Clinical Psychology

What Clinical Psychology covers

Compulsory on Paper 2. It covers how mental disorder is diagnosed and classified, schizophrenia and one other disorder from anorexia, OCD and depression, their treatments, and the HCPC framework, case-study, interview and analytical methods clinical research uses.

The 29 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Diagnosing mental disorders and the four DsRecall questions on deviance, dysfunction, distress and danger, why statistical rarity and social deviance are not enough alone, why no single criterion suffices, and how classification systems operationalise the symptoms.Open →
• The DSM and ICD classification systemsRecall questions on what the DSM and ICD are, how they differ, and the reliability and validity of the diagnoses they produce.Open →
• Symptoms and features of schizophreniaRecall questions on thought insertion, auditory hallucinations, paranoid and grandiose delusions and delusions of reference, derailment, word salad and poverty of speech, and how positive symptoms differ from negative ones.Open →
• Explanations of schizophreniaRecall questions on the dopamine hypothesis and its drug evidence, twin concordance, enlarged ventricles and reduced prefrontal and temporal volume, expressed emotion, the cognitive and social causation explanations, glutamate dysfunction and double-bind theory.Open →
• Anorexia nervosa: symptoms and explanationsRecall questions on the core symptoms of anorexia nervosa, physical effects such as amenorrhoea, lanugo, bradycardia and hypotension, serotonin and genetic explanations, and social learning and cognitive explanations such as media influence, dichotomous thinking and perfectionism.Open →
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder: symptoms and explanationsRecall questions on obsessions, unwanted thoughts and harm doubts, washing, counting and mental-ritual compulsions and how negative reinforcement maintains them, the serotonin hypothesis, orbitofrontal and caudate abnormalities, and the cognitive-behavioural account of intrusive thoughts.Open →
• Unipolar depression: symptoms and explanationsRecall questions on the symptoms of unipolar depression from anhedonia, low mood and suicidal ideation to sleep, appetite and psychomotor changes, Beck's cognitive triad, the monoamine hypothesis, twin and genetic evidence, and learned helplessness.Open →
• Treatments for schizophrenia and the second disorderRecall questions on typical and atypical antipsychotics, CBT for psychosis and family therapy for schizophrenia, SSRIs and CBT for depression, SSRIs and exposure and response prevention for OCD, and olanzapine, family-based therapy and CBT-E for anorexia, with the trial evidence for each.Open →
• Individual differences in clinical psychologyRecall questions on comorbidity, symptom overlap, gender differences in diagnosis, and the diathesis-stress model.Open →
• Developmental psychology in clinical psychologyRecall questions on genetic and biochemical explanations of schizophrenia, twin and adoption evidence, and the typical age of onset.Open →
• HCPC guidelines for clinical practitionersRecall questions on the standards of conduct, performance and ethics, confidentiality, competence and fitness to practise.Open →
• Researching mental healthRecall questions on longitudinal, cross-sectional and cross-cultural designs, meta-analysis, and primary against secondary data.Open →
• Case studies in clinical psychologyRecall questions on what a case study yields, the Lavarenne et al. (2013) example, and the strengths and weaknesses of the method.Open →
• Interviews in clinical psychologyRecall questions on structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews, Vallentine et al.'s (2010) interviews with detained offender patients, the strengths of interviews, social desirability bias, and the ethics of interviewing clinical populations.Open →
• Choosing an inferential testRecall questions on when chi-squared, Spearman's rho, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the Mann-Whitney U test are used, the data and designs each requires, why non-parametric tests are chosen, and how the Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney U tests differ.Open →
• Descriptive statistics, levels of measurement and significanceRecall questions on descriptive and inferential statistics, measures of central tendency and dispersion, nominal, ordinal and interval or ratio data, comparing observed with critical values for each test, and how data type, design and hypothesis direction guide test choice.Open →
• Thematic analysis and grounded theoryRecall questions on the stages of thematic analysis from generating codes to naming themes, and on grounded theory: iterative collection and analysis, constant comparison, theoretical saturation, open, axial and selective coding, and how it differs from thematic analysis.Open →
• Classic study: Rosenhan (1973)Recall questions on the eight pseudopatients, the single symptom reported, the length of admission, the follow-up study, and what it showed about labelling.Open →
• Contemporary study: Carlsson et al. (2000)Recall questions on why the simple dopamine hypothesis was insufficient, the role of glutamate, and the therapeutic implications.Open →
• Contemporary study: Kroenke et al. (2008)Recall questions on the PHQ-8, how it differs from the PHQ-9, the cut-off used, and its value in population surveys.Open →
• Contemporary study: Williams et al. (2013)Recall questions on cognitive bias modification, why imagery was used, the randomised design, and the outcome.Open →
• Contemporary study: Scott-Van Zeeland et al. (2013)Recall questions on the EPHX2 gene, the sequencing and replication method, and what it contributes to explaining anorexia.Open →
• Contemporary study: Guardia et al. (2012)Recall questions on the aperture task, the dissociation between judging one's own body and another's, and the implications for body image.Open →
• Contemporary study: Masellis et al. (2003)Recall questions on the effect of obsessions, compulsions and comorbid depression on quality of life in OCD.Open →
• Contemporary study: March et al. (2004) POTSRecall questions on the four conditions, the 112 young people, sertraline, and why the combination performed best.Open →
• Key question in clinical psychologyRecall questions on mental health in the workplace as a key question, applying the four Ds, Rosenhan's labelling, explanations, treatments and cultural sensitivity to it, and on drugs against therapy for schizophrenia and stigma as further key questions.Open →
• Practical investigation in clinical psychologyRecall questions on content analysis of attitudes to mental health, summative analysis, coding units and categories, comparing two sources, inter-rater reliability and ethics, and why a student practical cannot use clinical participants.Open →
• Issues and debates in clinical psychologyRecall questions on ethics with vulnerable participants, reductionism, nature and nurture, cultural bias in diagnosis, and social sensitivity.Open →
• Comparing the classic studiesThe five classic studies of Topics 1 to 5 compared on method, sample and ethics, and reviewed through issues and debates: reductionism, social sensitivity, culture and gender, science, development over time and social control.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Clinical Psychology further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Deviance, as a criterion for diagnosing mental disorders, vs Dysfunction, as a criterion for diagnosing mental disorders,

  Deviance, as a criterion for diagnosing mental disorders,: behaviour, thoughts or emotions that differ significantly from what is considered acceptable or typical within a given culture or society. Dysfunction, as a criterion for diagnosing mental disorders,: Dysfunction means impairment in a person's ability to carry out normal daily activities such as work, relationships or self-care.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What are the 'four Ds' used in the diagnosis of mental disorders?

   Model answer

   Deviance, Dysfunction, Distress, and Danger.

2. 2

   What is the purpose of applying the four Ds criteria in clinical psychology?

   Model answer

   To determine whether behaviour or experience constitutes a psychological disorder.

3. 3

   Define deviance in the context of diagnosing mental disorders.

   Model answer

   Behaviour, thoughts or emotions that differ significantly from what is considered acceptable or typical within a given culture or society.

4. 4

   Why is statistical deviance alone insufficient for diagnosing a mental disorder?

   Model answer

   Because some statistically rare behaviours are positive or neutral rather than indicative of disorder.

5. 5

   Give an example of why statistical rarity cannot be the sole basis for diagnosis.

   Model answer

   High intelligence or exceptional creativity are statistically rare but are positive traits, not disorders.

6. 6

   Why must social deviance be considered within cultural context when diagnosing disorders?

   Model answer

   Because norms vary across societies and time periods, so what is considered deviant differs between cultures.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Clinical Psychology revision questions

What does Clinical Psychology cover in Edexcel A-Level Psychology?

29 subtopics: diagnosing mental disorders and the four ds, the dsm and icd classification systems, symptoms and features of schizophrenia, explanations of schizophrenia, anorexia nervosa: symptoms and explanations, obsessive-compulsive disorder: symptoms and explanations, unipolar depression: symptoms and explanations, treatments for schizophrenia and the second disorder, individual differences in clinical psychology, developmental psychology in clinical psychology, hcpc guidelines for clinical practitioners, researching mental health, case studies in clinical psychology, interviews in clinical psychology, choosing an inferential test, descriptive statistics, levels of measurement and significance, thematic analysis and grounded theory, classic study: rosenhan (1973), contemporary study: carlsson et al. (2000), contemporary study: kroenke et al. (2008), contemporary study: williams et al. (2013), contemporary study: scott-van zeeland et al. (2013), contemporary study: guardia et al. (2012), contemporary study: masellis et al. (2003), contemporary study: march et al. (2004) pots, key question in clinical psychology, practical investigation in clinical psychology, issues and debates in clinical psychology and comparing the classic studies. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Clinical Psychology organised?

By the Edexcel 9PS0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.