Theoretical Perspectives on Psychological Disorders

A set of 50 review flashcards covering cognitive, behavioral, interpersonal, evolutionary, and environmental/cultural theories of psychological disorders including MDD, Phobias, Panic Disorder, GAD, OCD, PTSD, Anorexia Nervosa, and Bulimia Nervosa.

According to Beck's Cognitive Triad, what automatic negative schemata maintain Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)?

Negative schemata regarding oneself, the world, and the future.

How does Hopelessness Theory (Abramson et al.) explain the onset of depression?

It occurs when individuals make stable, global negative inferences about the causes and consequences of negative life events.

How do ruminative and counterfactual thinking maintain and lengthen depressive episodes?

Through perseverative negative thinking and upward counterfactual comparisons (comparing oneself to an idealized version).

How does Seligman's Learned Helplessness theory explain depression?

It arises when repeated exposure to uncontrollable negative events leads to the belief that future outcomes are completely uncontrollable.

What behavioral mechanism for depression was identified by Ferster and Lewinsohn?

Low positive reinforcement, where stress or loss reduces accessible positive reinforcers, leading to behavioral withdrawal, diminished goal-directed behavior, and isolation.

According to Jacobson's Behavioral Activation Model, how are depressive states exacerbated and maintained?

Disruption of daily routines and withdrawal lead to secondary life problems that exacerbate and maintain depressive states.

Under interpersonal theories of MDD, what processes alienate support networks over time following acute loss or rejection?

Excessive reassurance-seeking and social skill deficits in dependent relationship styles.

What is the evolutionary view of Contextual Sadness Adaptation proposed by Wakefield & Horwitz?

Normal sadness evolved as a protective mechanism calibrated to loss, and uncomplicated depressive reactions to major stressors represent normal human design rather than underlying dysfunction.

Which environmental factors account for a major portion of adult depression risk under the Cumulative Stress & Early Adversity (ACEs) framework?

Severe life events (such as divorce and unemployment) and childhood maltreatment.

According to environmental and cultural theories, what socioeconomic and social factors significantly increase vulnerability to depressive symptoms?

Low SES, acculturative stress, and perceived racial discrimination.

What are Catastrophic Threat Expectancies in cognitive theories of phobias?

Overestimating the likelihood and severity of harm (e.g., falling in acrophobia, suffocation in claustrophobia) paired with an underestimated coping ability.

In Social Anxiety Disorder, what cognitive factors drive anticipatory anxiety?

Hypersensitivity to social scrutiny (fear of negative evaluation) and low perceived self-efficacy.

How does Mowrer’s Two-Factor Conditioning explain the acquisition and maintenance of phobias?

Fear is acquired through classical conditioning (pairing a neutral stimulus with an aversive event) and maintained through operant conditioning (avoidance prevents fear extinction).

How are phobic fears acquired through observational or vicarious learning?

By observing others' fearful reactions or receiving threat-related information.

Which early interpersonal factors foster persistent phobic anxiety?

Early family environments marked by high parental control, low warmth, or childhood peer bullying.

What does Preparedness Theory (Seligman / Mineka & Öhman) propose regarding phobias?

Natural selection biologically prepared humans to rapidly acquire and resist extinction of fears related to survival threats (e.g., heights, dangerous animals, social rejection).

What is Taijin Kyofusho an example of in phobia literature?

A cultural variation or idiom in East Asia dictating phobic focus.

How do Clark and Cox explain panic attacks in cognitive theory?

Panic results from catastrophic misinterpretation of normal or benign somatic arousal (e.g., heart palpitations, dizziness) as signaling imminent disaster (e.g., heart attack, dying, going crazy).

What is Anxiety Sensitivity as defined by Reiss?

A specific cognitive trait where individuals fear anxiety-related sensations due to beliefs that they have harmful physical, social, or mental consequences.

How does interoceptive conditioning contribute to Panic Disorder and agoraphobia?

Low-level internal bodily cues become conditioned stimuli that automatically trigger acute panic attacks, while hyper-generalized fear responses expand avoidance (agoraphobia).

Why does reliance on safety behaviors or agoraphobic avoidance maintain Panic Disorder?

It prevents habituation and disconfirmation of catastrophic threat beliefs.

What childhood interpersonal factors confer specific vulnerability to panic attacks in adulthood?

Early childhood separation anxiety and insecure attachment styles.

What is the evolutionary premise of the False Suffocation Alarm Hypothesis?

Panic attacks reflect an evolved ancestral emergency alarm system designed to trigger rapid escape from physiological suffocation or life-threatening entrapment.

Keep it up bud

Fart

What is the core premise of Dugas’s Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) Model of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)?

Individuals perceive uncertain or ambiguous future situations as inherently unacceptable and threatening, driving chronic worry.

What two sets of beliefs regarding worry are highlighted in Wells’s Metacognitive Model of GAD?

Positive beliefs about worry (e.g., 'worrying keeps me safe') and negative beliefs about worry (e.g., 'my worry is dangerous and uncontrollable').

According to Yiend et al. and Borkovec, what function does verbal-linguistic worry serve in GAD?

It serves as a cognitive strategy for rapid attentional avoidance/disengagement to avoid processing deeper emotional and somatic arousal.

How is chronic worry negatively reinforced in Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

It dampens acute autonomic physiological reactivity, temporarily blocking distressing emotional images.

What childhood interpersonal experiences are associated with Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

Early maternal rejection, neglect, or enmeshed/role-reversed childhood relationships where the child had to care for the parent.

What is the evolutionary explanation for chronic threat vigilance in GAD?

It is an exaggerated manifestation of an evolved protective mechanism aimed at continuously scanning the environment to anticipate and prevent future hazards.

How do the environmental life stressors that trigger GAD differ from those that trigger depression?

GAD is triggered by stressors specifically involving threat and danger, whereas depression is triggered by loss and humiliation.

According to Rachman’s Cognitive Appraisal Model, what is the direct cause of OCD?

Catastrophic interpretations of normal intrusive thoughts, rather than the intrusive thoughts themselves.

What three dysfunctional belief domains drive Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)?

Inflated responsibility/threat overestimation, perfectionism/intolerance of uncertainty, and thought-action fusion (believing thoughts are equivalent to actions).

How are compulsive rituals and avoidance behaviors maintained through operant conditioning in OCD?

They are negatively reinforced because they temporarily reduce the acute anxiety and distress caused by obsessions.

In interpersonal theories of OCD, what factors drive compulsive checking or moral perfectionism?

Interpersonal anxieties, high religiosity, and fears of social misunderstanding (scrupulosity).

What evolutionary dysregulation is proposed to underlie Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

Hyperactive invariant risk avoidance involving dysregulation of evolved ancestral behavioral routines related to hygiene/grooming, checking territories, and threat containment.

Which major proximal life stressors frequently trigger the onset of OCD?

Major life events such as accidents, pregnancy, and childbirth.

According to Foa & Rothbaum’s Emotional Processing Theory, how is PTSD maintained?

By erroneous fear structures containing overgeneralized stimulus representations, excessive fear responses, and faulty meaning elements (e.g., 'the world is completely dangerous,' 'I am incompetent').

What are the two primary components of the Ehlers & Clark Cognitive Model of PTSD?

Negative appraisals of the trauma/its aftermath and poor contextual integration of autobiographical trauma memories.

How does Mowrer’s Two-Factor Conditioning account for the persistence of PTSD?

Trauma pairs neutral cues with terror via classical conditioning, while operant avoidance of trauma-related internal and external cues prevents fear extinction.

What interpersonal factor buffers against the development or severity of PTSD?

Strong social connection and deliberate trauma processing within supportive interpersonal networks.

What is the evolutionary explanation for PTSD symptoms?

They represent an evolved high-hazard adaptation featuring rapid, enduring threat-learning mechanisms designed to ensure survival following near-fatal encounters.

What cognitive factor is characterized by tying self-evaluation strictly to body shape and thinness in Anorexia Nervosa?

Overvaluation of shape/weight.

What neurocognitive patterns mirror the behavioral rigidity seen in Anorexia Nervosa?

Neurocognitive inflexibility, set-shifting deficits, and strong detail-focused processing (weak central coherence).

How are restrictive eating and weight loss reinforced in Anorexia Nervosa?

They are positively reinforced by feelings of mastery and praise, and negatively reinforced by the temporary reduction of negative affect/anxiety.

What is the evolutionary Adapted Famine Responses hypothesis for Anorexia Nervosa?

Restriction and physical hyperactivity represent evolved ancestral adaptations to migrate during extreme food scarcity.

In cognitive models of Bulimia Nervosa, how does dietary restraint lead to disinhibition?

Rigid cognitive dieting rules lead to rule violations, cognitive overload, and subsequent disinhibition.

According to cognitive theories, what emotional function does binge eating serve in Bulimia Nervosa?

It functions as a temporary cognitive escape from painful self-awareness and negative emotional states (distress intolerance).

How are compensatory behaviors (such as purging or laxative use) reinforced in Bulimia Nervosa?

They are negatively reinforced by alleviating the fear of weight gain.

What evolutionary model explains the drive to overconsume high-calorie foods in Bulimia Nervosa?

Feast-Famine Thrifts, which reflect an evolved physiological drive to overconsume high-calorie foods when available following periods of perceived restriction.