Unit 5 Health Psychology and Mental Health

Flashcards on Health Psychology, Stress, Mental and Physical Health.

Eustress

Positive and motivating stress that causes a person to feel challenged or motivated.

Distress

Negative and debilitating stress.

General Adaptation Syndrome

General response people and animals have to a stressful event, involving alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

Corticorsol

Stress hormone released during the alarm stage of the general adaptation syndrome.

Emotion-focused coping

Managing stress by working with the feelings associated with the problem rather than the problem itself.

Problem-focused coping

Managing stress by working with the problems to find a solution.

Type A personality

Quick & aggressive; high competitiveness, sense of urgency, anger.

Type B personality

Slow & not rushing; low competitiveness, easy going.

Dysfunction

Person's mental/behavioral functioning is impaired, disrupting their ability to live a fulfilling life.

Deviance

Person's behavior is different from the society norm.

Delusions

Beliefs not based in reality.

Hallucination

Perceptions not based in reality.

Flat effect

Consistently having no emotional response.

Catatonia

Lack of movement or excessive movement.

Dopamine hypothesis

High level of dopamine seems to be related with schizophrenia.

MDD (unipolar)

Major Depressive Disorder; Presence of sad, empty, irritable mood with changes in thoughts and bodily functioning, for more than 2 weeks.

Bipolar I

Cycling between full mania & major depression.

Specific phobia

Persistent, irrational fear of common objects, events, situations.

Agoraphobia

Fear of specific, social situation.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Constant, but low level of anxiety (constantly arousing ANS).

Panic attack

Sudden surge of intense fears.

Dissociative amnesia

When a person cannot remember things & no physiological basis could be found to indicate memory loss.

Dissociative identity disorder

Forms multiple personality (new personality during that lost time).

Obssessive Compulsion Disorder

Obsession + compulsion; intrusive unwanted thoughts that plague the individual + repetitive actions individuals feel compelled to perform.

PTSD

Intrusive thoughts / dreams related to the trauma.

Pedophillia

Sexual attraction to a child.

Zoophillia

Attraction towards animal.

Antisocial personality disorder

Disregard for other's rights & no remorse (sociopath, psychopaths).

Borderline personality disorder

Unstable relationship (switching back and forth btw how they feel about/act towards that person).

Avoidant personality disorder

Avoid social situation & sensitive to criticism (b/c feeling of inadequacy).

Behavioral therapy

Short term process + treated symptoms (no underlying cause).

Systematic desensitization

Replace anxiety with relaxation (deep relaxation technique, anxiety inducing hierarchy (least frightening~most frightening), exposure).

Cognitive therapy

Changing cognitions in order to change behavior.

Negative triad

Negative view of oneself, the world, and the future.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Combines techniques from both cognitive and behavioral therapy.

REBT (RET)

Expose and confront dysfunctional thought (counter negative triads + behaviour modification).

ECT

High voltage of electricity are passed through the patient's head -> temporary amnesia, seizures (MDD).

Therapeutic alliance

Relationship between client and therapist.

Unconditional positive regard

Blanket acceptance & support of a person regardless of what the person says or does.

Accurate emphatic understanding

Therapist's ability to view the world from the eyes of the client.

Positive psychology

Focuses on the strength a person/community possesses that enables them to thrive.

Subjective Well Being

Sense of how satisfied a person is with their life overall.

Conversion disorder

physiological issues cause physical symptoms.

Tardive dyskinesia

Side effect of antipsychotics due to lack of dopamine.

Antipsychotics (neuroleptics)

Block neural receptors for dopamine; used to treat Schizophrenia.

Hypnosis

Deep relaxation technique that increases suggestibility, decreases awareness of the surroundings, and relieves pain / anxiety.

Antidepressants

Increase serotonin & norepinephrine in synapse; used to treat Unipolar depression.

Stress

causes a person to feel challenged or motivated