Abnormal Psychology

Flashcards about Abnormal Psychology

What is Abnormal Psychology?

The study of people who suffer from psychological disorders. It includes studies of depression, substance abuse, learning difficulties, and mental disorders.

What are the criteria for defining abnormal behavior?

Maladaptive/disturbing to the individual, disturbing to others, not shared by many members of society, and irrational.

Explain the difference between 'insanity' and 'psychological disorder'.

Insanity is a legal term, indicating someone cannot be held fully responsible for their actions due to a psychological disorder impairing their judgment. Psychological disorder is a medical diagnosis.

What is the DSM?

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, used by psychologists to diagnose patients.

Give examples how different Psychological Perspectives explain Etiology/Cause of a disorder

Analytic/dynamic: Internal, unconscious drives. Humanistic: Failure to strive to one’s potential. Behavioral: Reinforcement history, environment. Cognitive: Irrational, dysfunctional thoughts. Biomedical/Neuroscience: Organic problems, biomedical imbalances.

Define phobia and give two examples.

An intense, unwarranted fear of a situation or object. Examples: claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces) and arachnophobia (fear of spiders).

What is agoraphobia?

A fear of open, public spaces.

Describe social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder.

Social anxiety disorder: Fear of embarrassing oneself in public. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Constant, low-level anxiety. Panic disorder: Acute episodes of intense anxiety without justifiable cause.

How do psychoanalytic, behaviorist, and cognitive theories explain anxiety?

Psychoanalytic: Conflicts among ID, ego, and superego. Behaviorist: Learned behaviors through reinforcement. Cognitive: Dysfunctional ways of thinking.

What are somatoform disorders?

Psychological problems manifested through physiological symptoms.

Define conversion disorder and hypochondriasis.

Conversion disorder: Reporting severe physical problem without biological explanation. Hypochondriasis: Complaining about physical problems without medical cause, unduly alarmed about symptoms.

How do psychoanalysts and behaviorists explain somatic symptom disorders?

Psychoanalysts: outward manifestations of unconscious conflicts. Behaviorists: the disorder is reinforced.

What are dissociative disorders?

Disruption in conscious processes.

Define dissociative amnesia and dissociative fugue.

Dissociative amnesia: Inability to recall information without physiological basis. Dissociative fugue: Reversible amnesia for personal identity, often involving unplanned travel.

What is dissociative identity disorder?

Having several personalities rather than one integrated personality.

What is a mood or affective disorder?

Characterized by extreme or inappropriate emotions.

Describe major depressive disorder and seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Major depressive disorder: Remaining depressed for at least two weeks. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD): Depression during certain times of the year, usually winter.

What is cognitive triad (depression)?

Unreasonably negative ideas that people have about themselves, the world, and their future.

What are the three factors of Attributional Style?

Internal or external, stable or unstable, global effect or specific

According to Attributional Styles, who is more likely to be depressed?

People who tend to make internal, global, and stable attributions for bad events are more likely to be depressed. The same people tend to make external, specific, and unstable attributions when good things happen to them.

What biological factors are associated with depression?

Low levels of serotonin and genetic predisposition.

Describe bipolar disorder

Involves both depressed and manic states. Mania involves feeling of lots of energy. followed by depression.

What are the symptoms of schizophrenia?

Distorted thinking, delusions, hallucinations, disorganized language, and unusual motor behavior.

Define delusions and give two common types.

Beliefs that have no basis in reality. Examples: delusions of persecution and delusions of grandeur.

Define hallucinations.

Perceptions in the absence of any sensory stimulation.

Describe neologisms, clang associations, and flat affect as they relate to schizophrenia.

Neologisms: Made up words. Clang associations: String together nonsense words that rhyme. Flat affect: No emotional response.

What is catatonia and waxy flexibility?

Catatonia: Remaining motionless in strange positions for hours. Waxy flexibility: Allowing one's body to be moved into a new pose and holding that pose.

Differentiate between positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Positive symptoms: Excesses in behavior/thought/mood (e.g., neologisms, hallucinations). Negative symptoms: Absence of normal behavior (e.g., flat affect, catatonia).

What is the dopamine hypothesis regarding schizophrenia?

High levels of dopamine are associated with schizophrenia.

What morphological changes in the brain do schizophrenia patients exhibit?

Possible enlargement of fluid-filled ventricles.

What is a double bind, regarding schizophrenia?

A person is given contradictory messages.

Explain the diathesis-stress model of schizophrenia.

Environmental stressors can provide the circumstances under which a biological predisposition for schizophrenia can express itself.

What are personality disorders?

Well-established, maladaptive ways of behaving that negatively affect one’s ability to function.

Describe antisocial, dependent, paranoid, and narcissistic personality disorders.

Antisocial: Little regard for others' feelings. Dependent: Relying too much on others. Paranoid: Constantly feeling persecuted. Narcissistic: Seeing oneself as the center of the universe.

Describe obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

Persistent unwanted thoughts (obsessions) that cause someone to feel the need (compulsion) to engage in an action.

What is post-traumatic stress disorder?

Flashbacks or nightmares following a person’s involvement in or observation of an extremely troubling event.

What are psychosexual disorders?

Marked by sexual attraction to an object, person, or activity not usually seen as sexual.

Define anorexia and bulimia.

Anorexia: Significantly lower weight with an intense fear of food and fat and distorted body image. Bulimia: Binge-purge cycles.

What are substance related and addictive disorders?

diagnosis made when the use of such substances or behaviors like gambling or drugs negatively affect one’s life

Describe ADHD.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder involves developmental problems with difficulty paying attention or sitting still.

What is Alzheimer’s disease?

A form of dementia involving a deterioration of cognitive abilities, especially memory, and is associated with beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.