Psychopathology Revision Guide AQA

A full revision guide for the AQA psychology specification, covering the Psychopathology topic.

This booklet contains all relevant A01 points, fully written A03 paragraphs, a set of practice essay questions, a set of practice exam questions, and a topic checklist.

This document can be used as revision, a method of knowledge consolidation, a basis for teaching, or as summer work for year 12- 13.

Contains every specification point:

• Definitions of abnormality: Deviation from Social Norms, Failure to Function Adequately, Deviation from Ideal Mental Health, Statistical Infrequency
• The behavioural, emotional and cognitive characteristics of phobias, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• The behavioural approach to explaining phobias: the two-process model, including classical and operant conditioning
• The behavioural approach to treating phobias: systematic desensitisation, including relaxation and use of hierarchy; flooding
• The cognitive approach to explaining depression: Beck’s negative triad and Ellis’s ABC model
• The cognitive approach to treating depression: cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), including challenging irrational thoughts
• The biological approach to explaining OCD: genetic and neural explanations
• The biological approach to treating OCD: drug therapy