Unit 5: Mental and Physical Health

health psychology

a subfield of psychology that provides psychology's contribution to behavioral medicine

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS)

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

alarm

the first phase of the stress response, in which the person faces a challenge and starts paying attention to it.

Corticosterone

carbohydrate and protein synthesis; absorbs glucose

resistance

when someone exhibits behaviors that oppose a change process

exhaustion

A harmful third phase of the stress response, in which stress exceeds the body's ability to recover.

type-a pattern

A behaviour pattern characterised by high levels of competitiveness and hostility, impatience and an intense disposition; supposedly associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease.

type-b pattern

A behaviour pattern characterised by lower levels of competitiveness and hostility, patience and an easygoing disposition; supposedly associated with a decreased risk of coronary heart disease.

tend and befriend theory

theory that females are more likely than males to respond to stressors with behaviors that:

Quiet, nurture and care for offspring (tending)

Establish and maintain social networks (befriending)

Positive Psychology

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

ICD (International Classification of Mental Disorders)

a global standard for diagnosing, treating, researching, and reporting health conditions

Theories of Psychopathology

psychoanalytic, humanistic, cognitive, behavioral, psychophysiological, sociocultural

Psychoanalytical school

this group of psychologists believes a person's inability to resolve intrapsychic conflict between the id, ego, and supergo, causes abnormal behavior

Humanistic school

A school of psychological thought that stressed the importance of growth and self-actualization and argued that people are innately good

Cognitive perspective

A psychological approach that emphasizes mental processes in perception, memory, language, problem solving, and other areas of behavior

Behavioral Perspective

An approach to psychology emphasizing the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants.

Biological View

The psychological perspective that searches for the causes of behavior in the functioning of genes, the brain, and nervous system, and the endocrine system.

biopsychological perspective

approach that attributes human and animal behavior to biological events occurring in the body, such as genetic influences, hormones, and the activity of the nervous system

diathesis-stress model

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

Categories of psychological disorders

-adjustment disorders

-mood disorders

-anxiety disorders

-developmental disorders

Schizophrenia

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

disorganized thinking

disjointed and incoherent thought processes, usually detected by what a person says

disorganized speech

speaking in an incoherent fashion that involves frequently changing topics and saying strange or inappropriate things

positive symptoms of schizophrenia

Delusions of reference, delusions of persecution, delusions of grandeur, thought broadcasting, though insertion, hallucinations, disorganized thought, disorganized behaviour, catatonia

negative symptoms of schizophrenia

the absence of appropriate behaviors (expressionless faces, rigid bodies)

persistent depressive disorder

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

Anxiolytics

drugs that reduce anxiety

Ataque de nervios ("attack of nerves")

similar to panic disorder, but may include symptoms like aggression/screaming and suicidal impulses

agoraphobia

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

Tajin Kyofusho (TKS)

a social anxiety disorder that is primarily found in Japan and Korea and is characterized by a fear of offending others

Obsession (OCD)

consists of thoughts, images, or impulses that recur or persist despite a person's efforts to suppress them

Compulsions (OCD)

irresistible urges to perform an act or repeated ritual

-Repeatedly checking, counting, cleaning, washing

Derealization

situation in which the individual loses a sense of the reality of the external world

Depersonalization

feelings of detachment from one's mental processes or body

dissociative amnesia

loss of memory for personal information, either partial or complete

Fugue

a rare psychological disorder that causes a person to experience memory loss and end up in an unexpected place

dissociative identity disorder (DID)

a rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities. Formerly called multiple personality disorder.

Cluster A

paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal

Schizoid Personality Disorder (Cluster A)

emotional detachment, disinterest in close relationships

Schizotypal Personality Disorder (Cluster A)

a pattern of acute discomfort in close relationships, cognitive or perceptual distortions, and eccentricities of behavior

Cluster B

antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic

antisocial personality disorder (Cluster B)

A personality disorder in which the person (usually a man) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members. May be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist.

borderline personality disorder (Cluster B)

a personality disorder characterized by lack of stability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and emotion; impulsivity; angry outbursts; intense fear of abandonment; recurring suicidal gestures

Histrionic Personality Disorder (Cluster B)

excessive emotionality and excitability, attention seeking, sexually provocative, overly concerned with appearance

Cluster C

avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive

Avoidant Personality Disorder (Cluster C)

pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation

Dependent Personality Disorder (Cluster C)

extreme dependency in close relationship, urgent seek for another when relationships end

OCPD (obsessive compulsive personality disorder) (Cluster C)

a personality disorder that involves a preoccupation with perfectionism, order, and control

Treatment Approaches

•Goals of treatment of mental disorders

•To reduce symptoms

•To improve personal and social functioning

•To develop and strengthen coping skills

•To promote behaviors that make a person's life

better

psychosurgery

surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior

prefrontal lobotomy

surgical procedure that severs fibers connecting the frontal lobes of the brain from the underlying thalamus

insight

therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person's awareness of underlying motives and defenses

Psychoanalysis

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts; the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions

Free Association (Freud)

in psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing

Transference

in psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent)

Counter-transference

an emotional reaction of the therapist that reflects the therapist's inner needs and conflicts

Genuineness

being honest, direct, not using a facade

unconditional positive regard

according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person

accurate empathic understanding

The act of perceiving accurately the internal frame of reference of another; the ability to grasp the person's subjective world without losing one's own identity.

Gesalt therapy

form of directive insight therapy in which the therapist helps clients to accept all parts of their feelings and subjective experiences, using leading questions and planned experiences such as role-playing

cognitive therapy

therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions

negative triad

negative views of the self, the world, and the future

arbitrary inference

distortion of thinking in which a person draws a conclusion that is not based on any evidence

dichotomous thinking

viewing problems and solutions in rigid either/or terms

REBT/RET (rational-emotive behavior therapy)

a psychotherapy technique that helps people identify and change unhealthy thought patterns and behaviors

behavioral therapy

focuses on changing behavior by identifying problem behaviors, replacing them with appropriate behaviors, and using rewards or other consequences to make the changes

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

aversion therapy

treatment that uses punishment to decrease the frequency of undesirable behaviors

extinction procedures

designed to weaken maladaptive responses

flooding

a treatment for phobias in which clients are exposed repeatedly and intensively to a feared object and made to see that it is actually harmless

implosion

A behavioral technique that involves exposing patients to anxiety-provoking stimuli in a controlled environment to help them overcome their fears.

operant conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Behavioral Conditioning

an approach to psychology that emphasizes observable measurable behavior. A learned response elicited by a conditioned stimulus

modeling

the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

applied behavioral analysis

an intensive treatment for autism, based on operant conditioning

Biofeedback therapy

trains patients to become aware of and control some physiological processes such as heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension to achieve relaxation

Hypnosis

a social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur

Models of therapy

Individual Therapy, Group Therapy, Intensive Day Treatment

twelve-step programs

One form of group therapy; not usually moderated by professional psychotherapists. A combination of spirituality and group therapy. Fucuses on a strong social support system of people who are experiencing or who have experienced addictions or other types of maladaptive adjustments to life.

family therapy

therapy that treats the family as a system. Views an individual's unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members

biological therapies

treatment of psychological disorders based on medical approaches to disease (what is wrong with the body) and to illness (what a person feels as a result)

psychopharmacology

the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior

Pychotropics

Any drug capable of affecting the mind, emotions, and behavior.

Tricyclics

class of antidepressant drugs that increase the availability of neurotransmitters in the brain by interfering with the reuptake of these chemicals by transmitting neurons

Tardive dyskinesia (TD)

potentially disabling motor disorder that may occur following regular use of antipsychotic drugs

ECT (electroconvulsive therapy)

a biomedical therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient

transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

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