Psychological Health and Wellbeing - TCE Psychology (Tasmania)
“Explain psychological health, disorder and treatment”
Psychological health is more than the absence of disorder; this topic covers how normality is defined, the biopsychosocial model of mental disorder, stress and conditions like anxiety and depression, and the main biological and psychological treatments.
What this dot point is asking
Defining normality and abnormality
There is no single definition of "abnormal" behaviour. Common approaches include:
- Statistical infrequency: behaviour that is rare in the population.
- Deviation from social norms: behaviour that breaks cultural rules.
- Failure to function adequately: behaviour that stops daily living.
- Deviation from ideal mental health: falling short of criteria such as self-acceptance and autonomy (Jahoda, 1958).
Each definition has limits; for example, rare behaviour can be desirable (high intelligence), and social norms vary across cultures, so clinicians use several criteria together. Mental health is best seen as a continuum rather than a simple healthy or ill split.
A model that explains mental health and disorder as the result of interacting biological factors (genes, brain chemistry), psychological factors (thoughts, learning) and social factors (relationships, culture, stress).
Models of mental disorder
- Biological (medical) model: disorders arise from physical causes such as genetics, neurotransmitter imbalance or brain structure. For example, low serotonin is linked to depression.
- Psychological models: the behavioural model sees disorders as learned (phobias acquired through classical conditioning); the cognitive model focuses on faulty or negative thinking (Beck's negative cognitive triad in depression); the psychodynamic model emphasises unconscious conflict.
- Sociocultural factors: poverty, isolation and discrimination contribute to disorder.
Stress
Stress is the response to demands (stressors) that tax our resources. Hans Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome describes three stages: alarm (sympathetic arousal), resistance (the body copes) and exhaustion (resources deplete, increasing illness risk). Lazarus and Folkman's transactional model stresses cognitive appraisal: stress depends on how a person evaluates a situation and their ability to cope. Coping can be problem-focused (changing the stressor) or emotion-focused (managing feelings).
Anxiety and depression
Anxiety disorders involve excessive fear; specific phobias can be explained behaviourally, as in the conditioning of "Little Albert" (Watson and Rayner, 1920). Major depressive disorder involves persistent low mood, loss of interest and changes to sleep and appetite. Beck's cognitive theory explains depression through negative views of the self, the world and the future.
The diathesis-stress model proposes that a person may have a predisposition (diathesis) to a disorder, often genetic, that only develops into a disorder when triggered by enough environmental stress. It explains why not everyone with a vulnerability becomes unwell.
Treatments
Biological treatments include medication, such as SSRIs that increase available serotonin to treat depression and anxiety. These can be effective but may have side effects and do not address underlying thoughts.
Psychological treatments include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which combines challenging unhelpful thoughts with changing behaviour, and is widely supported for depression and anxiety. Systematic desensitisation uses classical conditioning principles to gradually reduce phobias by pairing relaxation with a feared stimulus.
Promoting wellbeing
Protective factors include strong social support, exercise, adequate sleep, and resilience. Positive psychology focuses on building strengths and life satisfaction rather than only treating illness.
Read the task
Suggest a suitable psychological treatment for someone with a spider phobia and justify it.
Identify the cause of the phobia
A specific phobia is best explained as a learned association (classical conditioning): a neutral stimulus, the spider, became paired with fear. Matching the treatment to this learned cause is the key to the justification.
Apply systematic desensitisation
Systematic desensitisation suits a spider phobia. The client is taught relaxation, then gradually exposed to spiders through a fear hierarchy while staying relaxed. Because relaxation and fear cannot occur at the same time (reciprocal inhibition), the fear response is gradually replaced by calm, a process called counterconditioning.
Mental disorders rarely have one cause. The biopsychosocial and diathesis-stress models show biological, psychological and social factors interact. Avoid claiming, for example, that depression is caused only by low serotonin; brain chemistry, negative thinking and life stress all contribute.
Understanding wellbeing draws together biology, learning and social development from across the course into a holistic view of mental health.
Exam-style questions
Questions in the style of TASC exam questions on this dot point, each with a worked answer. They are written by ExamExplained unless tagged "Past paper"; the year shows the paper a question is modelled on.
Practice7 marksOutline the three stages of Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome and explain how Lazarus and Folkman's transactional model offers a different account of stress.Show worked answer →
This is a knowledge item marked on Criterion 3. Describe the stages, then contrast the second model.
- General Adaptation Syndrome (Selye)
- A biological model with three stages. Alarm: the body reacts to a stressor with sympathetic nervous system arousal (the fight-or-flight response). Resistance: the body adapts and copes while arousal stays elevated. Exhaustion: if the stressor continues, physical resources deplete, raising the risk of illness.
- Transactional model (Lazarus and Folkman)
- This model stresses cognitive appraisal: stress depends on how the person evaluates the demand (primary appraisal) and their ability to cope (secondary appraisal). The same event is stressful for one person and not another.
- The difference
- Selye's model is largely physiological and treats stress as a general bodily response, whereas the transactional model is psychological and emphasises individual interpretation. Together they show stress has both biological and cognitive components.
Markers reward the three correctly described stages and a clear account of how appraisal makes the transactional model different.
Practice10 marksUsing the biopsychosocial model, explain the possible causes of major depressive disorder. Evaluate the use of CBT compared with medication as a treatment.Show worked answer →
This is an extended-response item marked on Criteria 3 and 7. Explain causes across the three domains, then evaluate two treatments.
- Biopsychosocial causes
- Biological: genetic vulnerability and low serotonin activity. Psychological: Beck's negative cognitive triad (negative views of the self, world and future) and learned helplessness. Social: isolation, loss, poverty or chronic stress. The diathesis-stress model explains why a vulnerability becomes a disorder only when enough stress is present.
- CBT versus medication
- CBT challenges unhelpful thoughts and changes behaviour; it is well supported, addresses the underlying cognitions and has lasting effects with low relapse, but it requires effort, time and a skilled therapist. Medication (SSRIs) raises available serotonin, works relatively quickly and suits severe cases, but it manages symptoms rather than causes, can have side effects, and relapse is common once stopped.
- Judgement
- Because depression is multi-causal, a balanced answer favours combining treatments for moderate-to-severe cases (medication to stabilise, CBT to change thinking), which fits the biopsychosocial model better than either alone.
Markers reward causes across all three domains, a balanced two-treatment evaluation, and a judgement linked back to the model.