ABPSYCH INTRO

Demonology

this is a doctrine that an evil being or spirit can dwell within a person and control his or her mind and body thereby can be treated by Exorcism

Exorcism

this refers to ritualistic casting out of evil spirits,

Trephination

this refers to cutting hole to the skull in the belief that evil spirit may come out.

Hydrotherapy

this involves shocking the patients back to their senses by being submerged in ice-cold water.

Lobotomy

a procedure that involves drilling holes in the skull and cutting connections in the frontal lobes.

Transorbital Lobotomy

often called the "ice-pick lobotomy." A surgical instrument was inserted through the eye socket and moved to sever brain connections.

Lunacy

this refers to attributing insanity to misalignment of moon and stars

Johann Weyer

he is the first physician to specialize in illness of mind

General Paresis

it is a mental and neurological deterioration caused by untreated syphilis.

it is a degenerative disorder with psychological symptoms where in the patient also has syphilis,

Eugenics

it refers to the idea of controlling who will reproduce to improve society and others go through enforced sterilization to eliminate undesirable characteristics from the population.

Insulin-coma Therapy

an early biological treatment that involves inducing coma using large dosages of insulin

Electro conclusive Therapy

it is an early biological treatment that is still practice today where brief electrical current shocks are induced to produce epileptic seizures to the sides of human head.

Dementia Praecox

it means “premature dementia”, but is now called schizophrenia.

Manic-depressive Psychosis

it is a major syndrome proposed by Emil Kraepelin that is now called Bipolar Disorder.

Mesmerism

it is the idea that body has energy that flows and disruption of this was what causes mental disorder. Treating patients through this involves using magnets, iron wands and sweeping hand movements.

Catharsis

this refers to bringing repressed memories and emotions to conscious awareness.

it involves insight and integration where the conscious mind looks at the released emotion, makes sense of it, and integrates it into a new, peaceful understanding of oneself.

Repression

a defense mechanism that involves Pushing painful or unacceptable thoughts completely out of conscious awareness.

• Example: Forgetting a highly traumatic childhood event.

Denial

a defense mechanism that involves Refusing to accept the reality of a traumatic or painful situation.

• Example: A heavy smoker insisting that cigarettes do not harm their health.

Projection

a defense mechanism that involve attributing your own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or motives onto another person. It is like blaming others for your feelings

• Example: You dislike a coworker, but you convince yourself that they hate you.

Displacement

a defense mechanism that involve redirecting an impulse or emotion from its real target to a safer, less threatening substitute.

Regression

a defense mechanism that involve reverting to childish or immature behaviors when facing high stress or anxiety

Sublimation

a defense mechanism that involve channeling unacceptable social impulses into healthy, productive, and socially acceptable activities.

Rationalization

a defense mechanism that involve creating logical, socially acceptable justifications to excuse a mistake or failure.

• Example: Not getting a job promotion and saying, "I didn't really want that stressful position anyway."

Reaction Formation

a defense mechanism that involve behaving in the exact opposite way of how you truly feel to hide your real emotions.

• Example: Being overly nice and complimentary to a person you intensely dislike.

Identification with the Aggressor

a defense mechanism that involve When a person is faced with a powerful, threatening external danger, they unconsciously adopt the traits, behaviors, or mindset of the person threatening them. By becoming the "aggressor," the ego transforms itself from the helpless victim into the one in control.

This is a psychological precursor to what we now call Stockholm Syndrome

Counterconditioning

a behavioral therapy principle where a person learns a new, positive response to a stimulus that previously triggered an unwanted, negative response.

it is "re-wiring" the brain by pairing a feared object or situation with a new stimulus that triggers an opposite, incompatible emotion (like pleasure or deep relaxation). Since your nervous system cannot feel terrified and completely relaxed at the exact same time, the new, positive association overrides and breaks the old fear habit.

In Vivo Exposure

a form of exposure therapy where the person is confronting the feared object or situation in real life (e.g., holding a real spider).

Imaginal Exposure

a form of exposure therapy where a person vividly imagine the feared situation (used often in PTSD therapy when the actual trauma cannot be recreated).

Flooding

A fast-paced, intense style of exposure where the patient skips the baby steps and goes straight to their biggest fear until their anxiety naturally peaks and burns itself out.

Selective Abstraction

this refers to a cognitive distortion wherein a person draw a conclusion solely based on a piece of information without any supporting evidence or even when the actual evidence contradicts the conclusion.

Overgeneralization

this refers to a cognitive distortion wherein a person make a single, isolated negative it into a universal, never-ending rule for your entire life.

Example: You apply for a job and get rejected. Instead of seeing it as a routine part of the job hunt, you tell yourself, "I am completely incompetent. I never get what I want, and I will always be stuck in my current position."

Magnification

this refers to cognitive distortion where in a person dramatically exaggerating the importance of your mistakes, flaws, or external threats in their life, while shrinking your achievements, strengths, and successes down to nothing (minimization).

Absolutist Thinking

this refers to a cognitive distortion where a person sees the world solely in black-and-white, rather than in shades of gray.

Thomas Sazs

he is a psychosocial theorist that denies the existence of mental disorders instead he states that “abnormal” is merely a label society attaches to people whose behavior deviates from accepted social norms.

Social Causation Model

it states that people from lower socioeconomic groups are at greater risk of severe behavior problems because living in poverty subjects them ti greater level of social stress than that faced by more well-to-do people.

Downward Drift Hypothesis

t argues that a person might start out in a wealthy or middle-class environment, but the onset of a severe mental illness impairs their ability to function, causing them to lose their job, drop out of school, and slide into poverty.

Axis I: Clinical Disorders

It contained almost all major mental health diagnoses, particularly those that were considered "acute"—meaning they had a noticeable onset, could fluctuate in severity, and were often the primary reason a person sought help.

Axis II: Personality Disorders & Mental Retardation

This axis is reserved for long-standing, deeply ingrained conditions that usually started in childhood or adolescence and persisted throughout adulthood.

Axis III: General Medical Conditions

This axis was used to record any physical, medical illnesses or conditions that might be relevant to understanding or treating the person's mental health. Because the body and mind are deeply connected, physical illnesses can cause, worsen, or heavily interact with psychological disorders.

Axis IV: Psychosocial & Environmental Problems

This axis documented the external, real-world stressors that were acting on the patient. It gave context to why a disorder might have triggered or why a patient was struggling to recover.

Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF)

it was a numerical score ranging from 0 to 100. Known as the GAF Scale, it was the therapist's objective rating of how well the patient was coping with their life at that exact moment.

Abreaction

It refers to the act of vividly reliving a repressed traumatic experience where they emotionally and physically re-experiencing it as if it is happening in the room and then releasing the pent-up emotional energy attached to it.

This often looks like intense crying, shaking, shouting which Freud called the trapped emotion a "strangulated affect."

Redintegration

it refers to the psychological process of reconstructing a complete memory, emotion, or behavioral response from a partial cue or degraded stimulus

• Example: if you smell a specific brand of perfume, that single sensory cue might instantly trigger a vivid, complete memory of your grandmother's house from twenty years ago—including what the kitchen looked like and how you felt.

Verbigeration

A severe psychiatric symptom involving the continuous, meaningless repetition of specific words or last spoken part of the sentences.

Also known as catalogia, this is an automatic, involuntary speech pattern most commonly seen in individuals suffering from severe schizophrenia or catatonic states. The patient will repeat a word over and over again (e.g., shouting "Blue door, blue door, blue door...") for hours, completely divorced from any conversational context.

Equifinality

This means that completely different early life experiences can lead to the exact same psychological disorder.

Example: Imagine a man named Alex who has just been diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder. If we look backward at his life, his depression is a result of three completely unrelated streams of his life (biological, psychological, and environmental) all flowed into this one diagnosis:

Multifinality

the psychological and systems theory principle stating that a single starting point or cause can lead to multiple, widely different outcomes. One single path branching out into many possible outcomes.

Example: Imagine a teenager named Maya who survives a devastating, traumatic car accident. The accident is a single starting point that could branch out into three entirely different potential futures for Maya.

Circumstantiality

a disturbance in the form of thought (how a person organizes and expresses ideas). When you ask someone a question, they eventually answer it, but only after taking you on an exhausting, overly detailed detour.

Confabulation

a memory error where the brain unconsciously fills gaps in memory with fabricated, misinterpreted, or distorted information. Unlike lying, the person is not attempting to deceive and sincerely believes their made-up stories are 100% true.

It occurs when a person’s brain has a physical "hole" in its memory, so it automatically manufactures false information, stories, or fabricated events to fill that gap.

Predisposing Factor

this refers to factors that increase someone’s vulnerability to develop problems.

Inborn vulnerabilities, genetics, or early life experiences that make a person susceptible to a mental health condition long before it actually shows up. They do not cause the illness directly, but they lower a person's defenses.

Precipitation Factors

this refers to triggers of the current presenting issue such immediate, recent events or stressors that actually pull the trigger and cause the mental health condition to surface.

Perpetuating Factor

this refers to factors that maintain the presenting issues and could reinforce symptoms .

these are Internal behaviors, lifestyle habits, or external conditions that keep the illness going once it has started. These factors prevent the person from healing and trap them in the disorder.

Cultural Relativism

this refers to an understanding that what is considered abnormal in one culture may be normative in another,

Arbitrary Inference

this refers to a cognitive distortion where in a person emphasize the the negative rather than the positive aspects of the situation.

Alexithymia

• Definition: A subclinical trait characterized by an inability to identify, describe, and express one's own emotions.

• Explanation: Coined from Greek meaning "no words for emotions," individuals with this don't lack feelings; rather, they lack the cognitive wiring to understand them. If their heart is racing from anxiety, they might assume they are simply having a medical issue or are physically sick, failing to link the somatic sensation to an emotional state.

Discouraged BPD (Dependent/Avoidant traits)

People with this subtype are approval-seeking, deeply attached, and haunted by feelings of inadequacy. Often referred to as "Quiet BPD," they internalize their emotional distress, which can lead to chronic feelings of helplessness, depression, and social withdrawal to avoid abandonment.

Impulsive BPD (Histrionic/Antisocial traits)

This subtype of BPD is characterized by high energy, spontaneity, and charisma. They possess a thrill-seeking nature and struggle with emotional dysregulation. When bored or feeling let down, they may react with dramatic, attention-seeking, or aggressive behaviors. [1, 2, 3]

Petulant BPD (Negativistic/Passive-Aggressive traits)

Individuals with this type of BPD are highly irritable, impatient, and stubborn. Their mood shifts are unpredictable, and they often feel unappreciated or let down by others. They express internal conflict through defiance, complaining, and explosive anger.

Self-Destructive BPD (Depressive/Masochistic traits)

This type turns anger and pain inward. People with this type BPD struggle with profound self-hatred and engage in deliberate self-harm or risky, self-defeating behaviors to cope with overwhelming feelings.

Splitting

In BPD this refers to the rapid fluctuation from intense love to total hatred toward a partner

It is a primitive defense mechanism where a person cannot integrate positive and negative qualities of a human being into one cohesive whole. A partner is either entirely "perfect, angelic, and loving" (Idealization) or completely "evil, cruel, and abandoning" (Devaluation). There is no middle ground.

Capgras Syndrome

A psychiatric delusion where a person holds a steadfast belief that a close friend, spouse, or family member has been replaced by an identical impostor.

Often classified as a misidentification syndrome, the person recognizes the face visually but lacks the normal emotional sense of familiarity, leading the brain to conclude the individual must be an impostor.

Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome

A rare, inherited genetic disorder characterized by the overproduction of uric acid, neurological dysfunction, and severe, involuntary self-mutilation.

this X-linked condition manifests in early childhood. Alongside gout and cognitive impairments, its most striking clinical feature is compulsive, uncontrollable self-destructive behavior, where children painfully bite off their own lips, tongue, and fingers.

Sundowner Syndrome (Sundowning)

A state of increased confusion, anxiety, and agitation that worsens in the late afternoon or early evening, specifically seen in patients with dementia or Alzheimer's.

As daylight fades, patients experience disruptions in their biological circadian rhythms. Combined with mental fatigue from navigating a confusing world all day and diminished lighting that creates disorienting shadows, it triggers wandering, aggression, or hallucinations.

Othello Syndrome

A psychiatric condition characterized by a delusional, obsessive belief that one's romantic partner is being unfaithful, despite a total lack of evidence.

Named after Shakespeare’s tragic character, this is a form of delusional disorder (jealous type). The individual will obsessively check their partner's phone, interrogate them continuously, and interpret completely innocent events (like a wrong-number phone call) as undeniable proof of betrayal.

Thought-Action Fusion

A cognitive distortion common in OCD where an individual believes that simply thinking about an event makes it more likely to happen, or is morally equivalent to actually carrying out the action.

An individual might think, "I hope my brother gets into a car accident." Because of thought-action fusion, they experience intense guilt, genuinely believing their thought has altered physical reality, or that they are just as evil as a murderer for having the fleeting thought.

Consummatory Pleasure

The real-time enjoyment, satisfaction, and happiness experienced while actively participating in a rewarding activity (e.g., the taste of ice cream while eating it).

In schizophrenia and severe depression, patients often retain normal consummatory pleasure, but suffer from a deficit in anticipatory pleasure, meaning they struggle to find the motivation to start an activity because they cannot look forward to it.

Anticipatory Pleasure

The excitement, hope, and joy experienced while looking forward to a future reward (e.g., the thrill of looking at the menu before the food arrives).

Tachycardia

A medical term for an abnormally rapid resting heart rate, typically exceeding 100 beats per minute.

It is a primary somatic symptom of panic attacks, generalized anxiety disorder, or severe phobic reactions driven by the activation of the sympathetic nervous system.

Dyspraxia

A neurological disorder that impacts an individual's ability to plan, organize, and coordinate physical movements.

Often nicknamed "clumsy child syndrome," it affects fine motor skills (like tying shoes or writing) and gross motor skills (like running or kicking a ball). It is a coordination and brain-mapping problem, not a muscle weakness issue.

Egoistic Suicide

Occurs when an individual has extremely low social integration. They feel completely isolated, detached, and cut off from family, friends, and society.

Altruistic Suicide

Occurs when an individual has extremely high social integration. They value the group's goals far more than their own life and sacrifice themselves for the collective good (e.g., a soldier jumping on a grenade).

Anomic Suicide

Occurs when there is an absence of social/moral regulation. This happens during times of sudden, massive societal or economic chaos (e.g., a stock market crash or sudden societal collapse) where the "rules of life" change overnight, leaving the person feeling utterly rootless.

Fatalistic Suicide

Occurs when there is extreme, suffocating social regulation/controlling. The person feels entirely powerless under brutal oppression or a completely locked destiny, choosing death over absolute control (e.g., a prisoner serving a lifetime sentence in a brutal labor camp).

Precontemplation

It is a phases when an individual progresses through when breaking an addiction or altering a behavior pattern where the individual has no intention of changing because they don't believe they have a drug problem.

Contemplation

It is a phases when an individual progresses through when breaking an addiction or altering a behavior pattern where the the individual acknowledges the substance use is causing problems but is sitting on the fence about quitting.

Preparation

It is a phases when an individual progresses through when breaking an addiction or altering a behavior pattern where the the individual decides to change and makes small plans (e.g., looking up rehab centers, setting a quit date).

Action

It is a phases when an individual progresses through when breaking an addiction or altering a behavior pattern where the there is behavioral change. The individual actively stops using the substance and alters their environment.

Maintenance

It is a phases when an individual progresses through when breaking an addiction or altering a behavior pattern where the the individual works continuously to prevent a relapse and consolidate their new lifestyle.

Delusion of Formication

A specific tactile hallucination and corresponding delusion where a person firmly believes that insects are actively crawling on, under, or biting through their skin.

Explanation: Frequently caused by toxic psychosis from prolonged stimulant abuse (such as "meth bugs" or "coke bugs" from methamphetamine/cocaine withdrawal) or severe alcohol withdrawal (delirium tremens). It can lead patients to scratch themselves until they bleed.

Pathognomonic Symptom

A medical and clinical term for a specific sign or symptom whose presence means a particular diagnosis is indisputably guaranteed.

Iatrogenic

An illness, symptom, or complication that is inadvertently caused by the medical or psychological treatment itself.

For example, in DID an alter can be born through suggestion since people with DID has tendencies for high suggestibility.

Mutually Amnesic Relationship

It occurs when personalities have zero awareness of each other. Alter A has no idea Alter B exists, and vice versa. When Alter B takes control, upon switching Alter A experiences a complete blackout or "lost time."

One-Way Amnesic Relationship

It is the most common pattern, where awareness goes in one direction only. Alter A is not aware of Alter B's existence. However, Alter B is fully aware of Alter A, can hear their thoughts, and knows what they did while in control.

Mutually Cognizant Relationship

The personalities are fully aware of one another. They know who the other alters are, can track what happens when another alter is in control, and may even converse with one another inside the client's internal consciousness.

Double-Bind Communication

• Definition: A psychological communication dilemma where an individual receives two or more conflicting messages, with one message essentially negating the other, leaving them in a "no-win" situation.

• Explanation: Popularized by Gregory Bateson in early theories of schizophrenia, a classic example is a parent telling their child, "I love you," while simultaneously flinching away in disgust and coldness. If the child hugs the parent, they are rejected; if they withdraw, the parent accuses them of not being loving. The child is punished no matter what they do and cannot comment on the confusion.
  
  While no longer viewed as the cause of schizophrenia, it remains a heavily studied pattern in dysfunctional family systems.

Prosody Comprehension

It refers to the ability to understand and interpret the emotional tone, rhythm, melody, and intonation of spoken language, independent of the actual words used.

For example, if someone says, "Oh, great," with a dropping, slow tone, prosody comprehension allows you to realize they are being sarcastic, not happy.

Deficits in this are major features in Autism Spectrum Disorder (difficulty reading vocal tones) and Right-Hemisphere Brain Damage/Strokes.

Self-Serving Bias

This refers to the tendency to take all the credit for successes and blame external factors or other people for failures

Dunning-Kruger Effect

A cognitive bias where people lack the skill or self-awareness to recognize their own incompetence, leading them to believe they are experts.

Anaclitic Depression

A severe form of depression that occurs in infants and young children who are suddenly separated from their primary caregiver (usually the mother) for a prolonged period.

Rapid Cycling

This is a formal DSM specifier. It means a patient experiences 4 or more distinct mood episodes (Mania, Hypomania, or Major Depression) within a single 12-month period. Crucially, these episodes are usually demarcated by a period of full recovery/remission in between them, or a clean, distinct switch to the exact opposite pole.

Rapid Switching

This refers to the immediate, volatile transition directly from one mood pole to another with zero baseline stability or remission in between.

Circumlocution

It occurs when a child who stutters or struggles with a speech fluency disorder anticipates that they are about to get stuck on a specific word, they will quickly swap it out for an easier one to maintain a smooth flow of speech.

If a child has a hard time pronouncing words that start with the letter "C" or "B", they will alter their sentence on the fly:

• What they want to say: "Can I play with the computer?"

• What they say instead (Circumlocution): "Can I play with the... machine with the screen?"

• What they say instead (Word Substitution): "Can I play with the laptop?"

Diathesis-Stress Model (GxE)

Also called as Gene-Environment Interaction Model

it is a model that shows interaction between genes and environment. According to this model individuals inherit tendencies to express certain traits or behaviors, which may then be activated under conditions of stress.

Each inherited tendency is a diathesis, which means, literally, a condition that makes someone susceptible to developing a disorder. When the right kind of life event, such as a certain type of stressor, comes along, the disorder develops.

The smaller the vulnerability, the greater the life stress required to produce the disorder; conversely, with greater vulnerability, less life stress is required.

this model is found by Caspi et al. where The study looked at the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR). They found that inheriting short (s) allele contributes to depression.

Gene-Environment Correlation Model

also called as reciprocal gene-environment model

Methylation

as this process occurs in promoter region, the expression of gene expression is altered. This primarily occurs because of environmental factors.

Idiographic Strategy

in assessing a disorder, this approach focuses on determining what is unique about an individual’s personality, cultural background, or circumstances.

Nomothetic Strategy

In assessing a disorder, this approach refers to identifying what general class does the presenting problems belongs. In other words, we are attempting to name or classify the problem.

Upon identifying what specific disorder it is comes the diagnosis.

Nosology

this refers to diagnostic systems used in psychological or medical phenomena or other clinical areas.

but in scientific context, it is most often called taxonomy, which is the classification of entities for scientific purposes, such as insects, rocks, or—if the subject is psychology—behaviors.

Nomenclature

describes the names or labels of the disorders that make up the nosology (for example, anxiety or mood disorders.

familial aggregation

this refers to the extent to which the disorder would be found among the patient’s relatives

Sensitivity

True Positive Rate

It is a foundational metrics used to evaluate how accurate a diagnostic test by determining the probability that a diagnostic test will correctly identify individuals who actually have the disease.

If the test is has high sensitivity it means that you can be 100% sure that you don’t have disease if your test results comes negative for the disease. But if your result is positive it can’t determine what exactly cause the disease