AP Psych Clinical Unit

Schizophrenia

psychotic disorder in which the person suffers from disordered thinking, bizarre behavior, and hallucinations, and is unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality

Dissociative Identity Disorder:

disorder occurring when a person seems to have two or more distinct personalities within one body

Personality Disorders

a disorder in which a person adopts a persistent, rigid, and maladaptive pattern of behavior that interferes with normal social interactions

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

a disorder characterized by the presence of recurrent and persistent thoughts that cause anxiety, repetitive behaviors aimed at easing anxiety, or both

Panic Disorder

panic attacks occur frequently enough to cause the person difficulty in adjusting to daily life

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

mental health condition triggered by experiencing or witnessing terrifying events like abuse, disasters, or accidents

Agoraphobia

fear of being in a place or situation from which escape is difficult or impossible

Bipolar

periods of mood that may range from normal to manic, with or without episodes of depression, or spans of normal mood interspersed with episodes of major depression and episodes of hypomania

Phobia

an irrational, persistent fear of an object, situation, or social activity

Antisocial Personality Disorder

a person has no morals or conscience and often behaves in an impulsive manner without regard for the consequences of that behavior

Dissociative Disorders

disorders in which there is a break in conscious awareness, memory, the sense of identity, or some combination

Delusions

false beliefs held by a person who refuses to accept evidence of their falseness

Hallucinations

false sensory experiences that occur in the absence of sensory stimulation

Major Depressive Disorder

severely depressed mood that comes on suddenly and seems to have no external cause

Mood Disorders

disorders in which mood is severely disturbed

Anxiety Disorders

the main symptom is excessive or unrealistic worry and fearfulness

Mania

a hyperactive, euphoric state

Dissociative Amnesia

loss of memory for personal information

Dissociative Fugue

traveling away from familiar surroundings with amnesia for the trip and possible amnesia for personal information

Conversion Disorder

also known as functional neurological symptom disorder; a psychological disorder characterized by a significant alteration of motor or sensory function (e.g. blindness, paralysis) with no apparent physical cause

Somatoform Disorders

intense, distressing focus on physical symptoms—such as pain, fatigue, or weakness—that cause significant daily disruption and are accompanied by excessive, irrational worry about their severity

Specific Phobia

fear of objects or specific situations or events

DSM-V

the standard classification system for mental disorders used by clinicians and researchers in the U.S

Hypochondriasis

psychological condition characterized by excessive, chronic, and irrational fear of having a serious, undiagnosed physical illness

Psychoanalysis

emphasizing that behavior and personality are shaped by unconscious conflicts, repressed memories, and early childhood experiences

Systematic Desensitization

a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

a biomedical therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient

Cognitive Therapy

therapeutic techniques that act on a person's conscious mental process, by helping to create new ways of thinking and reacting

Client Centered Therapy

humanistic, non-directive talk therapy developed by Carl Rogers that empowers clients to lead sessions while focusing on self-exploration, growth, and self-actualization

Free Association

psychoanalytic technique that invites patients to verbalize whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or unrelated it may seem

Behavior Therapy

therapeutic techniques that act directly on problem behaviors using learning principles

Psychotherapy

treatment that acts on a person's behavior or mental process; consisting of interactions between a trained therapist and a patient or client

Antipsychotic Drugs

drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other related disorders

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

active-directive, cognitive-behavioral therapy developed by Albert Ellis in the 1950s that focuses on resolving emotional/behavioral problems by challenging irrational, self-defeating beliefs

Psychopathology

the study of abnormal behavior and psychological dysfunction

Unconditional Positive Regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients to develop self-awareness and self-acceptance

Family Therapy

therapy that treats the family as a system. Views an individual's unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members

Psychosurgery

surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior

Group Therapy

therapy conducted with groups rather than individuals, permitting therapeutic benefits from group interaction

Situational Context

the social or environmental setting of a person’s behavior

Antidepressant Drugs

drugs used to treat depression and other disorders that affect mood

Psychological Disorder

any pattern of behavior that causes people significant distress, causes them to harm themselves or others, or harms their ability to function in daily life

Affect

external, observable expression of emotion, mood, or feeling

Psychodynamic Therapy

therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition that views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and that seeks to enhance self-insight

Cognitive Therapy

psychotherapeutic approaches focused on changing maladaptive, irrational, or self-defeating thought patterns to improve emotions and behaviors

Behavior Therapy

therapeutic techniques that act directly on problem behaviors using learning principles