Defiinitions of abnormality:

Deviation from social norms - All societies have norms and behaviours they see as acceptable and if your break them you are seen as abnormal and deviant

Definitions of abnormality:

Deviation from ideal mental health: Looking at the positives and negatives
Jahoda put forward a criteria of 6: high self esteem, self actualisation, autonomy, deal with stress, having an accurate perception of reality and adapt to the environment

Definitions of abnormality:

Failure to function adequately - when people are mentally healthy they are able to live a normal life but sometimes behaviour can interfere with this and people fail to function adequately.
Rosenhan & Seligman said that indicators are - irrational behaviour, observer discomfort and unpredictable behaviour

Biological approach (genes, biochemistry, neuroanatomy and viral infection)
Genes:
- We inherit mental illness, and the more closely related to someone you are the more likely you will inherit it
- Holland looked at Mz & Dz twins. He found the concordance rate for Mz twins was 56% but for Dz twins it was 5&
Criticisms:
+ it shows genes do play a part as the concordance rate was higher for Mz twins
- If genes were involved Mz twins would have concordance rate of 100%

Overall evaluation of the biological approach:
Strengths
+ It has lead to different treatments that alter the body's biochemistry
+ It's testable and supported by lots of research
+ Diagnosis can remove the blame from the individual

Psychodynamic approach:
Freud thought that our unconscious mind drives our behavior and is made up of our thoughts and feelings that are to painful to think about and this can get in the way of our normal life.
Our unconscious mind is made up of 3 parts: Id (instant pleasure), Ego (reality) and Superego (morality).
Freud thought that early childhood experiences cause mental disorders and that we develop through psychosexual stages - oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital.

Behavioural approach :
Observable behaviour is important and it comes about through environment
- Classical conditioning - learning through association (Little Albert - white mice)
- Operant conditioning - learning through rewards & punishment
- Social learning - observing someones behaviour

Cognitive approach:
Abnormality occurs bu people having irrational thinking
Ellis - developed the ABC model , Activates the faulty thinking, Belief, Consequence
Beck - came up with the cognitive triad to try and explain depression , the world, the future and yourself.
A person is in control of their own thoughts

Treatments for the Biological approach:
ECT:
- Electrode is placed on one or both of the patients temples, injected with a short lasting anesthetic, given a string muscle relaxant and oxygen
- Small amount of current is passed through ( 0.6 amps) for 1/2 a second, this produces convulsions and the procedure is repeated 3 times a week for 4 weeks

Treatments for Biological approach:
Drugs:
- Anti-psychotics e.g clozapine treatment for schizophrenia
- Anti-depressants e.g Prozac treatmeant for depression
- Anti-anxiety e.g benzodiazapine treatment for anxiety

Treatments for Psychodynamic approach (Psychoanalysis)
Free Association
- Patient is encouraged to talk about anything and this lowers the ego defenses
- The therapist then encourages the patient to reflect on what they've said
Dream Analysis
- Patients explain their manifest content and the therapist analyses the latent content
- Dreams can be aggressive
- Freud said imagery in dreams reflects what is in our unconscious mind

Treatments for the Behavioural approach:
Systematic desensitivisation
- Classical conditioning and used for treating phobias
- Patient and therapist create a hierarchy from the least frightening thing to the most frightening thing
- The patient is taught deep relaxation and start to work their way up the hierarchy and at each step they try and relax
Token Economy
- Operant conditioning that involves rewards for patients in psychiatric units

Treatments for Cognitive approach:
CBT - cognitive behavioural therapy
- Challenge the patient in their thoughts and prove the accuracy of their beliefs
- Patients are taught ways of coping and are set small goals
Ellis - Rational emotive behavioural therapy
- Aims to help its patients understand their thoughts and challenge their thoughts