Psychopathology

• Cultural relativism

  The view that behaviour cannot be judged properly unless its viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates
• deviation from social norms

  abnormal behaviour is seen as a deviation from the implicit rules about how one ought to behave, anything that violates these rules is considered abnormal
• statistical infrequency

  abnormality is defined as those behaviours that are extremely rare, any behaviour that is statistically infrequent is rare
• deviation from ideal mental health

  abnormality is defined in terms of mental health, behaviours that are associated with competence and happiness
• failure to function adequately

  failure to cope with everyday living (e.g. eating and washing)
• depression

  a mood disorder where an individual feels sad or lacks interest in their usual activities, including irrational negative thoughts and raised or lowered activity levels
• OCD

  an anxiety disorder where anxiety arises from both obsessions and compulsions, compulsions are the response to obsessions and are believed to reduce anxiety
• phobias

  a group of mental disorders characterised by high levels of anxiety in response to a particular stimulus or a group of stimuli, the anxiety interferes with everyday living
• What are behavioural characteristics of phobias

  -avoidance

  -flight or freeze

  -distress
• what are emotional characteristics of phobias

  -persistent, excessive and unreasonable fear, anxiety or panic
• what are cognitive characteristics of phobias

  -phobias are characterised by irrational thinking and resistance to rational arguments
• what are behavioural characteristics of depression

  -activity levels may be reduced or increased

  -some sleep more whereas others experience insomnia
• what are emotional characteristics of depression

  -formal diagnosis symptoms include sadness, feeling worthless, low self esteem, loss of interest and pleasure in normal activities
• what are cognitive characteristics of depression

  -negative emotions are associated with negative thoughts such as a low self concept, guilt, a sense of worthlessness and a pessimistic view of the world

  -such negative thoughts are irrational, they do not accurately reflect reality
• what are behavioural characteristics of OCD

  -compulsive behaviours reduce anxiety caused by obsessive thoughts

  -they may be overt, such as handwashing to remove contamination, or covert such as prayers to avert perceived danger

  -failure to carry out the behaviour leads to excessive anxiety
• what are emotional characteristics of OCD

  -OCD can cause anxiety and distress, embarrassment and shame
• what are cognitive characteristics of OCD

  -obsessions are recurrent, intrusive and unwelcome thoughts which the individual will, at some point, recognise as excessive and unreasonable
• what does a behaviourist believe

  they believe that all behaviour can explained in terms of conditioning, without the need to consider thoughts or feelings
• what is the two process model

  Mowrer (1947) proposed a theory that two processes that lead to the development of phobias, they begin though classical conditioning and are maintained by operant conditioning
• What is flooding

  A form of behavioural therapy used to treat phobias, a client is exposed to an extreme form of the threatening situation under relaxed conditions until the anxiety reaction is extinguished
• what is systematic desensitisation

  a client is gradually exposed to the threatening situation under relaxed conditions until the anxiety reaction is gone, this includes: counterconditioning, relaxation and desensitisation hierarchy
• what is counterconditioning

  -using classical conditioning, the patient learns a new association that runs counter to the original one

  -they associate the phobic stimulus witch relaxation instead of fear, thus becoming desensitised
• what is the desensitisation hierarchy

  it works by gradually introducing the person to the feared situation, at each stage thee patient practises relaxation so their anxiety diminishes