Key Concepts in Mental Health Disorders and Therapies

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

a reference book that provides a standardized guide for diagnosing mental health disorders

International Classification of Mental Disorders (ICD)

a global system published by the World Health Organization for classifying mental and physical health conditions, including mental and behavioral disorders

Maladaptive learned associations

abnormal behaviors or cognitive processes that are a result of learning and go against social norms (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder)

Diathesis-stress model

assumes that psychological disorders develop due to a genetic vulnerability (diathesis) in combination with stressful life experiences (stress)

Cluster A personality disorders

a group of personality disorders that are characterized by odd or eccentric behaviors (includes paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders)

Cluster B personality disorders

a group of personality disorders that are characterized by dramatic, emotional, or erratic behaviors (includes antisocial, histrionic, narcissistic, and borderline personality disorders)

Cluster C personality disorders

a group of personality disorders that are characterized by anxious or fearful behaviors (includes avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders)

Cognitive restructuring

a therapy that helps a patient: identify their negative or irrational beliefs, refute them, and modify them so they are adaptive and reasonable

Cognitive triad

a person's negative thoughts about themselves, their world, and their future (which lead to feelings of depression according to cognitive therapists)

Applied behavior analysis

therapy that uses principles of conditioning to address mental disorders and developmental disabilities

Aversion therapies

treatments that pair a negative behavior with a negative stimulus to reduce or eliminate the behavior (also known as aversive conditioning or counter conditioning)

Biofeedback

a technique that uses external devices to monitor a person's physiological state with the goal of controlling bodily functions to improve health

Cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBT)

a therapy based on the idea that thoughts and behaviors reinforce each other and that changing these can make a person feel better

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)

a CBT treatment that helps people learn to accept reality and manage their emotions and relationship skills

Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT)

a CBT treatment that helps people identify self-defeating thoughts and feelings, challenge the nature of irrational and unproductive feelings, and replace them with healthier beliefs

Elaboration likelihood model (ELM)

analyzes the variables that cause long-term and short-term attitude changes to understand the effectiveness of persuasive messaging

Social-cognitive theory

a psychological theory that emphasized the dynamic interaction between people (personal factors), their behavior, and their environments

Reciprocal determinism

the idea that a person's behavior both influences and is influenced by personal factors and their social environment

Disorganized attachment

characterized by conflicting feelings of wanting to be cared for while simultaneously being intensely afraid of such a relationship; results from a parent who repeatedly causes a state of fear in a child

Industry vs. inferiority stage

the period from age 6 to 12 when children develop confidence in their own efforts and are able to respond to feedback from adults about their efforts

Diffusion

when an adolescent has not yet developed a firm identity, or their identity is in a state of crisis and they haven't committed to a resolution

Theory of mind

an awareness that others have mental states such as knowledge, intentions, and beliefs and that these might differ from one's own

Zone of proximal development

the difference between what a learner can do without help and what they can do with guidance and encouragement from a skilled coach or partner

Acquisition

the period of initial learning in classical conditioning in which a human or an animal begins to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus will begin to elicit the conditioned response

Counterconditioning

a behavior modification technique in which a stimulus that creates a negative response is paired with something known to create a positive response

Reinforcement discrimination

reinforcing a behavior in the presence of one stimulus but not others, the ability of an individual to learn and respond appropriately to specific cues or signals that indicate when a behavior will be reinforced

Valid test

what it's intended to measure, accuracy and relevance. 

Reliable test

consistently produces similar results

Proactive interference

occurs when old memories interfere with new memories

Retrograde Interference

occurs when new information effects old information

critical periods

a specific time window during early development when an organism is particularly sensitive to certain environmental experiences and stimuli. 

phonemes

smallest form of speech “a” “e” “i” sounds

Morphemes

the smallest meaningful unit of language. It's like the smallest building block of words that carries meaning. In other words, a morpheme cannot be further divided into smaller units of meaning without losing its significance.