Abnormal Psych Exam 2

Major depressive disorder/episode criteria

Moderate-to-severe mood disorder in which a person experiences only major depressive episodes but no hypomanic, manic, or mixed episodes; Helplessness, sleep, forgetting to take care of yourself/others, lack of interest in activities/fun

Relapse

Return of the symptoms of a disorder after a fairly short period of time

Recurrence/recurrent

A new occurrence of a disorder after a remission of symptom; Term used to describe a disorder pattern that tends to come and go; An issue that persists overtime, wax and waning symptoms; never fully goes away

Seasonal affective disorder

Mood disorder involving at least two episodes of depression in the past 2 years occurring at the same time of year (most commonly fall or winter), with remission also occurring at the same time of year (most commonly spring).

Persistent depressive disorder

A new DSM-5 disorder that involves long-standing depressed mood (2 years or more); Symptoms are always present, whether they are severe or not

Aaron Beck's negative cognitive triad

depressed people have negative and hopeless thoughts or core beliefs about themselves, their experiences in the world, and their future

Selective abstraction

Focusing on the negative while ignoring the positive; gets an A on a paper, but only focuses on the critiques/negative comments

Seligman's learned helplessness model of depression

Giving up after having no more options

Rumination/Nolen-Hoeksema's ruminative response styles theory

Rumination and depression: people who are depressed tend to ruminate more, have longer periods of depressive symptoms

Stressful life events impact on onset of mood disorders/recurrences

Stress can make mental health worse, may cause an existing disorder come back/worsen, can lead to more severe forms of mental illness

Bipolar disorder

Mood disorders in which a person experiences both manic and depressive episodes

Suicide; Who attempts/completes

Women attempt more, men complete

Ages 18-24, 65+

Psychosis

Severe impairment in the ability to tell what is real and what is not real, central feature of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

Onset: Ages 18-30; late adolescence/adulthood

Gender differences: More common and more severe in men

Causes: genetic predispositions, head injuries, problems/abnormalities in brain development, genetics + environment (No simple answer to what causes schizophrenia)

Goals of treatment: Prevent harm, control disturbed behavior., reduce the severity of psychosis and associated symptoms

Delusion

False belief about reality maintained in spite of strong evidence to the contrary.

Thought-broadcasting delusion

Thinking that other people can read your mind, thoughts are being broadcasted to others

Thought-insertion delusion

The delusion that certain of one's thoughts are not one's own, but rather are inserted into one's mind.

Delusion of reference

false belief that external events, such as other people's actions or natural disasters, relate somehow to oneself

Hallucinations

A sensory experience with no basis in reality

Disorganized speech

Style of talking often seen in people with schizophrenia, involving incoherence, frequent derailment, and a lack of typical logic patterns.

Catatonia

state of immobility and unresponsiveness lasting for long periods of time; being stuck

Negative symptom

The absence of a symptom

Positive symptom

The occurrence/presence of a symptom; something being added to normal behavior or experience. Schizophrenia has a mixture of both negative and positive symptoms

Avolition

the inability to initiate or persist in goal-directed activity

Delusional disorder

Nurturing, giving voice to, and sometimes taking action on beliefs that are considered completely false by others; formerly called paranoia; Delusional disorder is distinguished from schizophrenia by the presence of delusions without any of the other symptoms of psychosis

Endophenotypes

discrete, measurable traits that are thought to be linked to specific genes that might be important in schizophrenia or other mental disorders

Cognitive remediation training

Help you deal with neurocognitive deficits; help improve patients' overall levels of functioning.

Major neurocognitive disorder associated with Alzheimer's disease

dementia

Symptoms: deterioration in memory, cognition, and basic self-care skills.

Onset Timeline:

Apathy

Loss of emotion/interest

Emotional blunting

Do not feel the full spectrum of emotions, feel numb

Impairment of orientation

Not sure what year it is or where you are

Impairment of emotional modulation

Cries over minor problems, easily blows up, cannot control how you respond to situations

Delirium

State of mental confusion characterized by relatively rapid onset of widespread disorganization of the higher mental processes, caused by a generalized disturbance in brain metabolism; Disturbs awareness of life around you

Parkinson's disease

A neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor problems (rigidity, tremors) and caused by destruction of dopamine neurons in the brain; second most common neurodegenerative disorder

Alzheimer's

Happens gradually, multiple cognitive deficits, happens slowly over time

Preserve brain/cognitive function

best way to do this is exercise

Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Cannot predict symptoms

Leading cause: falling

Lasting symptoms: Inability to regulate emotions

Phineas Gage: What did his case teach us about personality and the brain?

Brain damage can lead to personality changes

anorexia binge eating/purging type

Eat in binges followed by self induced vomitting, using laxatives, excessively exercising, and/or using diuretics

anorexia restricting type

limit food intake & excessive exercise; giving illusion that they're eating

Bulimia

Frequent occurrence of binge-eating episodes accompanied by a sense of loss of control over eating and recurrent inappropriate behavior such as purging or excessive exercise to prevent weight gain.

Physical results/consequences: Tooth decay, dental cavities, mouth ulcers

Predictors of who develops it: hypercriticism from family

Difference between binge-eating/purging type of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, purging type?

anorexia: underweight

bulimia: overweight

Eating disorders

Disorders of food ingestion, regurgitation, or attitude that affect health and well-being, such as anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating.

Differential diagnosis with personality traits is hard because

malnourishment can alter personality

Differences across different cultures (and how being exposed to white culture and middle class values closes the gap)

-Eating disorders are less common until exposed to western media/colonization

-Assimilation into white culture is associated with higher rates of eating disorders

Family therapy is important for eating disorder recovery because

-Parents emphasize control, perfectionism, and good physical appearance (anorexia)

-Family members make critical comments on another member's weight (bulimia)

-Family can be maintaining the disorder without meaning to

How does CBT help with eating disorders

The "behavioral" component of CBT for bulimia nervosa focuses on normalizing eating patterns. The "cognitive" element of the treatment is aimed at changing the cognitions and behaviors that initiate or perpetuate a binge cycle. Helps to reduce the severity of symptoms

Perfectionism and its role in eating disorders

Perfectionism may help maintain bulimic pathology through the rigid adherence to dieting that then drives the binge/purge cycle.

Gender differences with regard to body image and the ideal body type

-Men: homosexuality, seen more in LGBT+

-Women are more likely to be dissatisfied when comparing body types to the ideal type

Negative stereotyping with overweight/obese people

People who are obese are often judged harshly by others. They are routinely ridiculed, discriminated against, and stigmatized

Hard to study because

Harder to find people with anorexia (don't seek help) and they are more likely to drop out of the study early