OCR Psychology A Level Book 2 sample

The key research for this topic is Thomas Szasz’s (2011) article criticising some of the assumptions of the medical model. In 1960 Szasz wrote a classic essay, which he revisits 50 years later to assess whether the psychiatric profession has changed or remained the same. The topic finishes with a look at some treatments that are based on the alternative explanations. We consider systematic desensitisation , which is based on the behaviourist principle of classical conditioning and is often used to treat phobias. We also look at psychoanalysis , which is a psychodynamic therapy and can be effective for a range of disorders. We look at how it is used to treat phobias. Alternatives to the medical model Having looked at the medical model, we now consider five alternative explanations based on differing perspectives/explanations—you are required to study the first two plus one other: • The behaviourist perspective which describes how mental illness is learned much like any other behaviour. Both classical and operant conditioning can be used to explain disorders, suggesting that mental illness can be learned through a process of association, reward and punishment. Social learning theory (SLT) can also explain how people may learn to display the symptoms of a mental illness through a process of observation and imitation. • The cognitive explanation looks at the deficits in thought processes that are symptomatic of mental illness. This explanation suggests that maladaptive thinking patterns are responsible for mental illnesses. • The humanistic perspective is a new approach for you. This perspective looks at an individual’s capacity for free will and each person’s capacity for personal growth. People are self-righting mechanisms when given unconditional positive regard. • The psychodynamic perspective can be used to explain mental illness in terms of ego defence mechanisms such as repression and displacement . The result is that negative emotions are buried in the unconscious mind and exert influences on everyday behaviour leading to mental illness. • The cognitive neuroscience explanation, like the medical model, is based on biological explanations but solely on brain activity (‘neuro’) and the influence of brain processes on how we think (cognitive). The medical model This topic looks at the main approach to explaining mental illness—the medical model which assumes that mental illness ultimately has a biological cause and therefore should be treated physiologically. The medical model also follows the same procedure that is used to treat physical illnesses—a doctor looks for particular symptoms and uses those symptoms to diagnose an illness. There are many different biological explanations of mental illness, such as disordered neurotransmitter levels (biochemical explanation), inheritance of genes that predispose a person to mental illness (genetic explanation) or abnormal structure of the brain (brain abnormality). We consider each of these three biological explanations in relation to three different mental disorders—depression, schizophrenia and phobias. As part of this topic we look at Gottesman et al. ’s (2010) cohort study, involving a huge sample of participants from Denmark. This study investigated the genetic explanation of mental illness by comparing the frequency with which both parents and their offspring developed mental disorders—high concordance rates support the genetic explanation. If physiological explanations of mental illness are valid we might assume that biological treatments would be the most effective treatment. We consider two different treatments based on the assumptions of the medical model— antipsychotic medication to treat schizophrenia and ECT as a treatment for depression. One explanation for mental illness is that it is in your genes— which look like the illustration above. Genes consist of strands of DNA that wind into a double helix. The first person to identify these units of inheritance (genes) was a monk in the 19th century, Gregor Mendel, who kept records of parent and offspring pea plants to see how flower colours were passed down through generations. 9 Introduction to mental health