AP Psych Unit 5

Health Psychology

How biological, social and psychological factors influence health & illness (e.g. genes + stressful workload + low self efficacy → burnout). Encourage healthy & wellness behaviors in ppl.

Stress

The process by which we perceive & respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening & challenging (e.g. test [stressor] → appraisal: challenging → panic and start frantically studying)

Stressors: Catastrophes, significant life changes, daily hassles

Hypertension

Abnormally high blood pressure & psychological stress

Immune suppression

Lower body’s immune system & its ability to fight infections & diseases (e.g. stress → Activated sympathetic nervous system → blood to muscles → less blood to immune system → more likely to be sick)

Distress

Bad stress (e.g. death of loved one)

Eustress

Good stress (e.g. meeting fav celebrity)

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Potentially traumatic events in childhood (e.g. Physical abuse, witnessing a murder)

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in 3 stages: Alarm, resistance, exhaustion

Alarm Stage

Encounter threatening stimulus, SNS (fight/flight) activated, increased heart rate, blood to skeletal muscles. Could also freeze. Stage ends if threat is avoided. (e.g. See snake → SNS activated → going to run away)

Resistance Stage

If threat is not avoided, there’s a prolonged state of stress. High temp, blood pressure, breathing rate; Epinephrine & norepinephrine in blood stream. Fully engaged to fight/flight. Activation of stress cannot be kept up indefinitely. (e.g. Continue running at full speed away)

Exhaustion Stage

Energy & strength are used up by maintaining resistance, body response dwindles. More vulnerable to illness, fatigue, illness (e.g. stop running → tired, very scared → become sick next day [immune suppression])

Fight-flight-freeze response

The body’s automatic, built-in system designed to protect us from threat/danger. (e.g. See snake → Fight: beat up with stick/ Flight: run away/ Freeze: stay in place,shocked)

Tend-and-Befriend Theory

Under threat & stress, ppl (especially women) nurture their offspring to ensure their survival & seek to support & bond with others for joint protection & comfort. (e.g. after earthquake → take care of kids, form support groups in shelters to comfort each other)

Meditation

Profound & extended contemplation/reflection (e.g. listen to calm music with eyes close, going through what went well in your day)

Learned helplessness

Repeated attempts to control a situation fail, you feel helpless (X change situation, X escape punishment → depression) (e.g. keep dk precalc → dont wanna go to class, dont wanna try → sad)

Problem-focused coping

Person directly confronts the stressor to try to alleviate/eliminate it (e.g. precalc too hard, stressed → do more questions, tutor to learn it better & easier [cough])

Emotion-focused coping

Person focuses on tending to their negative emotional reactions to a stressor, avoid the stressor (e.g. watch youtube to forget about precalc for a while & destress)

Positive Psychology

Studies the strengths & virtues that enable individuals & communities to thrive. (whats right with humans) Study & promotion of well-being & human flourishing. (e.g. study conscientiousness → healthy, live longer)

Well-being

Happiness, life satisfaction (e.g. I have chicken nuggets → happy, life satisfaction high → high well-being)

Resilience

Ability to adapt & bounce back from difficult life experiences (e.g. lost both hands → learned to use feet → happy, continue with life)

Gratitude

Sense of thankfulness & happiness (e.g. thanks for taking care of me, mom)

Virtues

Qualities/Characteristics that have positive connotations in a society, and are considered beneficial to psychological health (e.g. wisdom → positive → look at the big picture, not stressed over small mistakes → benefit psychological health)

Broaden-and-Build Theory

Positive emotions broaden one’s awareness & encourage new thoughts & actions (e.g. feel happy, did well on test → im gonna try this math competition!)

Signature Strengths

Character strengths that are most essential to who we are (e.g. Virgin Mary → humility)

MOST PROMINENT POSITIVE PERSONALITY TRAIT

Character Strengths

Positive personality traits that reflect our basic identity, produce positive outcomes for ourselves & others, & contribute to the collective good (e.g. honesty → others trust us, can depend on us, good reputation → collective good: improve faster, admit mistakes)

WHO WE ARE

Wisdom

Integration of knowledge, experience & deep understanding (e.g. Others & personal experience → it’s NOT if you dream it you can do it, it’s if you put in the hard work, you need more than a belief).

Creativity, curiosity, judgment, love of learning, perspective

Courage

The quality to tolerate & be with the discomfort of fear (e.g. Harry go in chamber of secrets with basilisk)

Bravery, honesty, perseverance, zest

Humanity

The quality of being humane, benevolence (e.g. see wounded animal → take time to help bring it to vet)

Kindness, love, social intelligence

Justice

Just behavior or treatment (e.g. 2 sides of argument, listen to both sides, not biased to friends for decision on whos right)

Fairness, leadership, teamwork

Temperance

The quality of moderation or self-restraint (e.g. super angry → hold back, still hold respect and politeness to the person)

Forgiveness, humility, prudence, self-regulation

Transcendence

Existence/experience beyond the normal or physical level (e.g. awe at God’s creation)

Appreciation of beauty & excellence, gratitude, hope, humor, spirituality

Psychological disorder

Syndrome marked by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s thoughts, emotional regulation, behavior (e.g. Major Depressive Disorder → thinking negative thoughts, feel sad, isolate themselve)

Dysfunction

Interference with the ability to conduct daily activities (e.g. Broken foot → X Walk, X balance)

Distress

Pain & discomfort in emotions/thoughts/behavior (e.g. OCD → annoying obsessions [thoughts] & compulsions [behavior]→ have to wash hands; X do it → anxiety [emotions])

Maladaptive

Biological traits/behavior patterns are detrimental, interfere with optimal functioning (e.g. Dissociative fugue → wandering → dangerous, interfere with normal life routine & control)

Maladaptive thoughts

Belief that is false & rationally unsupported (e.g. Humans are secretly lizard people)

Maladaptive behaviors

Behavior that interferes with someone’s daily activities/ability to adjust to & participate in certain settings (e.g. extreme social anxiety, stuttering when talking → X talk well, scared of talking in social situations)

Stigma

Negative attitude society has on a characteristic of an individual (e.g. black skin, race → dangerous)

American Psychiatric Association (APA)

A national medical & professional organization whose physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment & prevention of mental disorders

Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

Manual that lists 500+ diagnosis, most widely used classification system (e.g. nightmares, flashbacks, remember specific details of traumatic event → psychologist read DSM → PTSD)

World Health Organization

Direct & coordinate authority for health in UN

International Classification of Mental Disorders (ICD)

Global standard for diagnosing & classifying all health conditions for clinical, health management, & epidemiological purposes, includes mental disorders (e.g. nightmares, flashbacks, remember specific details of traumatic event → psychologist read ICD → PTSD)

Eclectic Approach

Broad-based approach, using a combination of different approaches to diagnose & treat individuals with psychological disorders (e.g. MDD: Biological - medicine + psychodynamic - free association for trauma + Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy - talking to make new thought & behavior patterns)

Behavioral perspective

Environment → human behavior (e.g. maladaptive learned associations between bees & painful sting → phobia of bees)

REINFORCEMENT HISTORY, ENVIRONMENT → DISORDER

Psychodynamic Perspective

Unconscious thoughts, experiences, motives (usually childhood) → personality, attitudes, behavior, emotional disorders (e.g. unconscious childhood trauma: sb died from allergy to bee sting→ phobia of bees)

INTERNAL, UNCONSCIOUS CONFLICTS → DISORDER

Humanistic perspective

People are good & constructive, tendency for self-actualization is built in, humans will develop to their maximum potential with the proper environment (e.g. Originally scared of bees → avoid park → X full potential & ideal self → phobia of bees)

OUT OF TOUCH WITH YOUR FEELINGS, X STRIVE TO MEET YOUR POTENTIAL → DISORDER

Cognitive Perspective

How internal thoughts & feelings influence one’s behavior (e.g. maladaptive thoughts: bees are only bad and hate humans → phobia of bees)

IRRATIONAL, DYSFUNCTIONAL THOUGHTS/WAY OF THINKING → DISORDER

Evolutionary perspective

Evolution of organisms over generations (e.g. bees are dangerous → survive better if scared & avoid in ancestral past→ now phobia of bees)

REDUCED LIKELIHOOD OF SURVIVAL IN CURRENT ENVIRONMENT→ DISORDER

Sociocultural perspective

Environmental factors of society, culture & social interaction (e.g. bees shown in movies always attacking ppl → phobia of bees)

DYSFUNCTIONAL SOCIETY → DISORDER

Biological perspective

Physiological based causative factors - genes, biochemicals (e.g. genes → phobia of bees)

GENETIC PREDISPOSITIONS, NEUROTRANSMITTER IMBALANCES → DISORDER

Biopsychosocial model

Biological, psychological, social factors → Mental health, specific mental disorders (e.g. Bio: genes + psycho: rumination, assume the worst + social: selfish culture → paranoid personality disorder)

Diathesis-stress model

Genetic predisposition (diathesis) + stressful condition to “turn on” → mental/physical disorder (e.g. genes for high aggression + childhood abuse → antisocial personality disorder, aggression)

Diathesis

Any susceptibility/predisposition for a disease/disorder (e.g. genes → higher schizophrenia risk)

Depressive Disorders

Mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness/ loss of interest (e.g. PDD → More times sad than not sad for 2 years, isolation)

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

A disorder where person has depressed mood AND/OR loss of interest/ pleasure, with at least 5 symptoms in total for 2 weeks of more

• Talk of death, suicidal, self-harm

• Sleep problems

• Aches

• Loss of interest/pleasure

• Feel sad

• Low energy

• Anxious, guilty, helpless

• Restless, frustrated, irritated

• Move/speak slowly

• Appetite problems

• Hard to pay attention, remember, make decision

(e.g. For a month, Peter has felt sad and had no energy without reason. His teacher reported that he rarely answered questions, and he always did not pay attention in class. When he did answer, he spoke very slowly and didn’t seem to care about his favorite subjects.)

Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD)

A disorder where people are depressed on more days than not for at least 2 years. Similar symptoms as MDD, but more severe & long-lasting.

• Sleep problems

• Appetite problems

• Low energy

• Difficulty concentrating, making decisions

• Poor self-esteem

• Feel hopeless

• Other MDD Symptoms

(e.g. For 3 years, Clover has been down for no reason, and keeps to herself. She feels inferior to others and no one will understand her. She wakes up often in the night, and eats a lot of junk food. She feels hopeless & has had suicidal thoughts.)

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Central Nervous System abnormalities (e.g. brain) that start in childhood & alter thinking & behavior (as in intellectual limitations/psychological disorder) (e.g. From baby, less brain fibers connecting brain → thinking: fixated interests, behavior: act inappropriately in social situations → autism)

Behavior inappropriate for age

Schizophrenic Spectrum Disorders

A group of disorders with delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking & speech, disorganized & unusual motor behavior & negative symptoms

• Schizophrenia

• Schizotypal personality disorder

Delusions

A false belief held with confidence that accompanies psychotic disorders (irrational ideas & loss of contact with reality) → affect behavior

(e.g. Delusion: Clover firmly believes that she is a god on earth → tries to control things with her “magical powers”)

• Delusions of persecution: Believe someone is plotting against you/trying to harm you/your loved ones (e.g. aliens are chasing me & trying to kill me)

• Delusions of grandeur: Believe they are someone else with special powers, and are better than others (e.g. Im the fairy godmother)

Hallucinations

See/hear/smell/taste/feel things that are not actually real/there. Only experienced by hallucinator, others X.

• Auditory hallucinations - most common

(e.g. see the world in neon colors, hear voices in head giving commentary)

Disorganized thinking/speech

Fragmented/illogical thoughts.speech patterns that make it difficult for person to communicate
(e.g. my homework is so… hey that bird… Plastic bottle… ooh i want ceviche… wheres my mom… GHOST)

Word salad: Disorganized speech. Confused/unintelligible mixture of seemingly random words & phrases. Person rapidly shifts topics, & thinks they are being coherent

(e.g. Friday? Hey did you know my dog,, Wow Spain looks nice. Do you think about a cereal being a soup? squid RED! YELLOW! STUPID!)

Disorganized Motor Behavior

Catatonia: Disorganized motor behavior. Person is awake, but X respond to others/environment → affect movement, speech, behavior

(e.g. Clover X respond to questions, X notice water splashed on her)

Stupor: Disorganized motor behavior. Very deep unresponsiveness

(e.g. Clover not even responding to a fire next to her)

Catatonic Stupor: Person can’t move/speak, & seems to be staring off into space

(e.g. Clover staring off into space, is not moving/yelling when accidentally brushed by hot plate)

Negative Symptoms

Absence of something, normal state taken away.

• Withdraws from environment

• X interest in social interactions

• Flat affect: Person feels emotions, but shows nothing. Low emotional expression

  (e.g. Clover’s mom just died, she’s sad, but her face is completely still, she is not crying or saying anything much)

• Low energy

(e.g. Clover doesn’t want to go anywhere, only stay at home lying on her bed. She doesn’t feel/show any shock when her mom is suddenly in a car accident)

Positive Symptoms

Presence of symptoms. Change in behavior/thoughts to be highly exaggerated, and shows person can’t tell what’s real

• Delusion

• Hallucination

• Disorganized thoughts, speech

• Excitement

(e.g. AAAAAA theres a meteor in the sky right now! We’re gonna die - hallucination (see it)/delusion (think it))

Schizophrenia

Serious mental disorder with disruptions in thought processes, perceptions, emotional responsiveness, social interactions. Person interprets reality abnormally, & impairs functioning

• Positive symptoms

  • Delusions

  • Hallucinations

  • Disorganized thinking, speech

  • Disorganized, unusual movements

• Negative symptoms

  • Flat affect

  • Catatonia/stupor/catatonic stupor

(e.g. Clover believes aliens are attacking tmr, sees UFOs. She doesn’t show much emotions, and is sometimes frozen. She hears a voice telling her to do things)

Acute Schizophrenia: Schizophrenia starts suddenly at any age in response to traumatic event. More postive symptoms. Likely to recover.

(e.g. Sexual abuse → sees ghosts, hears wispy voices, random jerks, can’t speak on 1 topic. Goes to therapy → healed)

Chronic Schizophrenia: Schizophrenia starts at late adolescence/early adulthood. Develop slowly - Psychotic episodes last longer, gets harder to recover over time. More negative symptoms

(e.g. 18: weak voices → stronger voicers, believes she is a superhero → Goes into catatonic stupor, have to obey voices, completely delusional. Therapy → only control a bit, X heal)

Dopamine Hypothesis

Abnormal dopamine regulation in brain dopamine neurons.

• Too much dopamine in mesolimbic pathway → positive symptoms

• Too liitle dopamine in mesocortical pathway → negative symptoms

Bipolar Disorders

Group of disorders where person alternates between episodes of depression with hopelessess & X energy, to over excited & confident state of mania

(e.g. Clover has 1 week where she feels like she can take on the world, doesnt need sleep, talkative. Next week, she is tired & really sad)

Mania

Hyperactive, wildly optimistic state with poor judgment

• Racing thoughts

• Difficulty concentrating

• Feel powerful

• Poor judgment

• More energy, X need sleep

• Impulsive spending

(e.g. Clover feels invincible and she uses all her money for handbags. She is constantly excited & speaks super fast while changing topics.)

Depression

Mood disorder with persistent sadness & loss of interest

(e.g. After Mania, Clover feels hopeless and depressed/ She doesnt want to go to art class, which she usually loves.)

Anxiety Disorder

Group of disorders with excessive fear & anxiety & related maladaptive behaviors. Anxiety is the main symptom/ main cause of other symptoms

(e.g. Generalized Anxiety disorder → worried about everything → have to ask a lot, think about it at night)

Specific Phobia

Anxiety disorder with excessive, persistent, irrational fear & avoidance & distress of a specific object/ activity/ situation

• At least 6 months of persistent, excessive fear of specific object/situation

• Exposure/thinking about it → immediate fear & anxiety

• Avoidance of thing

• Fear & anxiety of thing → disrupts daily acitivites

E.g. Acrophobia: Fear of heights

Arachnophobia: Fear of spiders

Agoraphobia: Fear & avoidance of public spaces & crowds, due to fear of a panic attack happening (embarrassing, no one help)

(e.g. When Clover thinks about spiders, she starts to sweat and feels intense fear. She avoids parks and nature.)

Agoraphobia

Fear & avoidance of public spaces & crowds, due to fear of a panic attack happening (embarrassing, no one help)

• Fear & anxiety of at least 2

  • Public transport

  • Open spaces

  • Enclosed spaces

  • Outside home alone

  • Lining up, crowds

• Avoid/extreme excessive distress & anxiety in situations

• At least 6 months

(e.g. Clover had a panic attack before, & to avoid future ones happening in public, where no one can help her, she has stayed in her home for 6 months to not go out. When she goes to see a therapist, she feels extremely scared & dizzy walking & on transportation.)

Panic Disorder

Anxiety disorder with recurrent & unpredictable episodes panic attacks: intense fear without cause & severe physical reactions (e.g. chest pains, choking, other frightening sensations). Usually scared of another future panic attack.

• Unpredictable panic attacks happen repeatedly

• After attack happens

  • At least 1 month of worry on future panic attack/ life disruptions to avoid panic attack

(E.g. Clover suddenly had a panic attack at the mall, & she later was reluctant to go to malls, since she was scared of another panic attack. Another attack happened at home.)

Ataque de Nervios: Culture-bound panic disorder. Trembling, convulsions, uncontrollable screaming, loss of control, chest tightness, aggressive/suicidal behavior

Culture-Bound Anxiety Disorder

Pattern of mental illness, distress, symptoms unique to specific ethnic/cultural population, X conform to normal classifications of psychiatric disorders

(e.g. Taijin Kyofusho - Japan)

Social Anxiety Disorder

Intense fear, anxiety, self-consciousness, embarrassment & avoidance of social situations. Scared of being judged.

• Intense, excessive fear & anxiety in social situations e.g. speaking

• Avoids social situations/ endures them with severe distress

• Causes daily life dysfunction

• At least 6 months

(e.g. Clover is extremely distressed in group projects, and prefers working alone at home. She has been skipping school on and off for around 6 months. When she has to do presentations, she is scared of saying things wrong and being judged.)

Taijin Kyofusho: Intense fear of their body parts or functions are offensive, unpleasing, embarrassing to others. Scared of others judging their bodies

(E.g. Clover is very self-conscious about her appearance, and always spends 4 hours to get ready. Even thought she looks fine, she thinks others will not accept her. She prefers going places alone, because she thinks that others will be embarrassed being seen with her)

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Anxiety disorder where person has excessive & unexplained anxiety/distress about everything. Continuously tense with aroused ANS

• No trigger, little reason to worry

• Excessive worry on many topics

• Difficult to control worry

• 3 or more symptoms

  • Restless

  • Tired easily

  • Difficulty concentrating

  • Irritable

  • Muscle tension

  • Difficulty sleeping

• at least 6 months

(e.g. Clover has had insomnia for a year. She constantly worries about her finances, and that her family relationship will be broken, even though it is fine now. She has racing thoughts, which make it hard to concentrate, and is always tired from her anxiety and sleepless nights. She also worries about her kids’ safety, her work tasks, and her future retirement.)

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Disorder with obsessions and/or compulsions

• Obsessions: Persistent, unwanted intrusive thoughts/images that bring discomfort & anxiety

• Compulsions: Repetitive behavior done to relieve anxiety

• X control obsessions & compulsions, even though they know it’s excessive

• >1 hour spent/day on obsessions & compulsions

• Daily life disruption

• More specific than OCPD

(e.g. Clover always has thoughts that she has to clean her hands, or she will get sick with germs. Everyday, she has to wash her hands 40 times, even though it is causing her pain and she knows is unnecessary. This has caused her to always be late)

Dissociative Disorders

Controversial, rare group of disorders with disruption in normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control & behavior

(e.g. Dissociative Identity Disorder - After trauma, person has multiple distinct identities with their own preferences & mannerisms that alternate)

Dissociations

A split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts & behaviors to occur simultaneously with others

(e.g. Dissociative amnesia: You were drowning, but your consciousness was split, and now you don’t remember it [memory gap]→ thought of drowning is split with the behavior of drowning)

Trauma & Stressor-related Disorders

Emotional & behavioral disorders from childhood trauma & stressful experiences

• Hypervigilance: unusually high alertness to potentially dangerous stimuli (jumpy)

• Flashbacks: Reliving traumatic event with some adjustments

• Insomnia: Difficulty falling/staying asleep → tired → disfunction, distress

• Emotional Detachment → Inability/unwillingness to connect with others emotionally

• Hostility: Very unfriendly & antagonize others

  (e.g. PTSD → experienced traumatic, threatening war → flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, avoid war-related stimuli, problems sleeping, social withdrawal, emotional numbness, poor concentration for at least a month)

Feeding & eating disorders

Group of disorders with altered eating/feeding behaviors that impair health/psychological functioning. Usually diagnosed in infancy/childhood/adolescence

(e.g. Anorexia Nervosa → distorted body image, scared of gaining weight → X eat → X health)

Personality Disorders

Group of disorders with pervasive patterns of perceiving, relating to, thinking about the environment and the self that interfere with long-term functioning of the individual.

(e.g. Paranoid Personality Disorder → think others are harming them [think about environment]→ mistrust everyone → hard to form relationships & work with others [disfunction])

Cluster A Personality Disorders

Weird

• Social awkwardness

• Social withdrawal

• Secretive

• Odd thoughts/speech

• Weird behaviors

• Schizotypal, Schizoid, Paranoid

(e.g. Schizotypal → intense social anxiety, weird behaviors & speech, inappropriate emotional responses)

Paranoid Personality Disorder

Cluster A.

• Believe others are out to harm them

• Distrust, suspicion of others

• Hard to form relationships, controlling

• Overly sensitive to criticism

• Cold, jealous, secretive

• Hard to relax

• Look for hidden meanings

• Hold negative views of others

• Outbursts of anger in response to perceived deception

(e.g. Clover thinks that everyone at school are trying to tell her the wrong answers on purpose, so she will fail her tests. When her friends are nice to her, she thinks they are trying to gain something. She has angry outbursts at the smallest comments and is always irritated.)

Schizoid Personality Disorder

Cluster A.

• Preoccupied with fantasy

• Avoid social situations

• X enjoy relationships

• Desire to remain socially withdrawn, X desire to form close personal relationships

• Indifferent to others, praise, norms, expectations

• Difficulty to express emotions

• X do things for fun/pleasure

• Cold, withdrawn

(e.g. Clover hates going out, and stays at home daydreaming. She does not want to make new friends or talk to her family. She doesn’t react to shocking news, and others find it hard to form relationships, since she doesn’t care about others being nice to her)

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Cluster A.

• Weird behaviors, speech, thoughts

• Magical beliefs

• Intense social anxiety, poor & few social/close relationships

• Flat/inappropriate emotions

• Don’t understand how to form relationships & how their behavior impacts others

• Misinterpret others’ motivations → Paranoia

• Lack of motivation & underachievement in school/work

Cluster B Personality Disorder

Wild

• Unpredictable, dramatic, intensely emotional responses to things

• Wild behavior that don’t last long

(e.g. Borderline Personality Disorder → unpredictable & emotional mood swings that change quickly, risky behavior, self-harm)

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Cluster B

Lack of conscience for wrongdoing, tend to disregard & violate rights of others

• Lack of empathy for others

• Act impulsively, X consider consequences of actions

• X remorse

• No regard for right/wrong, social norms & others’ rights

• Violent, aggressive, criminal behavior (e.g. physical assaults)

• Lie for personal gain

• Abusive/poor relationships

• Antagonize & act insensitively to others

Borderline Personality Disorder

Cluster B

• Impulsive, risky behaviors

• Quick mood swings, poor emotional regulation

• High anger

• Numb

• Paranoia

• Unstable self-image

• Intense, high conflict relationships

• Strong fear of abandonment

• Jealousy

• Self-destructive & self-harm behavior, suicidal ideation

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Cluster B

• Inflated sense of entitlement & self-importance

• Arrogant behavior

• Envious of others/think others are envious of them

• Fantasies of success

• Lack of empathy

• Need a lot of attention & admiration, sensitive to criticism

• Take advantage of others

• Believe they are special

Histrionic Personality Disorder

Cluster B

• Strong need for attention

• Dramatic behavior & exaggerated emotional reactions for attention

• Reassurance-seeking

• Shallow & fake emotions

• Extremely sensitive to criticism

• Mood swings

• Lack of empathy

• Impulsiveness

• Distorted self-image

Cluster C Personality Disorder

Worried

• Rigid, anxious, tearfulness

• Constant anxiety & fear

Avoidant Personality Disorder

Cluster C

• Avoid/have anxiety in social situations

• Easily hurt by criticism/disapproval

• Extreme self-consciousness

• Failure to initiate social contact

• Lack of assertiveness, trust in others

• Low self-esteem

• Need to be liked

• Avoid making decisions

• Anxiety about doing the wrong thing

• Extreme shyness

• Hard to form relationships

Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder

Cluster C

• Preoccupied with details, rules, lists, order, control, perfection

• Excessive effort on work → neglect relationships

• Extreme caution to avoid “failure”

• Unwilling to compromise

• Overly fixated on one idea/task/belief

• Rigid & stubborn in beliefs/way of doing sth

• Perceiving everything as black & white

• Control everything (vs OCD - specific & rigid for 1 specific thing)

Dependent Personality Disorder

Cluster C

• Excessive need to be taken care of

• Clingy

• Difficulty making decisions/ starting & completing tasks without others’ advice & reassurance

• Relationship problems

• Low self-esteem

• Need others to take responsibility & meet needs in their life

• Feel uncomfortable alone

• Fear of abandonment

• Feel helpless if relationship ends

• Intense fear of not being able to take care of themselves

Meta Analysis

Combining the results of multiple studies of a phenomenon into a single result

(e.g. Report A: Short adolescents are smarter; Report B: Short adults are smarter; Report C: Short elderly are smarter → Meta analysis: Short people are correlated with increased smartness)

Psychological Therapies

Used to treat emotional problems & mental health conditions

Psychotherapy

Trained professional uses communication, interaction and reflection with clients to treat disorders

(e.g. Psychologist talking about problems with client, find negative thought patterns, give advice)

Evidence-Based Practice

Using laboratory research & field clinical settings to provide psychological services that are tailored & responsive to a patient’s culture, preferences & characteristics

(e.g. Hypnosis, tested in lab & on patients → effective on Asians with schizophrenia, where they are less comfortable with free association)

Therapeutic Alliance

Cooperative working relationship between client & therapist → successful therapy

Therapist…

• Creates support & trust

• Is warm & non-judgmental

• Is healthy

• Has cultural competency: Understand & respect cultural background of client