REal PSYCH

Psychodynamic Model

A theoretical perspective proposing that a person's behavior is determined largely by underlying unconscious, dynamic, psychological forces, focusing on early relationships and childhood experiences.

Free Association

A psychodynamic therapy technique where the therapist acts as a guide while the client says whatever comes to mind to uncover past trauma and inner conflicts.

Dream Interpretation

A psychodynamic technique involving the interpretation of dreams to uncover unconscious meaning and reduce the fear of id impulses.

Transference

A psychodynamic concept where clients project feelings and act toward the therapist from important figures in their lives.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

A disorder marked by disproportionate, uncontrollable, and ongoing worry about multiple matters for 6 months or more, accompanied by restlessness, fatigue, muscle tension, or sleep problems.

Bipolar I

A disorder marked by the occurrence of at least one full manic episode. often alternating with major depressive episodes

Bipolar II

A disorder marked by the presence or history of major depressive episodes and hypomanic episodes, but no history of a full manic episode.

Bipolar I vs Bipolar II

Bipolar I requires at least one full manic episode, whereas Bipolar II involves hypomanic and major depressive episodes but never a full manic episode.

CBT

A treatment model that focuses on behaviors and thoughts and their interplay, seeking to replace problematic behaviors and challenge illogical thinking.

Behavioral Activation

A CBT technique for depression that involves reintroducing clients to pleasurable events while consistently rewarding nondepressive behaviors.

Treatment Effectiveness

For depression and bipolar disorders, short-term treatment relies heavily on medication, whereas long-term success is typically best achieved through a combination of medication and CBT.

Shneidman's Categories

Four categories classifying the intentions of individuals who commit suicide: death seekers, death initiators, death ignorers, and death darers.

Death Seekers

People who make an intentional, direct, and conscious effort to end their life at the time they attempt suicide.

Death Initiators

People who attempt suicide believing that the process of death is already underway and they are simply hastening it.

Death Ignorers

People who attempt suicide without recognizing the finality of death, often believing they are trading life for a better existence.

Death Darers

People who are ambivalent about their wish to die even as they attempt suicide, often engaging in risky behavior.

Death Seeker vs Death Darer

Death seekers clearly intend to end their life, while death darers remain ambivalent about dying and engage in risk-taking behavior instead of certain death.

Subintentional Death

A death in which the victim plays an indirect, covert, partial, or unconscious role, such as through reckless behavior or non-suicidal self-injury.

Psychodynamic View (Suicide)

The theory that suicide results from severe depression and intense anger at others that is redirected inward toward the self as self-hatred.

Anorexia

An eating disorder marked by purposeful restriction of nourishment resulting in very low body weight, intense fear of gaining weight, and distorted body perception.

Bulimia

An eating disorder characterized by repeated binge-eating episodes followed by ill-advised compensatory behaviors to prevent weight gain.

Binge-Eating Disorder

A disorder characterized by recurrent binge-eating episodes without the excessive compensatory purging behaviors seen in bulimia.

Anorexia vs Bulimia

Anorexia involves severe restriction leading to very low body weight, while bulimia involves binge-eating followed by compensatory purging with weight often staying in a healthy range.

Depressants

Substances such as alcohol, sedative-hypnotics, and opioids that slow the activity of the central nervous system, reducing tension and inhibitions.

Stimulants

Substances such as cocaine and amphetamines that increase the activity of the central nervous system, causing increased blood pressure, heart rate, and alertness.

Cannabis

Drugs produced from hemp plants, such as marijuana and hashish, that produce a mixture of hallucinogenic, depressant, and stimulant effects.

Opioids

Natural and synthetic drugs that depress the central nervous system and attach to endorphin-related receptors to relieve pain and induce a high.

MDMA

A club drug that acts as a stimulant but also produces hallucinogenic effects, providing an energy boost and strong feelings of connectedness. by releasing serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrin

Tolerance

The need for increasing doses of a substance in order to produce the desired effect.

Withdrawal

Unpleasant and sometimes dangerous physical symptoms that occur when an individual stops or cuts back on taking a drug.

Synergistic Effect

The combined, often amplified effect that occurs when a person takes more than one drug at a time with similar or opposite actions.

Racial Differences (SUDs)

Indigenous Americans have the highest annual rate of substance use disorders at over 27%, while Asian Americans have the lowest at 8%.

Prodromal Stage

The initial phase of schizophrenia marked by the beginning of deterioration and the presence of mild symptoms.

Active Stage

The second phase of schizophrenia where psychotic symptoms, such as delusions and hallucinations, become clearly apparent.

Residual Stage

The final phase of schizophrenia where intense psychotic symptoms subside and the individual returns to a prodromal-like state of mild impairment.

Positive Symptoms

Pathological excesses or bizarre additions to a person's behavior in schizophrenia, including delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and inappropriate affect (expression does not match feeling).

Delusions

Strange false beliefs firmly held despite evidence to the contrary.

Delusions of Persecution

Delusions where the individual falsely believes they are being harmed, targeted, discriminated against, or plotted against.

Delusions of Reference

Delusions where the individual attaches special and personal meaning to the actions of others or to various objects and events. Common examples include thinking news reports, songs, or strangers' actions are specifically communicating messages to them

Delusions of Grandeur

Delusions where individuals falsely believe themselves to be great inventors, religious saviors, or other specially empowered persons.

Delusions of Control

Delusions where individuals believe their feelings, thoughts, and actions are being controlled by other people.

Hallucinations

Sensory perceptions experienced in the absence of external stimuli, most commonly auditory.

Disorganized Thinking and Speech

A positive symptom of schizophrenia characterized by loose associations, derailment, neologisms, perseveration, or speaking in rhymes.

Derailment

A disorganized speech pattern in which a person rapidly shifts from one topic to another, believing their statements make sense.

Neologisms

Made-up words used by individuals with schizophrenia that typically have meaning only to the person using them.

Perseveration

A disorganized speech pattern where individuals repeat their words and statements again and again.

Rhymes

A disorganized speech pattern where individuals use clang or rhyming words to think or express themselves.

Inappropriate Affect

Emotional responses that are unsuited to the situation a person is in.

Negative Symptoms

Pathological deficits or missing normal functions in schizophrenia, including flat affect, alogia, avolition, and social withdrawal.

Flat Affect

A negative symptom involving a significant reduction in the expression of emotions, often presenting as an immobile, expressionless face.

Alogia

A negative symptom also known as poverty of speech, involving a reduction in the quantity of speech or its meaning.

Avolition

A negative symptom characterized by a feeling of being drained of energy, lacking motivation, and an inability to start or follow through on tasks.

Social Withdrawal

A negative symptom where an individual withdraws from their social environment and attends only to their own ideas and fantasies.

Positive vs Negative Symptoms

Positive symptoms are pathological excesses or additions to a person's behavior, whereas negative symptoms are pathological deficits or missing normal functions.

Psychomotor Symptoms

Abnormal motor behaviors or movements in schizophrenia, such as awkward gestures, waxy flexibility, and extreme states like catatonia.

Catatonia

A severe psychomotor symptom involving extreme forms of abnormal movement, including stupor, rigidity, posturing, or excitement.

Waxy Flexibility

A psychomotor symptom of catatonia where a person's limbs maintain the posture into which they are placed by someone else.

Repetitive/Stereotyped Movements

Awkward movements, repeated grimaces, or odd gestures that may seem to have a magical quality.

Agitation

A psychomotor symptom involving extreme restlessness, excessive movement, or catatonic excitement.

Type I Schizophrenia

A presentation of schizophrenia dominated by positive symptoms, generally associated with a better prognosis.

Type II Schizophrenia

A presentation of schizophrenia dominated by negative symptoms, generally associated with a worse prognosis.

Type I vs Type II Schizophrenia

Type I is dominated by positive symptoms and has a better recovery rate, whereas Type II is dominated by negative symptoms and has a poorer prognosis.

Schizoaffective Disorder

A schizophrenia spectrum disorder characterized by marked symptoms of both schizophrenia and a major depressive or manic episode.

Social Breakdown Syndrome

A pattern of decline often seen in institutional settings characterized by withdrawal, anger, aggressiveness, and a loss of interest in personal appearance.

Token Economy

A behavioral treatment program that systematically applies operant conditioning by rewarding patients with tokens for acceptable behavior.

Milieu Therapy

A humanistic institutional approach that aims to create a social climate promoting productive activity, self-respect, and individual responsibility.

First Generation Antipsychotics

Conventional antipsychotic medications that reduce psychotic symptoms primarily by blocking D-2 dopamine receptors, though they frequently cause extrapyramidal side effects.

Parkinsonian and Related Symptoms

An extrapyramidal side effect of first-generation antipsychotics involving muscle tremors and rigidity caused by reductions of dopamine activity in the striatum.

Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome

A rare but potentially fatal reaction to first-generation antipsychotics characterized by muscle rigidity, fever, and altered consciousness.

Tardive Dyskinesia

A difficult-to-eliminate extrapyramidal side effect of antipsychotics involving involuntary facial grimaces, lip smacking, and tongue protrusions.

Second Generation Antipsychotics

Newer antipsychotic medications that act on multiple dopamine and serotonin receptors, causing fewer extrapyramidal symptoms but carrying metabolic risks.

Agranulocytosis

A life-threatening drop in white blood cells that is a potential side effect of second-generation antipsychotic drugs.

Weight Gain

A common metabolic side effect associated with the use of second-generation antipsychotic drugs.

Dizziness

A potential physical side effect frequently associated with taking second-generation antipsychotic medications.

High Blood Sugar

A significant metabolic side effect that can occur when taking second-generation antipsychotic drugs.

Cognitive Remediation

A CBT intervention for schizophrenia focusing on improving cognitive difficulties in attention, planning, and memory through increasingly complex tasks.

Hallucination Reinterpretation

A CBT technique for schizophrenia that helps clients change how they view and react to hallucinations by providing education and challenging inaccurate ideas.

ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy)

A new-wave therapy that helps clients accept their problematic streams of thought and hallucinations rather than trying to overreact or change them.

Cluster A

The odd or eccentric cluster of personality disorders, which includes paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorders.

Paranoid Personality Disorder

A disorder characterized by a pervasive, deep distrust and suspicion of the motives of others, without fixed delusions.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

A disorder involving a persistent detachment from social relationships and extreme discomfort in close relationships, marked by a genuine lack of desire for connections.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

A disorder characterized by extreme discomfort in close relationships, eccentric behaviors, and cognitive or perceptual distortions, such as magical thinking.

Cluster B

The dramatic, emotional, or erratic cluster of personality disorders, which includes antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, and histrionic personality disorders.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

A disorder marked by a persistent disregard for and violation of others' rights, often involving impulsivity, deceitfulness, and a lack of remorse.

Borderline Personality Disorder

A disorder characterized by severe instability in mood, identity, and relationships, accompanied by high impulsivity and an intense fear of abandonment.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

A disorder marked by grandiosity, a constant need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

A disorder characterized by excessive emotionality and an ongoing need to be the center of attention, often accompanied by theatrical behaviors.

Cluster C

The anxious or fearful cluster of personality disorders, which includes avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.

Avoidant Personality Disorder

A disorder characterized by consistent discomfort and restraint in social situations, overwhelming feelings of inadequacy, and extreme sensitivity to criticism.

Dependent Personality Disorder

A disorder involving a pervasive, excessive need to be taken care of, leading to submissive, clinging behaviors and a fear of separation.

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

A disorder characterized by an intense focus on orderliness, perfectionism, and control, resulting in a loss of flexibility and efficiency.