black and white thinking how does the cognitive approach explain depression? in terms of faulty and irrational through processes and perceptions what are the three key parts to beck's explanation of depression - faulty information processing - negative self schemas - the negative triad what is faulty information processing? when depressed, we tend to focus to on the negative aspects of a situation and ignore the positivies. blow small problems out of proportion and think in black and white terms what is a schema? a package of ideas and information developled through experience. they act as a mental framework for the interpretation of sensory information.