Clinical characteristics of depression
(a) Outline the clinical characteristics of depression (b) Explain the issues associated with the classification and diagnosis of depression (24 marks) Depression is a collection of physical, mental, emotional and behavioural experiences that are more prolonged, severe and damaging. The medical model involves individuals going to the doctors and having their physical symptoms observed and questions asked about their illness/problem. To help doctors diagnose diseases such as mood disorders, the medical classifications ICD-10 and DSM-IV both define these diseases in order for doctors to follow the guidelines and diagnose the correct illness. A person is defined as having a mild depressive episode of depression by the International Classification of Diseases 10th edition by having two or three of the following psychological symptoms; lowering of mood, reduction of energy, decreased activity, ideas of guilt and worthlessness, capacity for enjoyment, interest and concentration is almost always lowered, appetite diminished, sleep disturbed and self-esteem and self-confidence is lowered. These psychological symptoms may also be accompanied by somatic symptoms such as; lowering of mood, waking hours before normal in the morning, depression worst in the morning, marked psychomotor retardation, agitation, loss of appetite, loss of libido and weight loss. To be diagnosed as
The long term effects of stress
Daniel Lovell 11/09/04 The long term effects of stress The long term effects of stress on the human body are generally negative. Stress can be a positive, as it enables us to respond to danger quickly, but continued stress places stress on the body causing diseases such as cardio-vascular problems, ulcers, problems with digestion and illness. The most common problem caused by stress is heart disease, more specifically cardiovascular problems. One very common effect when you develop cardiovascular problems is high blood pressure. You can also develop coronary heart disease which involves a narrowing of the hearts arteries. There have been very few studies into this area of stress as the effects can be life threatening. However Friedman and Rosenman conducted a study into CHD's. The study showed that people who did not cope well with stress were more likely to conduct a CHD (coronary heart disease). Ganster et al (1991) added to the study, concluding that 'chronic elevations in the sympathetic nervous system lead to deterioration of the cardio vascular system'. Another effect of continued stress on the human body is problems with digestion and ultimately ulcers. The human body develops problems with digestion because when under stress we use energy, lowering out blood sugar level. Therefore the stomach tells your body
Depression - Gender Differences.
DEPRESSION: GENDER DIFFERENCES Among the myriad differences between men and women is the manner in which they are influenced by and respond to depression. From environmental to social and cultural to chemical, the divergent factors that categorize depression as having separate indicators and consequences. Among other methods, organizational therapy employs the use of clarification between people and events in order to ascertain a basis of the depression; as a means by which to establish a relationship between the issues and the individuals who bring them to light, organizational therapy is a way to correlate the association between "life cycle events and the onset of problems" (Stanton, 1992, p. 331). As well, the fact that depression manifests itself differently between men and women draws upon research for such conclusions, which clearly demonstrate the physical variances. Chemical imbalance in the brain has long been thought to be the cause for depression. But researchers at Washington University have discovered possible structural abnormalities in the brain as well. The prefrontal cortex has been found to be smaller in the brains of the depressed person. In fact, depressed patients have been found to have a drastically smaller volume of a section of the left PFC that sits behind the bridge of the nose. In some cases this section is up to forty percent smaller in
Discuss the consequences of disrupting biological rhythms
Discuss the consequences of disrupting biological rhythms. Shift work and shift lag are the results of disturbing biological rhythms. Night workers are required to be alert at night and sleep during the day, which is the reverse of our natural rhythms and out of line with most of the cues for zeitgebers. Other consequences include jet lag which results in phase advance and phase delay. During shift work, research studies have found that there is a decreased alertness and night workers often experience a circadian 'trough' of decreased alertness during their shifts (Boivin et al., 1996).This occurs between midnight, when cortisol levels are lowest and around 4.00am when core body temperature is lowest. However there are other reasons why people experience the circadian 'trough', such are as social disruption as well to their biological rhythms; this makes a person's exogenous zeitgebers out of place which make it harder for a person to sleep in the day making them less alert at night. Soloman, 1993 found that it is difficult to meet friends and spend time with family and divorce rates are as high a 60% among all-night workers. Shift work can lead to sleep deprivation, workers who have to sleep by day often experience sleep problems because when the finish work its daylight and there are other distributions such as noise outside and daylight induces sleep quality as our
psychology: the practical project
The aim of this experiment was to see if Schachter & Singer's two-factor theory of emotion is supported when subjects have been given chocolate. An opportunity sample was used, made up of thirty college students, aged 16-19 years. Participants were randomly assigned into one of the two conditions. Participants in the chocolate condition were given 4 squares of chocolate and then filled in a questionnaire which assessed their happiness. Participants in the no chocolate condition were just given the questionnaire to complete. Those in the chocolate condition were expected to rate their happiness higher than those in the no chocolate condition. The Mann-Whitney U results supported the experimental hypothesis; therefore the study showed evidence to support the two-fact theory of emotion. This study is about the Two-Factor Theory of Emotion, which is part of social psychology. This theory states that in order for an emotion to be felt two factors need to be present: physiological arousal and cognitive label of the physiological arousal. According to the theory emotions are always about something either externally stimulus or memory. This experiment is based on a study by Schacter & Singer (1962), subjects were allocated to one of the four groups: Adrenalin Ignorant Group were given an adrenalin injection and were not told the effects of the drug, Adrenalin Informed Group were
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
Outoline and evaluate two biological theories of dream
According to Crick and Mitchison (1983) dreaming is an opportunity of deleting unwanted information in order to make more space. During sleep our brain sifts through these parasitic memories that take up a lot of space in the cortex. By deleting these memories it will create more space in the neuron network so it will function more efficiently. This process is done by the bombardment of impulses to the cortex from the brain stem whilst the modified synapses ensures that the memories will stay unlearned in the future. Dreams also clear out memories of a pathological nature (obsessive or bizarre). Without this deletion of memories our daytime thinking would be disrupted by these bizarre thoughts. This seems to be apparent in people deprived of REM sleep when they show bizarre behaviour. Crick and Mitchinson also suggests that reverse learning provides an adaptive feature. REM allows smaller brains in mammals that sleep and larger neural networks for those that do not to absorb more information. The theory would explain why forget our dreams 95% of the time. But it would not explain why sometimes our dreams are significant and meaningful since this theory suggests our dreams are nothing but biological processes within the brain. There is evidence in which researchers found that dreams related to our current emotional problems in awake-state (Domhoff, 1996). He found that the
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
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
