Psychological Disorders

Flashcards for reviewing key vocabulary related to psychological disorders, including definitions of various disorders, diagnostic terms, and legal concepts.

Medical Model

The view that it is useful to think of abnormal behavior as a disease.

Diagnosis

Distinguishing one illness from another.

Etiology

The apparent causation and developmental history of an illness.

Prognosis

A forecast about the probable course of an illness.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

A psychological disorder marked by chronic, high levels of anxiety not tied to any specific threat.

Specific Phobia

Persistent and irrational fear of an object/situation that presents no realistic danger.

Panic Disorder

An anxiety disorder characterized by sudden and unexpected recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety.

Agoraphobia

A fear of going out to public places.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Marked obsessions and compulsions.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

An enduring psychological disturbance attributed to the experience of a major traumatic event.

Concordance Rate

The percentage of twin pairs or other pairs of relatives that exhibit the same disorder.

Dissociative Amnesia

A sudden loss of memory for important personal information, not due to normal forgetting, often attributed to excessive stress.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)

A disruption of identity marked by the experience of two or more complete and very different personalities; formerly called multiple-personality disorder.

Major Depressive Disorder

A disorder characterized by persistent feelings of sadness and despair and a loss of interest in previous sources of pleasure.

Anhedonia

A diminished ability to experience pleasure.

Bipolar Disorder

Mood disorder marked by both depressed and manic periods.

Schizophrenia

Marked by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking and speech, and deterioration of adaptive behavior.

Delusions

False beliefs maintained despite being clearly out of touch with reality.

Hallucinations

Sensory perceptions occurring in the absence of a real, external stimulus, or are gross distortions of perceptual input.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

A childhood disorder characterized by profound impairment of social interaction and communication and severely restricted interests and activities, usually apparent by the age of 3.

Personality Disorders

Marked by extreme, inflexible personality traits that cause subjective distress or impaired social and occupational functioning.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Marked by impulsive, callous, manipulative, aggressive, and irresponsible behavior; lack an adequate conscience.

Borderline Personality Disorder

Marked by instability in social relationships, self-image, and emotional functioning, turbulent interpersonal relationships marked by fears of abandonment.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Marked by a grandiose sense of self-importance, a sense of entitlement, and an excessive need for attention and admiration.

Eating Disorders

Severe disturbances in eating behavior characterized by preoccupation with weight concerns and unhealthy efforts to control weight.

Anorexia Nervosa

Characterized by intense fear of gaining weight, disturbed body image, refusal to maintain normal weight, and use of dangerous measures to lose weight.

Bulimia Nervosa

Habitual and excessive overeating, followed by vomiting, fasting, laxatives and diuretics, and exercise.

Binge-Eating Disorder

Distress-inducing eating binges without the purging, fasting, and excessive exercise seen in bulimia.

Insanity

Legal status indicating that a person cannot be held responsible for his or her actions because of mental illness.

Competency

Fitness of a defendant’s capacity to stand trial.

Involuntary Commitment

People who are hospitalized in psychiatric facilities against their will.

Representative Heuristics

Basing the estimated probability of an event on how similar it is to the typical prototype of that event.

Conjunction Fallacy

Occurs when people estimate that the odds of two uncertain events happening together are greater than the odds of either event happening alone.

Availability Heuristic

Based on estimated probability of an event on the ease with which relevant instances come to mind.