AP Psychology Unit 5: Mental and Physical Health and Research Methods

Vocabulary flashcards covering health psychology, abnormal behavior, treatment approaches, and research statistics.

Health Psychology

A branch of psychology focusing on how biological, psychological, and social factors affect health and illness.

Biopsychosocial Model

A holistic approach to health that considers biological, psychological, and social factors in understanding illness and health outcomes.

Stress

The body's response to any demand, often categorized as acute or chronic.

Acute Stress

A demand-driven response categorized by its short-term nature.

Chronic Stress

A long-term body response to demands that persists over time.

Coping Mechanisms

Strategies individuals use to manage stress, which can be adaptive (problem-solving) or maladaptive (avoidance).

Adaptive Coping

Coping strategies focused on problem-solving to manage stress effectively.

Maladaptive Coping

Strategies such as avoidance that individuals use to manage stress in an unhealthy way.

Behavioral Medicine

An interdisciplinary field that integrates behavioral and medical knowledge to improve health and reduce illness.

Health Behavior

Actions taken by individuals that affect their health, such as exercise, diet, and smoking.

Psychoneuroimmunology

The study of how psychological processes, the nervous system, and the immune system interact and affect health.

Chronic Illness

Long-term health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, or cancer that require ongoing management.

Positive Psychology

The scientific study of human strengths and virtues that contribute to overall well-being.

Subjective Well-Being (SWB)

How people experience the quality of their lives, including emotional reactions and cognitive judgments.

Flow

A state of complete immersion and enjoyment in an activity where individuals lose track of time and self-consciousness.

Gratitude

A feeling of thankfulness and appreciation linked to improved mental health and well-being.

Mindfulness

Being present and fully engaged in the current moment to reduce stress and enhance well-being.

Optimism

A general expectation that good things will happen, associated with better health and life satisfaction.

Resilience

The ability to recover from adversity or bounce back after stressful experiences.

Strengths and Virtues

Positive traits like kindness, wisdom, courage, and creativity that help people lead fulfilling lives.

Abnormal Behavior

Behavior that is maladaptive, disturbing to others, unusual, and irrational.

Insanity

A legal term referring to the inability to determine right from wrong.

McNaughten Case

An example case related to the legal definition of insanity.

Plead Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI)

A legal plea based on the defendant's inability to determine right from wrong.

Psychoanalytic Cause of Abnormal Behavior

The belief that abnormal behavior results from internal conflicts.

Behavioral Cause of Abnormal Behavior

Maladaptive responses learned through reinforcement of the wrong kinds of behavior.

Humanist Cause of Abnormal Behavior

Results from conditions of worth society places upon the individual, causing a poor self-concept.

Cognitive Cause of Abnormal Behavior

Behavior coming from irrational and illogical perceptions and belief systems.

Evolutionary Cause of Abnormal Behavior

Harmful evolutionary dysfunctions occurring when evolved psychological mechanisms fail to perform naturally selected functions.

Biological Cause of Abnormal Behavior

Results from neuro-chemical or hormonal imbalances, genetic predispositions, structural brain damage, or faulty processing.

DSM-V

A manual that classifies psychological disorders by symptoms and provides a $0$ to $4$ severity rating; it does not discuss causes.

Anxiety Disorder

A feeling of impending doom or disaster from a specific or unknown source, characterized by tension, agitation, and apprehension.

Panic Disorder

Repeated attacks of intense anxiety with severe chest pain, muscle tightness, choking, or sweating.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Symptoms similar to panic disorder but less intense and occurring for a longer period of time.

Phobias

Intense, irrational fear responses to specific stimuli.

Agoraphobia

An intense, irrational fear of being out in public.

Acrophobia

An intense, irrational fear of heights.

Claustrophobia

An intense, irrational fear of enclosed spaces.

Zoophobia

An intense, irrational fear of animals.

Arachnophobia

An intense, irrational fear of spiders.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A compound disorder of persistent intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and ritualistic behaviors (compulsions).

Obsessions

Persistent, intrusive, and unwanted thoughts that an individual cannot get out of his or her mind.

Compulsions

Ritualistic behaviors performed repeatedly to reduce the tension created by obsessions.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A disorder common in war veterans where victims re-experience trauma through nightmares or flashbacks.

Flashbacks

Symptoms of PTSD where the individual relives a traumatic event and behaves as if it is currently happening.

Somatoform Disorders

Characterized by physical symptoms like pain or paralysis without any demonstrated physical cause.

Somatization

Reporting multiple physical ailments rather than an isolated condition, without an apparent physical cause.

Conversion Disorder

Characterized by loss of bodily function, such as blindness or paralysis, without physical damage to organs or neural connections.

Hypochondriasis

Unrealistically interpreting physical signs, such as pains or irritations, as evidence of serious diseases like brain tumors.

Dissociative Disorders

Disorders characterized by a sudden loss of memory or change in identity.

Dissociative Amnesia

Loss of memory for a traumatic event or period that is too painful to remember.

Dissociative Fugue

Memory loss for personal identity accompanied by flight from home and the establishment of a new identity.

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Formerly multiple personality disorder; diagnosed when two or more distinct personalities are present within the same individual.

Mood Disorders

Characterized by a primary disturbance in mood that colors the entire emotional state and disrupts daily functioning.

Major Depressive Disorder

Intense depressed mood and loss of interest for a minimum of $2 ext{ weeks}$; also known as unipolar depression.

Dysthymic Disorder

Symptoms similar to major depressive disorder but less intense, lasting at least $2 ext{ years}$.

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Depression recurring during winter months, possibly due to less sunlight, and treated with light therapy.

Bipolar Disorder

Characterized by mood swings alternating between major depression and mania; also called manic depression.

Mania

An emotional pole characterized by an inflated ego, little need for sleep, excessive talking, and impulsivity.

Norepinephrine in Mood Disorders

A neurotransmitter found in excess during mania and in low levels during depression.

Serotonin in Depression

A neurotransmitter found in low levels in individuals suffering from depression.

Left Frontal Lobe in Depression

An area of the brain where PET and fMRI scans reveal lowered energy consumption in depressed individuals.

Learned Helplessness

A social-cognitive cause of mood disorders identified by Martin Seligman.

Martin Seligman

The psychologist associated with the concept of learned helplessness.

Aaron Beck's Cognitive Triad Theory

The theory that depressed individuals have negative views of themselves, their circumstances, and their future.

Internal Attribution in Depression

The tendency of depressed individuals to attribute bad events to themselves.

Global Attribution in Depression

The tendency of depressed individuals to attribute bad events to every aspect of their lives.

Stable Attribution in Depression

The tendency of depressed individuals to attribute bad events to factors that will not change.

Schizophrenia

A disorder characterized by psychosis, lack of touch with reality, and highly disordered thought processes.

Psychosis

A lack of touch with reality evidenced by distorted thinking.

Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Symptoms involving an excess of behavior, such as delusions or hallucinations.

Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Symptoms involving an absence of behavior, such as flat affect or social withdrawal.

Delusion

Erroneous beliefs held even when compelling evidence to the contrary is presented.

Delusion of Grandeur

The belief that you are greater and have more influence than you actually do, such as being the president.

Delusion of Persecution

The belief that people are out to get you.

Hallucination

False sensory perceptions.

Flat Affect

A negative symptom of schizophrenia characterized by a lack of emotion.

Neologism

Self-made words used by individuals with disorganized schizophrenia.

Clang Association

Stringing together a series of nonsense words that rhyme.

Disorganized Schizophrenia

Characterized by disorganized speech, behavior, or inappropriate emotion.

Paranoid Schizophrenia

Characterized by delusions of grandeur or persecution.

Catatonic Schizophrenia

Characterized by disordered movement patterns, immobile stupor, or waxy flexibility.

Waxy Flexibility

A state where individuals hold postures that would normally be impossible to maintain for long periods.

Undifferentiated Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia characterized by many and varied symptoms.

Residual Schizophrenia

Complete withdrawal after delusions and hallucinations have disappeared.

Dopamine Hypothesis

The idea that high levels of dopamine are associated with schizophrenia.

Tardive Dyskinesia

A Parkinsonian-like disorder that can result from extensive use of antipsychotic drugs.

L-Dopa

A medication for Parkinson's disease that increases dopamine and can cause schizophrenic-like distortions when in excess.

Double Bind

A cognitive-behavioral theory where contradictory messages lead to schizophrenia.

Diathesis-Stress Model

The theory that predisposition to illness may not manifest in healthy, stress-free environments and vice versa.

Personality Disorders

Maladaptive thought and behavior patterns that are troublesome to others, harmful, or illegal.

Paranoid Personality Disorder

A personality disorder characterized by being suspicious and mistrusting.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

A personality disorder characterized by a poor capacity for forming social relationships.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

A personality disorder where individuals are excessively dramatic and overreact.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

A personality disorder characterized by unrealistic love for oneself.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Characterized by no regard for others' feelings; common among criminals.

Dependent Personality Disorder

A personality disorder characterized by a lack of self-confidence.

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Similar to OCD but less intense.

Paraphilia

Sexual attraction to an object, person, or activity considered abnormal, such as pedophilia or fetishism.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Characterized by inability to focus, being easily distracted, and impulsivity; diagnosed $10 ext{ times}$ more in boys.