Models of Abnormality

Models of Abnormality • Biological/Biomedical • Emphasises biological processes • Psychodynamic • Emphasises unconscious emotional processes • Cognitive • Emphasises semi-conscious thinking processes • Behavioural • Emphasises learning processes

Biomedical Model • Main assumptions: • Psychological disorders are illnesses or diseases affecting the nervous system • Abnormal behaviour, thinking and emotion are caused by biological dysfunctions • Understanding mental illness involves understanding what went wrong with the brain

Biomedical Model • Possible causes of abnormal behaviour: • Biochemistry – an imbalance of certain neurotransmitters or hormones might cause parts of the brain to malfunction • Structural damage or abnormality – if the structure of the brain is damaged or improperly formed then thinking, emotion and behaviour may change

Biomedical Model • Factors that may affect NS functioning: • Genetics – inherited developmental abnormality • Toxicity – chemical poisoning from e.g. drugs or environmental toxins • Infection/disease – causing chemical or structural damage to the brain • Stress – causing abnormal hormonal effects in the long term

Evaluation • Evidence • Plenty of studies have found that psychological disturbance is associated with biological changes (e.g. in neurotransmitters & hormones) • However… • It is often impossible to tell whether such changes are a cause or an effect of the psychological symptoms

Evaluation • The use of drug therapies • The biomedical model has led to the development of drug therapies that are often effective in controlling psychological symptoms • However… • When drugs are discontinued, symptoms often return, suggesting the actual cause is elsewhere

Evaluation • The patient role • The biomedical model offers people a role and treatments they are familiar with, and are often happy to go along with • However… • It encourages them to become passive and dependent and to hand over control of their lives to the expert – this might not actually be good for them.

Evaluation • Blame & stigma • Biomedical processes are assumed to be beyond patient’s control; they are not blamed for their predicament or behaviour • However… • Critics (e.g. Szasz, Laing) argue that society isolates and stigmatises the mentally ‘ill’, which is just as bad

Behavioural Model • Main assumptions: • Abnormal behaviour is the consequence of abnormal learning from the environment • There is no qualitative difference between normal and abnormal behaviour – they are learned in the same ways: • Classical conditioning • Operant conditioning • Social learning

Classical Conditioning • Learning by association: • When two environmental changes (stimuli) occur together, we learn to associate them • The response to one may transfer to the other • E.g. Pavlov (1901) taught dogs to salivate when they heard a bell

Operant Conditioning • Learning by consequences • Organisms operate on their environments • The likelihood of them repeating any given behaviour depends on its consequences • Reinforcement – more likely to repeat • Punishment – less likely to repeat

Social Learning Theory • Learning by observation • People observe the behaviour of other people (models) • They may imitate the behaviour they observe • Whether or not they do so depends on the observed consequences: • Vicarious reinforcement • Vicarious punishment

The Cognitive Model www.psychlotron.org.uk Cognition Real World Thinking Perception Information Emotion Behaviour Behaviour

The Cognitive Model • Main assumptions: • Abnormal behaviour is caused by abnormal thinking processes • We interact with the world through our mental representation of it • If our mental representations are inaccurate or our ways of reasoning are inadequate then our emotions and behaviour may become disordered

The Cognitive Model • Factors in abnormal behaviour: • Inaccurate perception • Poor reasoning and problem solving • Cognitive-emotion relationship assumed to be bi-directional, but cognitive processes given primacy • Underlying reasons for faulty thinking are not considered especially important

Evidence • Plenty of research shows that people with psychological disorders have faulty or irrational thinking processes • However…

Not much evidence for the view that faulty thinking precedes other psychological symptoms (cause or effect?) • People who are clinically normal also think irrationally – so what’s the difference? • All the cognitive model does is state the obvious e.g. depressed people think gloomy thoughts.

Ethical issues: • By locating psychological problems in faulty thinking processes, the cognitive model sometimes blames the victim • E.g. a person might be depressed because their situation is genuinely dreadful – but the cognitive model implies that the problem is their perceptions

The Psychodynamic Model • Main assumptions: • Psychological disorders are caused by emotional problems in the unconscious mind • The causes of these emotional problems can usually be traced back to early childhood • The relationship between child and parents is a crucial determinant of mental health

Thoughts Perceptions Memories Stored knowledge Fears Unacceptable sexual desires Violent motives Irrational wishes Immoral urges Selfish needs Shameful experiences Traumatic experiences The conscious. The small amount of mental activity we know about. The preconscious. Things we could be aware of if we wanted or tried. Bad Worse Really Bad The unconscious. Things we are unaware of and can not become aware of. The Unconscious Mind

Id: Instincts Ego: Reality Superego: Morality The Psyche

Healthy Psyche OK Guys – I’m in charge. Anything you want has to go through me. OK. OK. Ego Id Superego

Neurotic Psyche Listen up! I’m in charge, and you are not here to enjoy yourselves. Get ready for a double-size portion of anxiety with a side order of guilt! No fun. >whimper< Superego Id Ego

Psychotic Psyche Sex! Food! Drink! Drugs! NOW! Who turned out the lights? Id Ego Superego

Psychopathic Psyche OK. First, gimme food. Then I want sex – lots of it and I don’t particularly care whether it’s with a willing partner. Then I want to hurt people. Badly. Probably be hungry again after that so… OK then. Let’s go.

Defence Mechanisms • Unacceptable (latent) motives are channeled into more acceptable (manifest) thoughts and actions Aggression Sexual desire for parent Masturbation Playing with faeces Sport Sexual desire for partner Guitar playing Pottery

Psychological Disorders • Psychological disorders are defence mechanisms against repressed emotional problems and impulses • The symptoms of a disorder have a hidden meaning that can be decoded

Psychological Disorders Depression Aggression against the parents turned back in on the self Anxiety Fear of something (e.g. sex) that is projected onto something innocuous

Psychodynamic Model - Evaluation • Testability • The model relies heavily on ideas and constructs whose existence is difficult to test. • However • That doesn’t mean that it is necessarily wrong, we just don’t know how to test it.

Psychodynamic Model - Evaluation • Evidence • Lots of evidence from clinical case studies links childhood trauma with adult psychological problems • However • Much of the evidence is retrospective – difficult to validate and possibly unreliable

Psychodynamic Model - Evaluation • Blame • The psychodynamic model tends to put the blame for psychological disorders on the parents of sufferers. This might be considered unfair. • However • As scientists we should not avoid saying something just because people’s feelings might get hurt – we should follow the truth

Models of Abnormality