Clinical Psych: Exam One

pseudoscience

strong claims with weak empirical evidence

• claims with no facts, not based on science

replicability crisis

cannot replicate a claim

ex. molecular genetic work in clinical psychology

science practice gap

engage in treatment that doesn’t work

mental disorder

syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning

APA

american psychiatric association, published DSM

goals of DSM

• to organize, describe, communicate about clinical phenomena

• define different “mental disorders” to ensure people receive the proper services

• not to label people and lead to stigmatization

epidemiology

disorder distribution in population

etiology

causes of disorder

course

how disorder plays out over time

treatment

development and evaluation

reliability

an indication of consistency or stability of a measurement

validity

measure of truthfulness of a measurement

• indicates whether something is measuring what it claims to be measuring

• accuracy

inter-rater reliability

consistency of diagnostic judgments across raters/therapists

homogeneity

individuals with a diagnosis share the same symptoms

heterogeneity

variability of symptom profiles within diagnosis

• on surface diagnosis is the same, but life is different

how does the DSM attempt to address heterogeneity challenge of validity

subtypes of disorders

comorbidity

co-occurence of diagnoses

neuroticism

a personality trait characterized by a tendency to experience unpleasant emotions, such as anxiety, worry, guilt, and sadness

mediation

one variable partially explains the relationship between 2 other variables

ex. why does cognitive therapy work for anxiety disorders

moderation (interaction)

one variable directly influences the effect between 2 other variables

ex. who does cognitive therapy work for?

as internal validity ____, external validity typically ___

increase, decrease

most testimonial or anecdotal evidence results from informal ___

case studies

magnitude

the strength of a correlation

• how related are variables

direction

the positive or negative association between the 2 variables

• positive: as X inc, Y inc

• negative: as X inc, Y dec

file drawer effect

pressure to publish significant findings

internal consistency

measures reliability of different items on a survey to see if they measure the same single idea

test retest reliability

measures the consistency of responses over time

inter rater reliability

consistant and agreement between judgments when scoring or evaluating the same phenomenon

face validity

the degree to which a test appears, on the surface, to measure the intended construct of interest

ex. IQ test measures intelligence

construct validity

extent to which a test accurately measures the overall concept it intends to measure

ex. looks like it’s measuring depression but is actually measuring anxiety

content validity

extent to which item content reflects all aspects of the concept of interest

concurrent validity

association of a measure with another measure of the same concept at the same point in time

ex. depression and anxiety could go hand in hand

predictive validity

association of measure with another measure of same concept at future point in time

incremental validity

extent to which measure predicts more than what already could predict with another measure

ex. does the PHQ-9 provide us with more information about and beyond another depression questionnaire

• useful for screening

Pearson’s r: small

0.1

Pearson’s r: medium

0.3

Pearson’s r: large

0.5

DALY

disability adjusted life years

• years of life lost and years lived with disability

• major depression highest mental disorder for DALY

MDD is ___

polygenic

• associated with configuration of several irregular genes, not with single disordered gene

serotonin

• regulate eating, sex, information processing, aggression, emotional reactions

• reduced levels in depression

norepinephrine

• regulate heart rate, blood pressure, respiration

• plays role in body’s reaction to threat

• reduced levels in depression

dopamine

• exploratory and pleasure-seeking behaviors

• reduced levels in depression

neuroendocrine system

regulates hormones that influence basic motivational functions (sleep, appetite, sex drive, stress response)

hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis

prodices stress hormones (cortisol)

• cortisol levels often used as measure of stress

depressed people show HPA ___ and ___ cortisol levels

hyperactivity, increased

rumination

tendency to dwell in passive way on sad experiences and thoughts

SLEs

stressful life events are strongly related to onset of mood disorders

suicidal ideation

thoughts about killing oneself/wishing to be dead

suicidal method

objects/situations involved in killing oneself

suicidal plan

steps in mind to engage in suicide

suicidal intent

resolution to execute suicidal plan

suicidal attempt

execution of suicidal plan