Unit 5 Part 2 ID Terms: Types of Psychological Disorders

Definitions from AMSCO Book

International Classification of Diseases (ICD)

The latest edition of the DSM that has attempted to harmonize with another classification tool. Published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and classifies an extensive range of medical conditions and also includes a comprehensive classification system for mental disorders.

Comorbidity

The presence of two or more disorders at the same time.

Intellectual development disorder

Refers to deficits of general mental abilities such as intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviors.

Autism spectrum disorder

A developmental disorder that centers on repetitive behaviors and impairments of social communication and interaction.

Tic disorder

A condition characterized by involuntary, repetitive movements or sounds called tics. These tics can be motor (e.g., blinking, head jerking) or vocal (e.g., grunting, throat clearing). The tics may be brief or occur in longer bursts, and they can vary in severity. Tic disorders are often seen in children and may improve with age.

Intellectual functioning

Refers to learning ability, problem-solving, and reasoning.

Adaptive behavior

Refers to social, practical, and conceptual skills such as the ability to follow rules and/or avoid being victimized (social), upkeep of personal hygiene and use of money or a telephone (practical), and the ability to apply literacy, number concepts, and self-direction (conceptual).

Anxiety

A feeling of unease, fear, or worry that something bad is about to happen, is a part of everyday life.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

Defined as prolonged (six months or longer) feelings of unspecified worry and unease. Individuals with this disorder are unable to stop the constant feelings of dread without a clear cause, and these feelings disrupt their daily lives. Other specific symptoms may include fatigue, restlessness, irritability, sleep disturbances, and muscle tension. Physical symptoms associated with heightened levels of distress, including headache, gastrointestinal problems, or diarrhea, are common in people with this disorder.

Panic disorder

Described as an acute, or sudden and severe, feeling of extreme anxiety or fear that something terrible will happen at any minute.

Derealization

A feeling of unreality.

Depersonalization

A feeling of being detached from oneself.

Specific phobia disorder

An anxiety disorder encompassing an overwhelming, unreasonable, and persistent sense of fear of a phobic stimulus, which can be an object or situation that provokes the fear response and sometimes a panic attack.

Agoraphobia

A fear of open, crowded, or enclosed spaces such as shops or movie theaters. May also include a fear of being outside the safety of one’s home or a fear of standing in line in a crowd. Many people diagnosed with phobia have a history of panic attacks. The fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult or help unavailable if needed.

Social anxiety disorder

(social phobia) causes some people to become overwhelmed with anxiety and fear when in social situations. They have an intense fear of being criticized or embarrassed so they avoid such social situations as large events or parties, public speaking, being on stage, or using public restrooms.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

A mental health condition characterized by persistent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviors or rituals (compulsions) that a person feels compelled to perform. These actions are often done to reduce the anxiety caused by the obsessions, but they provide only temporary relief. This disorder can involve specific obsessions, such as hoarding, obsessive skin picking, obsessive hair pulling (trichotillomania), or a preoccupation with one’s appearance (body dysmorphia). These behaviors can significantly interfere with daily life and functioning.

Hoarding disorder

A mental health condition characterized by persistent difficulty in discarding or parting with possessions, regardless of their actual value. Individuals with this disorder feel a strong emotional attachment to objects, and the thought of discarding them leads to intense anxiety. A woman with this disorder, for example, knows it is ridiculous to refuse to throw away used bandages, but inside her mind is the obsessive thought that something profoundly important is connected to that used bandageand throwing it away could lead to tragedy. The thought of throwing it away sends her anxiety soaring. So she saves it, along with everything else—used teabags, price tags from purchased items, and shoes beyond repair. One woman saved all the hair that accumulated in her hairbrush.

Body dysmorphic disorder

A condition related to OCD in which the affected person has an obsessive preoccupation with his or her physical appearance. In this disorder, the anxiety-reducing compulsive behavior may include compulsive grooming or frequent checking of one’s appearance in mirrors or window reflections.

Anhedonia

The inability to experience any pleasure.

Dysphoria

An intense state of unease.

Acute stress disorder (ASD)

Characterized by symptoms that begin to develop shortly after people experience or witness a traumatic event. They may include uncontrollable flashback memories and nightmares, dissociative symptoms, sleep disturbances, hypervigilance, and problems processing the traumatic event.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

A mental health condition that can develop after an individual experiences or witnesses a traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, serious accident, war, or assault. Symptoms include flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, and avoidance of situations or places that remind the person of the trauma. People with PTSD may also feel detached or numb, and experience heightened emotional responses like irritability or difficulty sleeping. The condition can significantly impact daily life and functioning.

Dissociative amnesia

The inability to remember parts of the past as a result of trauma. The loss of these memories is triggered psychologically rather than by physical damage and is often associated with traumatic events such as rape or child abuse.

Localized amnesia

The inability to remember events during a specific stretch of time, such as the period of childhood from age five to age seven—is the most common type of memory loss.

Selective amnesia

Involves the loss of only certain specific memories. For example, a soldier may remember what he was doing before and after an explosive device blew up near him and killed his fellow soldier and friend, but he cannot remember the actual event.

Generalized amnesia

The total loss of memory of one’s life, including learned skills and acquired knowledge—is rare. People with this amnesia are often referred to law enforcement and psychiatric care because they are found to wander aimlessly.

Dissociative fugue

Refers to the complete loss of awareness of one’s identity and the assumption or development of another identity.

Dissociative identity disorder

Formerly called multiple personality disorder, is the presence of at least two distinct identities (alters) that appear in a host’s behavior along with impaired memory beyond mere forgetfulness. The mind partitions itself into two or more distinct personalities that may or may not know about each other.

Somatic symptom disorder

Preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness. Characterized by extreme anxiety about physical symptoms that are interpreted as evidence of illness. Occurs when a person manifests a psychological problem (generally stress) through a physiological symptom. (Formerly Hypochondriasis)

Illness anxiety disorder (IAD)

A severe obsession with having or getting a serious illness despite no indication of illness following a medical exam. Previously known as hypochondriasis or hypochondria.

Conversion disorder

(functional neurological symptom disorder) is “con- version” of extreme anxiety into a physical disorder. The physical symptoms are real but no neurological or medical cause can be identified clinically. This disorder are characterized by motor symptoms such as weakness or paralysis, abnormal movements, limp, and tremors. Sensory symptoms include reduced or absent sense of touch, vision, or hearing. In extreme cases, non-epileptic (psychogenic) seizures may occur, as well as inability to speak and even coma.

Factitious disorder

If a person falsely reports, or deliberately creates or exaggerates symptoms to get medical attention, that person is exhibiting symptoms of this disorder.

Factitious disorder imposed on another

Another more harmful type of factitious disorder; (previously known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy), which involves the deliberate falsification of physical or psychological symptoms or actually inducing these symptoms in someone else in order to gain emotional attention and sympathy.

Anorexia nervosa

(often referred to as anorexia) is a life-threatening eating disorder that involves intense fear of weight gain or becoming overweight, a distorted perception of one’s weight or body shape, and persistent restriction of caloric intake leading to extreme weight loss and increasing damage to physical health. It affects more females than males and occurs more frequently in young adults. Typical symptoms of this include abrupt and profound weight loss coupled with exercise and constant weighing, compulsive and covert checking of one’s body in mirrors or reflective surfaces, and increased verbalization of the fear of weight gain or being fat.

Bulimia nervosa

(commonly referred to as bulimia) is a potentially life- threatening eating disorder that involves secretive binging—eating large or excessive amounts of food in a short period of time.

Binging/Purging

Self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives or diuretics (medications that increase urination to remove excess fluid from the body), and fasting or excessive exercise to compensate for the high calorie intake.

Awfulizing

(cognitive perceptions that things are much worse than they really are) and rigid thinking.

Binge-eating disorder

Is the most common eating disorder and involves recurrent episodes of eating excessive amounts of food in a short period of time accompanied by an intense sense of lack of control over the eating behavior.