AP Psychology Unit 12: Abnormal Behavior

Psychological Disorder

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

Attention-defecit/

a psychological disorder marked by extreme inattention and/or 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.

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.

Phobias

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

Social Anxiety Disorder

intense fear of social situations, leading to avoidance of such

Agoroaphobia

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 Stres

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 a medical condition, two or more weeks of significantly depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness, and diminished interest or pleasure in most activities.

Mania

a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state

Bipolar Disorder

A mood disorder in which the 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, 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

Hallucinations

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

Somatic Symptom Disorder

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 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 an irrational fear of weight gain leads people to starve themselves

Bulimia Nervosa

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

Binge-eating Disorder

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

Personality Disorder

psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning

Antisocial Personality Disorder

psychological disorder in which one demonstrates a lack of conscience

DSM-5

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