11A, 11B, 11C
13A, 13B
13C
14A
100
Frank has been attending therapy sessions and has also been prescribed benzodiazepines. With reference to the mental health continuum, where would Frank most likely be categorised? (1 mark)
Mental health disorder
100
Liam tells his friend Harry that whenever he thinks about spiders, he thinks he is going to have a heart attack. This thinking is an example of _______. (1 mark)
Cognitive bias- catastrophic thinking
100
Identify and explain one social intervention used to complement other treatment strategies for phobia. (2 marks).
Psychoeducation for families and supporters involves teaching individuals to better understand mental disorders and how to deal with them.
There are two important teachings:
Challenging unrealistic or anxious thoughts
Not encouraging avoidant behaviours
100
Define resilience (1 mark).
Resilience refers to the ability to adapt to the environment and cope when stressors arise in order to return to a functioning state
It is considered a protective factor and an asset for good mental health.
200
Earl is feeling stressed about becoming a father in the next few months. He has been having trouble sleeping but is still going to work each day and often goes skateboarding with his friend Tyler. With reference to the mental health continuum, identify and explain where Earl would likely sit. (2 marks)
In spite of his feelings of stress and struggle to sleep, Earl would be considered mentally healthy as he is able to function independently and effectively in his environment. This is evident as he is actively going to work and spending time with friends, also highlighting high social wellbeing.
200
Disitinguish between stress, anxiety, and phobia. (3 marks)
Stress refers to a state of physiological and psychological arousal produced by internal or external stressors that are perceived by the individual as challenging or exceeding their ability to cope.
On the other hand, anxiety refers to a state of physiological and psychological arousal that involves feelings of worry, unease or apprehension. It is usually directed at something in the future which may be a threat.
Finally, phobia is characterised by excessive or unreasonable fear of a particular object or situation. The fear response is out of proportion to the actual danger posed. For example animals, enclosed spaces, heights etc.
200
Justin has a phobia and his doctor advises him that before putting him on medication, he wants him to try and exercise once a day. Explain why the doctor may have suggested this. (2 marks).
Exercise is considered a biological treatment for phobia, and can be used to reduce an individual’s experience of physiological and psychological stress. It can be used of ‘work off’ hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline that may contribute to feelings of anxiety. The doctor may want to try this to see if it helps Justin prior to putting him on medication.
200
Nick and Kevin are both personal trainers who work out every day, and follow a strict diet with a range of foods and no alcohol. They both work from 6am-3pm so tend to be in bed by 10pm each night to feel well rested. Explain how these factors may make Nick and Kevin more resilient in the face of adversity. (2 marks)
Nick and Kevin both seemingly have adequate diets and adequate sleep.
These act as a biological protective factor for them in the face of adversity, thus increasing their resilience to stressors.
300
Jasper takes part in an experiment trialling the effect of a new drug being used to treat major depressive disorder. He is in the control group and is therefore given a placebo to take for 6 weeks. With reference to ethical considerations, explain why this may be a problem for Jasper. (2 marks).
The biggest issue with using placebo treatment in mental health research is that sometimes patients have to stop taking their active medication to take a placebo treatment instead.
In this instance, Jasper may have been denied 'real’ treatment. This could be harmful as his depressive symptoms may get worse during the 6 weeks.
300
Harry has a diagnosed phobia of dancing and avoids public gatherings. He misses his sister's wedding because of his fear, and finds that staying home makes him feel most calm and in control. Explain the role of operant conditioning in the perpetuation of Harry's phobia. (3 marks)
Harry avoids the fear producing phobic stimulus (dancing), therefore reducing his anxiety and therefore the avoidant behaviour is negatively reinforced, making the behaviour more likely to be repeated.
As such the phobia persists through time and is maintained as avoiding the phobic stimulus does not allow Harry to deal with or get rid of his phobia.
300
Distinguish between the cognitive and behavioural components of CBT (2 marks).
The cognitive component aims to develop a new understanding that someone's feared stimuli are not dangerous and therefore their avoidance strategies are unnecessary, whereas the behavioural component of CBT involves using behavioural strategies that will help to reduce the anxiety an individual feels towards the phobic stimulus eg: breathing techniques or muscle relaxation.
300
Brian is grateful because he feels as though he has a strong support network. When he has issues with work, he often talks to his dad. When he has issues with his girlfriend, he often vents to his friend AJ. Explain why having a wide support network is important. (3 marks).
Brian is getting support from both family and friends. This is considered a social protective factor that increases resilience. It is important to have a wide support network as family, friends, and the community provide you with different types of support.
For example, family can provide you with unconditional love when you make a mistake whereas friends can provide you with different levels of intimacy and fun and exciting experiences.
400
Earl considers himself as someone who has high social and emotional wellbeing. Describe how this may be the case. (4 marks)
Social wellbeing refers to refers to the ability for an individual to form bonds with others and form positive relationships. Earl may display high social wellbeing by engaging with others socially (i.e. spending time with friends appropriately).
Emotional wellbeing refers to the ability for an individual to appropriately control and express their own emotions in an adaptive way, as well as understand the emotions of others. Earl may display high emotional wellbeing by talking to someone about how he is feeling.
400
Zayn developed a phobia of monkeys because he was attacked by one at the monkey forest in Bali. Explain the potential role of classical conditioning in the development of Zayn's phobia. (3 marks)
Classical conditioning can contribute to the development of phobias (known as precipitation). It occurs when an innate naturally occurring fear response (UCR) eventually becomes a conditioned fear response (CR).
In Zayn's case, he has developed a CR of fear to the CS of monkeys as they have been associated with a UCS of pain.
400
Describe the role of benzodiazepines in the treatment of phobias. (4 marks)
Benzodiazepines are a type of short-acting, anti-anxiety medication that act to control the over excitation of neural pathways. They are considered a biological treatment for phobia.
They work by amplifying the inhibitory role of GABA at the synapse.
Benzodiazepines are considered an agonist as they mimic the GABA neurotransmitter by binding to and activating the receptor sites of neurons.
The ability of agonists to bind to a receptor site relies on the lock and key process.
400
Identify and explain social protective factors (reference A TIE) (4 marks).
500
Syd is completing her first year of university. She has recently been worried about whether she should change to another degree. Her energy levels have been lower and she is finding it difficult to motivate herself to do any study. Syd’s friends have noticed she doesn’t want to go out with them as much as she used to. She has decided to continue to go to classes until she decides what to do.
Taco is also completing his first year university. He is finding it difficult to make it to class and gets very distressed; instead he is sleeping a lot during the day or watching TV. He won’t see any of his friends and he isn’t eating much.
Explain why Syd would be diagnosed with a mental health problem and Taco would be diagnosed with a mental health disorder. (4 marks)
Syd would be diagnosed with a mental heath problem as she is experiencing personal difficulties (low motivation) but is still able to function in her everyday life (continuing to go to class). Taco would be diagnosed with a mental disorder as he is experiencing personal difficulties (distress going to class/not seeing his friends) and is having difficulty functioning in everyday life (sleeping a lot, not eating properly).
500
Niall and Louis both have phobias of clowns. Niall developed his phobia when he was 7 and attended a birthday party where the clown jumped out and scared him. Louis developed his phobia when he first watched the movie IT. Describe the social contributing factors relevant to the development of Niall and Louis' phobias. (4 marks).
Niall and Louis both had specific environmental triggers that contributed to the development of their phobias. These refer to stimuli or experiences in a person’s environment that prompt an extreme stress response, leading to the development of phobia.
In Niall's case, he had direct confrontation with the trigger at the birthday party with a clown.
In Louis' case, he learned about the traumatic stimulus indirectly through a movie.
500
Joey's psychologist is working with him to eliminate his specific phobia of pink highlighters. She decides to use systematic desensitisation as she thinks it will help him overcome his fears in the long term. Describe the process the psychologist would undertake to perform systematic desensitisation on Joey. (4 marks)
The psychologist would have to undertake four key steps. The first would be to teach Joey effective relaxation techniques.
After this, Joey would need to come up with a fear hierarchy (a list of anxiety inducing experiences in order from easiest to most difficult to confront). This could include for example, using a pink highlighter as the most difficult, to seeing a picture of a pink highlighter as the least difficult.
The psychologist would then gradually expose Joey to the stimulus, and continue the exposure until the most fear inducing stimulus can be faced without the phobic response.
500
Howie feels as though he is the least important member of his band and begins to exclude himself from practice. Explain how cognitive and behavioural strategies could be used to increase Howie's resilience. (4 marks).
Cognitive restructuring: replacing dysfunctional thoughts with more helpful cognitions.
For example, Howie could think positively about the fact that everyone in the band has a crucial role to play and no one person is more important than the other.
This is likely to make Howie feel less worried about his role and his behaviour will be to continue going to practice.
Other behavioural techniques could include breathing and relaxation training whnever Howie is feeling stressed.