Therefore it is thought that life stress and negative emotions can reduce the effectiveness of the immune system. A criticism with this study is that a cause and effect can’t be established because there was no direct manipulation of the independent variable i.e. the stress index. This was a questionnaire so demand characteristics were present meaning that they could have not been telling the truth (social desirability) or have forgotten. Also in this study there wasn’t a direct way of measuring immune function and is only an indirect study.
One definition of abnormality is Failure to function adequately. People with psychological disorders often experience considerable suffering and distress and a general inability to cope with their everyday activities, such as being unable to go to work or take part in social activities. So common is this failure to function among those with mental disorders, doctors are required to take this into account when diagnosing an individual with psychological problems. Common examples would be severe depression which leads to empathy and inertia, meaning that a depressed person may fail even to get up in the morning, let alone hold down a job. However, failure to function adequately is a general sign of a disorder and not itself specific to any condition.
However, token economy has issues, such as that you could argue that you are taking away patient’s basic rights to use as rewards. Another criticism which shows why token economy may not be and appropriate and effective therapy is that it has low ecological validity; it may not transfer into the real world. Once patients are away from institutions, they often discarded desirable behavior as there are no longer any rewards to reinforce it. Another disadvantage is the ethical issues surrounding the use of behavioral therapy. It could be argued it doesn't really help the patient; it just makes their behavior more acceptable to others.
You would have to rely on the patient giving you the information for it not is socially desirable or have demand characteristics. On the other hand, it is better than individual differences as people may have the same thought patterns and processes. You can only obtain this information by self reports, which would probably give both of those issues; social desirability and demand characteristics. These would affect your results and therefore they would not be reliable or valid. If you were using the cognitive approach you would only get qualitative data which could be a problem as not everyone interprets the same answer in the same way.
As described earlier in my reflective account (ci) a good example of practice which excludes the individual and is discriminatory is being ignored whilst having a bed bath – the lack of privacy and dignity had a lasting effect on me. Patients of a different culture/religion could be excluded. They could be discriminated against because the carers don’t believe in or simply don’t understand their faith. They may discriminate against this person because or they don’t respect the way they dress or don’t provide the right food for that religion. Avoiding people who are different, such as those with a mental/physical disability or those of a different culture, is classed as discriminatory practice.
In addition the cognitive approach takes no account of biological or genetic factors in psychopathology. However it does emphasise the important role of cognitive factors in psychological disorders. Moreover, in some cases disorders such as depression may lead to dysfunctional thinking rather than the other way
They both experience detachment. People who suffer from this disorder find themselves with the inability to live an enjoyable, pleasurable life style (Gabbard 1994). Schizoid personality disorder individuals prefer to be alone. They lead a shy lonely life. They go out of their way to shut out social relationships even with family.
For example they believe it is not the fault of mental people for being ill, there biology redisposes them to certain conditions, and can’t be changed unless manipulated (i.e. schizophrenia is due to a high level of dopamine) Free Will: • Manslow and Rogers stated external forces are inaccurate & people have free will so they can choose how to behave, he believed our actions are free within a framework. • Determinism too mechanistic & unfalsifiable, impossible to believe that behaviour is determined a result of the someone not accepting themselves or others around them (with regards to the
Western cultures may experience a different social display of grief for a bereavement when compared with Indian or African cultures. Another would be that eccentric behaviours, such as running naked across a rugby pitch during a rugby match, are not necessarily psychologically abnormal. Another definition of Abnormality is Failure to Function Adequately. Rosenhan & Seligman (1989) suggested that psychological abnormality should be defined as a range of characteristics that suggest a person is failing to function adequately in their daily life.
This has become such an acknowledged fact that the DSMV5 includes a glossary that describes patterns of behaviour and syndromes that only occur in certain cultures. This means that in practice, there are no universal standards or rules for labelling a behaviour as abnormal. The second definiton of abnormality is the Failure to function adequately. This meaning the ability to perform day to day activities such as eating, going to work, sleeping ect. As soon as a disorder interferes with such things then might tend to label their own behaviour as abnormal and seek help.