This document discusses several definitions of abnormality including statistical infrequency, deviation from social norms, failure to function adequately, and deviation from ideal mental health. It evaluates these definitions and notes issues like cultural relativity and potential for stigma or human rights abuses. The document also discusses biological, cognitive, and behavioral explanations and treatments for conditions like phobias, depression, and OCD. It provides examples and evaluates the strengths and limitations of each approach.

1. Definitions of Abnormality
 Statistical infrequency: an individual has a less common or rare characteristic; e.g.
abnormally high/low IQ
 Deviation from social norms: behaviour that is different to the accepted standards of
behaviour within a culture/community; e.g. ASPD or unwarranted aggression
 Failure to function adequately: inability to cope with the everyday demands of living
 Rosenhan and Seligman (1989) proposed several signs of FFA: lack of conformity to
interpersonal rules, severe personal stress, behaviour is dangerous to themselves or
others
 Deviation from ideal mental health: deviation from Jahoda’s (1958) criteria of good
mental health
 Jahoda’s criteria: no symptoms or distress, rational and perceive ourselves accurately,
self-actualisation, coping with stress, realistic view of the world, good self esteem and
lack guilt, independent of others, can successfully work/love/enjoy leisure

2. Definitions of Abnormality - EVAL
 SI:
 Real-life application – used for diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder
 Unusual characteristics are not always negative/indicative of poor mental health
 The label of abnormality can add unnecessary stigma to the lives of people
 DSN:
 Cannot be used as a sole explanation
 Culturally relative – what is normal in one culture is abnormal in another
 Can lead to human rights abuses as ‘norms’ are a created and manipulatable concept
 FFA:
 Includes the perspective of the patient and if they consider their mental health to be poor
 Hard to say if a person is failing to function or simply leading an alternative lifestyle (dangerous sports/job etc)
 Judgement of failure to function is largely subjective
 Jahoda:
 Comprehensive and clearly put
 Culturally relative and biased to Western lifestyle
 Unrealistic standard

3. Phobias
 Behavioural characteristics: panic, avoidance of phobic stimulus, endurance
in presence of phobic stimulus
 Emotional characteristics: high levels of anxiety, unreasonable/irrational
emotional responses
 Cognitive characteristics: selective attention/tunnel vision, irrational
beliefs, cognitive distortions

4. Depression
 Behavioural characteristics: change in activity levels, disruption to eating
and sleeping behaviours, aggression and self-harm
 Emotional characteristics: lowered mood, anger, lowered self-esteem
 Cognitive characteristics: poor concentration, dwelling on the negative,
absolutist (black and white) thinking

5. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
 Behavioural characteristics: compulsions (repetitive anxiety-reducing
behaviours), avoidance of trigger situations
 Emotional characteristics: anxiety and distress, accompanying depression,
guilt and disgust
 Cognitive characteristics: obsessive thoughts, cognitive strategies to deal
with obsessions (prayer etc.), insight into excessive anxiety (knowledge
that their thoughts are irrational)

6. Behavioural Explanation of Phobias
 Mowrer (1960) suggested the two-process model of phobias, which includes acquisition
via classical conditioning and maintenance by operant conditioning
 Classical conditioning: based on Little Albert study by Watson and Rayner (1920);
unconditioned stimulus creates an innate unconditioned response of fear (e.g. a loud
noise), then when combined with a neutral stimulus the NS eventually becomes
associated with the UCS and becomes a conditioned stimulus, which produces the
conditioned response of fear or anxiety- this becomes generalised to similar scenarios
 Worked example: storms (NS) involve loud noises of thunder (UCS) which would scare a
baby (UCR), and eventually the baby associates storms with loudness and the storm
(now a CS) produces fear (a CR). Baby will now also likely be scared of rain since this is
indicative of a storm and thus the phobia is generalised
 Operant conditioning: reinforcement (mainly) for a behaviour through positive and
negative means; avoidance of phobic stimulus reduces anxiety (negative reinforcement)
and therefore makes avoidant behaviour more likely

7. Behavioural Explanation of Phobias -
Eval
 Good explanatory power – explains how phobias are maintained over time and can be
applied to therapy to treat, giving it applicability
 Alternative explanation for avoidance behaviour – not all avoidance is motivated by
negative reinforcement, for example in the case of agoraphobia it may be motivated by
positive feelings of safety; this suggests that the two-process model needs to be
reworked or added to
 Incomplete explanation of phobias – some phobias may be innate, hereditary, or
genetic, and to do with evolutionary factors that are more easily acquired due to danger
in the past (ex. snakes or the dark) as Seligman (1971) suggests, this is known as
biological preparedness; this suggests there is more to phobias than simple
conditioning
 Phobias that don’t follow a trauma – not all phobias develop from traumatic experiences
as the two-process model would suggest
 Cognitive aspects – the two-process model fails to consider the cognitive side of
phobias and is incomplete therefore

8. Behavioural Treatment of Phobias
 Systematic desensitisation: a behavioural therapy designed to reduce an
unwanted response, such as anxiety, to a phobic stimulus. Process involves
drawing up a hierarchy of anxiety-provoking situations with a therapist,
teaching a patient relaxation methods such as breathing techniques or
meditation, and then working up the hierarchy by exposing the patient to
phobic stimuli whilst they maintain a relaxed state
 Flooding: alternative treatment that is much faster than SD; involves patient
immediately being exposed to what would be an extreme form of their phobia
in order to reduce the anxiety felt by it- patient either realises phobic stimulus
poses no threat to them or become exhausted to the point of behavioural
extinction by the intense fear response
 Flooding must have fully informed consent from a patient due to the fact that
it may be a traumatic experience for the patient

9. Behavioural Treatment of Phobias -
EVAL
 SD:
 It is effective – Gilroy et al. (2003) followed up 42 arachnophobes after 3 45-min SD sessions, and found that compared to a
control group members who were just taught relaxation, both 3 and 33 months post-session they rated themselves less
fearful on a questionnaire; this suggests that SD is effective in reducing fear levels
 It is suitable for a diverse range of patients – those with learning disorders may not be able to comprehend what is going
on in flooding or effectively engage in cognitive therapies, but can do SD with little issue, suggesting SD’s wider
applicability
 It is acceptable to patients – patients often prefer SD over other methods and has a low refusal rate compared to other
treatment methods
 Flooding:
 It is cost-effective – only takes one session and thus costs less to fund and to partake, meaning that it is more affordable to
certain demographics and does not gatekeep treatment from economically disadvantaged individuals
 Less effective for certain phobias – does not work well against social phobias as compared to object-specific phobias,
perhaps because they have more cognitive aspects; suggesting it is not a completely generalisable treatment
 Traumatic – flooding can be traumatic and mentally exhausting patients and can even substitute the treated phobia with
one gained from the flooding treatment; sometimes patients will refuse to start or continue treatment meaning time and
money will have been wasted

10. Cognitive Explanation of Depression
 Beck’s cognitive theory of depression: Beck (1967) suggested that a person’s way of
thinking creates a vulnerability for depression; they may have faulty information
processing and focus on the negative of an otherwise good situation, as well as having
negative self-schemas and therefore low self-esteem and confidence
 Negative triad: Beck also suggested three types of negative thinking that can influence
depression; these being a negative view of the world, of the future, and of the self
 Ellis’ ABC model: Ellis (1962) suggested that poor mental health originated from
irrational thoughts, which he identified as any thoughts that interfere with an individual
being happy or free of pain
 ABC: A(ctivating event) – external events that trigger irrational thinking; B(eliefs) –
usually the belief we must always succeed or achieve perfection, referred to as
musturbation or utopianism; C(onsequences) – as a result of irrational beliefs there are
negative behaviours or emotions, ex. if an individual believes they must always succeed
and then fail this can trigger depression

11. Cognitive Explanation of Depression
- EVAL
 Beck:
 Good supporting evidence – Grazioli and Terry (2000) assessed 65 pregnant women for cognitive
vulnerability and found those with high rates were more likely to suffer post-natal depression,
suggesting Beck may be correct about cognitions causing depression in some scenarios
 Practical application in CBT – forms the basis of CBT which is an extremely widely used therapy that
challenges all aspects of the negative triad, meaning the theory translates well into an effective therapy
 Doesn’t explain all aspects – does not consider the anger that comes with some cases of depression, nor
the existence of cases with delusions or hallucinations
 Ellis:
 Partial explanation – explains reactive depression but cannot explain depression that does not stem
from an activating event
 Practical application in CBT – like Beck’s model, irrational beliefs can be challenged in CBT and this
translates well into successful therapy which in turn supports the original theory
 Doesn’t explain all aspects – cannot explain anger or hallucinations either

12. Cognitive Treatment of Depression
 Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT): a method for treating mental disorders
based on both cognitive and behavioural techniques. From the cognitive
viewpoint the therapy aims to deal with thinking, such as challenging negative
thoughts. The therapy also includes behavioural techniques such as
behavioural activation
 Beck’s CBT: identifies automatic thoughts in the negative triad and challenges
them, as well as helping patients test the reality of their negative thoughts by
doing homework (for example, being asked to list out times they have felt
loved in the last month/week)
 Ellis’ REBT: Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy adds D and E to the ABC
model- D for dispute and E for effect; therapist disputes patients’ irrational
thoughts through vigorous argument and sees the effect in them abandoning
these irrational thoughts and consequential maladaptive behaviours

13. Cognitive Treatment of Depression -
EVAL
 It is effective – March et al. (2007) compared the effects of CBT with those of antidepressants
and also a combination of treatment in 327 depressed adolescents, finding 81% of both the
CBT and medication groups were significantly improved after 36 weeks (86% for comb.);
suggesting CBT is just as effective as medication and there is a good basis for making it a
primary course of treatment in systems like the NHS
 May not work in most severe cases – some individuals with depression may not be able to
motivate themselves to engage with the cognitive work necessary for CBT to work, and
therefore CBT cannot be used as a sole treatment in all cases
 Success may be due to therapist-patient relationship – Rosenzweig (1936) suggested the
differences between contrasting psychotherapies are very little and what makes a successful
treatment is determined largely by the dynamic between patient and therapist
 Past exploration – CBT is entirely focused on present day cognitions, but some patients may
feel their depression has roots in past events and CBT does not allow for that
 Overemphasis on cognition – does not consider the circumstances in which a patient is living
in favour of focusing on cognitive beliefs, when the environment may be causing depressive
behaviour

14. Biological Explanation of OCD
 OCD has both genetic (to do with DNA and inherited characteristics) and neural (to do with
the behaviour or malfunctioning of the nervous system, specifically the brain) explanations
 Candidate genes: researchers have identified over 230 different genes (Taylor 2013) implicated
in the vulnerability to OCD (ex. 5HT1-D beta), which means that OCD is polygenic and can be
caused by multiple different genes either alone or in combination
 Different types of OCD: these different gene combinations that make OCD aetiologically
heterogenous are believed to be able to cause different variations of OCD (religious, hoarding,
etc.) in different individuals
 Role of serotonin: serotonin regulates mood, and it is believed that low levels of serotonin or
a reduction of function in the whole serotonin system can interfere with mental processes and
create vulnerability for OCD
 Decision-making systems: many cases of OCD seem to be associated with impaired decision
making, which may suggest that neural systems which control this aspect of life (such as the
lateral frontal lobes) function abnormally in OCD; brain scans have also found abnormal
functioning in the left parahippocampal gyrus in OCD patients, which is associated with
processing unpleasant emotions

15. Biological Explanation of OCD - EVAL
 Genetic:
 Good supporting evidence – Nestadt et al. (2010) reviewed twin studies and found that 68% of MZ
twins shared OCD compared to 31% of DZ twins, which strongly suggests a genetic influence on OCD
 Too many candidate genes – psychologists are unable to definitively pin down which genes are
involved due to the amount, and therefore the genetic explanation is unlikely to be useful because it
has a lack of predictive power
 Environmental risk factors – genetic explanation ignores the potential of environmental risk factors in
the development of OCD, Cromer et al. (2007) found that over half the OCD patients in their sample
had a traumatic life event in their past, suggesting environmental causes also have an influence
 Neural:
 Some supporting evidence – antidepressants work purely on the serotonin system and yet they have
been shown to be relatively effective in treating OCD symptoms in patients, which suggests that
serotonin has an influence over OCD development
 Unclear neural mechanisms – it has not been determined exactly what neural mechanisms are
involved in OCD and we cannot claim to fully understand it nor predict if an individual would have
OCD on this basis
 Can’t assume causation – neural mechanisms functioning abnormally has every chance to be as a
consequence of OCD as they do the cause

16. Biological Treatment of OCD
 Drug therapy: for OCD, this is treatment involving (usually) SSRIs to influence the
functioning of certain neurotransmitters in order to balance neurochemicals and
hormones
 SSRIs: Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors prevent the reabsorption of
serotonin by synapses in the brain and therefore increase the amount of serotonin
circulating in the brain, theoretically improving mood and temperament
 Typical dosage in OCD treatment could be 20mg of Fluoxetine daily
 SSRIs are often combined with CBT in the case of OCD, as SSRIs improve anxiety or
depression which allows patients to engage more effectively with he cognitive
aspects of CBT
 Alternatives to SSRIs: Tricyclics, an older type of antidepressant (ex. Clomipramine);
and SNRIs, or serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors, which work on
noradrenaline levels as well as that of serotonin

17. Biological Treatment of OCD - EVAL
 Drug therapy is effective – Soomro et al. (2009) reviewed studies comparing SSRIs to a
placebo and found all 17 studies returned significantly better results for SSRIs than the
placebo drug, symptoms typically reducing by around 70%; this suggests that SSRIs are in fact
working and not simply psychosomatic
 Cost-effective and non-disruptive – whereas psychological therapy means patients must take
time out of their life to organise, pay for, and attend sessions, SSRIs require only a prescription
and monthly visits to pharmacies, with low prices thanks to systems like the NHS; this means
drug therapies are often preferential to both patient and doctor
 Side effects – however, drugs can produce unwanted and even dangerous side effects such as
weight gain, decreased sex drive, and indigestion or other gastrointestinal issues; this means
that drug therapy cannot work for everyone and may not be a treatment that is preferential to
all individuals
 Unreliable drug treatment evidence – some psychologists are highly critical of drug treatment
studies as they believe them to be sponsored by drug companies who would skew the results
in favour of their own formula
 OCD and trauma – some cases of OCD follow trauma, which would make them cognitive or
emotional cases, and these cases may be less receptive to drug treatment