T H E T H R E E D E F I N I T I O N S O F A B N O R M A L I T Y

Psychological abnormality

Definitions

Deviating from socialnorms

Deviating from ideal mental health

Failure to function

Strengths Distinction between desirable and undesirable behaviour. Social roles are considered as helpful to living together

Behaving not according to what is desirable, but what is according to a mental health prone attitudes is a positive way to recognise normality from abnormality

The person in need has the first saying, perspective of an individualsexperiencing abnormality becomes the judge of personal behaviour

Weaknesses •Susceptible to abuse•Cultural relativism•Deviance is related to context and degree•Eccentric and abnormal•Changes in time

•Who can achieve this•Cultural relativism•Changes over time•Subjective criteria •Difficulty of self-actualizing, not everyone achieves their full potential

•Not the whole picture-just determining the extent of a persons problems•Cultural relativism•Exceptions to the rule – Everyone is different, doesn't meant their abnormal

Description Expected way of behaving in society

Marie Jahoda:1) Personal growth2) Reality perception3) Autonomy4) Integration5) Self-attitudes6) Environment

mastery

Unable to cope with everyday life

A B N O R M A L I T Y I S C A U S E D B Y P S Y C H I C A L F A C T O R S

Biological approaches to psychopathology

Biological approaches to psychopathology

Genetics

Some people are genetically at risk of developing a mental disorder

There is strong evidence relating to mental disorders such as bipolar, depression and schizophrenia

Schizophrenia; a first degree relative e.g- son or daughter, of someone suffering the disorder has a 10% chance of also developing it whereas the general population only have a 1% chance

Gottesman – meta analysis of 40 twin studies, found a concordance rate for schizophrenia of 48% in monozygotic twins and a 17% in dizygotic twins

Heston –did an adoption study. Used 47 adopted children who's mothers had schizophrenia and 50 adopted children who's mothers did not have it. 5 children from the first group also got schizophrenia whereas 0 children from the second group got it.

Neurotransmitters

Dopamine

Too much of this causes schizophrenia and an imbalance of levels in the neurotransmitter can explain the onset of schizophrenia

Biological approaches to psychopathology

Serotonin

Too little of this can cause depression and an imbalance of these can explain the mental disorder of depression

Noradrenaline

Too little of this neurotransmitter is linked to anxiety disorders such as phobias and an imbalance of noradrenaline can cause the onset of phobias

Infection

Bacteria viruses can cause physical and psychological conditions such as syphilis and influenza virus

Syphilis bacteria causes STI’s which causes general paresis: forgetfulness, mental deterioration and delusions

Influenza virus in pregnant women, this exposes the foetus to the virus which then lies in the child's brain causing schizophrenia

Infection explains psychopathology (mental disorders) as a result of syphilis or influenza

Biological approaches to psychopathology

Strengths

Techniques have shown that there are biological component's

Research shows there could be a genetic link

Drugs can work as treatment options

It is scientific

Weaknesses

Reductionist

Genetics don’t provide a complete explanation

Drugs don’t work for everyone

Focuses on curing symptoms not the actual cause

M E N T A L D I S O R D E R I S A R E S U L T O F P S Y C H O L O G I C A L R A T H E R

T H A N P H Y S I C A L

The psychodynamic approach

Psychopathology

The psychodynamic approach Psychopathology

Conscious thoughts Conscious – Something you can think about where you are fully aware

of everything around us Preconscious - Something that we have stored in our memories that is

about something in the past and can bring back to the conscious mind Unconscious – A place in our mind where we store shameful

experiences, sexual desires, fears and violent motives, we do not have access to this mind. Issues form childhood can be stored in the unconscious mind. We do not have access to the mind. Access comes in the form of dreams or slip of the tongue. The unconscious mind could lead to distress because the person does not understand why it is that they think this way

Freud's personality theory ID Pleasure principal, present at birth Wants everything now Money, food and sex No morals

Superego The conscience which as morals Develops at the age 5

Ego Develops at the age of 3 Decides between ID or the superego Reality principle

The psychodynamic approach Psychopathology

Cause of abnormality

In childhood, the ego is not developed enough to deal with traumas so these events re repressed

In order to balance the demands it employs a defence mechanisms to protect themselves such as denial, projection, regression or repression

Strengths

The psychodynamic model reminds us that experiences in childhood can effect us throughout our lives

No need for medication

Weaknesses

Cannot scientifically test it, its just a theory

Evidence is through a therapist which causes bias and misinterpretation

Retrospective data, looking back on data

Lack of evidence

Sexism, Freud focused his research on men or boys

A L L M A L A D A P T I V E B E H A V I O U R I S A C Q U I R E D I N T H E S A M E W A Y

The behavioural approach to

psychopathology

The behavioural approach to psychopathology

Abnormal behaviour is learnt through conditioning or social learning, for example, classical and operant conditioning

Classical conditioning; unconditioned stimulus has an unconditioned response. When the conditioned stimulus is combined with an unconditioned stimulus, it creates and unconditioned response. Therefore the conditioned stimulus becomes the conditioned response.

Operant conditioning is where you learn through reinforcement, this could be through a reward and being rewarded for doing something good, right or well and/or through a punishment, for punishing behaviour which is not good or right.

Social learning theory

Imitation of role models and reinforcement can also lead to abnormal behaviour

Modelling – coping the behaviour of role models

Attention; noticing the behaviour

Retention; remembering the behaviour

Motor reproduction; it has to be psychically possible

Motivation; has to be a reason why they want to copy

The behavioural approach to psychopathology

Albert Bondura – bobo doll Studying the effects of observation of a model on subsequent

behaviour

It was suggested that watching aggressive behaviour might diffuse the inner aggression of the watcher

After the child watched the adult play around hitting the doll, the child copied and did similar things

Variations:

1) Aggression was rewarded (Vicarious reinforcement)

2) Aggression was punished (Vicarious punishment)

3) Adult neither rewarded nor punished (No reinforcement)

The results found that when the child was rewarded behaviour was most likely to be copied

When it was punished, behaviour was least likely to be copied

Strengths Behaviour approaches when combined with cognitive approach have

proved to be effective in treating clients with phobias and neurotic disorders (OCD)

Weaknesses

Only behaviour is considered, the thoughts and feelings f cognition are not taken into account

Symptoms not cause, limited view (reductionist)

A B N O R M A L I T Y I S C A U S E D Y F A U L T Y T H I N K I N G

Cognitive approach to psychopathology

Cognitive approach to psychopathology

Ellis’ ABC model: A – activating events

B – beliefs are affected

C – consequences of the thoughts

These result in rational and irrational beliefs

The cognitive model assumes that thinking expectations and attitudes result in mental illness

Becks cognitive triad: Having a negative view of the self

Having a negative view of the world

Having a negative view of the future

Strengths: Concentrates on current thought processes which means a patients

remembers in more detail

Cognitive and behavioural therapies when mixed together have a high success rate

Weaknesses: Focusing only on a persons cognition may be too narrow

Situational factors

Consequence not cause

Not all irrational beliefs are actually irrational

D R U G S A N D E C T

Biological therapies

Biological therapies

Drugs:Anti-anxiety drugs (BZ’s)

Reduce tension and anxiety

Enhance action of GABA -> reduction of brain activity -> calm

Side effects can include: drowsiness, fatigue and weight gain

Anti-depressive drugs

Increase levels of serotonin

SSRI (e.g. Prozac) interferes with re-absorption of serotonin

Side effects can include: dizziness, dry mouth and nausea]

Anti-psychotic drugs (Neuoleptics)

Decrease in the production of neurotransmitter dopamine

Relieves hallucinations

Close supervision is needed

Side effects can include: Weight gain, constipation, dizziness and nausea

Evaluation of drugsStrengths:

Effectiveness – WHO reported that relapse rates after one year of using placebo drugs for schizophrenic patients was 55%

Ease of use – chemotherapy requires little effort of the user

Biological therapies

Weaknesses:

Placebo effects – Patients who receive placebos found it almost as effective as those receiving the real drug

Tackles symptom rather than problem

Side effects – SSRI’s cause anxiety , sexual dysfunction, insomnia, nausea etc.

Addiction – BZ’s should be limited to only taking them for 4 weeks because they become very addictive

ECT – Electroconvulsive therapy

This therapy is used when drugs fail to treat depressive disorders

22,000 peoples receive this treatment per year

Patient is given a muscle relaxant as a 110mv shock in passed through the brain causing a seizure

The therapy increases a neurotransmitter which increases a patients mood

The therapy can cause brain damage or substantial memory loss

Usually given 3 times a week and the patient will require 3-15 treatments

Biological therapies

Evaluation of ECT

Strengths:

Effective treatment for depression

Can be life saving to patients who are suicidal

60%-70% 0f patients improve after therapy

Weaknesses:

84% of patients relapse after 6 months

Huge side effects including: Impaired memory, cardiovascular changes, irregular heartbeat, headaches and anxiety

When a placebo ECT was done and was compared with a real ECT. The results were that those who did the placebo ECT recovered almost as well as the patients from the real one

P S Y C H O A N A L Y S I S , S D ( S Y S T E M A T I C D E S E N S I T I S A T I O N A N D R E B T ( R A T I O N A L - E M O T I V E

T H E R A P Y )

Psychological therapies

Psychological therapies

Psychoanalysis

Free association:

A client is asked to express anything which comes into mind which could extend back to childhood

The therapist will only interfere occasionally perhaps to encourage some reflection on a particular experience

The therapist will then try to interpret what the client has said and try to draw conclusions

Freud believes that these associations are determined by unconscious factors which analysis tries to uncover

Dream analysis:

Freud felt that during dreams are the barrier into the unconscious mind

The therapist will analyse the patients dream and might be able to identify significant conflicts repressed into the unconscious mind

The meaning of the dream can only be revealed by therapist interpretation

The therapist and client will then analyse the dream together resolving the source of the anxieties

Psychological therapies

Evaluation of psychoanalysis

Strengths:

Effectiveness – 80% of patients benefit from psychoanalysis compared to 65% of electric therapies

Length – The longer the treatment, the more beneficial patients found it and psychoanalysis can last years

Weaknesses:

False memories – Some therapists are not helping patients to recover repressed memories but are planting ‘False memories’

Appropriateness - Fails to appreciate the differences between individuals

Psychological therapies

Systematic desensitisation

Used to treat phobias

Extinguishes undesirable behaviour by replacing it with a more desirable one; relaxation

The client will work out a hierarchy of fear from least to most frightening about their phobia

The client works through each stage of the hierarchy starting with the least frightening, becoming relaxed with that stage and then moving up

Example of spiders:

Think about spider

See a picture of a spider

Be in the same room as a glass tank with a spider in

Sit next to the tank with lid shut

Sit next to the tank with lid open

Put hand in the tank

Hold the spider

Strengths:

Appropriateness – quick and require little effort

Effectiveness – successful for a range of anxiety disorders as 75% of patients with phobias respond well to SD

Weaknesses:

Symptom substitution – SD may appear to resolve the problem but they only elimate or supress symptoms

Reduced effectiveness – some suggest that SD may not be as effective in treating some anxiety problems; fear of heights or animals

Psychological therapies

Rational-emotive behaviour therapy Helps patients understand irrationality and consequences of this

way of thinking

REBT helps a person substitute these thoughts with a more effective problem-solving method

Challenging irrational beliefs Client and therapist decide how the clients beliefs can be reality

tested

The aim is for the client to become more self-sufficient and recognise the consequences of their faulty cognitions

The client and therapist will then set new goals for the client in order to become more realistic

Because it is not activating events themselves it can cause unproductive consequences therefore the patient is encouraged to dispute these beliefs by:

Logical disputing – Self-deflating beliefs do not follow logically from the information available (Does this information make sense?)

Empirical disputing – Self-deflating beliefs may not be consistent with reality (Where is the proof that this is accurate?)

Pragmatic disputing – Emphasises the lack of usefulness of self-deflating beliefs (How is this belief likely to help me?)

Psychological therapies

ABC model and REBT

A (activating event) B (belief about event) C (emotional consequences) D (disputations take place) E (effective beliefs replace irrational ones)

Strengths

Effectiveness – It is an effective treatment for a number of different types of disorders

Appropriateness – It is useful for clinical population (mental disorders) and non-clinical populations (anxiety)

Weaknesses

Irrational environments – REBT cannot control outside factors such as marriage, bullying or jobs etc and as a result, these environments reinforce these irrational beliefs

Not suitable for all – REBT does not always work for everyone and is not always what everyone wants, some just don’t want the advice that a therapist will have to offer