A-Level Psychology (AQA)

Topic Summaries

Clinical psychology and mental health

Definitions in the field of mental health

  • Statistical infrequency: a disorder is abnormal if it is more than 2 standard deviations away from a mean incidence rate on a normally-distributed bell curve model.
  • The failure to function adequately: 👥 Rosenhan and Seligman (1989) suggested that if a person’s mental state stops them from living a normal life and carrying out everyday tasks, then they may be considered as abnormal. They don’t follow typical social rules, they may be in distress, and their behaviour can be considered reckless.
  • Deviation from norms: ‘abnormal’ behaviour is when people stray away from social or cultural norms. These are based on general social and cultural norms.
  • Deviation from ideal mental health: proposed by 👥 Jahoda (1958) who looked at what would comprise someone’s normal mental health. He based it on criteria that would lead people to be unable to self-actualise or have an inaccurate perception of themselves. These people wouldn’t be able to carry out everyday tasks and display low self-esteem.
  • Characteristics of phobias:
    • Behavioural characteristics:
      • Panic: a heightened physiological arousal when presented with a specific stressor/phobic stimulus. This is caused by the hypothalamus triggering the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system.
      • Avoidance: negatively reinforces the phobia as the person actively avoids the stimulus to avoid the unpleasant consequence. This therefore affects the individual’s ability to live their life normally.
      • Endurance: the patient is exposed to the phobic stimulus for a long duration of time. They will experience intense anxiety.
    • Emotional characteristics: anxiety and being unaware that the anxiety you get when exposed to it is irrational.
    • Cognitive characteristics: selective attention (remains focused on the stimuli even when experiencing intense anxiety), irrational beliefs (incorrect perception of what the danger is), and cognitive distortions (doesn’t perceive the stimulus accurately, so it will appear distorted).
  • Characteristics of depression:
    • Behavioural characteristics: decreased energy levels, aggression (often irrational), and changed patterns of eating and sleeping.
    • Emotional characteristics: low self-esteem, consistent poor mood, and intense, uncontrollable anger.
    • Cognitive characteristics: black-and-white thinking, paying the most attention to negative events, and poor concentration.
  • Characteristics of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD):
    • Behavioural characteristics: compulsions and avoidance behaviour.
    • Emotional characteristics: guilt, depression, anxiety, and disgust.
    • Cognitive characteristics: obsessive thoughts and acknowledging that their anxiety is irrational.

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