Week 4: Psychopathology Terms

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

A therapeutic approach designed to foster nonjudgmental observation of one’s own mental processes.

Automatic Thoughts

Thoughts that occur spontaneously; often used to describe problematic thoughts that maintain mental disorders.

Cognitive Bias Modification

Using exercises (e.g., computer games) to change problematic thinking habits.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

A family of approaches with the goal of changing the thoughts and behaviors that influence psychopathology.

Comorbidity

Describes a state of having more than one psychological or physical disorder at a given time.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

A treatment often used for borderline personality disorder that incorporates both cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness elements.

Dialectical Worldview

A perspective in DBT that emphasizes the joint importance of change and acceptance.

Exposure Therapy

A form in intervention in which the patient engages with a problematic (usually feared) situation without avoidance or escape.

Free Association

In psychodynamic therapy, a process in which the patient reports all thoughts that come to mind without censorship, and these thoughts are interpreted by the therapist.

Integrative or Eclectic Psychotherapy

Also called integrative psychotherapy, this term refers to approaches combining multiple orientations (e.g., CBT with psychoanalytic elements).

Mindfulness

A process that reflects a nonjudgmental, yet attentive, mental state.

Mindfulness-Based Therapy

A form of psychotherapy grounded in mindfulness theory and practice, often involving meditation, yoga, body scan, and other features of mindfulness exercises.

Person-Centered Therapy

A therapeutic approach focused on creating a supportive environment for self-discovery.

Psychoanalytic Therapy

Sigmund Freud’s therapeutic approach focusing on resolving unconscious conflicts.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Treatment applying psychoanalytic principles in a briefer, more individualized format.

Reappraisal or Cognitive Restructuring

The process of identifying, evaluating, and changing maladaptive thoughts in psychotherapy.

Schema

A mental representation or set of beliefs about something.

Unconditional Positive Regard

In person-centered therapy, an attitude of warmth, empathy and acceptance adopted by the therapist in order to foster feelings of inherent worth in the patient.

Agoraphobia

A sort of anxiety disorder distinguished by feelings that a place is uncomfortable or may be unsafe because it is significantly open or crowded.

Anxiety

A mood state characterized by negative affect, muscle tension, and physical arousal in which a person apprehensively anticipates future danger or misfortune.

Biological Vulnerability

A specific genetic and neurobiological factor that might predispose someone to develop anxiety disorders.

Conditioned Response

A learned reaction following classical conditioning, or the process by which an event that automatically elicits a response is repeatedly paired with another neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus), resulting in the ability of the neutral stimulus to elicit the same response on its own.

External Cues

Stimuli in the outside world that serve as triggers for anxiety or as reminders of past traumatic events.

Flight or Fight Response

A biological reaction to alarming stressors that prepares the body to resist or escape a threat.

Flashback

Sudden, intense re-experiencing of a previous event, usually trauma-related.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Excessive worry about everyday things that is at a level that is out of proportion to the specific causes of worry.

Internal Bodily or Somatic Cues

Physical sensations that serve as triggers for anxiety or as reminders of past traumatic events.

Interoceptive Avoidance

Avoidance of situations or activities that produce sensations of physical arousal similar to those occurring during a panic attack or intense fear response.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A disorder characterized by the desire to engage in certain behaviors excessively or compulsively in hopes of reducing anxiety. Behaviors include things such as cleaning, repeatedly opening and closing doors, hoarding and obsessing over certain thoughts.

Panic Disorder (PD)

A condition marked by regular strong panic attacks, and which may include significant levels of worry about future attacks.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A sense of intense fear, triggered by memories of a past traumatic event, that another traumatic event might occur. PTSD may include feelings of isolation and emotional numbing.

Psychological Vulnerabilities

Influences that our early experiences have on how we view the world.

Reinforced Response

Following the process of operant conditioning, the strengthening of a response following either the delivery of a desire consequence (positive reinforcement) or escape from an aversive consequence.

SAD Performance Only

Social anxiety disorder which is limited to certain situations that the sufferer perceives as requiring some type of performance.

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)

A condition marked by acute fear of social situations which lead to worry and diminished day to day functioning.

Specific Vulnerabilities

How our experiences lead us to focus and channel our anxiety.

Thought-Action Fusion

The tendency to overestimate the relationship between a thought and an action, such that one mistakenly believes a “bad” thought is the equivalent of a “bad” action.

Anhedonia

Loss of interest or pleasure in activities one previously found enjoyable or rewarding.

Attributional Style

The tendency by which a person infers the cause or meaning of behaviors or events.

Chronic Stress

Discrete or related problematic events and conditions which persist over time and result in prolonged activation of the biological and/or psychological stress response (e.g., unemployment, ongoing health difficulties, marital discord).

Early Adversity

Single or multiple acute or chronic stressful events, which may be biological or psychological in nature (e.g., poverty, abuse, childhood illness or injury), occurring during childhood and resulting in a biological and/or psychological stress response.

Grandiosity

Inflated self-esteem or an exaggerated sense of self-importance and self-worth (e.g., believing one has special powers or superior abilities).

Hypersomnia

Excessive daytime sleepiness, including difficulty staying awake or napping, or prolonged sleep episodes.

Psychomotor Agitation

Increased motor activity associated with restlessness, including physical actions (e.g., fidgeting, pacing, feet tapping, handwringing).

Psychomotor Retardation

A slowing of physical activities in which routine activities (e.g., eating, brushing teeth) are performed in an unusually slow manner.

Social Zeitgeber

Zeitgeber is German for “time giver.” This term stands for environmental cues, such as mealtimes and interactions with other people, that entrain biological rhythms and thus sleep-wake cycle regularity.

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

A person’s economic and social position based on income, education, and occupation.

Suicidal Ideation

Recurring thoughts about suicide, including considering or planning for suicide, preoccupation with suicide.