Psychology Study Guide: Anxiety, Trauma, OCD, and Mood Disorders

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering diagnostic criteria, timelines, symptom features, neurotransmitters, and treatment methods for anxiety, OCD, BDD, trauma, and mood disorders based on the lecture transcript.

Anxiety

Future-oriented apprehension, worry, and tension based on the thought that something bad might happen.

Fear

An immediate alarm response to a present danger (fight or flight) when danger is happening now.

Panic Attack

A sudden, intense fear or discomfort accompanied by strong physical and cognitive symptoms based on the feeling that something terrible is happening.

GABA

The major inhibitory or calming neurotransmitter in the brain; reduced GABA functioning is associated with anxiety.

Amygdala

An important brain region involved in threat and fear processing.

Comorbidity

The occurrence of two or more disorders in the same person; a major feature of anxiety and related disorders.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Excessive anxiety and worry about multiple areas of life occurring more days than not for at least 6 months, requiring adults to have 3 or more associated symptoms.

Panic Disorder

A disorder characterized by recurrent unexpected panic attacks followed by at least 1 month of persistent worry about additional attacks or consequences and/or maladaptive behavior change.

Anxiety Sensitivity

The tendency to interpret anxiety-related bodily sensations as dangerous, which can intensify panic.

Interoceptive Exposure

A CBT technique that intentionally produces feared bodily sensations (such as dizziness or a racing heart) in a safe setting.

Agoraphobia

Fear or anxiety lasting typically 6+ months about situations where escape might be difficult or help unavailable if panic-like or embarrassing symptoms occur.

Specific Phobia

Excessive fear of a specific object or situation (such as animals, heights, flying, blood/injury, storms, or enclosed spaces) lasting 6+ months.

Blood-Injection-Injury Subtype

A subtype of specific phobia that uniquely involves a drop in blood pressure or heart rate and fainting, often managed using applied muscle tension.

Social Anxiety Disorder

Fear or anxiety lasting 6+ months regarding social situations involving possible scrutiny, judgment, embarrassment, or rejection.

Performance Only Specifier

A specifier for Social Anxiety Disorder used when fear is restricted primarily to speaking or performing in public.

PTSD Symptom Clusters

The four core feature groups of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder persisting for more than 1 month: Intrusion, Avoidance, Negative Cognition/Mood, and Arousal/Reactivity.

Obsessions

Intrusive, unwanted thoughts, urges, or images that cause distress, commonly themed around contamination, harm/aggression, sexual thoughts, religion, or symmetry (which is the most common).

Compulsions

Repetitive behaviors or mental acts performed in response to obsessions or rigid rules, usually to reduce distress or prevent a feared outcome.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

The primary behavioral treatment for OCD that involves exposure to a feared trigger while refraining from performing the ritual or compulsion.

Absent Insight / Delusional Beliefs Specifier

An OCD insight specifier assigned when a person is completely convinced that their OCD beliefs are true.

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)

Preoccupation with one or more perceived defects in appearance that are not observable or appear slight to others, accompanied by repetitive behaviors or mental acts.

Hoarding Disorder

Persistent difficulty discarding possessions regardless of actual value due to a perceived need to save them and distress associated with discarding.

Trichotillomania

A hair pulling disorder characterized by recurrent hair pulling, commonly treated with habit reversal training.

Excoriation Disorder

A skin picking disorder characterized by recurrent skin picking, treated with habit reversal or behavioral treatments.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

A mood disorder requiring symptoms lasting at least 2 weeks including depressed mood and/or anhedonia; shows an approximate $2.2:1$ prevalence ratio in women compared to men.

Anhedonia

The loss of interest or pleasure in activities.

Manic Episode

An elevated mood episode lasting at least 1 week (or any duration if hospitalized) characterized by marked impairment, decreased need for sleep, potential psychosis, or hospitalization.

Hypomanic Episode

An elevated mood episode lasting at least 4 consecutive days that is less impairing than mania and does not involve psychosis or hospitalization.

Bipolar I Disorder

A bipolar diagnosis that requires at least one manic episode; a major depressive episode is not required for diagnosis.

Bipolar II Disorder

A bipolar diagnosis that requires at least one hypomanic episode AND at least one major depressive episode, with no history of mania.

Persistent Depressive Disorder

A chronic pattern of depressed mood lasting at least 2 years in adults, which can feature superimposed major depressive episodes (traditionally termed double depression).

Cyclothymic Disorder

A chronic mood disorder in adults involving subthreshold hypomanic and depressive symptoms for at least 2 years.

Learned Helplessness Theory

A theory positing that depression develops when people learn that negative events are uncontrollable, tending to explain negative events as internal, stable, and global.

Behavioral Activation

A psychotherapy approach for depression that primarily encourages patients to increase engagement in meaningful or rewarding activities.

Lithium

A medication classically associated with the treatment of bipolar disorder that requires careful monitoring because high levels can be toxic.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

A medical treatment for severe, medication-resistant depression involving a medically controlled electrical current that induces a seizure; generally more effective than TMS.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

A noninvasive treatment for depression that uses magnetic pulses to stimulate targeted brain regions.