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Summary Model Answers - Mental Health Psychology A-level OCR
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Model answers for various different questions on OCR Psychology A-level
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Psych bookOutline one definition of abnormality (2 marks)
- One definition is Rosenhan’s Statistical Infrequency when a behaviour which is seen
infrequently can be classified as abnormal. For example, the majority of people do
not have depression, so depression could be classed as abnormal.
Explain why labelling people as abnormal can be considered unethical (3 marks)
- One reason why is the social sensitivity of such labelling. The stigma attached to
abnormality by our society can lead to prejudice if they have a label and this might
mean they are discriminated against in that they may be unable to get jobs or
promotions due to the label.
Rosenhan hypothesised that psychiatrists cannot reliably tell the difference between
people who are sane and those who are insane. With reference to the key research,
discuss how classification of mental illness can result in ‘stickiness of labels’.
(5 marks)
- Rosenhan’s study, which was carried out in 8 hospitals in the USA, showed that
when patients were admitted with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, after being labelled
in this way, the label stayed with them and they were treated according to this
label, even though they were acting perfectly sane. Their behaviour such as writing
in their diaries was classed as obsessive writing disorder, and this was seen as one
more symptom of their mental illness. This shows that their label was used to
explain everything they did and also they were released with the diagnosis of
schizophrenia in remission which shows that the label stuck with them, even after
several days of sane behaviour, despite no longer meeting the criteria.
Suggest how biological treatment can be used to treat one specific disorder (5 marks)
- One biological treatment for depression is biochemical drug therapy. There are clear
links between low serotonin levels and depression, and one treatment is the use of
SRRIs which act on the levels of serotonin, in order to increase them. Serotonin is a
neurotransmitter which is transmitted across the synaptic gap, and once the neuron
is stimulated the serotonin is taken back up by the original neuron, therefore leading
to low levels. However, the SRRI prevents the reuptake and so the levels of
serotonin in the synaptic gap remain high and therefore reduce the symptoms of
depression.
- Drug therapy and ECT combined to treat depression. ECT is where electrodes are
placed on the anaesthetised patient’s temples and an electric shock is passed into
the patient's brain, it can be a quick fix for reducing severe depression whilst waiting
for drug therapy to become effective. This causes a short seizure which usually lasts
, about 20-50 seconds. Mouth guards are also used so that the patient does not bite
down on their tongue during the seizure.
Compare a cognitive explanation with one other explanation of mental illness (10
marks)
- Comparing the cognitive and biological explanations for mental illness, it can be
seen that both of these explanations are falsifiable. Both of them can be tested,
experimentally and therefore they are both scientific. The biological explanation can
be tested with blood tests of serotonin levels, which can then be correlated with
symptoms of depression. It can also be substantiated by the fact that biological
treatments such as SRRI are effective in reducing depression. The cognitive
explanation of faulty thinking can also be assessed experimentally by asking about
symptoms of depression and assessing faulty thinking, which Beck did, and found
that the faulty thinking was more likely to be found in patients with depression than
in people without it.
The biological and cognitive explanations differ in terms of their view on the
reductionism and holism debate. The biological approach is more holistic as it
considers more than one biological cause, such as genetic explanations, with
research supporting the idea that depression is more common in children with
parents who also suffer from depression, or biochemical explanations which
suggest levels of serotonin are linked to depression. The cognitive approach simply
explains mental illness such as depression by the faulty thinking patterns of the
individual, however they may be caused. Beck’s theory has three components, the
self, their world/experiences and their future. If they think negatively about
themselves - ‘I am useless’ and their past experiences ‘I have made so many
mistakes’ and their future ‘ I can’t see anything changing for the better’ the
symptoms of depression can be seen as a result, for example lack of motivation as a
result of the pessimistic thoughts about the future and the helplessness of not
thinking anything can be changed.
Discuss the nature/nurture debate in relation to the biological explanation of mental
illness. (10 marks)
- Psychologists who think behaviour is due to nature would consider it had been
inherited from parents and children are born with it. This can be seen in the
biological explanation of mental illness where genetic explanations for disorders
such as schizophrenia can be seen. In Gottesman’s research he showed that children
with two parents who had been admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of
schizophrenia were much more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and even
bipolar, showing genetic similarities between these two disorders. This presents a
problem of suggesting the nature side of the debate, as it could be seen as
, unethical if we tried to prevent people from having babies if the parents had mental
disorders. It is also a problem that it is very reductionist, in that if we say babies are
born with a mental disorder due to inheritance, why is there not a 100%
concordance rate between MZ twins who have the same genetic makeup and the
same environment, but don't always get the same disorder.
- This means we have to adopt a nurture side of the debate, and this could be seen in
things like the chemical imbalance of a person, which may be caused by the
environment. People with schizophrenia have higher levels of dopamine and this
could be caused by things such as stressors in their environment. So it is the
environment of the person that causes schizophrenia. This has less ethical
considerations as it suggests we can actually do something to help prevent the
disorder, other than gene therapy, and means that we can make a difference.
However, it does then put the onus on the person to help themselves, whereas the
nature side might give someone the excuse of ‘it’s not me it’s my genes’. The
nurture side also adopts a more holistic explanation, as it suggests there are
numerous factors in the environment which could affect the biological makeup of a
person suffering from a disorder such as schizophrenia.
- As you can see there are arguments for adopting a nature and nurture side of the
debate in the biological explanation, and it is probably an interaction between
genetic disposition and environmental factors which result in a person having a
disorder, to the extreme that a person without a genetic disposition can still have a
disorder due to environment and a person with a genetic disposition might not have
any environmental factors and therefore will never show the disorder.
When people feel unwell, they often consult the website of the National Health Service
(NHS). The way illnesses are described on the NHS website needs to be extremely
clear.
Describe the characteristics of an affective disorder in a way that could be included on
the NHS website. (5 marks)
- Characteristics in the ICD-10 are that the symptoms have to be seen for a minimum
of 2 weeks for moderate depressive disorder. Core symptoms they could have on
the NHS website could be loss of interest, sad mood, self-harm, suicidal thoughts/
attempts and guilt. Other symptoms they could include are loss of appetite, fatigue,
and tiredness. Another criteria they could put on the website for people to look at is
difficulty in a social and domestic environment to help individuals see if they think
they have MDD.
Explain how the key research by Gottesman et al. (2010) contributes to the medical
model of mental illness. (5 marks)
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