Mental and Physical Health Study Guide

Flashcards created to encapsulate key vocabulary and concepts from the Mental and Physical Health study guide.

Well-Being

A state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.

Stress

A feeling of emotional or physical tension.

Eustress

Positive stress that motivates a person and helps them achieve their goals.

Hypertension

High blood pressure.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

Potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood (0-17).

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

A three-stage process (Alarm, Resistance, Exhaustion) describing the body's response to stress.

Effects of Stress on Heart

Stress can negatively impact cardiovascular health, increasing the risk of heart disease.

Type A Personality

Characterized by competitiveness, impatience, and hostility.

Type B Personality

More relaxed and easygoing personality type.

Catharsis

The process of releasing strong or repressed feelings onto something else.

Tend-and-Befriend Theory

In stressful situations, people may respond by nurturing others or seeking social support.

Problem-Focused Coping

Addresses the source of stress directly to relieve it.

Emotion-Focused Coping

Manages the emotional response to stress rather than addressing the source.

Behavioral Medicine

An interdisciplinary field that integrates behavioral and biomedical sciences to prevent, diagnose, and treat illnesses.

Lymphocytes

A type of white blood cell that is part of the immune system.

Psychoneuroimmunology

The study of the interaction between the nervous system, the endocrine system, and the immune system.

Anxiety Disorders

A group of disorders characterized by excessive fear, worry, and anxiety, including phobias and panic disorder.

Medical Model

A framework for understanding and treating illness that focuses on biological causes.

Adaptation-Level Phenomenon

How previous experiences influence our perception of stimuli, leading to insensitivity to constant stimuli.

Relative Deprivation

The feeling of dissatisfaction arising from a perceived gap between expectations and actual conditions, often compared to others.

Positive Psychology

A branch of psychology focused on human strengths, well-being, and optimal functioning.

Character Strengths/Virtues

Traits such as wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.

Posttraumatic Growth

Positive psychological changes occurring after experiencing a traumatic event.

3 D’s of Abnormality

Deviance, Distress, and Dysfunction are criteria for defining abnormal behavior.

David Rosenhan Study

An experiment that questioned the validity of psychiatric diagnosis.

DSM-5

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; a classification system for mental disorders.

Diathesis-Stress Model

Suggests mental disorders result from the interaction of genetic predisposition and environmental stressors.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Conditions affecting brain development, such as ADHD and autism.

Schizophrenia

A disorder characterized by hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking.

Depressive Disorders

Mental health disorders characterized by persistent sadness.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

A type of depressive disorder with severe symptoms affecting daily functioning.

Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD)

A chronic form of depression lasting for years.

Fear vs. Phobia

Fear is a normal response to danger, while a phobia is an excessive, irrational fear.

Bi-Polar Disorders I and II

Bipolar I involves manic episodes, while Bipolar II involves hypomanic episodes.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders

Characterized by unwanted thoughts and repetitive behaviors.

Hoarding

The inability to discard possessions regardless of their actual value.

Dissociative Disorders

Mental disorders involving breakdowns of memory, awareness, identity, and perception.

Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders

Mental health conditions triggered by traumatic or stressful events, like PTSD.

Feeding and Eating Disorders

Serious mental illnesses involving disturbed eating behaviors and body image.

Personality Disorders

Disorders that involve enduring patterns of behavior that deviate from cultural expectations.