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A2 Abnormality > Depression+Bipolar > Flashcards

Flashcards in Depression+Bipolar Deck (27)
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1
Q

Definitions and characteristics of abnormal effect`

A
  • abnormal effect: abnormal disorders related to moods and emotions
  • DSM-V, disturbance of mood, intense, persistent
2
Q

What is unipolar depression?

A

Major depressive disorder
Changes in mood
- long period of sadness + despair
- loss of interest in enjoyable activities

change in behaviour

  • struggling to concentrate, remember
  • fatigue
  • difficult to make decisions
  • change to appetite, sleeping patterns
  • considering/attempting suicide
3
Q

What is bipolar depression?

A
Manic symptoms or depressive symptoms
Manic:
- long period of euophoric, rage
- easily distracted
- sudden interest in new activities/objects
- overconfidence
- risky behaviour

Depressive:
- opposite to above

4
Q

What are the two types of unipolar depression?

A
  • reactive : caused by factors external to the person, stressful life events
  • endogenous: caused by factors within the person, genes
5
Q

Describe Beck Depression inventory (BDI)

A
  • psychometric test measures severity, questionnaire
  • 21 items with 4 statements 0-3 likert scale
  • covers issue: suicidal thoughts, failure, irritability
  • higher score, more severe
6
Q

Evaluate BDI

A

Strengths:

  • high reliability + validity
  • objective, quantatitive, numerical score, allows to see improvements/deterioration over time

Weaknesses:

  • does not capture detail, less, than unstructured interview might offer
  • self report!!! individual exaggerate, play down symptoms — might reduce validity
7
Q

What are the 3 explanations of depression?

A
  1. biological: Oruc et al
  2. cognitive: Beck
  3. learned helplessness: Seligman
8
Q

Describe Oruc et al, biological explanation

A
  • examined a genetic basis
  • DNA bipolar, DNA healthy control (42,49)
  • DNA polymorphisms in, serotonin receptor + serotonin transporter genes
  • no significant difference —> but, females more likely to show both polymorphism —> variations in genes, explain why females are more susceptible to bipolar disorder

(matched pair, in accordance with same age)

9
Q

Evaluate Oruc et al, biological explanation

A

Strengths:

  1. INTERNAL VALIDITY: looked at both males+females, gender differences recorded, matched pair to eliminate individual differences
  2. RELIABILITY: scientific measures to compare correlation between family members, subjectivity reduced

Weaknesses:

  1. not generalisable, if done in different country, cultural bias
  2. age is extraneous variable
10
Q

Issues and debates related to Oruc et al

A

Reductionism VS holism

  • reductionist, only research one explanation for the cause (serotonin)
  • this was found to be little significance, so other factors may play a role in the development of depressive disorders

Nature VS nurtrue

  • nature, biological explanation for causes
  • but found no significant difference

Application
- doctors more aware in female patients, as more susceptible to depressive disorders

11
Q

Describe cognitive explanation, Beck

A
  • COGNITIVE TRIAD
    negative views about the world->future-> oneself
    Oneself: attributed internally, not capable of being happy
    World: presenting them insurmountable obstacles to happiness
    Future: anticipates failure/rejection
    caused by
    1. cognitive distortion, schemas
    2. result: symptoms
12
Q

Evaluation of BDI measure

A

Strengths:
1. objective: quantitative measurement, numerical score for each person, more objective than unstructured interview

Weaknesses:

  1. REDUCTIONIST, disregards biological aspects, suggest think negative=depression, extreme emotions? multiple emotions with depression
  2. LACKS VALIDITY: self report!!!, exaggerate/reduce symptoms, social desirability bias, lacks internal validity
13
Q

Describe the background study for learned helplessness

A
  • initially discovered by Seligman as a result of number of studies conducted with dogs
    Condition 1: dogs experience shock, can escape
    C2: experience shock, cannot escape
    C3: same as C1, BUT dogs no longer escape
14
Q

What is learned helplessness, why it can be applied to humans?

A
  • occurs-> endure an unpleasant situation, perceive unpleasantness to be inescapable
  • dogs exhibited same characteristics as ppl w depression, e.g. being weak + lose appetite
15
Q

What is attributional style?

A
  • the application of theory of learned helplessness is known as attributional style
  • depressed patients=negative attributional style
  • lack of control over negative events
  • consistently view things as: internal, stable, global
16
Q

What are the 3 types of attributional style?

A
  1. Internal VS external
    - cause is due to individual or situation
  2. stable VS transient
    - cause is permanent or not
  3. global VS specific
    - cause relates to the whole person or aspect of their characteristics
17
Q

Describe Seligman et al (APRC)

A

A: investigate how well attributional style can predict depressive symptoms—> 39 unipolar+12 bipolar

P:
- attributional style questionnaire + BDI

R:

  • bipolar+unipolar more negative attributional style (AS) than control
  • more severe BDI, more negative AS
  • unipolar undergoing cognitive therapy=improvement in attributional style correlated improvement in BDI scores

C:
- attributional style plays an important role in underlying mechanisms of depression

18
Q

Evaluate Seligman, learned helplessness/attributional style

A

Strengths:

  1. VALID: standardised questionnaires, valid and reliable
  2. RELIABILITY: can be repeated bc high level of standardisation
  3. USEFUL: predictive of depression, treatment targets attributional style
19
Q

Issues and debates of Seligman et al (individual, S, Naturenurture, reductionism)

A
  • depression caused by both individual + situational, greater emphasis on situational
  • ## nurture, experiences shaped attributional style
20
Q

What are the 3 treatments and management of depression?

A
  1. biological: chemical/drugs (MAO, SSRIs)
  2. electro-convulsive therapy
  3. cognitive restructuring (Beck)
  4. rational emotive behaviour therapy (Ellis)
21
Q

How does drug treatment work?

A
  • chemical imbalance of neurotransmitters
  • drugs increase/decrease levels of neu
  • remaining neu. in synaptic gap must be removed
    ———in 2 ways:
    1. re-uptake
    2. broken down by enzymes
22
Q

How does MAOIs work to treat depression?

A
  • MAO=enzyme, breaks down MONOAMINES at synapse
  • MAOIs blocks MAO
  • monoamine remains LONGER in synapse, continue to act
23
Q

How does SSRIs work ?

A
  • specific to serotonin
  • low levels of serotonin=cause
  • blocks reuptake process, reduce rate of reabsorption
  • more serotonin attached to receptors

** used in bipolar

24
Q

What are the risks of using SSRIs?

A
  • mild+temporary side effects=headaches

- severe ones, increase in suicidal thoughts

25
Q

What principle is REBT based on?

A
  • stoicism

- becomes depressed as a result of internal constructions+perceptions rather than external things

26
Q

How does the therapy for ECT work? What is the goal?

A
  • ABC model
    A: activating event
    B: beliefs about activating event
    C: consequences (emotional+behavioural)

Goal:

  • create and maintain rational patterns of thinking
  • by identifying+changing thoughts
  • through disputing
27
Q

Evaluation of Beck’s cognitive explanation

A

Strengths:

  1. Proves that it is effective, since used in CBT and REBT, by replacing negative thoughts with positive ones
  2. Various studies proved Beck’s idea, Lewinsohn et al testing relationship between depression + negative thinking

Weaknesses:

  1. Holistic, 3 factors leading to depression, cognitive triad, silent assumptions, information processing, hard to establish cause and effect
  2. only supports individual, depression is only influenced by the patient’s mind, situational factors disregarded