And here is another Psychology Sorted review sheet. This Abnormal Psychology review sheet on major depressive disorder will help you to match the studies and arguments to the questions, in time for your May 2024 revision. I’ve started completing it just to give you the idea, and of course it can easily be adapted to fit other disorders. More to follow soon!
Ketamine, so much more than ‘Special K’
Ketamine has been shown to reduce depression within minutes.
Cultural bias in diagnosis
(This post gives the example of schizophrenia from some A-level courses. IB Diploma students should use depression instead.) Cultural bias is highly relevant in the content area of psychopathology (abnormal psychology), especially in the definition of abnormality as ‘deviation from social norms.’ This creates the question of whose social norms? Behaviours that may seem normal in one culture are sometimes … Read More
Taking a holistic approach to the course
I have been trying over the past few years to do this, and am sometimes asked what I mean by ‘a holistic approach.’ The easy way is to demonstrate using an example. If you are teaching/studying the abnormal psychology option, for instance, you will probably be doing this after you have spent some time looking at the core approaches to … Read More
Planning your course effectively – more overlaps
Similarly to the biological approach, there are many overlaps between the cognitive approach and the options of abnormal psychology, development, health and human relationships. For example, the psychology of cognitive processes and their reliability can explain clinical biases in diagnosis of disorders, debates regarding the etiology of disorders and also inform their treatment. Watch out for more of these!