Discuss one biological treatment and one psychological treatment for one or more psychological disorders.

Refer to the paper 2 assessment criteria when awarding marks. These can be found under the “Your tests” tab > supplemental materials.

The command term “discuss” requires candidates to offer a considered review of one biological and one psychological treatment for one or more psychological disorders.

The disorder(s) chosen is/are likely to come from the list in the guide:

• anxiety disorders
• depressive disorders
• obsessive compulsive disorders
• trauma and stress related disorders
• eating disorders.

Biological treatment could include, but is not limited to:

• drug therapy
• electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
• brain stimulation.

Psychological treatment could include, but is not limited to:

• Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Exposure and Systematic desensitization
• Virtual Reality Therapy (VRT)
• Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
• Group therapy.

Responses may refer to an interactionist approach or a biopsychosocial approach to treatment. These responses might refer to the interactionist approach as one treatment or argue that two treatments are used for helping patients with a disorder. Both approaches are equally acceptable and can be credited up to full marks.

Relevant studies may include, but are not limited to:

• Mason and Hargreaves’s (2011) qualitative investigation into the effectiveness of MBCT
• Butler et al.’s (2006) review of meta-analysis related to CBT efficacy
• Hodges and Oei’s (2007) discussion of the applicability of CBT to Chinese culture
• MacNamara et al.’s (2016) studying the effectiveness of SSRIs for PTSD
• Parsons and Rizzo’s (2008) meta-analysis of studies into the effectiveness of virtual reality therapy for PTSD.
• McLay et al.’s (2011) assessment of the effectiveness of VRT for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Discussion may include, but is not limited to:

• the effectiveness of the chosen treatment(s)
• the assumptions about etiology upon which the treatment is based with regard to the chosen disorder
• culture, gender, ethical, and/or practical considerations related to the use of treatment of the chosen disorder
• advantages and disadvantages of the treatment.

If a candidate discusses more than one biological treatment or more than one psychological treatment, credit should be given only to the first treatment.

This question was less popular than the other two questions in the Abnormal Psychology section but the quality of responses was often good. Stronger responses reflected an understanding of treatment methods and how the effectiveness of treatments can be assessed. There were some pleasing responses which indicated appreciation of difficulty of assessing the effectiveness of treatment and ethical considerations concerned with treatments/therapies. Weaker responses focused on etiology of disorders or research investigating factors leading to development of disorders but failing to link this to treatments.