Unit 9: Clinical Psychology (Disorders and Treatment)

Agoraphobia

An anxiety disorder characterized by fear of public places, because of the belief that escape from those places might be difficult. This disorder often results in a fear of leaving one's home.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Characterized by a lack a conscience or ability to empathize with others. As a result, these individuals often violate others trust and feel little or no remorse for these actions.

Anxiety Disorders

A category of disorders in which an individual believes that something bad will happen and spends much time worrying which interrupts daily functioning. Examples include panic disorder and phobias and generalized anxiety disorder.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

A type of neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattentiveness, and inability to maintain focus or concentrate on tasks. This may impair social, or academic functioning.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

A neurodevelopmental disorder marked by a spectrum of potential impairments to communication and social interactions. This is generally marked by restrictive an repetitive behaviors, inability to make eye contact and is diagnosed in early childhood.

Avoidant Personality Disorder

A disorder which involves an individual who is extremely withdrawn, uncomfortable in social interactions, and preoccupied with the thought of being negatively evaluated by others. As a result, these individuals generally remove themselves from social situation in which this evaluation may occur.

Bipolar Disorder

A category of psychological disorders characterized by periods extreme moods swings that range from depression to mania.

Borderline Personality Disorder

Characterized by a long-standing pattern of behavior which may include many stormy and intense relationships, variations in mood and self-image that cause difficulties in relationships with others. Behaviors may also include self-harm to the threat of self-harm as a manipulation tactic.

Clang Associations

A symptom related to schizophrenia in which an individual speaks in rhymes and connects words based on sound rather than meaning making their speech unintelligible. Generally, these disruptions in speech have the cadence of a poem or song.

Comorbid

A term used to describe when an individual is diagnosed with two or more mental illnesses simultaneously.

Compulsion

The behavioral characteristic associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder. It involves engaging in repetitive actions or rituals in order to reduce anxiety.

Delusion

A characteristic associated with schizophrenia that involves a false belief or perception.

Depressive Disorders

A category of disorders marked by symptoms including sadness and a loss of interest in activities that used to be pleasurable. Examples include major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder, and seasonal affective disorder.

Diathesis-Stress Model

The model of mental illness that poses that mental illness occurs as the result of an interaction of a genetic predisposition for a condition and the presence of stressful events an individual may experience which may make the disorder more likely to reveal itself.

Dissociative Amnesia

A type of dissociative disorder characterized by a loss of memory for personal information and experiences. It is often the result of traumatic life circumstances. Removal of the stressful stimulus may allow the memory to return.

Dissociative Disorders

A category of mental disorders characterized by a loss in memory, identity, or consciousness. Examples include dissociative amnesia and dissociative identity disorder.

Dissociative Fugue

A symptom that may be found with dissociative amnesia but that involves sudden travel in addition to a lack of personal identity or memory of episodic events.

Dissociative Identity Disorder

A type of dissociative disorder involving the presence of two or more distinct identities that alternatively take over one's behavior and thoughts. It is believed to be the result of severe childhood abuse and is often brought about by extreme stress.

DSM-5

A reference book created by the American Psychiatric Association which presents classifications and diagnostic criteria for mental disorders and is used by clinical psychologists (and others) to make diagnosis more consistent and reliable.

Flat Affect

Involves the loss of emotional reactions. This is often associated with schizophrenia or major depression.

Flight of Ideas

A symptom often associated with a manic disorder or schizophrenia in which an individual experiences a disturbance in thinking and displays speech that rapidly shifts from one topic to another.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

A type of anxiety disorder that involves feelings of fear, worry, and apprehension without knowing the origin for the cause of the concern.

Hallucination

A false sensory experience associated with schizophrenia. The most common type is auditory in which a person hears voices that are not there, however, these can involve any false sensory experience.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

Characterized consistent efforts to draw attention, even if it is negative, often by demonstrating outrageous and potentially dangerous behavior.

Hoarding Disorder

A type of obsessive-compulsive disorder characterized by the inability to discard useless or trivial belongings for fear that they might be needed in the future. This accumulation of unneeded materials often leads to difficulty in relationships and strained living conditions.

Illness Anxiety Disorder

A type of somatic symptom and related disorder characterized by high health anxiety despite despite mild or nonexistent symptoms. Individuals with this disorder are worried that they have or will develop a serious medical condition.

Insanity

A legal term that indicates an individual cannot be held criminally responsible for their actions during a crime because they were not aware of or under control of their behavior at that time the crime occurred.

Major Depressive Disorder

A type of depressive disorder marked by a persistent sad mood and the inability to experience pleasure. Suicide is a major risk associated with this diagnosis.

Mania

A state of hyperactivity, decreased need for sleep, and flight of ideas that is present in bipolar disorders and more rarely independently.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

A type of personality disorder characterized by an inflated sense of self. These individuals seek attention and constant reassurance from others, and have difficulty accepting criticism.

Negative Symptom

Involve a deficit associated with a behavior or emotional response that individuals suffering from mental disorders lack while those without the disorder exhibit. Examples include a lack of emotional response or a flat effect in depression and schizophrenic disorders.

Obsession

The cognitive component of an obsessive-compulsive disorder which involves the presence of unwanted thoughts, images, or ideas. These thoughts create anxiety and often lead to compulsive behavior in an attempt to temporarily eliminate the anxiety.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A category of disorders characterized by uncontrollable anxiety producing thoughts and/or repetitive and ritualized behaviors to reduce those the anxiety.

Panic Attack

A sudden overwhelming sense of worry and terror accompanied by a racing heart, difficulty breathing and fear that something terrible will occur which lasts for a few minute at most. This occurs even when there is no actual danger present and is often reoccurring.

Panic Disorder

A type of anxiety disorder that involves recurrent, unexpected panic attacks and the continual fear or worry of future panic attacks.

Paranoid Personality Disorder

A type of personality disorder characterized by a unwarranted pattern of mistrust and suspicion of others.

Persistent Depressive Disorder

A type of depressive disorder characterized by a continual sad mood and lack of interest in previous pleasure activities that are milder than major depression but longer lasting (2 years in adults).

Personality Disorders

A category of disorders characterized by consistent patterns of thoughts or behaviors that interfere with the ability to interact well with others.

Positive Symptom

Involve an added sensory input or belief that those without a disorder do not exhibit. Examples include hallucinations and delusions.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A trauma and stressor related disorder that is the result of witnessing or experiencing an event that presented a serious risk to life or safety. The anxiety related to this experience continues after the event is over and includes flashbacks, disturbed sleep, and increased anxiety.

Psychopathology

Tthe scientific field which studies mental illnesses including their diagnosis, symptoms, and treatment.

Psychosis

Often associated with schizophrenia and is characterized by a loss of touch with reality. Often this loose of touch with reality is accompanied by hallucinations and/or delusions.

Schizophrenia

A type of psychotic disorders in which one loses touch with reality. Symptoms may include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech or lack of emotional response.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

A type of depressive disorder characterized by a persistent sad mood and inability to derive pleasure from activities the individual once enjoyed. This sadness is often associated with depression in the winter months which lifts during the warmer times of the year.

Somatic Symptom Disorder

Characterized by high health anxiety and worry along with one or more physical symptoms that are distressing or impair functioning.

Specific Phobia

A type of anxiety disorder involving fear and avoidance related to a particular object or situation that is extreme an is present even when the fearful object or situation is not present or impeding.

Substance Use Disorders

A category of disorders involving the use of alcohol or other drugs that interrupts daily functioning because of cravings or a preoccupation or dependence on the drug(s).

Trauma- and Stressor Related Disorders

A category of disorders marked by psychological distress related to a terror inducing or stressful event. These events may either be directly observed or occur to the individual.

Withdrawal

Involves the physical or psychological craving for a drug after the discontinuation of use.

Word Salad

A potential characteristic of schizophrenia that involves disorganized speech in which words are nearly incomprehensible or out of place in the logic sequence of a sentence.

Catatonia

Involves a state of muscular rigidity or excessive motor activity. Often this results in maintaining a rigid posture and exhibiting a reduction in response to environmental stimuli.

Cyclothymic Disorder

A type of bipolar disorder characterized by periods of both hypomania (a milder form of mania) and depression that lasts for more than two years.

Dependent Personality Disorder

Demonstrated by a consistent pattern of passivity for major decisions. These individuals often seek advice and approval due to a lack of self-confidence.

Factitious Disorder

A disorder characterized by individuals who purposefully fake or report physical or psychological symptoms in order to gain attention for their illness, but they do not actually have the symptoms they are describing.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

A type of personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in forming relationships, limited emotional range and is indifference to praise and criticism of others. As a result, these individuals usually have a difficult time developing relationships with others.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

A type of personality disorder characterized by odd thought and behavioral patterns who responds inappropriately to social cues, and is generally socially isolated because of strange interactions with others.

Social Anxiety Disorder

A type of anxiety disorder involving an extreme fear related to being negatively evaluated by others that interferes with daily social interactions with others because of the fear of rejection. Treatment of Abnormal Disorders

Antianxiety Drugs

A class of drugs used to reduce worry, agitation and insomnia. These drugs may also be used to treat panic disorder or minor depressive episodes.

Antidepressant Drugs

A class of drugs designed to elevate mood by altering levels of neurotransmitters (serotonin) at receptor sites.

Antipsychotic Drugs

A class of drugs designed to treat the positive symptoms of schizophrenia such as hallucinations and delusions by limiting the amount of dopamine available at receptor sites.

Behavioral Therapy

A group of therapies that use learning techniques such as operant and classical conditioning to improve human functioning. Examples include token economy and systematic desensitization.

Benzodiazepines

A type of drug that produce sedation and relaxation by incresing the levels of GABA at receptor sites.

Biomedical Therapy

Refers to types of treatment that attempt to minimize symptoms of mental illness through the use of drugs, psychosurgery, or electrical charges to the brain.

Client-Centered Therapy

A technique created by Carl Rogers which employs active listening and unconditional positive regard in an effort to help clients live more healthy lives.

Cognitive Restructuring

A technique used to help clients modify self-defeating thoughts and distortions by replacing them with more realistic perceptions.

Cognitive Therapy

A type of therapy which focuses primarily on helping individuals eliminate maladaptive ways of thinking and replace them with more realistic and reasonable perceptions of the world.

Deinstitutionalization

The process of moving psychiatric patients from institutional facilities into their communites while continuing to providing support services.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

A type of biomedical therapy that involves running a current across electrodes placed on the head of a patient. This has been used as an effective treatment for severe depression for some individuals who have not responded to antidepressant medications.

Flooding

A type of behavioral exposure therapy in which an individual is exposed to a maximum intensity of anxiety producing stimuli in order to recognize that there is no danger which seeks to help them eventually overcome their fears.

Group Therapy

A type of therapy in which two or more individuals and a facilitator interact with one another to share their common challenges and work together to overcome the barriers these challenges have created in their daily functioning.

Insight Therapy

A form of psychotherapy that based on a client's awareness and origins of their own distortions and defense mechanisms.

Lithium

A type of drug often used to treat bipolar disorder and depression.

Methadone

A controversial type of synthetic opioid used for pain relief intended as a substitute for those trying to end their dependence on heroin.

Psychopharmacology

Involves the study of the influence of drugs on mental, emotional and behavioral processes.

Psychosurgery

A controversial treatment involving efforts to reduce the effects of mental disorders by surgical intervention on parts of the brain.

Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT)

A type of aggressive cognitive therapy developed by Albert Ellis in which the therapist challenges the irrational or self-defeating beleifs and feelings in order to recognize that they are unfounded and eventually replace them with more realistic and rational thoughts.

Systematic Desensitization

A type of behavioral therapy in which counterconditioning is used to treat phobias by creating a hierarchy of fears and asking the client to move through each step until they no longer experience anxiety.

Implosive Therapy

Involves a type of behavioral therapy in which clients are repeatedly asked to visualize anxiety-arousing situations in order to reacognize that the situation will not lead to danger.

Resistance

The unconscious hinderance of continued treatment by the client in order to defend themselves from challening situations which may be uncovered in therapy.

Tardive Dyskinesia

A movement disorder generally caused by high levels of antipsychotic medication causing the muscles in the face and around the mouth to appear to move in a constant chewing pattern.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

A technique used for the treatment of depression which uses magnetic forces to activate areas deep inside the brain.

Anorexia Nervosa

A feeding and eating disorder characterized by excessive weight loss and an irrational fear of gaining weight. As a result, these individuals restrict eating behaviors.

Approach-Approach Conflict

A type of decision-making in which an individual must choose between two options that both have appealing characteristics.

Approach-Avoidance Conflict

A type of decision-making in which an individual is must decide between options that have both positive and negative aspects.

Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict

A type of decision-making in which an individual must choose between two options with unappealing characteristics.

Binge-Eating Disorder

A type of feeding and eating disorder characterized by periods of extreme overeating without purging which generally results in weight gain.

Bulimia Nervosa

A feeding and eating disorder characterized by binging and purging in an effort to limit weight gain from food intake..

Double Approach-Avoidance Conflict

A conflict is a type of decision-making in which an individual is forced to make a choice between two options that have both positive and negative aspects.

Drive-Reduction Theory

Theory of motivation states that that individuals are motivated to satisfy a biological need (sleep, hunger, thirst) that they have been deprived of in order to reach a level of homeostasis.

Fight-or-Flight Response

A reaction to a stressful situation in which an individual decides to stay and face the stressor or flee and leave the stressor, both of which activate the sympathetic nervous system.

General Adaptation Syndrome

A theory for dealing with stress created by Hans Selye's which contains three stages: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Hierarchy of Needs

Created by Abraham Maslow and states that individuals move from the bottom of the hierarchy while attempting to satisfy physiological needs then safety needs, then belongingness and love needs, self-esteem and finally self-actualization as they move up through the hierarchy.

Self-Actualization

The highest levels of Maslow's hierarchy, at which individuals reach their greatest potential.

Biofeedback

A technique that involves developing voluntary control over physiological activities such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and muscle tension.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

An obsessive-compulsive related disorder characterized by extreme concern and preoccupation with perceived bodily flaws such as weight or hair loss. This may be comorbid with disorders such as anorexia nervosa.

Catharsis

Initially proposed by Sigmund Freud and poses that by releasing one's aggressive urges, those urges would be reduced in the future.

Eustress

A type of positive stress that challenges an individual.

Grit

Refers to a long-standing personality characteristic in which a person does not give up in the face of setbacks. These characteristics has been associated with high levels of achievement.