AP Psych Unit 9 Abnormal Psychology

Flashcards covering key concepts in abnormal psychology, including definitions, disorders, and diagnostic criteria.

Characteristics

Disturbed, dysfunctional, and maladaptive behavior. Example: A person who cannot leave their house due to severe anxiety.

Medical

The concept that psychological disorders have physical causes that can be diagnosed and treated. Example: Treating depression with medication.

DSM-5

A widely used system for classifying psychological disorders. Example: Diagnosing a patient with specific criteria from the manual.

Anxiety

Psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety. Example: Generalized anxiety, panic disorder, phobias.

Generalized

Continual worry, jitteriness, agitation, and sleep deprivation; more common in women. Example: Constant worry about finances and health.

Panic

Unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread and terror. Example: Experiencing a sudden episode of intense fear with physical symptoms like chest pain.

Phobia

Persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation. Example: Fear of heights or spiders.

OCD

Unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions). Example: Excessive hand-washing due to fear of germs.

PTSD

Haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and/or insomnia lasting for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience. Example: A war veteran experiencing flashbacks.

Biological

Genes, natural selection, the brain (anterior cingulate cortex), glutamate. Example: Genetic predisposition to anxiety disorders.

Mood

Psychological disorders characterized by emotional extremes. Example: Major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder.

Depressive

Problems regulating appetite and sleep, low energy and self-esteem, difficulty concentrating, and feelings of hopelessness. Example: Feeling of worthlessness and fatigue for several weeks.

Mania

A hyperactive, wildly optimistic state. Example: Extreme impulsivity and inflated self-esteem.

Bipolar

Alternating between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania. Example: Cycling between depressive episodes and manic episodes.

Schizophrenia

A group of severe disorders characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished or inappropriate emotional expression. Example: Hearing voices and having paranoid thoughts.

Delusions

False beliefs, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders. Example: Believing that one is a famous historical figure.

Hallucinations

False sensory experiences, such as seeing or hearing things that are not there. Example: Hearing voices when no one is speaking.

Abnormality

Excess dopamine (D4 dopamine receptor). Example: Brain scans showing high levels of dopamine in a schizophrenic patient.

Somatic

A psychological disorder in which symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause. Example: Experiencing pain without any identifiable physical cause.

Conversion

A disorder in which a person experiences very specific genuine physical symptoms for which no physiological basis can be found. Example: Sudden blindness or paralysis without any medical explanation.

Illness

A disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease. Example: Interpreting a headache as a sign of a brain tumor.

Anorexia

Eating disorder in which a person maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly underweight. Example: Intense fear of gaining weight, even when underweight.

Bulimia

Eating disorder in which a person alternates binge eating with purging or fasting. Example: Consuming large amounts of food followed by self-induced vomiting.

Binge-Eating

Significant binge-eating episodes followed by distress, disgust, or guilt, without compensatory behaviors. Example: Eating a large quantity of food in a short period, feeling guilty afterward, but not purging.

Personality

Psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning. Example: Borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder.

Antisocial

A personality disorder in which a person exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members. Example: Repeatedly lying and manipulating others without remorse.