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UNIT 2A: CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

INTRODUCING CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

When you tell people you're studying Psychology, they say "Oooh, are you going to diagnose my mental problems?" and you have to explain (sadly) that, no, you're mostly studying memory and obedience and inflatable Bobo Dolls. Well, GOOD NEWS. Clinical Psychology is what everybody thinks of when they hear "psychology": the study of mental abnormality.
"Clinical" comes from the Greek for "bedside" and refers to medical care. A 'clinician' is anyone who provides medical care - a doctor or nurse or a psychiatrist.

"Clinical Psychology" is psychology used for medical treatment - to help with the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.

Assessment means identifying whether someone's behaviours or cognitions are normal or not. Diagnosis means determining the cause of abnormality - such as a mental disorder. Treatment means helping people with mental disorders to manage their symptoms and have a better quality of life.
Another excellent lesson from Crash Course Psychology, focusing on disorders
As part of Unit 1, you will have covered some clinical psychology already:
  • When Milgram asked his students how participants would respond to his 1963 study, they suggested that only 1% would go to 450V and those people would be "psychopaths". In other words, Milgram's study showed how social situations can produce behaviour normally associated with mental illness.
  • In Cognitive Psychology, the case study of H.M. and the contemporary study by Schmolck et al. look at individuals with mental disorders brought on by brain damage.
  • In Biological Psychology, Raine explains criminal behaviour as a type of mental disorder linked to brain damage; Freud offers a complete explanation and treatment for mental disorders with psychoanalysis
  • The Learning Approach explains one type of mental disorder - phobias - in depth, including treatments like systematic desensitisation and flooding

The Edexcel Specification expects you to be able to (AO1) know and understand, (AO2) apply, (AO3) analyse and evaluate the following:

CLINICAL CONTENT

  • Diagnosing mental disorders, including issues with the DSM and other classification systems
  • Individual differences in mental disorders, including cultural and genetic factors
  • Schizophrenia, including biological and non-biological explanations and biological and psychological treatments
  • Another disorder (unipolar depression), including biological and non-biological explanations and a biological and psychological treatment

CLINICAL KEY QUESTION

One key question of relevance to today’s society, discussed as a contemporary issue for society rather than an as academic argument.
  • Suitable example: What are the issues surrounding mental health in the workplace?

CLINICAL STUDIES

  • Classic study: Rosenhan (1973) On being sane in insane places
  • Contemporary study on schizophrenia: Carlsson et al. (1999) Network implications in schizophrenia
  • Contemporary study on depression: Kroenke et al. (2008) The PHQ-8
  • Case study: Bradshaw (1998) CBT of Schizophrenia
  • Interview: Brown et al. (1986) Social support, self-esteem & depression

CLINICAL METHODS

The Specification also expects you to study case studies, cross-cultural studies, interviews and longitudinal studies as well as inferential statistics and quantitative data analysis, but these are explained elsewhere
  • HCPC Guidelines for clinical practitioners
  • Practical: comparing two sources on mental health, including a content analysis

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PSYCHOLOGYWIZARD.NET
  • Home
  • Unit 1 FOUNDATIONS
    • Biological >
      • Adoption & Twin Studies AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Gottesman & Shields AO1 AO3
        • Kety AO1 AO3
      • Aggression AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Evolutionary Psychology AO1 AO2 AO3
      • The Brain AO1 AO2 >
        • Drugs & the Brain AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Brendgen AO1 AO3
      • Development (Maturation) AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Freud's Psychodynamic Theory AO1 AO3 >
        • Aggression & Freud AO1 AO2 AO3
        • Development & Freud AO1 AO2 AO3
        • Individual Differences & Freud AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Raine AO1 AO3
      • Biological Key Question AO1 AO2
    • Cognitive >
      • Baddeley AO1 AO3
      • Multi Store Model AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Reconstructive Memory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Schmolck AO1 AO3
      • Tulving's Long Term Memory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Working Memory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Cognitive Key Question AO1 AO2
    • Learning >
      • Bandura AO1 >
        • Bandura AO3
      • Becker AO1 AO3
      • Classical Conditioning AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Operant Conditioning AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Pavlov AO1 AO3
      • Social Learning AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Therapies for Phobias >
        • Flooding
        • Systematic Desensitisation
      • Watson & Rayner AO1 AO3
      • Learning Key Question AO1 AO2
    • Social >
      • Agency Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Burger AO1 AO3
      • Situational Factors AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Milgram AO1 >
        • Milgram AO3
      • Realistic Conflict Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Sherif AO1 >
        • Sherif AO3
      • Social Impact Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Social Identity Theory AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Social Key Question AO1 AO2
  • Unit 2 APPLICATIONS
    • Clinical >
      • Depression AO1 AO2 >
        • Biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Non-Biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Biological Treatment AO1 AO2
        • Psychological Treatment AO1 AO2
      • Diagnosing Abnormality AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Diagnostic Manuals AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Carlsson AO1 AO3
      • Kroenke AO1 AO3
      • HCPC Guidelines AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Rosenhan AO1 AO3
      • Schizophrenia AO1 AO2 >
        • Biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Non-biological Explanation AO1 AO2
        • Biological Treatments AO1 AO2
        • Psychological Treatment AO1 AO2
      • Clinical Key Question AO1 AO2
      • Issues & Debates >
        • Social Control AO2 AO3
  • Evaluation
    • Ethics AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Individual Differences AO1 AO2 AO3 >
      • Brain Differences AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Personality AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Mental Health Differences AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Differences in Obedience & Prejudice AO1 AO2 AO3
      • Memory Differences AO1 AO2 AO3 >
        • Loftus study AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Nature vs Nurture AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Scientific Status AO1 AO2
  • Methods
    • Animal Studies AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Case Studies AO1 AO2 AO3 >
      • Bradshaw AO1 AO3
      • Scoville & Milner AO1 AO3
    • Content Analyses AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Experimental Method AO1 AO2 AO3
    • Experimental Variables AO1 AO2
    • Hypotheses AO1 AO2
    • Inferential Statistics AO1 AO2 >
      • Chi-Squared Test AO1 AO2
      • Mann-Whitney U Test AO1 AO2
      • Spearman's Rho AO1 AO2
      • Wilcoxon Test AO1 AO2
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    • Quantitative Data & Analysis AO1 AO2 AO3
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