Outline and evaluate one or more psychological approaches to one eating disorder.
Outline and evaluate one or more psychological approaches to one eating disorder. (25 marks) In an attempt to explain obesity and the failure of diets, many studies have shown that restrained eating may be the cause of overeating and weight gain. The Restrained theory was developed by Herman and Mack (1975) as a way to explain both the causes and consequences associated with the restrictions of food intake. They suggested that attempting not to eat often increases the chances of the individual overeating. However it is found that people are also told that restraint is a solution to weightloss and excessive eating. This can often enough lead to failed diets leaving the individual feeling depressed about their inability to control their weight. Although, Ogden (1994) suggested that obesity may not be caused by overeating, overeating may be a consequence of obesity if restraint is recommended as a treatment. She also suggests that if trying not to eat leads to overeating then how do anorexics manage to starve themselves? This then raises the question as to whether there are other contributing factors as to why obese individuals can not restrain their food intake and maintain a diet without eventually overeating. Research such as Kern et al; suggest that for some people, dieting will always be difficult due to a genetic predisposition of obesity. Restrained eating is
The Gestalt Approach to Psychology
Outline and explain the principles of the Gestalt approach to psychology. How does humanistic psychology differ in essence from other analyses of "mental disorder", and what are its strengths and weaknesses? Psychiatrist Frederick "Fritz" Perls (1893-1970) devised Gestalt therapy. The word "Gestalt" is of German origin, as was Perls, and means "pattern" or "organised whole" (Gross & McIlveen, 1996). In order to make sense of life events, our perceptions are organised into gestalts. Just as we cannot fully understand a family by looking solely at the individuals without regard for its operation as a whole, neither can we understand a gestalt by merely observing its constituent parts. When a gestalt is formed, there is a focus of attention against a background of everything else of potential relevance. This foreground/background (figure/ground) formation is called "field theory". Whatever is of most interest at any moment becomes figure, but if something else becomes more important, figure recedes into ground and is replaced. In field theory all aspects of an individual and their environment are interrelated so that the field forms their context. Unless we understand a person's environment, we can never fully understand them or their behaviour. As Yontef (1973) said "Behaviour is a function of the field of which it is a part. Experiencing is also a function of the
Compare and contrast the main approaches - Biological and Behaviourist, biological and cognitive, Psychodynamic and Behaviourist.
Compare and Contrast the Psychodynamic and Cognitive approaches in terms of similarities and differences. [12 Marks] The cognitive and psychodynamic approaches have many similarities and differences; these include debates in nature and nurture, the usefulness of these approaches, deterministic and scientific/non scientific. The psychodynamic approach takes into account both nature and nurture, however the cognitive approach has failed to recognise the influence of nature and nurture. Freud claimed that adult personality is the product of innate drives (nature) and childhood experiences (nurture). These innate drives include the structure of the personality, Id, ego and superego as well as the psychosexual development every child passes through. If a child does not pass through these processes successfully it could lead to abnormalities in behaviour. The cognitive approach has carried out research into intelligence but has not looked at the influence of genes in its research or environmental factors (such as wealth) that could influence intelligence. Therefore this clearly indicates that both approaches are different in terms of nature and nurture. The cognitive approach is useful and has been applied successfully in therapy. As one of the core assumptions of the cognitive approach is that mental processes influence our behaviour, therefore if these process are
Anxiety Disorders.
Binita Thapa General Psychology : PSY 101-05 T TH 12:00 - 01:30 PM Anxiety Disorders A continuous state of anxiety is a marked feeling of apprehension, dread or uneasiness. People who suffer from extreme anxiety are miserable most of the time and their behavior becomes distorted and self-defeating. They have pervasive feelings of stress, insecurity, inferiority, unhappiness and dissatisfaction with life. Though anxiety and fear are normal emotions, a problem exists when intense or persistent anxiety prevents people from doing what they want or need to do. When a person's anxieties are out of control he or she simply cannot stop worrying. Types of anxiety based disorders : . Generalized anxiety disorder: A person with this disorder are excessively anxious and worried for at least six months and suffers typical complain of sweating, racing heart, clammy hands, dizziness, upset stomach, rapid breathing, irritability and poor concentration. Women are more prone to his disorder. 2. Panic disorder: A kind of disorder where people have sudden attacks of intense fear or unexpected panic. During this attack victims experience intense symptoms such as a racing heart, chest pain, trembling and shaking or feelings of unreality or loosing control. Panic disorder with Agoraphobia: The characteristic of such a disorder is that people suffer from chronic anxiety and brief moments
Outline two ways in which to body responds to stressors.
Stress- essay 1 a) Outline two ways in which to body responds to stressors. Acute stress and the SAM system. Immediate (acute) stressors arouse the autonomic nervous system. This system is necessary because some bodily functions, such as your heart beat, might not work very reliably if you have to think about them. Chronic stress and the HPA axis. If stress continues (becomes chronic), then the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is increasingly activated. An important part of the - the hypothalamus stimulates another important part of the brain - the pituitary, to secrete a hormone called adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), which stimulates the adrenal glands to produce a hormone called cortisol. b) Describe one physical approach (e.g. drugs, biofeedback) to stress management. The body's response to stress can be treated by directly treating the body with drugs. Drugs that combat anxiety are called anti-anxiety or anxiolytic drugs. The group of drugs most commonly used to treat anxiety is benzodiazepines (BZs). These are sold under various trade names such as Librium, valium, halcyon and xanax. BZs slow down then activity of the central nervous system. They do this by enhancing the activity of a natural biochemical substance called GABA (gamma-amino-butyric acid). GABA is the body's natural form of anxiety relief. This enhancement is achieved in several ways. * One
Psychopathology.
Psychopathology - Key Assessment c. Phobias. . An introduction to the disorder. Normally both fear and anxiety can be helpful, helping us to avoid dangerous situations, making us alert and giving us the motivation to deal with problems. However, if the feelings become too strong or go for too long, they can stop us from doing the things we want to and can make our lives miserable. A phobia is a fear of particular situations or things that are not dangerous and which most people do not find troublesome. Most common phobias are found in the following three categories Specific, Social and Agoraphobia. Specific phobia is characterized by extreme fear of an object or situation that is not harmful under general conditions. There are four major subtypes of specific phobias - animal type, situational type (planes, lifts, and enclosed spaces), natural environment (heights, storms, water) and blood-injection-injury type. Social phobia is an anxiety disorder in which a person has significant anxiety and discomfort related to a fear of being embarrassed, humiliated, or scorned by others in social or performance situations. Even when they manage to confront this fear, persons with social phobia usually feel very anxious before the event/outing, feel intensely uncomfortable throughout the event/outing and have lingering unpleasant feelings after the event/outing. Social phobia
During the Course of your Study, What have you Discovered about the Individual and the Family?
During the Course of your Study, What have you Discovered about the Individual and the Family? Through a number of texts we can learn many concepts of the Individual and the family. Texts include 'Looking for Alibrandi', 'Family Portrait' and 'The Simpsons' whether they are books, songs or cartoons they all have underlying meaning regarding the individual and the family. Through the texts the composers have made us discover that change, families' influences, belonging or trying to fit in, the 'perfect' family image, and the media play a significant role in every individual and the family. An aspect discovered in the study of the individual and the family is change occurring in the family and in the individual. This is discovered when Michael Andretti is introduced to the Alibrandi family his presence changes the relationships and roles of the family. The new information about Nonna's relationship with Marcus changes Josie's view of Nonna they come to a closer relationship and understanding. In Simpsons at the end of the episode the family has changed from a chaotic, dysfunctional family to a united family because they have decided to buy a new TV. Pink's family has also been changed when 'daddy ...leaves' now that 'daddy... leaves' the family will have new relationships and roles. Change is one of the many things that are examined during the course of study of the
Discuss two or more psychological therapies for schizophrenia
Schizophrenia - Psychotherapies 'Discuss two or more psychological therapies for schizophrenia (9 marks + 16).' As a scientifically proven cure for schizophrenia, medication is largely crucial for the treatment of schizophrenia, but unfortunately many people fail to uphold the medication, as its side-effects prove too distressing or they find that these symptoms outweigh that of the disorder. As such, many sufferers of schizophrenia turn to psychotherapies, of which there are two main type of therapy: CBT and psychoanalysis. Cognitive-Behavioural-Therapy CBT is largely founded in the cognitive approach to psychopathology, which arose in the 1950's. CBT assumes that the schizophrenia is a maladaptive behaviour, caused by beliefs that have been distorted, either by someone or something and delusions are often seen as caused by distorted interpretations of events. In CBT, patients are usually prompted to trace the genesis of their symptoms, so as to get a grasp of how they may have occurred and how they might be treated and are then encouraged to evaluate any internal voices they may hear, delusions or hallucinations and so on. As their behaviour is thought to stem from distorted beliefs, they are prompted to find alternative patterns or ways of thinking to their maladaptive one. CBT generally tries to generate less distressing symptoms to arise, rather than completely
Outline and evaluate one neurobiological theory of dreaming and one psychological theory of dreaming
a) Outline and evaluate one neurobiological theory of dreaming One neurobiological theory of dreaming is the activation-synthesis hypothesis, which suggests that the brain stem generates random signals as it does when you're awake due to internal and external stimuli (Hobson and McCarley, 1977). However, unlike when you're awake, during sleep there is a sensory and motor blockade i.e. no input from senses and no control of muscles due to paralysis so there is a lack of internal and external stimuli but EEG recordings show that the cortex is still active in REM sleep. The only muscles that are allowed to move are those controlling the eyes, hence REM sleep is called rapid eye movement sleep. Dreams are supposedly created during the synthesis part of this process. When the activation (the random signals) reaches the frontal cortex, it essentially does the same job as when we are awake. It tries to make sense of the stimuli being received. Dreams are often of a strange nature because of the combination of the electrical signals from the brainstem and stored images in memory and because the brain attempts to invest the dream with meaning. Hobson (1988) believed that dreams are no more than reactions to random nervous system stimuli, which the brain "interprets" as peculiar images and other sensory illusions. Research to support this theory comes from recent developments in
Discussion on Autism.
Autism was first described by Leo Kanner in 1943 and is known to affect 1 in 500 Americans with boys being four times more likely to have autism than girls. Although the focus of research is on children, there are many adults who are living with autism. Research on Autism is relatively new, as in the past those with autism were grouped into the broad category of mental retardation. Autism falls under the category of Pervasive Developmental Disorders, PDD, which also includes Asperger's Disorder, Rett's Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, and PDD not otherwise specified (atypical autism). These disorders all differ from each other and within themselves differ in severity and level of functioning. Autism is a Spectrum Disorder which indicates that its symptoms can present themselves in various combinations which may range from mild to severe. It is extremely difficult to define a standard autistic person several terms, which also vary in severity, characterize the person. The general terms that describe an autistic individual include: autistic-like, autism spectrum, autistic tendencies, high-functioning, and low-functioning. There are also autistics that have extraordinary capabilities such as Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. The basic criteria for autism include: 1) early onset (before 3-5 years of age) 2) abnormal responses to sensory stimuli 3)
