PY358 Final Exam Terms

schizophrenia

Devastating psychotic disorder that may involve characteristic disturbances in thinking (delusions), perception (hallucinations), speech, emotions, and behavior.

catatonia

Disorder of movement involving immobility or excited agitation. Sometimes accompanies psychotic disorders or mood disorders.

avolition

Apathy, or the inability to initiate or persist in important activities.

anhedonia

Inability to experience pleasure, associated with some mood and schizophrenic disorders.

alogia

Deficiency in the amount or content of speech, a disturbance often seen in people with schizophrenia.

flat affect

Apparently emotionless demeanor (including toneless speech and vacant gaze) when a reaction would be expected.

schizophreniform disorder

Psychotic disorder involving the symptoms of schizophrenia but lasting less than 6 months.

delusional disorder

Psychotic disorder featuring a persistent belief contrary to reality (delusion) but no other symptoms of schizophrenia.

schizoaffective disorder

Psychotic disorder featuring symptoms of both schizophrenia and major mood disorder.

attenuated psychosis syndrome

Disorder involving the onset of psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, which puts a person at high risk for schizophrenia; designated for further study by DSM-5.

substance-induced psychotic disorder

Psychosis caused by the ingestion of medications, psychoactive drugs, or toxins.

brief psychotic disorder

Psychotic disturbance involving delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech or behavior but lasting less than 1 month; often occurs in reaction to a stressor.

hallucinations

Perception without sensory input.

delusions

Fixed beliefs that would be seen by most as a misinterpretation of reality.

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Developmental disorder featuring maladaptive levels of inattention, excessive activity, and impulsiveness.

specific learning disorder

Neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by academic performance that is substantially below what would be expected given the person’s age, intelligence quotient (IQ) score, and education.

Autism spectrum disorder

A neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant impairment in social interactions and communication and restricted patterns of behavior, interest, and activity.

childhood disintegrative disorder

A pervasive developmental disorder involving severe regression in language, adaptive behavior, and motor skills after a 2- to 4-year period of normal development.

Rett disorder

Progressive neurodevelopmental disorder featuring constant hand-wringing, intellectual disability, and impaired motor skills.

joint attention

Attention shared by two persons toward an object after one person has indicated interest in the object to the other person; this social interaction is limited or absent in people with autism spectrum disorder.

childhood-onset fluency disorder

Repetitions of words or parts of words, as well as prolongations of speech sounds.

language disorder

Getting one’s meaning or message across to others (expressive language disorder), or understanding the message coming from others (receptive language disorder).

Tourette’s disorder

Developmental disorder featuring multiple dysfunctional motor and vocal tics.

naturalistic teaching strategies

Instructional techniques that are used with children having neurodevelopmental disorders and that move away from traditional desk instruction toward more natural social interactions.

cultural–familial intellectual disability

Mild intellectual disability that may be caused largely by environmental influences.

Lesch-Nyhan syndrome

X-linked disorder characterized by intellectual disability, signs of cerebral palsy, and self-injurious behavior.

phenylketonuria (PKU)

Recessive disorder involving the inability to break down a food chemical whose buildup causes intellectual disability, seizures, and behavior problems. PKU can be detected by infant screening and prevented by a specialized diet.

Down syndrome

Type of intellectual disability caused by a chromosomal aberration (chromosome 21) and involving characteristic physical appearance. Sometimes known as trisomy 21.

fragile X syndrome

Pattern of abnormality caused by a defect in the X chromosome resulting in intellectual disability, learning problems, and unusual physical characteristics.

delirium

Rapid-onset reduced clarity of consciousness and cognition, with confusion, disorientation, and deficits in memory and language.

Major neurocognitive disorder

Gradual deterioration of brain functioning that affects memory, judgment, language, and other advanced cognitive processes.

mild neurocognitive disorder

Modest impairment in cognitive abilities that can be overcome with accommodations such as extensive lists or elaborate schedules.

agnosia

Inability to recognize and name objects; may be a symptom of major neurocognitive disorder or other brain disorders.

facial agnosia

Type of agnosia characterized by a person’s inability to recognize even familiar faces.

neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease

Condition resulting from a disease that develops most often in people 50 and older, characterized by multiple cognitive defects that develop gradually and steadily.

vascular neurocognitive disorder

Progressive brain disorder involving loss of cognitive functioning, caused by blockage of blood flow to the brain, that appears concurrently with other neurological signs and symptoms.

frontotemporal neurocognitive disorder

Condition that damages the frontal or temporal regions of the brain; behavior or language is negatively affected.

Pick’s disease

Rare condition that results in early onset neurocognitive disorder.

neurocognitive disorder due to traumatic brain injury

Condition resulting from jarring of the brain caused by a blow to the head or other impact; symptoms persist for at least a week after the initial trauma.

neurocognitive disorder due to Lewy body disease

Neurological impairment that affects people with Lewy body disease, in which protein deposits damage brain cells and gradually cause motor impairments and loss of alertness.

neurocognitive disorder due to Parkinson’s disease

Disorder characterized by progressive decline in motor movements; results from damage to dopamine pathways.

neurocognitive disorder due to HIV infection

Less common type of neurocognitive disorder that affects people who have HIV; may lead to impaired thinking in advanced stages.

aphasia

Impairment or loss of language skills resulting from brain damage caused by stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, or other illness or trauma.

neurocognitive disorder due to Huntington’s disease

Neurological disorder that follows a subcortical pattern and is notable for causing involuntary limb movements.

neurological disorder due to prion disease

Rare progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by prions, proteins that can reproduce themselves and cause damage to brain cells.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Extremely rare type of prion disease that may result from a number of sources, including the consumption of beef from cattle with “mad cow disease.”

substance/medication-induced neurocognitive disorder

Brain damage caused by prolonged use of drugs, often in combination with a poor diet.

deterministic

In genetics, genes that lead to nearly a 100% chance of developing the associated disorder. These are rare in the population.

susceptibility

In genetics, genes that only slightly increase the risk of developing the disorder, but in contrast to the deterministic genes, these are more common in the general population.

Cognitive Reserve Hypothesis

Individuals with higher educational, occupational, or intellectual engagement can better withstand brain aging or pathology, such as Alzheimer's, delaying clinical symptoms.

civil commitment laws

Legal proceedings that determine a person is mentally disordered and may be hospitalized, even involuntarily.

mental illness

Term formerly used to mean psychological disorder but less preferred because it implies that the causes of the disorder can be found in a medical disease process.

deinstitutionalization

Systematic removal of people with severe mental illness or intellectual disability from institutions like psychiatric hospitals.

transinstitutionalization

Movement of people with severe mental illness from large psychiatric hospitals to smaller group residences.

criminal commitment

Legal procedure by which a person found not guilty of a crime by reason of insanity must be confined in a psychiatric hospital.

diminished capacity

Evidence of an abnormal mental condition in people that causes criminal charges against them requiring intent or knowledge to be reduced to lesser offenses requiring only reckless or criminal neglect.

competence (to stand trial)

Ability of legal defendants to participate in their own defense and understand the charges and the roles of the trial participants.

expert witnesses

Person who because of special training and experience is allowed to offer opinion testimony in legal trials.

clinical efficacy axis

One of a proposed set of guidelines for evaluating clinical interventions on the evidence of their effectiveness (compare with clinical utility axis).

clinical utility axis

One of a proposed set of guidelines for evaluating clinical interventions by whether they can be applied effectively and cost effectively in real clinical settings (compare with clinical efficacy axis).

Mens rea

"Guilty mind," is the mental state a defendant must possess—such as intention, knowledge, recklessness, or negligence—to be held criminally liable for a prohibited act.

Flynn Effect

The substantial, long-term increase in fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores measured in many parts of the world over the 20th century, averaging about 3 IQ points per decade.