Psych Ch 12, 13, & 14

Stressors

Stimuli that cause a stress response

Stress

Your response to stressors

Anxiety disorder

Feeling anxious in the absence of stressors

Distress

Undesirable stress

Eustress

“Good” stress

Acculturation

The adaptation process that occurs when 2 or more cultures come into contact. Involves adopting new beliefs, behaviors, and forms of dominant group in the new culture

Assimilation

Complete adoption of new/dominant culture and rejection of previous culture

• Often demanded of new immigrants

Hassle

Minor events that arise in the course of a normal day

Uplifts

Small everyday events that make you happy

Approach-approach

2 positive options

Approach-avoidance

Choice has favorable and unfavorable outcomes

Avoidance-avoidance

2+ unattractive alternatives

Cortisol

Hypothalamus alerts the pituitary gland that there is stress, tells adrenal gland to secrete cortisol

• “absorbs” stress, but negative effects arise with too much cortisol

Alarm

Sympathetic nervous system, body reacts to stress

Resistance

Adaptation to stress, sustained release of cortisol

Exhaustion

The body’s resources have been depleted

Positive stress

Brief increase in heart rate and motivation

Tolerable stress

Serious temporary stress responses, buffered by supportive relationships

Toxic stress

Prolonged activation of stress response systems in absence of protective relationships

NK cells

“Natural killers”, fight off sickness in the body

• When the body uses NK cells to combat stress, we are more at risk of sickness

Psychoneuroimmunology

Study of how the nervous system is related to the immune system

Institutional burnout

Lack of control at work, unclear expectations, poor work-life balance, dysfunctional workplace, weak support system

Personal burnout

High level of identification with work or a profession, high workload, tendency to “be everything to everyone”

Health psychology

How food, exercise, relationships, and sleep relate to mental and physical health

Active coping

Doing something to combat stress (decision making, activities, resolution, etc.)

Passive coping

Denial, avoidance, smoking, drinking, eating

Type A Personality

Self driven, ambitious, impatient, controlling, stressed out, urgency, risk of heart disease

Type B Personality

Focused on enjoying life, creative, easy going, enthusiastic, patient

Type D Personality

Distress, sad, hopeless, bad self-talk

Control

Strong sense of control over events in their life, can overcome their experiences

3 C’s of hardiness

1. Control

2. Commitment

3. Challenge

Commitment

Highly committed and involved in tasks, strong sense of purpose

Challenge

View life events as challenges to overcome, change is an opportunity for development

Self-soothing coping

Comforting yourself through your 5 senses

Distraction coping

Taking your mind off the problem for a while

Opposite action

Doing something the opposite of your impulse that’s consistent with a more positive emotion

Emotional awareness

Acknowledging feelings rather than suppressing them

Psychological Disorder

Set of behavioral, emotional, and cognitive symptoms that are significantly distressing or disabling in terms of social functioning, work endeavors, and other aspects of life

Deviant

Outside the realm of rules for society

Distressful

Upset, uncomfortable, the person doesn’t like their own behavior

Dysfunctional

Interferes with work and leisure, not able to function

Danger

A danger to themselves or others

Insanity plea

Degree to which someone is responsible for their own actions

Psychopath

Has a different brain structure & chemical makeup, but appear normal

• Smart, charming, calculating, forms relationships

Sociopath

People who have had childhood trauma

• Typically commit crimes without prior planning

Amygdala in a psychopath

Smaller, reduced fear, doesn’t recognize distress in others

Prefrontal cortex in psychopath

Lack of guilt, impulsivity, poor judgement

Anterior cingulate cortex in psychopath

Error detection, may not learn from punishment

Striatum

Voluntary motor control, reward processing, motivation, and habit formation.

Stigma

Negative attitude or opinion about a group of people based on certain traits or characteristics

DSM 5

Evidence-based classification system of mental disorders used by professionals

Comorbidity

The presence of more than one disorder occurring in an individual at the same time

• Treat alcohol abuse before mental disorder

Obsession

Thought

Compulsion

Behavior

PTSD

Psychological disorder characterized by an event involving death, serious injury, or violence

MUST INCLUDE 1:

• Distressing, disturbing spontaneously recurring memories

• Dreams related to the event

• Dissociative reactions that include feeling as if the event is happening again

• Extreme psychological distress when reminded of the event

• Obvious physical reaction

Major depressive episode

5+ present for 2 weeks

• Depressed mood

• Anhedonia: reduced pleasure in activities

• Loss or gain in weight

• Insomnia

• Psychomotor agitation or retardation

• Fatigue

• Feeling worthlessness

• Diminished ability to think

• Recurrent thoughts of death

Bipolar disorder

Requires at least one manic episode

Manic episode

Distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood and increased activity or energy, lasting at least 1 week

• Infiltrated self-esteem

• Decreased need for sleep

• More talkative

• Racing thoughts

• Distractibility

• Increase in goal-directed activity

• Excessive involvement in risky activities

Schizophrenia

Loss of contact with reality (psychosis)

Auditory: hearing voices

Autism

Impairment in social communication and interaction, restrictive repetitive patterns of behavior

Lvl 1: requires support

Lvl 2: Requires substantial support

Lvl 3: Requires very substantial support

Personality disorder cluster A

Paranoid

Schizoid

Schizotypal

Personality disorder cluster B

Antisocial

Histrionic

Narcissistic

Emotionally unstable

Personality disorder cluster C

Avoidant

Obsessive compulsive

Dependent

Antisocial personality disorder

Distinguished by unethical behavior, deceitfulness, impulsivity, irritability, aggressiveness, disregard for others, and lack of remorse

Borderline personality disorder

Interpersonal instability, emotional instability, disturbed self-image, impulsivity, chronic feelings of emptiness

Asylum

Contained mentally ill people because they were viewed as dangerous

Dorthea Dix

Deinstitutionalization, researched and found terrible conditions in asylums

Psychotherapy

Techniques derived from psych perspective, counseling

Eclectic

Combination of counseling & medicine

Insight therapy

Psychotherapies designed to give people a better understanding of their feelings and motivations

Psychoanalytic insight therapy

Free association, person talks, therapist interprets (5 times a week)

Humanistic insight therapy

Counselor works for empathy, congruence, unconditional positive regard, equal therapist/client relationship

Behavior therapies

Positive reinforcement, punishment, modeling, extinction

Aversion therapy

Giving someone a medicine that will make them very sick if they drink alcohol

Behavior modification

Measure the behavior, plan modification program, set reinforcement conditions and record progress

Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT)

Aims to identify the thoughts that create feelings

Look at behavior, change the thought around it