AP Psychology: Abnormal Behavior - Unit 12

psychological disorder

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

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

a psychological disorder marked by the appearance by age 7 of one or more of three key symptoms: extreme inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity

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

DSM-5

the American Psychiatric Association’s *Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,* Fifth Edition; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders

anxiety disorders

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

generalized anxiety disorder

an anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal

panic disorder

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

phobia

an anxiety disorder marked by a persistent. irrational fear and voidance of a specific object, activity, or situation

social anxiety disorder

intense fear of social situations, leading to avoidance of such (formerly called social phobia)

agoraphobia

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

obsessive compulsive disorder

a disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions)

posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

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

posttraumatic growth

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

mood disorders

psychological disorders characterized by emotional extremes

major depressive disorder

a mood 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 o which must be either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure

mania

a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state

bipolar disorder

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

rumination

compulsive fretting; overthinking about our problems and their causes

schizophrenia

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

psychosis

a psychological disorder in which a person loses contact with reality, experiencing irrational ideas and distorted perceptions

delusions

false beliefs, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders

hallucination

false sensory experience, such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus

somatic symptom disorder

a psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause

conversion disorder

a disorder in which a person experiences very specific genuine physical symptoms for which no physiological basis can be found (also called functional neurological symptom disorder)

illness anxiety disorder

a disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease (formerly called hypochondriasis)

dissociative disorders

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)

anorexia nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly (15 percent or more) underweight

bulimia nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person alternates binge eating (usually high-calorie foods) with purging (by vomiting or laxative use), excessive exercise, or fasting

binge-eating disorder

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

personality disorders

psychological disorders characterized by 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 toward friends and family members. may be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist