Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Psychopathology
All key terms and key studies from Psychopathology
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Statistical infrequency | Behaviour or thinking that is numerically uncommon / rare. Behaviours are compared to numeric averages (mean, median mode) anything that is a long way from these is abnormal, i.e. 2 or more standard deviations from the mean. |
| Deviation from Social Norms | Behaviour that violates / breaks the rules and accepted standards of behaviour in a community or group. These can be implicit (implied) or explicit (laws) and vary between places and over time. |
| Failure to Function Adequately | Behaviour or thinking which means someone is unable to cope with the demands of day-to-day living, which often leads to distress. Rosenhan and Seligman identified examples such as maladaptive behaviour, personal distress, observer discomfort. |
| Deviation from Ideal Mental Health | When someone's thinking or behaviour does not meet the standards / criteria needed for good psychological well being. The fewer criteria met, the greater the abnormality. Jahoda identified a number of criteria (try to remember the mnemonic S P E A R S). |
| Self-actualisation | Fulfilling one's potential. Each person is driven to grow and achieve this. One of Jahoda's criteria for ideal mental health |
| Personal autonomy | The ability to make choices regarding the direction of one's life. One of Jahoda's criteria for ideal mental health |
| Environmental mastery | Being able to adapt to new situations and thrive. One of Jahoda's criteria for ideal mental health |
| Accurate perception of reality | Being able to see the world in the same way as other people - accurate view of the world and of themselves. One of Jahoda's criteria for ideal mental health |
| Resistance to stress | Being able to handle difficult times and distressing situations, without becoming overwhelmed. One of Jahoda's criteria for ideal mental health |
| Self-esteem | Having a positive attitude towards oneself. One of Jahoda's criteria for ideal mental health |
| Phobia | An anxiety disorder characterised by excessive fear of an object or situation out of proportion to any real threat. |
| Depression | A mental disorder characterised by low mood and low energy levels |
| OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) | A condition characterised by reoccurring and intrusive thoughts that cause anxiety and repetitive, rigid actions that temporarily reduce anxiety. |
| Behavioural characteristics | Ways in which people act |
| Emotional characteristics | Ways in which people feel |
| Cognitive characteristics | Refers to the process of thinking - knowing, perceiving, believing |
| Avoidance | A behavioural characteristic of phobias and OCD where the individual stays away from/ doesn't put themselves in situations that cause anxiety, e.g. germs or the phobic stimulus |
| Fear | An emotional characteristic of phobias, feelings of terror, that is out of proportion to any real threat |
| Panic | A behavioural characteristic of phobias such as screaming or running away. |
| Selective attention | A cognitive characteristic of phobias. The phobic stimulus consumes a persons attention, they can think or and focus on nothing else. |
| Irrational beliefs | A cognitive characteristic of phobias and depression. Thoughts not based on reality or logic, e.g. this spider will hurt me, or I am worthless. |
| Changes to activity levels | A behavioural characteristic of depression. Lethargy involves a reduction movement, energy and not completing tasks that were once enjoyable (anhedonia) |
| Changes to sleep | A behavioural characteristic of depression. Hypersomnia is sleeping more and insomnia is sleeping less. |
| Changes to eating | A behavioural characteristic of depression often associated with changes in weight |
| Low mood | An emotional characteristic of depression when a person feels sad. |
| Anger | An emotional characteristic of depression when a person feels hostility |
| Anxiety | An emotional characteristic that can be found in all three disorders in psychopathology. It is an unpleasant state of high arousal / feelings of worry. |
| Poor concentration | A cognitive characteristic of depression. People find it hard to focus on tasks |
| Difficulty making decisions | A cognitive characteristic of depression. People find it hard to choose between different options. |
| Compulsions | A behavioural characteristic of OCD, where people ritually repeat behaviours. |
| Guilt | An emotional characteristic of OCD where person feels remorse, often because of thoughts or feelings they feel bad about. |
| Disgust | An emotional characteristic of OCD where a person is repulsed by stimuli, e.g. themselves or external things such as dirt |
| Behavioural Approach | A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning |
| Two-process model | Suggested by Mowrer, whereby classical conditioning helps to develop a phobia and operant conditioning helps to maintain it |
| Classical Conditioning | Learning by association. Occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together |
| Operant Conditioning | A form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences, e.g. rewards and punishments |
| Systematic Desensitisation (SD) | A behavioural therapy designed to reduce an unwanted response, such as anxiety, to a stimulus. It involves a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking situations related to the stimulus, teaching the patient to relax, and then exposing them to phobic situations. |
| Relaxation techniques | In systematic desensitisation patients learn techniques to help them remain and become calm when faced with phobic stimuli, such as progressive muscle relaxation or meditation. |
| Anxiety hierarchy | A list of situations involving the phobic stimulus from least to most scary, created by the patient and therapist together. |
| Counter conditioning | The process that underpins systematic desensitisation - replacing a stimulus-response association with a new, more positive, learned response |
| Reciprocal inhibition | The theory that two conflicting emotions (e.g. fear and relaxation) cannot co-exist at the same time. |
| Flooding | A behavioural therapy in which a phobic patient is exposed to an extreme form of a phobic stimulus in order to reduce anxiety triggered by that stimulus. This takes place across a small number of long therapy sessions |
| Exposure | Therapies which prevent the avoidance of the phobic stimulus by putting the patient in a situation where they encounter the phobic stimulus. |
| Extinction | Conditioned stimuli aren't permanent unless they are occasionally paired with the UCS. In phobias this doesn't happen when the phobic encounters the phobic stimulus for an extended time so the learnt response will go be unlearnt. |
| Exhaustion | Patients cannot maintain high levels of fear for prolonged periods of time. When facing a phobic stimulus eventually they become too tired to maintain high levels of anxiety and fear. |
| Cognitive Approach | An approach that is focused on how our mental processes (e.g. thoughts, perceptions, attention) affect behaviour |
| Faulty information processing | Thinking which isn't logical, e.g. depressives attend to the negative or blow small problems out of proportion |
| Negative self-schema | Beck said depressives interpret information about themselves in a negative way. Schema is a ‘package’ of information based on experience, used to interpret the world. |
| Negative Triad | Beck proposed that there were three kinds of negative thinking that contributed to becoming depressed: negative views of the world, the future and the self. Such negative views make them more vulnerable to depression |
| ABC Model | Ellis proposed that depression occurs when an activating event (A) triggers an irrational belief (B) which in turn produces a consequence (C), i.e. an emotional response like depression. The key to this process in the irrational belief |
| Irrational Thoughts | Ellis said these are beliefs that are likely to interfere with a person's happiness. Such dysfunctional thoughts lead to mental disorders such as depression |
| Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) | A method for treating mental disorders based on both cognitive and behavioural techniques, such as challenging negative thoughts. The therapy also includes behavioural techniques such as behavioural activation. |
| Empirical dispute | Ellis used vigorous argument to challenge irrational thoughts including seeking evidence for a persons thoughts then challenging this evidence. |
| Logical dispute | Ellis used vigorous argument to challenge irrational thoughts including questioning the logic of a persons thoughts (do they make sense) then challenging this. |
| Biological Approach | A perspective that emphasises the importance of physical processes in the body, such as genetic inheritance and neural function |
| Genetic Explanations | A way of explaining a characteristic based on inherited traits through DNA |
| Candidate genes | Specific alleles that are identified as being the cause of a given trait or characteristic |
| Polygenic | When there are several alleles involved in the development of a trait, where the presence of each one increases the chances of the trait a little bit more |
| Aetiologically heterogeneous | One group of genes cause a condition in some people, different groups of genes cause it in others. Also different genes might cause different types of OCD, e.g. hoarding. |
| Neural Explanations | The view that physical and psychological characteristics (e.g. OCD and schizophrenia) are determined by the behaviour of the nervous system, in particular the brain as well as individual neurons as well as the function of neurotransmitters. |
| Drug Therapy | Treatment involving medication, i.e. chemicals that have a particular effect on the functioning of the brain or some other body system. In the case of psychological disorders such drugs usually affect neurotransmitter levels |
| Serotonin | An inhibitory neurotransmitter thought to be linked with OCD - its chances of diffusion are increased by SSRIs |
| SSRIs | Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. They stop serotonin being reabsorbed into the presynaptic nerve, so that it has another chance to diffuse into the receptors on the post synaptic nerve. |
| Fluoxetine | An example of an SSRI with a typical dose of between 20 and 60mg |
| Tricyclics | An older type of antidepressant than SSRIs that work In a similar way but with more side effects e.g. clomipramine |
| SNRIs | A newer type of antidepressant than SSRIs that work in a similar way but increase both serotonin and noradrenaline levelsJahoda (not a study) |
| Rosenhan and Seligman | Characteristics/ signs a person isn’t coping; observer discomfort, personal distress, maladaptive behaviour |
| Mowrer (not a study) | Came up with the two-way process in explaining phobias, involving both classical conditioning for phobia initiation and operant conditioning for phobia maintenance. |
| Watson and Raynor | Little Albert study – conditioned to fear a rat |
| Choy et al | Compared treatments for phobias. Systematic and flooding both effective, but flooding slightly better. |
| Gilroy et al | Tested systematic desensitisation – three sessions, followed up three and 33 months later. Effective. |
| Beck (not a study) | Developed the Negative Triad theory of depression, which states that sufferers have a negative view of themselves, the world and the future. |
| Ellis (not a study) | Developed the ABC model for explaining depression, with A = activating event, B = belief about that event, and C = the consequence of that belief. |
| Ellis | Claimed a 90% success rate for REBT, a form of CBT, at treating depression |
| March et al | Compared the efficacy of CBT, antidepressants, and a combination. CBT and antidepressants both had an 81% success rate, whilst a combination had 86% success. |
| Elkin | Found that CBT was significantly less effective for people who have high levels of irrational beliefs |
| Nestadt | Found that those who were first-degree relatives of sufferers of OCD were 5x more likely to develop the condition than the general population |
| Soomro | Reviewed 17 studies and found that SSRIs were more effective (70% success) than a placebo at reducing symptoms after 3-months |
Created by:
SBlakeley
Popular Psychology sets