Unit 8 - Clinical Psychology

Psychological Disorder

A syndrome marked by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior.

Medical Model

The concept that diseases, in this case psychological disorders, have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and in most cases, cured, often through treatment in a hospital.

Epigenetics

The study of environmental influences on gene expression that occur without a DNA change.

DSM-5

The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders.

4Ds: Deviant, Distress, Dysfunction, Dangerous

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

A psychological disorder marked by extreme inattentions and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity.

Anxiety Disorders

Psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety.

Social Anxiety Disorder

Intense for or avoidance of social situations. (Formerly called social phobia.)

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

An anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervious system arousal.

Panic Disorder

An anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person may experience terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations; often followed by worry over a possible next attack.

Agoraphobia

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

Phobia

An anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear or avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions), actions (compulsions), or both.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, hypervigilance, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia that lingers for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience.

Major Depressive Disorder

A disorder in which a person experiences, in the absence of drugs or another medical condition, two or more weeks with five or more symptoms, at least one of which must be either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.

Bipolar Disorder

A disorder in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania. (Formally called manic-depressive disorder.)

Mania

a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state in which dangerously poor judgement is common

Schizophrenia

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

Psychotic Disorders

a group of disorders marked by irrational ideas, distorted perceptions, and a loss of contact with reality.

Hallucinations

false sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence if an external visual stimulus

Delusion

a false belief, often of persecution or grandeur that may accompany psychotic disorders.

Chronic Schizophrenia

(also called process schizophrenia) a form of schizophrenia in which symptoms usually appear by late adolescence or early adulthood. As people age, psychotic episodes last longer and recovery periods shorten.

Acute Schizophrenia

(also called reactive schizophrenia) a form of schizophrenia that can begin at any age, frequently occurs in response to a traumatic event.

Somatic Symptom Disorder

a psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause . (Formerly called somatoform disorder, see conversion disorder and illness anxiety disorder.)

Conversion Disorder

a disorder related to somatic symptom disorder in which a person experiences very specific, physical symptoms that are not compatible with recognized medical or neurological conditions. (Also called functional neurological symptom disorder.)

Illness Anxiety Disorder

a disorder related to somatic symptom disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease. (Formerly called hypochondriasis.)

Dissociative Disorders

controversial, rare disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings.

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.)

Personality Disorders

inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

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

Aggressive, charming, no guilt

Anorexia Nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly underweight; sometimes accompanied by excessive exercise.

Bulimia Nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person's binge eating (usually of high-calorie foods) is followed by inappropriate weight-loss promoting behavior, such as vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise.

Binge-Eating Disorder

significant binge-eating episodes, followed by distress, disgust, or guilt, but without the compensatory behavior that marks bulimia nervosa.

Psychotherapy

Treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth.

Biomedical Therapy

Prescribed medications or procedures that act directly on the person's physiology.

Eclectic Approach

An approach to psychotherapy that uses techniques from various forms of therapy.

Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud's therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistance, dreams, and transferences-and the therapist's interpretations of them-released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight.

Resistance

In psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material.

Interpretation

in psychoanalysis, the analyst's noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight.

Transference

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

Psychodynamic Therapy

Therapy deriving from the psychoanalysis tradition; views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and seeks to enhance self-insight.

Insight Therapies

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

Client-Centered Therapy

A humanist therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within an accepting, genuine, empathetic environment to facilitate clients' growth. (Also called person-centered therapy).

Active Listening

empathetic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client centered therapy.

Unconditional Positive Regard

A caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.

Behavior Therapy

therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors.

Counterconditioning

behavior therapy procedures that use classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; include exposure therapies and aversive conditioning

Exposure Therapies

behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization and virtual reality exposure therapy, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imaginary or actual situations) to the things they fear and avoid.

Systematic Desensitization

a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relazed state with gradually increasing enxiety triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias.

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy

a counterconditioning technique that treats anxiety through creative electronic stimulations in which people can safely face their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking.

Aversive Therapy/Conditioning

a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol).

Token Economy

an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange tokens for privileges or treats.

Cognitive Therapy

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

Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

a confrontational cognitive therapy, developed by Albert Ellis, that vigorously challenges people's illogical, self-defeating attitudes and assumptions.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

a popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior)

Group Therapy

therapy conducted with groups rather than individuals, providing benefits from group interaction

Family Therapy

therapy that treats people in the context of their family system. Views an individual's unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members

Meta-Analysis

a procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies

Evidence-Based Practice

clinical decision making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and patient characteristics and preferences.

Therapeutic Alliance

a bond of trust and mutual understanding between a therapist and client, who work together constructively to overcome the client's problem.

Psychopharmacology

the study of the effects of drugs on the mind and behavior

Antipsychotic Drugs

drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder

Antianxiety Drugs

drugs used to control anxiety and agitation

Antidepressant Drugs

drugs used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. (Several widely used antidepressant drugs are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

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

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)

the application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain; used to stimulate or suppress brain activity

Psychosurgery

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

Lobotomy

a psychosurgical procedure once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients. The procedure cut the nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the emotion controlling centers of the inner brain.

Resilience

the personal strength that helps most people cope with stress and recover from adversity and even trauma

Posttraumatic growth

positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crisis

Psychology Student Syndrome

Psychology students studying abnormal behavior can also become convinced that they have some mental disorder

Abnormal Psychology

The scientific study of abnormal behavior undertaken to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning

Clinical Psychology

The applied field of psychology that seeks to assess, understand and treat psychological conditions in clinical practice

Psychologist

can’t prescribe meds, supports people through psychotherapy

Psychiatrist

can prescribe meds, identify disorders, generally works inside hospitals

Psychopathology

Scientific study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences

Etiology

study and investigation into the root causes of a psychological disorder

Deviant

Abnormal behavior, thoughts, and emotions that differ markedly from a society’s ideas about proper functioning

Distress

The person reports feeling pain and discomfort associated with his or her emotions, thoughts, or behaviors

Dysfunctional

Interfering with the ability to conduct daily activities in a constructive way

Danger

Abnormal behavior becomes dangerous to oneself or others

Insanity

Legal term pertaining to a defendant's ability to determine right from wrong when a crime is committed

Model

Set of assumptions and concepts that help scientists explain and interpret observations (synonym-paradigm)

Stigma

The societal disapproval and judgment of a person with mental illness because they do not fit their community’s social norms

Effects: Refusal to receive treatment, social isolation, distorted perception of incidence off mental illness

Trephining (Ancient Times)

Holes are drilled into a living person’s skull to release demonic spirits thought to be causing the person’s disordered behaviors

Hippocrates, Ancient Greek Physician 500 B.C.

Believed that abnormal behavior was a disease arising from internal physical problems (imbalance of four fluids, or humors)

Asylums

A type of institution that first became popular in the sixteenth century to provide care for persons with mental disorders

Philippe Pinel

In the late 1700s, French physician, argued for more humane treatment of the mentally ill, brought reform in the way mental institutions would be run

Dorothea Dix

School teacher who made humane care a public and political concern in the United States from 1841 to 1881

Deinstitutionalization

When better psychotropic drugs were created this movement began to remove patients who were not considered a threat to themselves or the community from mental hospitals

Flooding

Exposing people to fear-invoking objects or situations intensely and rapidly

Biofeedback

Mind-body technique that involves using visual or auditory feedback to gain control over involuntary bodily functions

Schizoid Personality Disorder “Aloof”

Characterized by persistent avoidance of social relationships and little expression of emotion

Paranoia and social anxiety

Schizotypal Personality Disorder “Awkward”

Characterized by extreme discomfort in close relationships, very odd patterns of thinking and perceiving, and behavioral eccentricities

Confident and self-centered

Borderline Personality Disorder

Characterized by repeated instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and mood and by impulsive behavior

Fear of abandonment, unstable mood swings, group good or bad

Histrionic Personality Disorder

Characterized by a pattern of excessive emotionality (dramatic) and attention seeking

Attention-seeking, manipulative, self-centered

Avoidant Personality Disorder

Characterized by consistent discomfort and restraint in social situations, overwhelming feelings of inadequacy, and extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation/potential rejection, humiliation

shy, low self esteem, hypersensitive, socially inhibited