Psychology - Abnormality

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As psychology - Unit 2
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Flashcards by aislingxxx444, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by aislingxxx444 over 9 years ago
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Defiinitions of abnormality: Deviation from social norms - All societies have norms and behaviours they see as acceptable and if your break them you are seen as abnormal and deviant Criticisms: - What is considered as deviant changes over time e.g homosexuality - What is seen as deviant depend on what context your in e.g wearing a bikini down town - Cultural realism - abnormality is seen differently in different cultures e.g hearing voices may seem normal - There is no dividing line between what is abnormal and eccentric
Definitions of abnormality: Deviation from ideal mental health: Looking at the positives and negatives Jahoda put forward a criteria of 6: high self esteem, self actualisation, autonomy, deal with stress, having an accurate perception of reality and adapt to the environment Criticisms: - According to Jahoda criteria everyone would be abnormal - It would be important to know how many of the criteria you would need to be missing before someone thought you were abnormal - Jahoda's ideas are based on western ideas and if it was applied to other cultures it may say there is more abnormality then there actually is
Definitions of abnormality: Failure to function adequately - when people are mentally healthy they are able to live a normal life but sometimes behaviour can interfere with this and people fail to function adequately. Rosenhan & Seligman said that indicators are - irrational behaviour, observer discomfort and unpredictable behaviour Criticisms: - In order to see if someone is failing to function adequately someone needs to decide if that is the case but some people may decide themselves - It may be temporary e.g if a close relative has died - Some dysfunctional behaviour can be adaptive e.g anorexia - Failing to function adequately may be seen differently in different cultures
Biological approach (genes, biochemistry, neuroanatomy and viral infection) Genes: - We inherit mental illness, and the more closely related to someone you are the more likely you will inherit it - Holland looked at Mz & Dz twins. He found the concordance rate for Mz twins was 56% but for Dz twins it was 5& Criticisms: + it shows genes do play a part as the concordance rate was higher for Mz twins - If genes were involved Mz twins would have concordance rate of 100% Biological approach (genes, biochemistry, neuroanatomy and viral infection) Biochemistry: - Neurotransmitters are chemicals that brain cells use to communicate and an imbalance of them is though to lead to mental illness e,g schizophrenia - An imbalance of neurotransmitters can be governed by our genes - Evidence from pet scans can track chemical pathways and supports some of the explanation Criticisms: - Its not known whether the imbalance of chemicals causes the illness or the other way around
Overall evaluation of the biological approach: Strengths + It has lead to different treatments that alter the body's biochemistry + It's testable and supported by lots of research + Diagnosis can remove the blame from the individual Overall evaluation of the biological approach: Limitations - The approach is reductionalist The approach can lead to labelling of patients and this can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy - It may encourage the patient to become passive and hand over their health responsibility to doctors and this can effect their recovery
Psychodynamic approach: Freud thought that our unconscious mind drives our behavior and is made up of our thoughts and feelings that are to painful to think about and this can get in the way of our normal life. Our unconscious mind is made up of 3 parts: Id (instant pleasure), Ego (reality) and Superego (morality). Freud thought that early childhood experiences cause mental disorders and that we develop through psychosexual stages - oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. Psychodynamic approach: Evaluation: + It has lead to successful treatments + It has changed the way people think about mental disorders - It is difficult to test scientifically - Freud didn't study lots of children, he only studied a little boy, Hanns by sending letters to his dad - Freud theory is unbalanced and deterministic
Behavioural approach : Observable behaviour is important and it comes about through environment - Classical conditioning - learning through association (Little Albert - white mice) - Operant conditioning - learning through rewards & punishment - Social learning - observing someones behaviour Behavioural approach: Evaluation: + The approach has lead to efficient and successful therapys for treating mental disorders e.g phobias + The approach can be tested scientifically - Many of the treatments only treat the symptoms and not the cause - Its reductionalist - It ignores biological factors
Cognitive approach: Abnormality occurs bu people having irrational thinking Ellis - developed the ABC model , Activates the faulty thinking, Belief, Consequence Beck - came up with the cognitive triad to try and explain depression , the world, the future and yourself. A person is in control of their own thoughts Cognitive approach: Evaluation: + The development of CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) - Because people are in control of their own thoughts they are free to alter their thoughts - It concentrates on present thoughts and doesn't look at the past - It has been criticised for viewing negative thoughts as the cause of mental disorders - The approach is reductionalist
Treatments for the Biological approach: ECT: - Electrode is placed on one or both of the patients temples, injected with a short lasting anesthetic, given a string muscle relaxant and oxygen - Small amount of current is passed through ( 0.6 amps) for 1/2 a second, this produces convulsions and the procedure is repeated 3 times a week for 4 weeks Evaluation for ECT: + Can be an effective treatment for patients suffering form depression + 60-70% pf patients improve after treatments - Side effects include: Cardiovascular problems, memory loss, headaches and anxiety - Studies have compared ECT with a placebo where there is no effect - Ethical issues: no informed consent
Treatments for Biological approach: Drugs: - Anti-psychotics e.g clozapine treatment for schizophrenia - Anti-depressants e.g Prozac treatmeant for depression - Anti-anxiety e.g benzodiazapine treatment for anxiety Evaluation for Drugs + Effective in suppressing the life threatening symptoms + Drugs are more effective then placebos + Quick and easy to use - Only treat the symptoms and not the cause - They make biological changes and not cognitive - Most drugs have side effects
Treatments for Psychodynamic approach (Psychoanalysis) Free Association - Patient is encouraged to talk about anything and this lowers the ego defenses - The therapist then encourages the patient to reflect on what they've said Dream Analysis - Patients explain their manifest content and the therapist analyses the latent content - Dreams can be aggressive - Freud said imagery in dreams reflects what is in our unconscious mind Evaluation: + It is effective for depression and anxiety. Analysis of 10000 patients showed 80% of them benefited from psychoanalysis + A study on 450 patients found that it was more effective the longer it lasted but the patient would have to put in a lot of effort and motivation - It only works on patients as some people find it hard to talk - It can bring about false memories - It relys on the patient's memory
Treatments for the Behavioural approach: Systematic desensitivisation - Classical conditioning and used for treating phobias - Patient and therapist create a hierarchy from the least frightening thing to the most frightening thing - The patient is taught deep relaxation and start to work their way up the hierarchy and at each step they try and relax Token Economy - Operant conditioning that involves rewards for patients in psychiatric units Evaluation: Systematic desensitivisation + Effective for simply formulas + It doesn't require alot of effort form the patient + the therapy involves the patient and makes them feel in control - Relys in the patient's ability to imagine - Treats symptoms and not cause - Might be effective in therapy but not real life Token Economy - works well in therapy but not appropriate in real life
Treatments for Cognitive approach: CBT - cognitive behavioural therapy - Challenge the patient in their thoughts and prove the accuracy of their beliefs - Patients are taught ways of coping and are set small goals Ellis - Rational emotive behavioural therapy - Aims to help its patients understand their thoughts and challenge their thoughts Evaluation of CBT: + High success rate especially in treating anger and depression + Patients are able to bring about their own recovery and this is seen as more ethically acceptable + Course of CBT are limited so their less time consuming - Not suitable for everyone - Ethical issues - it can be aggressive and judgemental
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