Psychological Disorders Lecture Notes

These flashcards cover major terms and concepts related to psychological disorders and theories discussed in the lecture.

Sublimation

A mature defense mechanism where socially unacceptable impulses or idealizations are transformed into socially acceptable actions or behavior, such as using aggressive urges to excel in competitive sports.

Suppression

The conscious process of pushing unwanted thoughts, feelings, or memories out of awareness, allowing the individual to deal with them at a more appropriate time.

Altruism

A mature defense mechanism where an individual deals with emotional conflict or stressors by meeting the needs of others, resulting in vicarious gratification.

Pleasure Principle

The instinctual seeking of immediate gratification of all needs, wants, and urges. In Freud's theory, this is the driving force of the id.

Reality Principle

The ability of the mind to assess the reality of the external world and act upon it accordingly, as opposed to acting on the pleasure principle. Managed by the ego to delay gratification for long-term benefits.

Eros Drives

Life drives that promote survival, including thirst, hunger, and sex. These are associated with the preservation of life and the species.

Thanatos

Often referred to as the death instinct, it represents the drive toward self-destruction, aggression, and a return to an inorganic state.

Mental Disorders

Conditions characterized by significant disturbances in cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflect a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning.

Distress

Negative stress that can lead to anxiety or physical problems. It occurs when a stressor is perceived as a threat that exceeds an individual's coping resources.

Eustress

Positive stress that occurs when a person perceives a situation as a challenge or a motivator, often leading to improved performance and feelings of fulfillment.

OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)

A disorder where people have recurring, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and feel driven to do something repetitively (compulsions) to reduce the anxiety caused by those thoughts.

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

A disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event, characterized by intrusive memories, avoidance, and hyperarousal.

Positive Symptoms (Schizophrenia)

Symptoms that represent an 'excess' or distortion of normal function, including hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking. Often associated with dopamine overactivity in the mesolimbic pathway.

Negative Symptoms (Schizophrenia)

Symptoms that represent a 'loss' or decrease in normal function, such as avolition (lack of motivation), alogia (poverty of speech), and affective flattening.

Cognitive Symptoms (Schizophrenia)

Deficits in cognitive abilities like executive function, attention, and working memory, which are often the most disabling symptoms for daily life.

Dopamine Hypothesis of Schizophrenia

Suggests that the condition is caused by an overabundance of dopamine or oversensitive dopamine receptors in certain brain regions (e.g., mesolimbic pathway).

Conversion Disorder

A condition where a person has blindness, paralysis, or other nervous system (neurologic) symptoms that cannot be explained by medical evaluation, commonly triggered by psychological stress.

Factitious Disorder

A serious mental disorder in which someone deceives others by appearing sick, by purposely getting sick, or by self-injury to gain the 'sick role' (formerly known as Munchausen syndrome).

Cluster A Personality Disorders

The 'odd/eccentric' cluster, including Paranoid, Schizoid, and Schizotypal personality disorders.

Cluster B Personality Disorders

The 'dramatic/emotional/erratic' cluster, including Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, and Narcissistic personality disorders.

Cluster C Personality Disorders

The 'anxious/fearful' cluster, including Avoidant, Dependent, and Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorders.

Bipolar I Disorder

Characterized by the occurrence of at least one manic episode; depressive episodes are common but not required for diagnosis.

Bipolar II Disorder

Characterized by at least one major depressive episode and at least one hypomanic episode, but never a full manic episode.

Alzheimer's Disease

A neurodegenerative disease marked by cognitive decline. Biological markers include extracellular \beta-amyloid plaques, intracellular neurofibrillary tangles of \tau protein, and loss of cholinergic neurons.

Parkinson's Disease

A motor disorder caused by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia\ nigra. Features include resting tremors, bradykinesia, and the presence of Lewy bodies containing \alpha-synuclein.

Reaction Formation

A defense mechanism where an individual transforms an unacceptable impulse into its opposite (e.g., acting excessively kind to someone you dislike).

Projection

A defense mechanism where an individual attributes their own unacceptable thoughts, feelings, or motives to another person.

Somatic Symptom Disorder

Characterized by extreme focus on physical symptoms (such as pain or fatigue) that causes significant distress and/or interferes with daily functioning, regardless of whether a medical cause is found.