AP Psych Unit 5: Mental and Physical Health 2025

psychological disorder

a syndrome marked by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior

medical model

the concept that diseases have physical causes that can be diagnosed using DSM-5, treated, and, in most cases, cured. When applied to psychological disorders, it is assumed that these mental illnesses can be diagnosed on the basis of their symptoms and cured through therapy, which may include treatment in a psychiatric hospital.

DSM-5

the American Psychiatric Association's manual of disorders; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders.

social anxiety disorder

an anxiety disorder involving the extreme and irrational fear of being embarrassed, judged, or scrutinized by others in social situations

General Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

an anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal

panic disorder

An anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations.

phobia

abnormal fear

OCD

an anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts and/or actions

PTSD

an anxiety disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and/or insomnia that lingers for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience

mania

a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state

rumination

compulsive fretting; overthinking about our problems and their causes

explanatory style

A person's characteristic way of explaining his experiences. Consistently attributing bad experiences to internal, global, and stable causes may increase vulnerability to depression.

Schizophrenia

a psychological disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished, inappropriate emotional expression

Hallucination

false sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus

dissociative identity disorder (DID)

a rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities

antisocial personality disorder

a personality disorder in which a person exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members; may be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist

anorexia

an eating disorder in which an irrational fear of weight gain leads people to starve themselves

Psychotherapy

an emotionally charged, confiding interaction between a trained therapist and someone who suffers from psychological difficulties

biomedical therapy

therapy for mental disorders in which a person with a problem is treated with medical methods to relieve symptoms; focus on the patient's nervous system/physiology

eclectic approach

an approach to psychotherapy that, depending on the client's problems, uses techniques from various forms of therapy

counterconditioning

a behavior therapy procedure that uses classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; includes exposure therapies and aversive conditioning

exposure therapy

An approach to treatment that involves confronting an emotion-arousing stimulus directly and repeatedly, ultimately leading to a decrease in the emotional response

systematic desensitization

A type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias.

aversive conditioning

a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol)

Catastrophizing

Cognitive distortion of dramatically exaggerating the negative consequences of any minor event; "My life is over if I fail this quiz"

Comorbidity

the simultaneous presence of two chronic diseases or conditions in a patient

therapeutic alliance

a bond of trust and mutual understanding between a therapist and client, who work together constructively to overcome the client's problem

SSRI

class of drugs used to relieve anxiety by limiting reuptake of a serotonin

Tardive dyskinesia (TD)

A side effect of long-term use of traditional antipsychotic drugs causing the person to have uncontrollable facial tics, grimaces, and other involuntary movements of the lips, jaw, and tongue.

lobotomy

A now-rare psychosurgical procedure once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients. The procedure cut the nerves that connect the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain.

diathesis-stress model

a diagnostic model that proposes that a disorder may develop when an underlying vulnerability is coupled with a precipitating event

Dorothea Dix

A reformer and pioneer in the movement to treat the insane as mentally ill, beginning in the 1820's, she was responsible for improving conditions in jails and asylums throughout the U.S. and Canada

stress

the reaction of the body and mind to everyday challenges and demands

Eustress

A positive stress that energizes a person and helps a person reach a goal

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Stressful or traumatic experiences, including abuse, neglect, and a range of household dysfunction, such as witnessing domestic violence or growing up with substance abuse, mental disorders, parental discord, or crime in the home.

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

Selye's concept of the body's adaptive response to stress in three phases—alarm, resistance, exhaustion.

tend and befriend

under stress, people (often women) provide support to others and bond with and seek support from others

positive psychology

the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive

ADHD

a psychological disorder marked by the appearance by age 7 of one or more of three key symptoms: extreme inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant deficiencies in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors

depressive disorders

Mood disorders in which the individual suffers from an unrelenting lack of pleasure in life.

major depressive disorder

A mood disorder in which a person experiences, in the absence of drugs or a medical condition, two or more weeks of significantly depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness, and diminished interest or pleasure in most activities.

persistent depressive disorder

a chronic form of unipolar depression marked by ongoing and repeated symptoms of either major or mild depression

agoraphobia

fear or avoidance of situations, such as crowds or wide open places, where one has felt loss of control and panic

compulsions

Repetitive behaviors or mental acts that are performed to prevent or reduce anxiety.

delusion

a false belief, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders

Biofeedback

the use of an external monitoring device to obtain information about a bodily function and possibly gain control over that function

transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

the use of strong magnets to briefly interrupt normal brain activity as a way to study brain regions