Lateralisation of Function in the hemisphere

Female Strength
Male Strength
Female Weakness
Male Weaknesses

T: Testability
E: Evidence
A: Application
C: Clearly defined variables
U: Unbiased
P: Predicted Value

● Male and female brains may work differently

○ Different areas of the cortex are organised differently
● Harasty et all (1997)
○ Study showed that the areas where language is processed and produced are
slightly bigger in females than in males
○ Explains why we view females as better at language tasks than males
● Rilea et al (2005)
○ Males were better at spatial tasks - esp. those who have a lot of activity in the
right hemisphere
○ Males did not always do better than males
○ Spatial tasks did not always use ‘right-brain’
■ Differences in performance in both males and females cannot
account for all performances
● Sommer et al (2004)
○ No strong evidence in females using both hemispheres for language tasks
○ No good evidence that girls are better at language than boys

● Evidence uses real scientific methods

○ Brain scans and laboratory experiments (^evidence, ^testability)
○ Research is well controlled
■ Prevents effect from extraneous variables
 ○ Strengthens explanation and research evidence is scientific
● Theory is Scientific = reliable

Sperry (1968) Hemisphere Disconnection and

Unity Conscious Awareness

What makes an experiment:

● Hypothesis
○ “Two tailed” hypothesis
■ “Revision shows improvement in performance in tests” -
straightforwards, there is direction
■ “Revision affects performance in tests” - no direction, vague, “affects
how?”
● Independent variable
● Standardised procedure
○ Everyone has the same apparatus
○ Procedure is the same
○ Repeatable procedure
■ Incr. reliability
■ Improves validity
● Confounding variables (extraneous)
○ Volunteer sampling technique - eg: people might already be studious, that is
why they wanted to revise for tests and got a higher score

Method of sampling

Target population
● Group of people that investigation is directed at
● Split into smaller samples to make it more accessible; not able to investigate whole
population

Sampling methods
● Sample: a selection of a targetted population that is directly studied
The impact of neurological damage
Visual Agnosia:
● Agnosia: the problem in the way the brain processes sensory information
● Cannot recognise or interpret things

Brain and Neuropsychology

Grey matter: most neurons on the surface of the brain
- Bumpy texture gives it more surface area

What makes a study scientific? 9/3/23

Objective:
- Reliable
- Consistent
- Repeating

Subjective:
- Unreliable
- Not repeatable

Scientific techniques allow us to REPEAT experiments safely

- MRI
- PET scans
- fMRI

Case studies are subjective (own interpretation of whats going on)

 - Not repeatable
- Only applicable to one person or set group of people
- Not generalisable

When doing 9 mark…

- Always refer to the stimulus
- “Therefore Leo is justified because…”
- “Olivia is justified because…MRI…PET scans…”

Issues and Debate 9 mrk:

Olivia is justified in her statement because modern techniques such as EEG, MRIs and PET
scans did help psychologists examine brains in a more detailed way. MRIs allowed
psychologists to produce high spatial resolution 3D images of the brain to observe how
each section works. It utilises a big magnet to realign water molecules in your body, which
then are sent through signals made by radio waves. Olivia is justified for this as an
advantage of modern technology such as the MRI was that it could provide detailed
information about the living brain, in which the person suffering from an issue could get
treatment. A study with MRIs as a method of examining how the brain works would be the
HM study. Henry Molaison underwent surgery to cure his epileptic seizures, but as a result,
his hippocampus was damaged and which affected his ability to create new memories. He
underwent multiple methods of investigating his condition, interviews, memory tests and
experiments. However, when psychologists put him under an MRI scan they found that the
damage done to his brain was not as critical as thought to be in his case studies. This
supports the fact that with modern technology psychologists are able to find out more
reliable information from the brain, and results will not be subjective as done in his case
studies prior.
Children’s Early Brain Development
Piagets’ Stages of Cognitive Development

● 4 stages of early development

○ Sensory motor stage
○ Brain operational stage
○ Concrete operational stage
○ Formal operational stage
● Approx. a set age; not always the same age

● Sensory motor (birth - 2yrs)

○ Develop exp and movement
○ 5 senses
■ We want to use these senses as much as possible
○ Develop habits
○ 4 months, beyond our body
■ older, we do more things
■ Realisation of object intelligence
■ Objects continue to exist > object permanence
○ We are curious abt everything
■ Learn to sit, crawl, stand, crawl, run
■ Incr physical ability > cognitive ability
○ Egocentric

● Pre-operational (ages 2-7)

○ Symbolic functions, intuitive thoughts
○ Fantasies
■ Believe objects are alive
○ We learn to speak
■ Words, energy, and gesture have meaning
○ Drawing family with symbolic meanings
○ Play pretend, learn, new experiences
 ○ Age 4
■ Curious, ask question
○ Want to know everything
■ Primitive reasoning
■ Piaget’s term: Intuitive age
■ No idea how it was acquired
○ Still egocentric
■ Dont understand others see it differently
● Concrete operational (7-11y)
○ Develop logic
○ Concrete operational production (?)
○ Inductive reasoning
■ Draw conclusions
■ Generalisation of things
○ Conservation
■ Length, quantity or number are not related to how things look
■ Eg: pouring orange juice into a taller glass but the amount being the
same
○ Mathematics
○ Brain rearranges thoughts
■ Mental structures
■ Reversibility of actions
■ Write
■ School
○ Know ourselves better
■ Thoughts and feelings are unique
■ Not egocentric
■ Learn to see it thru others’ eyes
● Decentration
○ Have trouble understanding abstract ideas (not concrete)
■ Morality; things are wrong or right in different ways
● Formal (12+)
○ Think more thoughtfully, logically
○ Abstract concepts
■ Success failure
■ Love and hate
■ Understanding of morality
 ○ Learn compassion
■ Thinking from others point of view
■ Why ppl behave the way they behave
○ Deductive reasoning
■ Compare two statements, make a conclusion
○ Plan our lives
■ Prioritise
○ Make assumptions about events
■ Philosophize about concepts
○ Egocentric thoughts
■ Imaginary audience watching over us
○ Life-long learning
■ But it is the Final stage of cognitive development

Research and Experimental design

● Research design is an important part of developing a study
○ Describes how participants will be used in a study
○ What conditions are used to test them
● Experimental design: the name for the research design when used in a experiment

Types of research and experimental design

1. Independent measures design
○ Splitting the participants into groups
○ Testing each group in only one condition of the study
○ Also known as Independent groups design
■ Eg: splitting into gender/age groups, cannot be both conditions

○ Strengths:
■ No order effects
■ Participants only take part in one condition of the study
○ Weaknesses
■ More participants needed if experiment needs to be repeated
■ Possible individual differences between participants/groups
○ Controlling problems
■ Participants can be randomly assigned to each condition
2. Repeated Measures design
○ Using same participants throughout all conditions of study

○ Strengths
■ Fewer participants needed -> more economical
■ No individual differences between conditions
○ Weaknesses
■ Demand characteristics more likely
■ Participants more able to guess the aim
■ Order effects of study could reflect practice or fatigue
○ Controlling problems
■ Order effects need to be controlled
■ Using counterbalancing or randomisation

3. Matched pairs design

○ Using different people in each condition
■ Based on their likeness for important characteristics
○ Characteristics chosen are based on the aims of the study
■ Eg: testing on how different amounts of time spent studying affect
test results
■ Allocate each condition to the ability of the participant

○ Strengths
■ Fair comparison can be made, groups are equally matched
○ Weakness
■ Time consuming to match all participant traits to their groups
Psychological Problems

Addiction: Symptoms, features, incidence and

influence

Substance Addiction Behavioural Addiction

Symptoms A feeling that a person needs to A need for doing the activity
take the substance regularly

Ignoring evidence of harm with Reducing activity is difficult

continuous use of substance

Stopping/reducing is difficult May have to do the activity more, or

something riskier
- To get a ‘buzz’

Replacing normal fun hobbies Spend more time doing this activity
with using the substance than doing other enjoyable things

Tolerance to the substance Ignore arguments that it is

- May need to increase the unhealthy or damaging
amount they intake
throughout time

Physical withdrawal symptoms

- Shaking
- Sweating
- Vomiting
When substance hasn’t been used
in a long time

Called a dependance disorder

because the body depends on the
substance in order to feel normal

Main Conditions Need three or more of these At least three symptoms need to be
for Diagnosis symptoms to be diagnosed present at the same time for 1
month, or for repeated occasions

Features Public Health England 2014-15
- 141,646 adults being
treated for problems with
substance misuse
- Most were treated for
addiction to opiates, next
highest was for alcohol
Number of people with addictions
is not definite
- People who have them
may choose not to seek
help
- May not realise they have
one
- Many different addictions,
difficult to calculator exact
figures
Estimated around 2 mil people in
UK have addictions
- Not a rare problem
Incidences In the past ‘addiction’ was
changed over associated with drugs and
time substance abuse
Society’s relationship with drugs
changed
Before opiates(heroin) were
over a year
ICD-10 does not recognise “internet
addiction” as a mental health
problem
- Recognised as a behavioural
addiction (as characterised
as the symptoms)
Recent studies say 6% of the world’s
population have problematic
internet use
- Categorised as addiction
(Cheng and Yee-lam Li, 2014
Highest rate of internet addiction
found in the middle east (10.9% of
the population)
Lowest rate in Northern and
Western parts of Europe (2.6% of
the population)
2014 survey in UK, 16% of 1300
18-24 yr old participants use around
15 hours a day
- Many have suggested that
young adults are more prone
to heavily rely on, or be
addicted to, the internet.
Addiction is now more related to
internet or gaming addictions
 prescribed for medical purposes
- Now society sees someone
regularly using it as an
addict

Number of addictions are rising

- Eg: binge drinking

Sources of addiction are

becoming cheaper

In 2008, 27% of people who

completed a survey said that they
have used illegal substances
before

In 2014, 31% of respondents

confessed to using illegal drugs
- Seems like an increase in
drug use, however most
respondents said they no
longer used substances
- Did not ever feel they had
a problem with it

Affect Individuals Individuals may start to ignore and neglect their family and people
around them, as well as things they regularly did eg. school work

May spend more money on their addiction

- Not enough money for necessities, eg. food, water,
accommodation
- Poor health and living standards

Emotional and physical wellbeings of individuals decline

Affect Society Cost for replacement of workers who are on sick leave due to the
addiction and develop health problems
- Due to substance misuse - Lack of self care from addiction

Increase in criminal activity

- Drug related crimes cost
13.9 billion pounds a year
- Policing costs, court cases,
punishment, treatment,
 supporting victims

Cost of health care services

provided to support those with
addictions
- NHS claims that every year
substance misuse costs
488 mil pounds
- Including costs of rehab
programs and treatment
eg. lungs after smoking

Turn to criminal behaviour (stealing and fraud) to alleviate addiction

Cost for investigating crimes

- NHS estimated
drug-related crimes cost
13.9 bil GBP a year
- Policing costs, court costs

Genetic Explanation of Addiction

● Evidence addictions can run in families

○ Genetic explanations for addictions
● Lots of people can do things that can potentially make them addicted
○ Do a lot of times can still be fine
○ Some people do it for a few times and can show signs of addiction

● Dorit Carmeli et al (1992)

○ Found in monozygotic twins (one cell split into two) if one was a smoker the
other one would have a high chance of becoming one as well
■ Higher chance than if they were non-identical (dizygotic)
○ Monozygotic twins share more genes that non-identical

● Donald Goodwin et al (1973)

○ Found if adopted kids were to have a bio parent who was an alcoholic they
would be likely to share the same traits
○ Suggested that they could’ve inherited a trait from said parent, genetically
 ● Remi Cadoret et al (1987)
○ Supports Goodwin
○ Adopted children who share a bio link with a person with alcohol problems
were more likely to develop one themselves
○ Additionally, alcohol misuse in the adoptive family may cause adoptee to
develop an addiction as well
■ Strong relation between genes, alcoholism and supposedly
environmental factors as well

● A specific gene, DDR2 gene, has been shown to be related to different types of
addictions
○ Gambling, alcoholism etc have been linked to a similar gene, A1
● Thought to affect the way the brain reacts to pleasurable activities
○ A person may need to do more to get a normal ‘buzz’ from the activity,
leading them to do more

● Diana Martinez et al (2004)

○ Found that a group of heavy cocaine users were more likely to have a
particular version of a dopamine receptor gene
○ Meaning fewer D2 receptors (for dopamine) in the brain
■ They need to do more to feel good
○ Suggests that genetic variations can make some people prone to developing
addictions

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths Weakness

A lot of scientific evidence to support Reductionist: fails to take social factors

the theory
+ Twin studies and adoption studies
act as control
+ Control makes it easier to be sure
that the most likely explanation
comes from genes rather than other
variables
+ reliability^^
into account
- Results suggest addictions can be
from genes, but could also be from
other factors
- Twins share the same home life =
could have been learnt behaviour
- Generalisable (?)
 Explains why only some, and not all,
people develop addictions
+ Some people are naturally more
likely to develop addictions
+ Some can engage in addictive
behaviour but easily stop and start
+ Helps are ability to understand
Research cannot find a single gene than
can be linked to addictions
- DDR2 gene is linked with autism
- Autism and addiction have different
symptoms and features
- Not directly clear how the
gene related to addiction
- Not specific enough

Learning theory as an Explanation of Addiction

Learning theories believe that behaviour of addicts are learnt
- Through experiences
- 3 main learning theories:
1. Classical conditioning
2. Operant conditioning
3. Social learning theory

Classical conditioning:
● States that behaviour is learnt through associations
○ When two or more things happens together, the mind automatically links
them together
○ Become mutually connected - one thing happens, the other one is triggered
■ Eg. A certain food that made you sick, will have the brain link the two
together and have any sense (sight, smell, taste) trigger the response
of feeling ill
■ An involuntary reaction to stimulus - the moment a person becomes
addicted
● Explains why people get addicted to something in the first place
○ Substance or activity provides pleasure or the ‘buzz’, so the person associates
it with a positive feeling
■ Next time they want to feel good, or have a ‘buzz’, they will look for
said activity or substance
Operant conditioning:
● Claims behaviours are repeated if positive consequences come after it
● Behaviour that is rewarded - makes us feel that it is the ‘right’ thing to do
○ Increases our chance of doing it
○ A form of reinforcement: outcome resulting a behaviour that increases
chances of repeating it (positive) or avoiding it (negative) in the future
■ Eg. Positive: praised for doing chores at home = more likely to do it
■ Eg. Negative: scolded for arriving home late = try to be on time next
time
■ A voluntary reaction to stimulus - the moments after becoming
addicted
● Explains why addicts repeat their behaviour, despite being told it is not good for
them
○ Substance or activity makes them feel good (the ‘right’ thing to do) =
reinforces their behaviour and makes them do it again
■ Eg. tiring day at work, wanting to feel relaxed -> take a sip of alcohol
■ Eg. earning $60 from a lottery machine -> wanting to do it again
○ Some addictions (substances: drugs and alcohol) have the person feeling
worse when they try to stop (withdrawal symptoms)
■ Negative reinforcement = makes them continue their harmful
behaviour to avoid feeling like that

Social learning theory:

● Claims that behaviour is learnt in observance of other people
○ Especially those we admire more, eg. family members, idols, friends etc.
○ If they have an addiction of some sort, the person may try to copy it
themselves
● Being exposed to these behaviour in an environment that encourages it will have
the person more inclined to reproduce that behaviour
○ Eg. a child growing up with a smoker in the family may begin with pretending
to ‘smoke’ things such as a pen or a pencil
■ As they grow up they may be more inclined to try the real thing, as
they’ve been exposed to this behaviour at home for a long time
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
Behaviours are the cause of addictions,
meaning we can unlearn them
+ Important factor: addiction should
be treatable if association of
consequences can be re-learned
○ To avoid problem behaviour
+ Generalisable (?)
Classical conditioning explains why
addicts relapse
● A former smoker could still have the
urge to smoke when they find
themselves in a familiar situation
where they’d smoke
○ Stress = take a cigarette
○ They will still have the
association with it
● Rehabilitators can help former
addicts deal with their associations
a different way
+ Applicable
Social learning theory explains why
some people may not get addicted
● Reversibly, if a role model were not
to take drugs and encourage people
Weaknesses
Ignores the role of biological factors
- More on how the environment
around affects the addict and less
on their biology
○ However, operant
conditioning takes some
factors of biology into
account
○ How the brain reacts to
pleasure from certain
substances/activities
■ How it affects brain
chemistry
+ Suggests an internal-external
connection?
Does not explain why lots of people try
substances and activities but only a few
get addicted
● If cause is simply from associations
and consequences, then everyone
would become addicted
- Not generalisable
 to stay away from it
○ People will be less likely to
get addicted

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

CBT in Addiction
Developed in 1950s and 1960s
○ Through Ellis and Beck
○ For understanding and treating depression
● Use for CBT in addiction was for helping alcoholics stop drinking
● Gradually developed into an actual therapy to treat different forms of addictions
○ Helps people understand origins and triggers of their addiction
○ Helps them learn how to control their behaviour
● Two stages: functional analysis and skills training

Functional analysis:
● Looking directly into behaviour and what makes them turn to their addictions
○ Certain emotions or situations that make a person turn to an activity or
substance
● Understanding sources of addiction
○ Addict and therapist can learn what places, people or feelings to avoid to
move away from addiction

Skills training:
● Finished with functional analysis, therapist helps addicts learn skills to avoid
engaging with their addiction
● Skills are developed individually depending on specific addiction and triggers
○ How to cope with cravings - for substance addicts (drugs, alcohol)
○ Assertiveness training - useful if addict is usually encouraged to engage with
addiction
○ Improving motivation - helping addicts commit to therapy to stop bad
behavior

● CBT requires them to keep a diary log in between sessions

 ○ Noting down important events as homework
○ To track progress of treatment
■ Take note of temptation, how they felt, what they did and how they
felt after that

● CBT can be combined with other therapies to help substance addicts deal with
physical withdrawal symptoms
○ Paired with drug therapy (methadone) to reduce symptoms of withdrawal
■ Helps addict with controlling cravings as well
○ Nicotine gum used the same way

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths Weaknesses

Aims to give patients control over their
own behaviour
+ Build their own skills to help stop
their addiction and stay away from
the behaviour in the future
+ As long as addicts are motivated to
get help
+ Admitting to the problem is
hard enough
Addict needs to be motivated for CBT to
work
- One of the symptoms is finding it
hard to quit the addiction
- Refusing the fact that their
behaviour is harmful
- May find committing to treatment
difficult
- CBT relies on addict applying
skills they learnt
- Will only work if they are
willing
- Generalisability v

Supported by research evidence
+ Kimberly Young (2007) found CBT
was effective in treating people with
internet addiction
+ Short term and 6 months
after treatment
+ Effective way of treating addiction
+ Provides long term solutions
+ validity
Learning skills does not mean they will
stop problem behaviour
- Study by Jon Morgenstern and
Richard Longabaughd (2000)
- Found alcoholics learnt skills
to cope with their addiction
- Rather than stop it
completely
Case Study: CBT with Internet Addicts - Treatment Outcomes and
Implications [Young (2007)]

Background:
● Internet addiction is a relatively new addiction
○ A very specific mental health problem only found in recent years
○ Making treatment very little known
● Kimberly Young (2007) wanted to see if CBT worked the same way as it did
effectively for other addictions

Aims:
● To investigate the effect of using CBT on internet addicts
● To see how the problematic behaviours of addicts improved over time
○ Both during the therapy and after

Procedure:
● A group of 114 participants were recruited from the Center of Online Addiction
○ A website dedicated to helping internet addicts in the US
○ Participants all completed the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and showed signs
of addiction
■ Any participants who were shown to have other psychological
problems were not recruited
● Participants were given a course of online CBT sessions
○ 1. Functional analysis
■ Focused on finding information on client
■ Eg. background, when the addiction started, what symptoms they
experienced and how serious
○ 2. Skills training
■ Helped client develop skills to treat the symptoms
■ Eg. blocking apps that were encouraging the problem, using different
strategies to reduce amount of time spent online
○ Therapist also worked with client to solve other problems
■ Problems that could increase internet use
■ Eg. stress at school, work or at home
● Participants then filled an online questionnaire during the 3rd, 8th and 12th online
therapy session
 ○ Then 6 months after treatment had finished
● The Client Outcome Questionnaire
○ Designed to measure how well CBT was working to treat their symptoms
○ 12 questions to rate behaviour or feelings on a 5 point Likert-type scale
■ A scale to rate a person’s level of agreement to a statement
○ Include “rate your ability to engage offline activities”
■ 1 = not at all, 5 = extremely good

Results:
● Slightly more males (58%) than females (42%) participated in study
○ 61% were educated to university level
● 30% of males addicted to online porn, 30% of females addicted to online chatting
○ 96% said the biggest problem caused by addiction was the time taken by
online apps

● Clients attitude towards CBT also measured

○ Including relationship between client and therapist
● Over 12 sessions, overall rating improved

Conclusion
● Results of the study suggest that CBT is effective for internet addiction
○ Clients report an increase in ability to control problem behaviours
○ Gives long-term benefits as well, clients still report similar ratings of control 6
months after therapy

Strength and Weaknesses

Strengths Weaknesses

+ Study tells that CBT can be - Clients fill out questionnaires

effective for treating internet
addiction
● Useful way to encourage addicts to
access treatment
○ Real life therapy may be
embarrassing or inaccessible
to some people
based off own speculation
● May not be accurate or true to their
progress
○ People might lie because
they know the aim (demand
characteristics)
- Data is not valid
 ● Online CBT is easily accessible and
effective
○ Works if other types of
therapy are not appropriate
+ applicable

● Using same questions and rating - Unclear whether or not

scale for each interval of sessions
● Each person assessing their own
behaviour the same way each time
○ Consistent and standardised
+ reliable
treatment had same
effectiveness for all internet
addictions
● Young identified online gambling
addicts, porn addicts and chat room
addicts
○ Though results only show
overall treatment outcomes
for each goal
○ No breakdown on specific
types
- Generalisability v

- Internet addicts using internet as

a form of treatment may not be
the best

● Same with drugs for substance

addicts
○ May not be as effective in
their main goal

CBT in Depression
Cognitive theory: behaviour can be explained by looking at how the brain processes
information, and therefore how we think

Beck’s cognitive triad

● Aaron Beck thought that depression can be explained by three main thought
patterns
○ About themselves
○ About the future
 ○ About the world
● Examples of biases in the way people think (cognitive biases), things that are
viewed negatively and cannot be put in a positive light
● Beck felt this negative triad most likely develops from negative experiences from a
person’s past
○ Once negative thought process is established, person is mor elikely to
perceive future events in an abnormal way (irrationally)
○ Leads to negative self-schemas, covering the person’s whole belief system in
negativity
■ Leading them to magnification: seeing problems much worse than
they actually are
● Negative view on self:
○ I am worthless and unimportant
● Negative view on future
○ I am never going to amount to anything
● Negative view on world:
○ Everyone is against me

● Forms more in a loop, one thought leading to another

Ellis’ ABC Model

Albert Ellis had a slightly different view on what caused depression
● Rather than thought processes, he saw them as stages that lead to a person being
depressed

Activating event
● Something happens that distresses a person, eg. a bad test result, parents fight etc.
Beliefs
● Thoughts that the person associates with the event, can be rational or irrational
○ Rational thoughts: healthy explanations that are relevant to the event, eg. a
bad test result due to lack of revision
○ Irrational thoughts: unhealthy thoughts that may not be relevant to the
event, and may make the event worse

● Negative view on self

○ Terrible father
■ Children fighting
 ■ Teens fight all the time
○ Terrible husband
■ Wife doesn't love him
■ Wife just rushed
○ Terrible housekeeper
■ Roof caving in
■ Actually just a leak
○ Terrible businessman
■ magnification
● Negative view on others
○ Wife doesn’t love him
○ Children fighting - terrible father

Drug Therapy as a Treatment for Addiction

People suffer from different types of addiction, therefore treatment options will be
different for each one

Drug Addiction
● Can help them deal with effects of detoxification
○ When an addict stops taking a substance they are addicted to
○ Withdrawal effects
● Helps reduce effects and control addiction

Withdrawal
● When a person stops using a substance they are addicted to, they can face physical
symptoms
○ Eg. sweating, shaking, insomnia, nausea
■ Due to the body being accustomed to the substance, and taking
regular measures to fight the substance
○ Makes detox a difficult process
● Drugs given can help reduce symptoms of withdrawal and reduce patients from
relapsing

Reducing cravings
● Many patients will experience intense cravings after stopping
 ○ Nervous system has become used to the effects of the substance
○ Needs the substance to ‘feel normal’
● Medication can help treat this
○ Eg. methadone helps opiates addicts (heroin)
■ Methadone acts in similar way to heroin, but less dangerous
■ Reduces cravings addict feels
○ Smokers can use nicotine-replacements
■ Nicotine gum and patches
○ Medication such as naltrexone helps stop cravings for alcohol
■ Blocks dopamine from being reabsorbed

Treating other underlying mental problems

● Patients with substance addictions could have other mental illnesses
○ Such as depression or anxiety
● Drugs treating these problems instead (antidepressants, anti-anxiety pills)
○ Can help treat the source therefore reduce the cravings that may cause a
relapse

Behavioural addictions
● Drug therapy not typically prescribed for behavioural addictions, but can be
effective
○ Naltrexone, for alcoholics, can help reduce cravings of severe gambling
addicts
○ Evidence shows that gamblers experience the same cravings as substance
addicts
● Antidepressants (SSRIS) increase the amount of serotonin available in the brain
○ Helps patients control urges to participate in behaviour
■ Unclear how it works
○ Belinder Winder et al (2014) shown some evidence that treatment using
SSRIs reduced the thought of sex in sex offenders
■ Useful treatment for sex addicts
■ Still unclear how this therapy is effective, research is still being done

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths
+ There is research evidence
supporting effectiveness
● Suck Won Kim et al (2001) found out
75% of gambling addicts treated
with naltrexone showed significant
improvement in symptoms
● Compared with other 24% of addicts
given a placebo
○ Drug therapy is effective in
treating behavioural
addiction
+ Validity ^
+ Helps patient access other types
of long-term therapy while
treating short-term symptoms
● If person wants to stop using heroin,
but finds it hard due to the
withdrawal -> risks a relapse
● Using drug therapy to control the
symptoms so that patient can focus
on counselling or support (CBT)
○ More success at remaining
substance free long-term
+ Applicable to other treatments (?)
Weaknesses
- Evidence supporting effectiveness
is very mixed
● Addiction is very complex, different
addictions can be displayed
○ John Krystal et al (2001)
found that there was no
significant difference in
relapse rates over 12 months
for patients taking
naltrexone and those taking
a placebo
● Naltrexone is not as effective as it
seems for all alcohol addicts
- Giving medication to someone
already experiencing substance
addiction could make it worse
● Makes them dependant on the
medication instead
○ Heroin addict may become
dependant on methadone
○ At some point they will have
to stop methadone ->
withdrawal symptoms will
arise again
- Not good for long-term
Unipolar Depression: Symptoms, features,
incidence and influence

Unipolar Depression: a type of depression where a person experiences long periods of

feeling low and unmotivated
● Most familiar type of depression
○ Bipolar depression refers to extreme mood swings in a person, eg. from a
very low sadness to a very high, manic happiness

Symptoms:
According to International Classification of Diseases version 10 (ICD-10), unipolar
depression can refer to depressive episodes
● A type of mental health disorder: a mood disorder
● Mood disorders affect how people feel; unipolar makes people feel ‘low’
○ Episodes of depression refer to the periods of time where symptoms are
present in the patient
○ Classed mild, moderate and severe

● Symptoms include:
○ Feeling suicidal; attempting
○ Not enjoying activities they once liked
○ Poor sleep; finding it difficult to fall asleep or still tired when awake
○ Extreme tiredness, not relieved by sleep
○ Poor appetite/ increase in normal appetite
○ Lack of self-esteem
○ Feelings of guilt or blaming themselves
○ Acting nervously or general behaviour has slowed down
○ Very low moods over a long period of time
■ ICD 10 requires at least one main symptom to be present on most
days over 2 weeks
■ Another one of these symptoms should be present at the same time

Features:
● WHO states that 1 in 15 people will suffer an episode of serious depression every
year
 ○ Also states that unipolar depression affects twice as many females than
males
○ Affects women longer than men
● Mild:
○ Four symptoms displayed
○ Patient may find symptoms upsetting but will continue to carry on day to day
life
● Moderate:
○ Five to 6 symptoms displayed
○ Symptoms affect them more
○ Serious problems with day to day activities (eg. work, school)
● Severe:
○ Seven or more symptoms + feeling of worthlessness
○ Patient will be affected by symptoms severely, having suicidal thoughts and
engaging in self harm

Incidence of depression over time

● More people diagnosed with depression now than before
○ Martin Seligman (1988) reported in 1980 people were 10x more likely to be
diagnosed with depression than 1940
○ Kings Fund (2008) estimates that by 2026, 1.45 mil people will be diagnosed
with depression
■ Compared to 1.24 mil in 2007
■ More people are becoming aware with symptoms of depression
○ Brandon Hidaka (2012) suggests that this is bc ‘modern living’ is getting
increasingly stressful
■ Sleep deprivation, poor diet, social isolation
● Young adults and teens more likely to be diagnosed with depression
○ Jean Twenge et al (2010) found out that young adults in 2007 were more
likely to be diagnosed with depression + other mental health problems
■ Compared to 1938
■ Suggests modern life for young adults is particularly stressful
● Liu Yi Lin et al (2016) found that high levels of social media usage linked with higher
risk of depression in young Americans

Influence on Individuals and Society

● Individuals
 ○ Increased risk of suicide
■ 10-15% of people with severe depression will commit suicide
○ Feelings of worthlessness and guilt is too much of a burden so they want ‘a
way out’
■ More so if they think people around them don’t care
● Society
○ Amount of time missed from work
■ Health and Safety Executive estimated in 2014-15, 9.9 mil days of work
were missed due to stress, depression or anxiety
● Lack of motivation = can’t get up to go to work
■ Tiredness even after sleep
● Too much demand from work = choose to skip
● Missed work = guilt, guilt = adds onto depression
○ Cost of covering employees who are absent
○ Cost of treatment
■ Antidepressants costs, expensive to prescribe
■ Counselling and therapy costs, though needs time before they can be
qualified
■ NHS estimated that in 2007 GBP 1.7 bil was put into treating
depression alone, puts strain on serviices

Genetic explanation for unipolar depression

Evidence found that family members with depression poses a higher risk for other family
members to develop depression
● Suggests unipolar depression is genetic
● Though not everyone will get depression; only ones with specific genes
○ Craig Hyde et al (2016) found 17 different gene variations that were linked
with developing depression
○ Many different gene combinations that could lead to depression
■ Identifying people at risk will be challenging

Twin Studies
● Research that compares behaviour in groups of twins to see if there are similarities
between them
● Useful because monozygotic (identical twins) are 100% identical in genetic detail,
while dizygotic (fraternal twins) only share 50%
 ○ Good for looking at influence of genes in mental disorders

Issue and Debates: Nature vs Nurture

Biggest debate in psychology; what has the biggest effect on you?
● Is behaviour from a result of our biological make-up (nature)
● Is it influenced by the people and environment around us (nurture)
Relates to all behaviour: criminology, intelligence, psychological problems

Nature:
● Refers to the biological factors that may affect someone’s behaviour, set in place
before we are born
○ Eg. Genes inherited from parents
● Genes affect how our body will develop, appearances etc.
○ Some psychologists think our behavioural characteristics are hardwired by
genes
○ Eg. mental health problems, being a criminal, building relationships

Nurture:
● Refers to environmental factors that can influence someone’s behaviour, mostly
after we are born
○ Eg. environment we grow up with, watching family members around us and
their behaviours
● One way to look at it is as if we are born as a ‘blank slate’
○ Experiences and behaviours get written into us
○ Experiences influence our behaviour
■ Eg. watching domestic violence at home may lead the child to be
violent when they grow up

The debate:
Nature
● Caspi et al (2003) suggests genes have a strong influence
○ Found evidence in a specific gene (5-HTT) that could determine if someone
was likely to develop depression after somethings stressful
 ● Assuming becoming depressed / developing an addiction is due to genetics, helps us
understand why only some and not all people become depressed
○ If influenced by genes, however, changing behaviour will be more difficult
○ You cannot change someone’s genetic makeup
■ If someone has the 5-HTT gene, even after treatment, they may still
have a risk of relapsing

Nurture
● Cognitive explanation for depression + learning theory explanation for addiction
○ Both examples assume that psychological problems are learned as a results
of events in a person’s environment
○ Assuming they are learnt, they can be unlearnt
■ Forming basis of treatment
■ Explains why CBT is effective for both depression and addiction

Why not both?

● Caspi et al (2003) found a combination of the gene 5-HTT gene plus a stressful life
event could increase risk of depression
○ Genes make someone more susceptible to a mental health problem, then an
event from the environment will trigger the symptoms

How to structure 9 mark:

1. What is Nature - Ao1
a. + theory
b. Link to stimulus, eg. Jean’s Dad had experienced episodes of depression before…
Ao2
c. Link to study, eg. Twin studies of monozygotic twins…same genes… Ao3
2. What is Nurture -
3. Assess both: Which is it?
a. Not either or, both nature and nurture together add on to her depression
Criminality

Understanding Learning theories as an explanation

of Criminality

Identification and modelling process

● Attention: learning something new requires the ability and want to pay attention to
it
● Retention: ability to store and retain new behaviour in your memory
● Reproduction: to be able to model the new behaviour learnt, you need to be able
to reproduce it
○ Eg. seeing gymnast do a

Effects of Punishment on Recidivism

Restorative justice: a practice that involves the offender meeting with the victim
● Helps both offender and victim
○ Offender understands the repercussions of the crime they committed
○ The victim gains closure

Treatments to rehabilitate and reduce criminal

behaviour in prisons

Anger management programmes

● Designed to rehab offenders who committed crimes due to their anger
○ Similar to CBT
● Treatment involves offenders working with therapists
○ Tasked to identify triggers
○ Find ways to cope with feelings
○ Ability to resolve conflicts
 1) Cognitive preperation - offender has to reflect on their own anger
- What makes them angry
- Why they are angry
- Why beijing angry might be wrong
2) Skills acquisition - offender learns new skills to help control anger
- Relaxation techniques
- Assertiveness training (assert point without resorting to anger
3) Application practice - involves the offender roleplaying anger-triggering situations,
so offender can practise their new skills

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths Weaknesses

● Offenders are carefully selected ● Not all violent crimes are due to
○ Ensures treatment is anger
targeted towards the right ○ Could be an entirely different
group of people reason; calculated

● Treatment is effective to an extent ● Offenders can abuse the

○ Dowden et al (1999) found
that high risk offenders were
less likely to reoffend after
treatment; compared to
those who didn’t undergo
programme
○ Taught skills to control and
manage anger; but could
make them all the more
dangerous
○ Marnie Rice (1977)
suggested psychopaths (lack
of guilt or emotion) became
more effective in their crimes
after anger management
programmes as they can now
manipulate others better