Abnormal Psych Ch 1 (Barlow)

Psychological disorder

Psychological dysfunction associated with distress or impairment in functioning that is not a typical or culturally expected response. Psychological disorders are some combination of A) a dysfunction, and B) impairment/distress/violation of norms

Phobia

Characterized by marked and persistent fear of an object or situation.

Abnormal behavior

A psychological dysfunction within an individual that is associated with distress or impairment in functioning and a response that is not typical or culturally expected.

Psychopathology

Scientific study of psychological disorders.

Scientist-practitioner

Mental health professionals who are expected to apply scientific methods to their work. They must keep current in the latest research on diagnosis and treatment, they must evaluate their own methods for effectiveness, and they may generate their own research to discover new knowledge of disorders and their treatment.

Presenting problem

Original complaint reported by the client to the therapist. The actual treated problem may sometimes be a modification derived from the presenting problem.

Clinical description

Details of the combination of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of an individual that make up a particular disorder.

Prevelance

Number of people displaying a disorder in the total population at any given time (compare w/ incidence).

Incidence

Number of new cases of a disorder appearing a specific period (compare w/ prevalence).

Course

Pattern of development and change of a disorder over time.

Prognosis

Predicted future development of a disorder over time.

Etiology

Cause or source of a disorder.

Exorcism

Religious ritual that attributes disordered behavior to possession by demons and seeks to treat the individual by driving the demons from the body.

Psychosocial treatment

Treatment practices that focus on social and cultural factors (such as family experience), as well as psychological influences. These approaches include cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal methods

Moral Therapy

Psychosocial approach in the 19th century that involved treating patients as normally as possible in normal environments.

Mental hygine movememnt

Mid-19th-century effort to improve care of the mentally disordered by informing the public of their mistreatment.

Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalytic assessment and therapy, which emphasizes exploration of, and insight into, unconscious processes and conflicts, pioneered by Freud.

Behaviorism

Explanation of human behavior, including dysfunction, based on principles of learning and adaptation derived from experimental psychology.

Unconscious

Part of the psychic makeup that is outside the awareness of the person.

Catharsis

Rapid or sudden release of emotional tension thought to be an important factor in psychoanalytic therapy.

Psychoanalytic model

Complex and comprehensive theory originally advanced by Freud that seeks to account for the development and structure of personality, as well as the origin of abnormal behavior, based primarily on inferred inner entities and forces.

id

In psychoanalysis, the unconscious physical entity present at birth representing basic sexual and aggressive drives.

ego

In psychoanalysis, the psychical entity responsible or finding realistic and practical ways to satisfy id drives.

superego

In psychoanalysis, the psychical entity representing the internalized moral principles of parents and society.

Intrapsychic conflicts

In psychoanalysis, the struggles among the id, ego, and superego.

Defense mechanisms

Common patterns of behavior, often adaptive coping styles when they occur in moderation, observed in response to particular situations. (In psychoanalysis, these are thought to be unconscious processes originating in the ego.)

Psychosexual stages of development

In psychoanalysis, the sequence of phases a person passes through during development. Each stage is named for the location on the body where id gratification is maximal at that time.

Castration anxiety

In psychoanalysis, the fear in young boys that they will be mutilated genitally because of their lust for their mothers. [******** it freud]

Neurosis

Obsolete psychodynamic term for psychological disorder thought to result from unconscious conflicts and the anxiety they cause.

Ego psychology

Derived from psychoanalysis, this theory emphasizes the role of the ego in development and attributes psychological disorders to failure of the ego to manage impulses and internal conflicts. aka self-psychology.

Self-psychology

Derived from psychoanalysis, this theory emphasizes the role of the ego in development and attributes psychological disorders to failure of the ego to manage impulses and internal conflicts.

Object relations

Modern development in psychodynamic theory involving the study of how children incorporate the memories and values of people who are close and important to them.

Collective unconscious

Accumulated wisdom of a culture collected and remembered across generations, a psychodynamic concept introduced by Carl Jung.

Free association

Psychoanalytic therapy technique intended to explore threatening material repressed into the unconscious. The patient is instructed to say whatever comes to mind w/o censoring.

Dream analysis

Psychoanalytic therapy method in which dream contents are examined as symbolic of id impulses and intrapsychic conflicts.

Psychoanalyst

Therapists who practices psychoanalysis after earning either an M.D. or a Ph.D. degree and receiving additional specialized post doctoral training.

Transference

Psychoanalytic concept suggesting that clients may seek to relate to the therapist as they do to important authority figures, particularly their parents.

Psychodynamic psychotherapy

Contemporary version of psychoanalysis that still emphasizes unconscious processes and conflicts but is briefer and more focused on specific problems.

Self-actualizing

Process emphasized in humanistic psychology in which people strive to achieve their highest potential against difficult life experiences.

Person-centered therapy

Therapy method in which the client, rather than the counselor, primarily directs the course of discussion, seeking self-discovery and self-responsibility.

Unconditional positive regard

Acceptance by the counselor of the client's feelings and actions w/o judgement or condemnation.

Behavioral model

Explanation of human behavior, including dysfunction, based principles of learning and adaptation derived from experimental psychology.

Classical conditioning

Fundamental learning process first described by Ivan Pavlov. An event that automatically elicits a response is paired w/ another stimulus event that does not (neutral stimulus). After repeated pairings, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that by itself can elicit the desired response.

Extinction

Learning process in which a response maintained by reinforcement in operant conditioning or pairing in classical conditioning decreases when that reinforcement or pairing is removed; also the procedure of removing that reinforcement or pairing.

Introspection

Early, nonscientific approach to the study of psychology involving systematic attempts to report thoughts and feelings that specific stimuli evoked.

Systematic desensitization

Behavioral therapy technique to diminish excessive fears, involving gradual exposure to the feared stimulus paired with a positive coping experience, usually relaxation.

Behavior therapy

Array of therapy methods based on the principles of behavioral and cognitive science, as well as principles f learning as applied to clinical problems. It considers specific behaviors rather than inferred conflicts as legitimate targets for change.

Reinforcement

In operant conditioning, consequences for behavior that strengthen it or increase its frequency. Positive reinforcement involves the contingent delivery of a desired consequence. Negative reinforcement is the contingent escape from an aversive consequence. Unwanted behaviors bay result from their reinforcement or the failure to reinforce desired behaviors.

Shaping

In operant conditioning, the development of a new response by reinforcing successively more similar versions of that response. Both desirable and undesirable behaviors may be learned in this matter.