Physiological, Cognitive and Humanistic (17-Oct-2002)

Physiological

Background

• The physiological, or biological approach relates behaviour to physical processes going on in the brain
• Ancient Greeks related psychological problems with physical symptoms (Hippocrates, Galen)
• It appears that the left-hand side of the brain is involved with logic/reason, while the right-hand side is involved with creative/emotional aspects. Supposedly Einstein's left-hand brain was found post-mortem to be physically larger than his right
• We can see definite relationship between physical changes and psychological effects:
  • Brain damage : people who have had accidents where they have suffered trauma to specific parts of the brain experience changes in personality. Lots of examples of this in (2)
  • Infection : certain disease, e.g. syphilis, cause brain damage which can result in confusion, hallucination, paralysis etc. general paresis
  • Brain chemistry : brain activity and psychological state is moderated by the levels of certain chemicals present in the brain; e.g. serotonin influences mood, dopamine is linked to schizophrenia. By manipulating levels of dopamine, symptoms of schizophrenia can be treated. Amphetemines affect dopamine levels: over-consumption of amphetemine can lead to schizophrenic symptoms.
  • Genetics : By looking at people who share genes (i.e. identical, or monozygotic twins, and by investigating how much correlation there is between them, then comparing the results with non-identical, or dizygotic twins, it is possible to show that certain psychological traits are likely to be genetically determined. Adoption studies are used to minimise environmental affects (i.e. to show that the observed effects are not due to the common environment experienced by twins)


• The advance of technology has made it easier to study psychological effects of physical stimuli, e.g.
  • MRI, PET scans
  • stimulating certain parts of the brain during surgery can cause patient to experience emotions, memories
  • Research into DNA can be used to investigate genetic correlation with mental illness
  • Drugs e.g. SSRI can affect brain chemistry and cause changes in emotions etc.

Applications of Physiological Approach

• Drug Therapy :
  • drugs that increase serotonin levels may be used to treat depression, e.g. prozac, seroxat.
  • Clozapine affects dopamine levels and so is used in cases of schizophrenia
  • librium is used to treat bipolar (manic) depression.
  • Obvious drawbacks for drug therapy are that it may be addictive, may mask a real problem by relieving symptoms, and that there is a bit of a stigma associated with being on drugs.
  • In cases of reactive depression (i.e. depression provoked by a certain event, such as bereavement), drugs may be useful to stabilise a patient until the situation gets back to normal.
  • For chronic depression, there is a danger of long-term use, but this may not be a bad thing: when you have a heart defect you expect to be on medication for life, and perhaps depression should be seen in a similar way
  • It may be that drug therapy works partly as a result of the placebo effect.


• Electro-convulsive Therapy (ECT) :
  • Used to treat extremely severe cases of depression
  • An electric current is sent through the brain. This causes a seizure, but can alleviate symptoms in up to 80% of cases
  • Often, symptoms return, and repeat applications of ECT are prone to the law of diminishing returns
  • Side effects include memory loss, also there is a 3 in 10,000 chance of fatality


• Psycho-surgery (lobotomy) :
  • Mostly used between 1935-55
  • Often used as a means of social control, rather than as a means to help people: to prevent unsocial behaviour, patients were operated on which rendered them more placid
  • Still used today in extreme cases, can be effective in cases of depression or obsessive compulsive disorders

Cognitive

• Relates to thoughs - interested in the conscious (as opposed to Freud).
• Grew from behaviourist school, but where a behaviourist would say that all behaviour is a determined response to stimuli, the cognitive approach would say that in between stimulus and response, there's some thinking/evaluation/decision process going on.
• Bandura (see web link (1)) expanded on behaviourism, and showed that people learn as a result of seeing other people being rewarded, later acting on the memory of that experience in the expectation that we will be similarly rewarded. This is observed learning or vicarious reinforcement.
• Cognitive therapy concentrates on a person's conscious thoughts, and assumes that the problems are due to unrealistic/irrational thoughts, rather than there being some unconscious cause. Therefore, therapy involves helping the patient to realise how unrealistic/irrational his thoughts are, and teaching him how to think more realistically.
• Common types of problems addressed in cognitive therapy (see book (1) p 105):
  • Overgeneralisation : patient concludes he's totally useless because he made a minor mistake
  • arbitrary interference : patient concludes he's totally useless because something went wrong that wasn't his fault

Humanistic

• Grew from Freudian school; Rogers and Maslow were dissatisfied with psychoanalysis (see web links (2) and (3))
• Humanistic approach rejects deterministic approach and emphasises free will
• Therapy is a mutual journey with the client choosing how to proceed, rather than being led by a therapist explaining to him what all his unconscious thought-processes are
• Therapist is encouraged to voice his beliefs as well as listening to the client
• Therapist treats client with unconditional positive regard which leads to the client valuing himself regardless of what bad things he believes he has done.
• Humanistic approach says that people will be most happy when their real self matches their view of their ideal self. Achieving this is called Self-actualisation.
• Mental health problems develop when there is a large difference between real and ideal self

References

1. Psychology: A New Introduction for A Level (2nd edition), Gross et al
2. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks
3. Introduction to Psychology, Hilgard+Atkinson+Atkinson

1. George Boeree's Page on Bandura
2. George Boeree's Page on Rogers
3. George Boeree's Page on Maslow