Psychopathology: Explanations and treatments
The behavioural approach to explaining and treating phobias
The behavioural approach assumes that all behaviour including abnormal behaviour is a result of learnt experiences.
To find out more about Behaviourism, click here.
To find out more about Behaviourism, click here.
Explanation: The two-process model, including classical and operant conditioning.
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The case study of Little Albert - Classical conditioning of a phobia
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The difference between classical and operant conditioning
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Treatments: Flooding and Systematic desensitisation
Flooding
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Systematic desensitisation
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Click here for more detailed information on systematic desensitization
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The cognitive approach to explaining and treating depression
Explanations: Beck's negative triad and Ellis' ABC model
Read up on the cognitive approach to explaining depression in the Psychopathology information pack.
Once you have read through the information, have a go at the two activities below to help you to fully understand the cognitive explanations.
Activity 1:
Read the scenario and write a response to how someone without depression would respond and then write a response to how someone with depression would respond.
Scenario 1: Your boy/girl friend has gone out for a friend’s birthday and has not replied to two messages you have sent them.
Scenario 2: You have applied for 22 jobs and got rejection letters for all of them yet you had adequate qualifications and experience to do most of them well
Activity 2:
Below is an excerpt from an interview with a depressed patient. Read the excerpt and do the following:
I’m finding it impossible to cope at work. However hard I seem to work it never all gets done and I’m constantly running to stand still. The boss doesn’t seem to notice that I’m struggling but then again he doesn’t think much of me anyway and if I tell him I can’t manage he’ll just think I’m even more useless than he does already. I should never have gone for that promotion. I
knew I wasn’t really up to it. They probably only gave me the job so I’d screw up and they’d have an excuse for firing me. Now I am screwing up and it’s hurting the company, the clients are upset and it’s all my fault. I should go for another job but with my track record I’d be lucky to end up cleaning the toilets and I’ve got to think about the mortgage. I suppose I could just jack it all in and say, ‘f*** it!’ but I can’t, I’ve got my family to think about, God knows I’m a bad enough husband and father as it is.
Read up on the cognitive approach to explaining depression in the Psychopathology information pack.
Once you have read through the information, have a go at the two activities below to help you to fully understand the cognitive explanations.
Activity 1:
Read the scenario and write a response to how someone without depression would respond and then write a response to how someone with depression would respond.
Scenario 1: Your boy/girl friend has gone out for a friend’s birthday and has not replied to two messages you have sent them.
- What may a person without/with depression think about themselves after this?
- What may a person without/with depression think about their future after this?
- What may a person without/with depression think about the world after this?
Scenario 2: You have applied for 22 jobs and got rejection letters for all of them yet you had adequate qualifications and experience to do most of them well
- What may a person without/with depression think about themselves after this?
- What may a person without/with depression think about their future after this?
- What may a person without/with depression think about the world after this?
Activity 2:
Below is an excerpt from an interview with a depressed patient. Read the excerpt and do the following:
- Identify features of this patient’s thinking that illustrate the depressed cognitive triad
- Choose two of the information processing biases explained above, and identify statements from the interview that illustrate the biases.
- Choose two more of the information processing biases, and invent some statements of your own that would illustrate this type of thinking in a depressed patient.
I’m finding it impossible to cope at work. However hard I seem to work it never all gets done and I’m constantly running to stand still. The boss doesn’t seem to notice that I’m struggling but then again he doesn’t think much of me anyway and if I tell him I can’t manage he’ll just think I’m even more useless than he does already. I should never have gone for that promotion. I
knew I wasn’t really up to it. They probably only gave me the job so I’d screw up and they’d have an excuse for firing me. Now I am screwing up and it’s hurting the company, the clients are upset and it’s all my fault. I should go for another job but with my track record I’d be lucky to end up cleaning the toilets and I’ve got to think about the mortgage. I suppose I could just jack it all in and say, ‘f*** it!’ but I can’t, I’ve got my family to think about, God knows I’m a bad enough husband and father as it is.
The biological approach to explaining and treating obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
