Behavior Disorders Exam 1

What is abnormal psychology?

Scientific study that aims to describe, explain, predict and control behaviors that are considered strange or unusual

What are the measures in the Mental Status exam?

Appearance, Psychomotor Activity, Mood + Affect, Speech, Perception, Orientation, Concentration + Memory, and Thought

What does Appearance mean in the Mental Status Exam?

A person’s grooming or hygiene

What does Psychomotor Activity mean in the Mental Status Exam?

Psychomotor retardation or psychomotor agitation, moving too slowly or too quickly

What does mood and affect mean in the Mental Status exam?

Mood- the patient’s internal, subjective feeling

Affect- External, observable expression of their emotional state

What does Speech mean in the Mental Status exam?

Kind of speech, could be tangential or jumbled. Speech can be fast or slow. May not be physically capable of speaking

What is Perception mean in the Mental Status exam?

Hallucinations, false sensory perceptions

What does Orientation mean in the Mental Status Exam?

The person knowing who they are, where they are, etc

What is concentration and memory in the Mental Status exam?

Concentration- ability to focus and maintain attention on a task or stimulus

Memory- assesses the ability to recall information

What is Thought in the Mental Status exam?

Refers to both the content of the person’s thoughts and how the person organizes those thoughts

How does one describe a person’s abnormal behavior?

Using psychodiagnosis, the mental status exam

What does the Mental Status Exam judge

A person’s contact with reality, whether they are a danger to self and others

How does one explain a person’s abnormal behavior?

Identify causes and determine how they lead to behaviors

How does one predict a person’s abnormal behavior?

Predicting likelihood of specific symptoms based on the source of difficulty

How does one control a person’s abnormal behavior?

Controlling symptoms, therapy, medication, hospitalization

What are the four criteria to determine if a behavior is normal?

Distress, Deviance, Dysfunction, and Dangerousness

What is distress?

Physical or psychological pain

What is deviance?

Behaviors that deviate from societal norms

What is dysfunction?

An inability to function at home or work

What is dangerousness

Danger to self or others

What are the different types of prevalence rates?

1 month, one year, lifetime

What is prevalance rate?

How long a person has been experiencing a mental disorder

What is an example of prevalence rate?

Anxiety symptoms for a month= 1 month prevalence

Why is prevalance rate important?

Assesses changing trends and costs, lets health professionals know where to focus their energy, and determines a group of people most susceptible to certain mental disorders

What are ancient beliefs about mental illnesses?

They are evil spirits, uterus belief about hysteria

What was the believed treatment for a “wild uterus”?

Sex with women, feed uterus semen to calm down

What were early ideas for treatment of mental illness?

Trephination and exorcism

What is trephination?

Boring holes in skull

What did Hippocrates believe about mental disorders?

Many abnormal behaviors are caused by imbalances and disorders of the brain, he considered hereditary and environmental factors

What were Hippocrates’ treatment recommendations?

Tranquility, moderate exercise, a careful diet, abstinence from sexual activity, and bloodletting

What is bloodletting?

Making an incision to remove the bad blood

What is cultural universality?

The belief that a fixed set of mental disorders has symptoms that cut across cultures. Treatment should be universal

What is cultural relativism?

The belief that behavior is only considered abnormal because of the culture and times

Why should we study multiculturalism in Behavior Disorders?

There is increased diversity in the US, there are different beliefs about mental illness, certain groups do not seek treatment

What is reliability?

A scale should consistently reflect the diagnosis it is measuring

What are the types of reliability?

Test-retest reliability, internal consistency reliability, interrator reliability

What is test-retest reliability?

A person should get the same score on a questionnaire if they complete it at two different points in time, provided they have not received therapy in that time

What is internal consistency reliability?

If various parts of the same measure yield similar or consistent results

What is interrator reliability?

Determines the consistency of responses when different judges or raters administer the measure

What is validity?

Is this instrument measuring what it is designed to measure?

What are the types of validity?

Predictive validity, construct validity, and content validity

What is predictive validity?

The ability of a test or measure to predict how a person will behave, respond, or perform

What is construct validity?

How well a test or questionnaire relates to the disorder in question

What is content validity?

How well a test or questionnaire measures what it is intended to measure

How to assess for mental illness?

Gather information and draw conclusions, used to facilitate diagnosis

What are the four types of assessment?

Observations, interviews, psychological tests, neurological tests

What is analog observation?

Done in a human made setting

What is naturalistic observation?

Observing a person in their natural environment

What is the reactivity affect?

People change their behavior when they know they are being observed

What is a formal standardized interview?

Common rukes or procedures must be strictly followed, may require training to ensure consistency

What are non-structured interviews?

Clinicial interview, allows client to talk without any clinician influence. May be easier for building rapport

What are self report inventories?

Requires test takers to answer specific written questions, or to select specific responses from a list of alternatives

What is the Minnesota Multiphastic Personality Inventory?

Consists of 567 statements, respondents are asked to indicate whether each statement is true or false

What are the pros of self report inventories?

Ease of use in a busy setting, can be computer administered and scored, relatively good reliability and validity

What are the cons of self report inventories?

People could present themselves in a positive light, underreporting, people could fake having a disorder

What is the average IQ?

100

What IQ is considered intellectual disability?

50-70

What is the goal of the classification system DSM-5?

Provide distinct categories for different patterns of behavior, thought processes, and emotional disturbances

When was the DSM first published?

1952

What kind of diagnosing system does the DSM-5 use?

Categorical system

How is the DSM-5-TR different?

It uses both categorical and dimensional approaches

What is the dimensional approach?

diagnoses based on severity

What is the purpose of the DSM?

Facilitates diagnosis and treatment, facilitates communication

Why is it useful to feel anxiety?

Keeps us alert, prepares the individual for fight or flight

What is the difference between anxiety and fear?

Anxiety is anticipatory, fear is current

What are the three types of panic attacks?

Situationally bound, situationally prediposed, and uncued attacks

What are situationally bound panic attacks?

Attacks that occur before and during exposure to a feared stimulus

What are situationally predisposed panic attacks?

Attacks that occur usually, but not always, when encountering feared situations

What are uncued panic attacks?

Occur spontaneously, without any warning, “out of the blue”

What disorder is highly comorbid with anxiety disorders?

Depression, substance abuse disorders, other anxiety disorders

What are the biological factors of anxiety disorders?

Brain structure and genetic predisposition

What part of the brain lights up when it is exposed to anxiety provoking stimuli?

The amygdala

What methods reduce activity in the amygdala?

Medication and psychotherapy

What are the behavioral theories for specific phobias?

Classical conditioning, modeling, negative information, and cognitions

How can classical conditioning create a specific phobia?

Phobias are conditioned responses (ex. Little Albert experiment)

How does modeling create a specific phobia?

Observing others display fear to a stimulus may cause the observer to develop a fear of the stimulus

How can negative information create a specific phobia?

Information that might cause one to fear an object or situation

How can cognitions create a specific phobia?

Distorted thoughts may maintain anxiety

What are social factors that can cause anxiety disorders?

Environmental stressors, gender, exposure to discrimination or prejudice

What are the major groups of anxiety disorders?

Phobias, panic disorder, GAD, OCD

What are the two categories of phobias?

Social Phobia and Specific Phobia

What is specific phobia?

A persistent fear of an object or a situation

What are the symptoms of specific phobia?

Immediate anxiety produced by exposure, recognition that the fear is excessive, avoidance of feared thing, significant distress or impairment

What are the different types of specific phobias?

Animal type, natural environment type, blood-injection-injury type, situational type, other type

What is Social Phobia?

Severe, persistent, and irrational fears of social or performance situations

What are the symptoms of Social Phobia?

Anxiety is produced by exposure to the social situation, recognition that the fear is excessive or unreasonable, avoidance of feared situation

What is the treatment for specific and social phobias?

Medication and behavioral approaches, behavioral is more effective

What neurotransmitters are involved in specific and social phobias?

Norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine

What medications work for specific and social phobias?

Antidepressants and benzodiazepines

What are the side effects of benzos?

They can be addictive

What is flooding?

Enduring high anxiety without retreat from the phobia situation until anxiety goes down

What is gradual exposure?

Gradually introducing patients to increasingly difficult encounters with feared situation

What is systematic desensitization?

Patients are first taught a relaxation exercise. Arrange anxiety provoking stimuli from least to most anxiety producing. Then gradually expose to anxiety stimuli and use relaxation techniques

What is SUDS?

Subjective Units of Distress Scale

What is panic disorder?

Recurrent unexpected panic attacks

What are the symptoms of panic disorder?

A month or more of persistent concern of having panic attacks, worry about the implication of attacks, significant change in behavior relating to the attacks

What are the two most common types of panic disorder 

Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia, Panic Disorder without Agoraphobia

What disorders are comorbid with Panic Disorder?

Specific and Social Phobias, GAD, PTSD, Substance Abuse Disorder, Depressive Disorders

What are the disorders in which Agoraphobia occurs?

Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia, Agoraphobia without history of Panic Disorder

What is Agoraphobia?

Person is afraid to be in places or situations from which an escape may be difficult or embarassing, or help unavailable if panic-like symptoms were to occur