Psychological Models in Mental Health PDF

**[Core Principles]** **[Psychological Models In Mental Health]** [What is a Model:] Used in two ways in cognitive science: - Stimulation: an experimental model - Theory: an explanation [Experimental Model:] - Generation or discovery of a physical, conceptual or mathematical represe...

**[Core Principles]** **[Psychological Models In Mental Health]** [What is a Model:] Used in two ways in cognitive science: - Stimulation: an experimental model - Theory: an explanation [Experimental Model:] - Generation or discovery of a physical, conceptual or mathematical representation [Computational Model:] - Lower-level aspect of function -- like brain states -- to produce specific behaviour or outcome - Computational model can be altered to stimulate "damage" to see results - Easily modifiable, runs in software, relatively cheap Disadvantages: - Only as good as knowledge base on which they're based - Danger of over-simplification of key-concepts - Particularly with connectionist models [Animal Models:] - Agreeing an "analogue" - Measured in genetically, surgically or chemically altered animals to test theories about depression - Can involve animals with specific conditioning or learning Disadvantages: - Pain and suffering to the animals - Assumptions about similarities of behaviour or mechanisms may not generalise - Especially in psychiatry, difficult to create analogues of subjective mental states [Behavioural Measures: ] Depression: - Futile tail suppression or forced swimming - More time immobile indicative of depression PTSD/Anxiety: - Fear conditioning -- Freezing response - Predator-Stress model -- unescapable contact with threat - Increased avoidance, exaggerated fear, hyper arousal [Pharmacological Models:] - Can be used in animals and/or humans depending on the compound - Designed to test theories rather than the drug - E.g., Ketamine model of psychosis (works on glutamatergic system) Disadvantages: - Induce short-lived states as models of chronic conditions - Not clear where limits of generalisation lie - Procedurally difficult research to conduct [Experimental Models:] - Typically involved tasks that lead to specific behaviours or experiences in the lab which can then be tested: - Mood induction - Sensory deprivation model of hallucinations - Trauma film model of flashbacks - Latent inhibition Disadvantages: - Very mild version of full experience - Risk of "seems like" model rather than one that reflects both experience and mechanism - Sensitive to context [What makes a good model:] - Face validity - Predictive validity - Construct validity - Diagnostic validity [Clinical Maintenance Models:] - Associated with specific therapies [Cognitive Science Models:] - Associated with scientific approaches to understanding difficulties [Interventionist Causal Approach:] - Using interventions to look for changes in outcome as a way of understanding causal components - Agnostic to which level you're working on