Abnormal Psychology

Psychological Disorder

Dysfunction within an individual associated with distress or impairment in functioning and a response that is not typical or culturally expected

Psychological Dysfunction

Breakdown in cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning

Distress/Impairment

Extreme upset, impaired functioning, or extreme expressions of emotions, behaviors, and cognitive processes

Atypical or Not Culturally Expected

Occurs infrequently, a deviation or violation of social norms

Prototype

Typical profile of a disorder

Psychopathology

Study of psychological disorders

Clinical Description

Unique combination of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings that make up a specific disorder

Prevalence

Number of people in the population as a whole have the disorder

Incidence

Number of new cases during a given period

Course

Individual pattern of a disorder

Chronic

Tend to last a long time, sometimes a lifetime

Episodic

Likely to recover within a few months only to suffer a recurrence at a later time

Time-limited

Disorder will improve without treatment in a relatively short period

Onset

Period in which symptoms of a disease or disorder first appear in an individual

Acute Onset

Begins suddenly

Insidious

Symptoms appear gradually over an extended period

Prognosis

Anticipated course of a disorder

Life-span Developmental Psychopathology

Study of abnormal behavior across the entire age span

Etiology

Study of the origins of a disorder which includes biological, psychological, and social dimensions

Nicholas Oresme

Suggested that the disease of melancholy was the source of some bizarre behavior rather than demons

Mass Hysteria

Phenomenon of emtion contagion where the experience of an emotion seems to spread to those around us

Paracelsus

Suggested that the movements of moon and stars had effect on people's psychological functioning

Hippocrates

Suggested that psychological disorders could be treated like any other disease

Galen

Assumed that normal functioning was related to four bodily fluids or humors

Sanguine

(Blood) Ruddy in complexion, cheerful and optimistic

Melancholic

(Black bile) Depressive

Phlegmatic

(Phlegm) Apathy and sluggishness or being calm under stress

Choleric

(Yellow bile) Hot tempered

Hysteria

Thought of as wandering uterus, now known as somatic symptom disorders

Psychosis

Psychological disorders characterized in part by beliefs and perceptions not based in reality

John P. Grey

Believed that the cause of insanity was always physical so mentally ill patients should be treated as physically ill

Manfred Sakel

Proponent of insulin shock therapy, used increasingly higher dosage of insulin until patients convulsed and became temporarily comatose

Benjamin Franklin

Discovered that a mild and modest electric shock to the head produced brief convulsion and memory loss but otherwise did little harm

Joseph von Meduna

Followers induced brain seizures to cure schizophrenia

Ugo Cerletti and Lucio Bini

Treated a depressed patient by sending six small shocks directly through his brain

Reserpine and Neuroleptics

Found to decrease hallucinatory and delusional thought processes in some patients

Benzodiazepines

Found to reduce anxiety

Emil Kraepelin

One of the founding fathers of modern psychiatry, one of the first to distinguish among various psychological disorders

Psychosocial Treatment

Focused not only on psychological factors but also on social and cultural ones

Moral Therapy

Involves treating institutionalized patients as normally as possible in a setting that encouraged and reinforced normal social interaction

Mental Hygiene Movement

Reform for the conditions imposed on patients with insanity

Multidimensional Integrative Approach

Involves biological, psychological, emotional, social, and other dimensions in a psychological disorder

Systematic Perspective

Any particular influence cannot be considered out of context

Linear Causal Model

Focusing only on one single dimension

Genes

Long molecules of DNA at various locations or chromosomes

Genome

Complete set of genes

Quantitative Genetics

Tiny effects across many genes

Molecular Genetics

Study of actual structure of genes

Eric Kandel

Proposed that genetic structure of cells may change through learning

Diathesis-Stress Model

Individuals inherit tendencies to express certain traits or behaviors activated with stress

5-HTT Gene

Chemical transporter that affects serotonin transmission

Gene-Environment Correlation Model

Genetically determined tendency to create the very environmental risk factors that trigger genetic vulnerability

Epigenetics

Environmental factors can affect genetic material

Excitatory Neurotransmitters

Increase the likelihood that the connecting neuron will fire

Inhibitory Neurotransmitters

Decrease the likelihood that the connecting neuron will fire

Forebrain

Part of the brain that is more advanced and has recently evolved

Hindbrain

Regulates many automatic activities

Cerebellum

Controls balance and maintains muscle coordination

Midbrain

Coordinates movements with sensory input

Reticular Activating System

Contributes to processes of arousal and tension

Hypothalamus

Regulates the amount of fear, thirst, sexual drive, and aggression we feel

Pituitary Gland

Regulates other endocrine glands

Hippocampus

Plays a role in our learning, memory, and ability to compare sensory information to expectations

Medulla

Part of the hindbrain that controls heartbeat, breathing, and swallowing

Corpus Callosum

Connects left and right hemisphere of the brain

Cerebral Cortex

Controls complex thought processes; provides us with our distinctly human qualities, allowing us to look to the future and plan, to reason, and to create

Thalamus

Part of the forebrain that relays information from sensory organs to the cerebral cortex

Pons

Part of the hindbrain that relays messages between the cerebellum and the cortex

1. Hippocampus

2. Cingulate gyrus

3. Septum

4. Amygdala

What forms the limbic system?

Amygdala

Influences our motivation, emotional control, fear response and interpretations of nonverbal emotional expressions

Cingulate Cortex

Primary cortical component of the limbic system, involved in emotional and cognitive processing

Temporal Lobe

Associated with recognizing various sights and sounds and with long-term memory storage

Parietal Lobe

Associated with recognizing various sensations of touch and monitoring body positioning

Occipital Lobe

Associated with integrating and making sense of various visual inputs

Frontal Lobe

Area responsible for higher cognitive functions such as thinking and reasoning

Autonomic Nervous System

Automatically regulates glands, internal organs and blood vessels, pupil dilation, digestion, and blood pressure

Somatic Nervous System

Carries sensory information and controls movement of the skeletal muscles

Parasympathetic Division

Maintains body functions under ordinary conditions; saves energy

Sympathetic Division

Prepares the body to react and expend energy in times of stress

Sensory System

Carries messages from senses to CNS

Motor System

Carries messages from CNS to muscles and glands

Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis

System that produces cortisol which has been implicated in several psychological disorders

Telomeres

Structures that cap the ends of the chromosomes to protect them from deteriorating or getting entangled with neighboring chromosomes

Agonists

Increase activity of neurotransmitters by mimicking effects

Antagonists

Decrease/block neurotransmitters

Inverse Agonist

Produces opposite effects to those produced by neurotransmitter

Acetylcholine

NT involved in arousal, attention, memory, and controls muscle contractions

Norepinephrine

Excitatory NT; involved in arousal, mood, and behavioral tendencies

Dopamine

NT involved in control of movement and sensations of pleasure; its circuits merge and cross with 5-HT

Serotonin

NT involved in behavior, mood, and thought processes

Gaba-aminobutyric acid (GABA)

Major inhibitory neurotransmitter involved in sleep and inhibits movement

Glutamate

Major excitatory neurotransmitter involved in learning, memory formation, nervous system development, and synaptic plasticity

Endorphins

Inhibitory neural regulators involved in pain relief

Precision Medicine

Tailoring treatment to individual patient

Learned Helplessness

Occurs when rats or other animals encounter conditions over which they they have no control and they give up attempting to cope and seem to develop the animal equivalent of depression

Learned Optimism

People faced with considerable stress and difficulty in their lives nevertheless display an optimistic, upbeat attitude, they are likely to function better psychologically and physically

Modeling/Observational Learning

Organisms learn as much by observing what happens to others in a given situation

Prepared Learning

We become highly prepared for learning about knowledge that contributes to survival

Implicit Memory

Acting on the basis of past events but could not remember the events themselves

Black Box

Refers to unobservable feelings and cognitions inferred from an individual's self-report or behaviors