1. PSYCHOPATHOLOGY (ABNORMALITY)
You will learn about:
Definitions of Abnormality
Theories of Abnormality
Treating Abnormality

2. Abnormality is… A psychological condition or behaviour that departs
from the norm or is
harmful and distressing to
the individual or those
around them.
Behaviours that violate
society’s ideas of what is
an appropriate level of
functioning.

3. Learning Objectives Define : Deviation from the social norms
By the end of this lesson you will be able to
Define : Deviation from the social norms
Identify: Some of the indicators of Deviation from the social norms adequately
Identify: Two or more limitations to this definition

4. Definitions of Abnormality Deviation from Social Norms
Abnormal behaviour
is seen as a deviation
from implicit rules
about how one ‘ought’
to behave. Anything
that violates these rules
is considered abnormal.

5. Limitations Cultural: what it Acceptable behaviour
in one culture may not be
acceptable in another.
Consistent through time:
These ‘rules’ vary across
time and across . What
was acceptable behaviour
50 years ago may not be
acceptable now,.

6. Behaviour that deviates From social norms is not always considered
Limitations
Behaviour that deviates
From social norms is
not always considered
abnormal.
E.g. eccentric behaviour, superstitious behaviour or dressing up for charity.

7. Limitations Deviations can Become political e.g. where certain
regimes use
diagnosis as a means
of controlling those
with opposing
political views
e.g. Russia

8. Test Your Knowledge Answer these questions on last weeks lesson.
Define: What is meant by social norms?
Describe: The deviation from social norms definition of abnormality?
Identify: An example of behaviour which deviates from social norms?
Explain: Three limitations of this definition?

9. Learning Objectives Define : Failure to function adequately
By the end of this lesson you will be able to
Define : Failure to function adequately
Identify: Some of the indicators of the failure to function adequately definition
Identify: Two or more limitations to this definition

10. Failure to Function Adequately
Mentally healthy people are judged as being able to operate within certain acceptable limits. If abnormal behaviour interfered with daily functioning, it may be considered abnormal.

11. Limitations
It is possible that some apparently dysfunctional behaviour is actually adaptive and functional for the individual, e.g. some anxiety disorders may lead to extra attention for the individual, and so are functional in reaching this goal.

12. Limitations
Context – Behaviour that appears to be FFA may be normal depending on context e.g. political prisoners going on hunger strike.
Outside factors causing the behaviour – economic factors, prejudice and discrimination may prevent people from acting normally.
Coping normally – Some people namage to function normally despite being clinically diagnosed with psychological disorders.

13. Learning Objectives Define : Deviation from mental health
By the end of this lesson you will be able to
Define : Deviation from mental health
Name: 4 characteristics of someone with normal mental health
Identify: Two limitations to this definition

14. Deviation from Ideal Mental Health
Abnormality is seen as deviating from the Ideal Person,

15. What is a Normal Person Jahoda – A normal person should be…
In touch with their own identity and feelings.
Resistant to Stress.
Focussed on the future and self-actualisation
Autonomous individuals with an accurate idea of reality.
Empathy and understanding of others.
positive attitude towards the self,

16. Limitations According to these criteria, most of us are
abnormal in some way.
We should instead ask
how many of these need
to be lacking before a
person would be
judged as abnormal.

17. However, it has been argued that
Limitations
Physical health vs
Mental Health:
Why are we looking
at the idea person
rather than looking at
the problems presented.
In Physical health we
Always look at the area
that is causing pain.
However, it has been argued that
there are non physical reasons for mental health problems therefore we need other methods of diagnosing it.

18. Limitations
Cultural relativism: Jahoda’s characteristics are too westernised
Individual Cultures:
Work towards individual achievements (Self actualisation)
Collective Cultures:
Work towards the good of the group.

19. The Biological Model of Abnormality
The medical/biological model of abnormality is the most widely accepted model of mental illness, because the dominant view in psychiatry is that mental problems are illnesses to be treated much like physical illnesses.

20. Learning Objectives By the end of this lesson you will be able to
Define : The biological model of abnormality
Identify: The four factors that may cause mental disorders
Identify: Two strengths and two weakness of the biological approach.
Janssen: Exclusively Dedicated to Mental Health

21. Four Possible Factors Infection: Torrey states
that schizophrenia may
be linked to mothers
contracting a specific
strain of influenza during
pregnancy. Lies dormant
until hormones released
during puberty.
Genetics: Research looks
at twins. If one twin has
schizophrenia there are high
concordance rates that the other
twin develops the disorder.

22. Genetics determine both biochemisty and neuroanatomy
Biochemistry: Either too
much or too little
neurotransmitters.
Schizophrenia may be
the result of increased
levels of dopamine.
Brain damage: It has been
shown that people with
schizophrenia
have enlarged ventricles in
the brain which indicate shrinkage of brain tissue.

23. Biology/genetics distinction.
Brain activity/chemistry can be
inherited e.g. depression. But
genetics are not the only cause
of the problem.
Everyday experiences can also
affect your brain chemistry.
A combination of stress and
genetics may be needed
to trigger psychopathology
This is sometimes called the diathesis-Stress model.

24. Evaluation of the Biological Model
Strengths:
No Blame Approach – Because the cause of a person’s illness is a result of their biology they cannot be held responsible for their behaviour.
Wealth of Scientific Knowledge – Brain scanning, drug therapies and genetics tests have all been proved as effective diagnostic tools and treatments.
Treatments can be quick, inexpensive and effective e.g. antidepressants.

25. Evaluation of the Biological Model
Weaknesses:
Diathesis- Stress – genetics do not offer a complete explanation.
Reductionist – It assumes that complex medical conditions can be broken down into simple biological explanations.
Stigma – People will be labelled as having a ‘mental illness’ and this can affect other aspects of their lives when they become passive and give up responsibility for their illness.
Treatments – Drugs are not effective for everyone.
Research into Diagnosing Abnormality by Rosenham

26. Learning Objectives By the end of this lesson you will be able to
Outline : How drug treatment works
Explain: The process used in Electroconvulsive therapy
Identify: Two strengths of biological therapies.
Identify: Two weakness of biological therapies.

27. THERAPIES FOR THE BIOLOGICAL MODEL
Used for
Schizophrenia
And bipolar depression
Animated Minds :: The Light Bulb Thing

28. Drug therapy
Drug therapy
Electro - convulsive Treatment

29. Drugs for depression
1990’s, a new group of antidepressants were introduced.
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), the most famous being Prozac, They block the reuptake of serotonin from the synaptic gap into the pre-synaptic neuron.
MAOIs block an enzyme that destroys any excess serotonin in the synaptic gap

30. Drugs for schizophrenia
Chlorpromazine acts by reducing dopamine activity on the brain
However there is many side effect and therefor new drugs have been developed
One of these is chlozapine,
This drug work on a few
different neurotransmitters,
including dopamine and serotonin.

31. Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT)
An electric shock of volts is given to the patient’s brain,
This would help relieve depression, however, it did produce memory loss.

32. Psychosurgery Involves separating or destructing brain parts,
This is not a cure, but only relieves symptoms,
Moniz, (1930), frontal
lobotomy-he would
separate frontal lobes-this
reduced aggression and
made individuals more placid.

33. Strengths
Therapy- Biological therapies help relieve conditions and are cheap and easy to take. They act fast
Support: The world health organisation state that schizophrenics do better with the drugs than a placebo drug. However not as good as a combination of drugs and CBT.

34. Weaknesses
Therapy- This also raises ethical concerns. The drugs prescribed can produce an addiction. Also, the drugs may only suppress the symptoms and not cure the disorder.
Also, the treatments like ECT are irreversible and there is issues of fully informed consent.
Side effects: Memory loss with ECT and increased suicide thoughts with and increased anxiety; SSRI’s

35. The Psychodynamic model
explains abnormality as the
consequence of unresolved
conflicts of childhood which
are unconscious, and aims to
treat mental illness by making
the unconscious conscious,
through the use of psychoanalysis.

36. Learning Objectives By the end of this lesson you will be able to
Define : The psychodynamic model of abnormality
Identify: The three different components of the personality structure
Identify: The four basic principles that explain the development of abnormality.

37. Assumptions
Mental disorder results from psychological rather than physical causes.
Unresolved conflicts cause mental disorder.
Early experiences cause mental disorder
Unconscious motivations cause mental disorder

38. Personality Structure
The id: This is the reservoir of
unconscious and instinctual psychic
energy including libido (life instinct).
It works on the pleasure principle.
The ego: This is our conscious self.
It regulates interactions with our
environment and works on the
reality principle.
The super-ego: this is our personal moral authority. It is
formed when the child internalises societies moral and
social norms.

39. The role of conflict
Intra-psychic conflict between the id ego and superego can lead to anxiety. To protect ourselves we use ego defence mechanisms.

40. Defence mechanisms Activity: In your worksheet look at
each of the situations and state
whither the defence mechanism
being used is
Repression, Displacement or Denial.
Extension activity
Think of behaviour that your or your friends might use as a defence mechanism for each Repression, Displacement and Denial

41. Stages of development
Oral: 0-18 months. The mouth is the focus of attention.
Anal: 18 months – 3 yrs. Gratification focuses on the anus. This is the first time the child can exert control over their environment.
Phallic: up to age 4 or 5. Gender differences are noticed. The most important feature is the Oedipus or Elektra complex.
Latency from 4/5 until puberty. Psychosexual development is static emerging at puberty focussed on potential partners rather than self.
YouTube - Fight for kisses.flv

42. Evaluation of Psychodynamic model
Strengths
The concept of the unconscious is widely accepted.
He was first to suggest that adult abnormality is caused in childhood.
He invented talking therapy. You can talk through your problems.

43. Evaluation of Psychodynamic model
He over emphasised children’s sexuality and ignored other aspects of development.
He based his theory on case studies of neurotic adults, but wrote about children’s development.
It is impossible to test scientifically especially the concepts of unconscious, id etc.
It is a product of its time – it was developed in late 19th century Vienna.

44. Learning Objectives By the end of this lesson you will be able to
Outline : The Psychodynamic therapy for treating psychological disorders.
Identify: Two Strengths of the psychotherapy.
Identify: Two Weaknesses of the psychotherapy.

45. THERAPIES FOR THE PSYCHODYNAMIC MODEL
Looks at uncounscious thoughts and childhood development
Animated Minds :: My Blood is My Tears

46. Psychodynamic Therapy
Dream Analysis
Free Association
Transferrence
Therapist Interpretation

47. Free Association

50. Strengths
First talking therapy which has been the foundation of other talking therapies including CBT as well as counselling
It accepts humans as complicated beings and treats problems that have been caused during childhood.
It tries to treat the underlying cause of the disorder rather than just the symptoms.

51. Weakness
It takes a long time. Often appointments are 3 times a week for over 5 years.
It is also expensive with therapies costing around £45 – £60 per session.
It is not suitable for people who are unwilling to analyse their lives
There are ethical issues due to the unpleasant memories clients will have to face

52. THE BEHAVIOURAL MODEL
Emphasises the role of learning through operant and classical conditioning.
Watson & Raynor (1920)
classically conditioned an
11 month old child known
as Little Albert to fear a
white rat. The responses
then generalised to all fluffy animals.
Activity: in pairs consider the methodological issues of this study.

53. Classical Conditioning
Involves unconditioned natural responses being paired with an unconditioned stimulus (bell) until this stimulus alone produces the response.

54. Conditioning and abnormality
Classical conditioning has been said to account for the development of phobias.
Seligman proposed the
concept of preparedness
– the idea that in our
evolutionary history we
became prepared to
develop a fear of dangerous stimuli.

55. Operant conditioning Skinner (1974) demonstrated that
rats could be taught
voluntary responses
by reward and
punishment of behaviour.
Different patterns of behaviour are taught
through use of different schedules of
reinforcement.

56. Social Learning Theory
This is an extension of skinner’s work and suggests that we learn through observing another’s behaviour and it’s consequences. We imitate behaviour that we see rewarded – vicarious reinforcement.

57. EVALUATION OF THE BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH
Man's balloon phobia deflated live on radio (18 April 2007) A Hertfordshire company helped cure a man live on radio of his 33-year phobia of balloons. Paul Reason, from Welwyn Garden City, suffered from balloon fear since the age of six when his mother burst one of the party pieces in front of his face. Mr Reason’s fear was so blown up out of all proportion that on one occasion he fainted when hundreds of balloons were released onto a dance floor at a party he was attending. Mr Reason’s children, Sophie and Joshua, who are now allowed to celebrate birthdays and Christmas with balloons. “The change is remarkable,” said Mr Key. “He had been on Valium for five years and he was crying in the car park before the show because he didn’t know what we were going to do.”

58. answer these three questions
Can the behavioural approach explain this phobia?
Does everyone who has a phobia have an incidence in their past that they can pin point as the cause?
Can fear of balloons be related to evolutionary adaptiveness to help survival? Why

59. Evaluation of the Behavioural approach
Treatments can be effective. Especially when treating phobia
There is a lot of experimental evidence supporting the behavioural model
However a lot of it has been conducted on animals or is unethical
Treats the symptoms and not
the cause, underlying fear is often
transferred to another object after
treatment of the original phobia

60. Strengths
It lends itself to scientific examination. If we place a person in a situation then give them a reward we can see if their behaviour changes over time
It has been very successful
in treating phobia
Support for the studies
comes from the experiment
on little Albert by John Watson.

61. Criticisms of the Behavioural approach
Reductionism – It explains behaviour in simple
forms ignoring cognitive (perception and
intelligence) and emotional contributions.
It ignores the role of genetics.
In that phobia’s might be the result
of too much dopamine
It is deterministic – suggesting that
all behaviour is pre-programmed
through learning and there is no
choice in how we act.
We all however have free will.

62. Limitation
Reductionist: Very limited view, as it thinks we are all blank sheets with no personality or individual thought processes
Studies done on Animals: Not generalisable to humans The study that was done on little Albert was very unethical
Treats the symptoms and not the cause: Fear is often displaced onto other phobias

63. Learning Objectives By the end of this lesson you will be able to
Define :
Identify:

64. THERAPIES FOR THE BEHAVIOURAL MODEL Systematic Desensitisation
Used for
Phobias
Animated Minds :: Fish on a Hook

65. What is a phobia? An exaggerated fear of an object or situation
According to the learning
approach it is a learned
response to a stimulus

66. An example in everyday life...
How Ivan became phobic of walking in the forest

67. It is a step by step approach
How does SD work?
The client learns relaxations techniques
It is a step by step approach
The client works out a hierarchy of fear from the least frightening to the most frightening
The client works through the hierarchy learning to use relaxation techniques in the presence of the feared object
Fur
Dog

68. THE COGNITIVE MODEL OF ABNORMALITY
Ellis and Beck

69. Assumptions Unhappy or
traumatic
experiences
in childhood
create
negative
schemata.
Negative schemata lead to negative automatic thoughts which are misplaced or false beliefs about ourselves.
All behaviour is influenced by schemata; facts or beliefs held about situations, but mostly about ourselves e.g. “Iam a nice person”.

70. Beck’s model of depression
Negative view about self, world and future
A negative cognitive Triad.

71. Attributional style Behaviour is seen as internal or external in cause
‘ It’s my fault’. Or
It’s your fault
Behaviour is seen as specific or global ‘It’s only happening here and now’
Behaviour is stable or unstable ‘I must always act this way, it is appropriate’.

72. Ellis’ ABC Activating events: Seeing a large dog
Beliefs about those events: Dogs bite
Consequences: feelings and actions: Panic

73. Individual is in control
Free will: In contrast to the other models where something outside the individual is responsible for the abnormality
Cognitive psychologist believe it is the individual control over their own negative thinking.
People must change the way they think

74. Evaluation of the cognitive model
There is clear research evidence for cognitive bias and dysfunctional thinking.
Cognitive therapy is very effective.
It ignores biological and genetic factors.
The problem e.g. depression may cause the faulty thinking rather than the other way around.

75. Criticism for the cognitive model
Sometimes negative thoughts are an accurate view of the world. This is called depressive realism.

76. Learning Objectives By the end of this lesson you will be able to
Outline : Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Identify: Two strengths of CBT
Identify: Two weaknesses of CBT

77. THERAPIES FOR THE COGNITIVE MODEL
Can be used for
Obsessive compulsive disorder
Animated Minds :: Over and Over (and Over) Again

78. CBT
Therapy is normally once a week for a period of between 6 weeks to months.
Therapist and client work together to evaluate the usefulness of thought patterns and resulting behaviour.
Therapist helps client find a more positive way of looking at life and encourages them to enjoy life by doing more things they like.

79. Rational Emotive Therapy
Albert Ellis: We need to challenge our irrational belief in order to change our behaviour
Logical disputing: Look at your thought patterns and see if they make sense
Empirical disputing: Try and find prove to support your irrational thoughts
Pragmatic disputing: Look at how these beliefs do not have any usefulness in our lives.

80. Strengths
REBT is a successful treatment: Engels et al found in a meta analysis study the REBT was very good for Obsessive-compulsive disorders and social phobia
Reliability: It can be used by all sorts of people, both normal and people with psychological disorders.
It has been successful with all age group and genders, older people and children find this therapy useful

81. Weakness
It does not always look at the cause of the irrational thoughts.
Reality: There are many things in a persons life which are negative and thinking of them as positive would not meet with the reality of the situation.
It takes a lot of effort to change your belief system and sometime people find it to difficult.