OCR Psychology A Level Book 2 sample

Consider the four definitions of abnormality that were discussed on page 12. Does schizophrenia fit all of these definitions? Anxiety disorders Anxiety disorders are characterised by feelings of anxiety and fear, often about things that will happen in the future. Those who have anxiety disorders often have physiological reactions such as increased heart rate and stomach problems. There are many different anxiety disorders including general anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and phobias . Phobias are divided into agoraphobia (broadly termed the fear of open spaces, notably being unable to escape from a given situation), social phobia (fear of social situations) and specific (isolated) phobias. Specific phobias Specific phobias are characterised by a strong, persistent and irrational fear of an object, situation or activity such as herpetophobia (fear of reptiles), dentophobia (fear of the dentist) and acrophobia (fear of heights). The fear is out of proportion to the risk that the object or situation presents. It is also characterised by the individual sometimes taking extreme measures to avoid contact with the phobic object or situation, and extreme reactions at the mere thought of the object. The behaviour would be considered a clinical phobia when it interferes with normal life. Phobias are the most common type of anxiety disorder and they can affect all ages, classes, races and genders. It is estimated that around 3% of females and 2% of males in the UK will have a phobia at any one time (Mental Health Foundation 2016). The most common phobia is arachnophobia (fear of spiders). ICD-10 symptoms for specific phobias A. Marked fear or avoidance of a specific object or situation. B. Symptoms of anxiety in the feared situation, with at least two symptoms present together, from a list of 14 symptoms, including pounding heart, sweating, trembling, dry mouth, nausea, fear of dying. C. Plus: Significant emotional distress due to the avoidance or the anxiety symptoms, and a recognition that these are excessive or unreasonable. Symptoms are restricted to or predominate in the feared situations or when thinking about them. ICD-10 symptoms of schizophrenia For a diagnosis of schizophrenia at least one clear-cut symptom (and usually two or more if less clear-cut) should be present during the period of one month. Positive symptoms – Where behaviours are exaggerated or ‘added’ to normal behaviour, including: • Hallucinations are unusual sensory experiences, such as hearing voices or seeing something that is not there. Smell or any sense may be involved. • Delusions are irrational beliefs, such as thinking you are someone famous (delusions of grandeur) or believing you are being persecuted. Negative symptoms – When the patient lacks normal behaviours, including: • Avolition , reduced motivation to carry out a range of activities. • Alogia (speech poverty), reduced amount and quality of speech. Cognitive deficits – Where a person's mental processes are affected, including: • Disorganised thought or speech , such as jumping between thoughts due to ‘loose associations’ between concepts or words. • Thought insertion , believing your thoughts are being placed there by someone else. Psychotic disorders The term psychosis stems from Kraepelin’s classification (see page 14) where a distinction was made between mental disorders where a patient has lost touch with reality (psychotic illnesses) and neurotic illnesses, such as depression or anxiety where a patient is aware of their state and the reality around them. A psychotic disorder is characterised by abnormal perception and thinking. The most well-known psychotic disorder is schizophrenia . Schizophrenia The prevalence of schizophrenia is around 1% of the global population, with approximately 51 million people worldwide affected by it. Schizophrenia occurs in roughly the same frequencies throughout the world, although there are variations between countries and even within a country. Schizophrenia tends to develop in early adulthood. There is a gender difference with males being 1.4 times more likely to be diagnosed than females, although men tend to develop it earlier—the average age of onset for men is 18, whereas for women it is 25 years old. Rates of diagnosis are higher in cities than the countryside and for working-class rather than middle- class people. Roughly 25% of patients have one episode and then recover, a similar amount never recover and the remaining 50% improve but may experience several episodes during their lifetime. ICD-10 recognises a range of subtypes of schizophrenia. Paranoid schizophrenia is characterised by powerful delusions and hallucinations but relatively few other symptoms. Hebephrenic schizophrenia, on the other hand, involves primarily negative symptoms. Previous editions of the DSM system also recognised subtypes of schizophrenia but this has been dropped in DSM-5 . Schizophrenia is often wrongly described by the media as ‘split-personality’ or ‘multiple personality’. check your understanding 1. Outline five characteristics of depression. 2. Identify two types of depression. 3. Outline five characteristics of schizophrenia. 4. Identify two main groups of symptoms of schizophrenia. 5. Outline five characteristics of phobias. 6. Identify two types of phobias. 21 Application: Characteristics of three different types of disorder