unit 8 psych vocab

psychological disorder

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

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

a psychological disorder marked by the appearance by age 7
of one or more of three key symptoms: extreme inattention,
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.

DSM-5

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

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. Often followed by worry
over a possible next attack.

phobia

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. (Formerly

agoraphobia

fear or avoidance of
situations, such as crowds or wide
open places, where one has felt loss
of control and panic.

obsessive-compulsive disorder
(OCD)

a disorder characterized
by unwanted repetitive thoughts
(obsessions) and/or actions
(compulsions).

posttraumatic stress disorder
(PTSD)

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 another medical condition, two
or more weeks with five or more
symptoms, at least one of which
must be either (1) depressed mood
or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.

mania

a mood disorder marked by
a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state.

bipolar disorder

a mood disorder
in which a person alternates
between the hopelessness and
lethargy of depression and the
overexcited state of mania.

schizophrenia

a psychological
disorder characterized by delusions,
hallucinations, disorganized speech,
and/or diminished or 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.

hallucination

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

somatic symptom disorder

a 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.

illness anxiety disorder

a disorder in which a person
interprets normal physical
sensations as symptoms of
a disease.

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 a person (usually
an adolescent female) maintains
a starvation diet despite being
significantly (15 percent or more)
underweight.

bulimia nervosa

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

binge-eating disorder

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

personality disorders

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

antisocial personality disorder

a personality disorder in which a
person (usually a man) exhibits a
lack of conscience for wrongdoing,
even toward friends and family
members. May be aggressive and
ruthless or a clever con artist.

psychotherapy

treatment involving
psychological techniques; consists
of interactions between a trained
therapist and someone seeking to
overcome psychological difficulties or
achieve personal growth.

biomedical therapy

prescribed
medications or procedures that act
directly on the person’s physiology.

eclectic approach

an approach
to psychotherapy that, depending on
the client’s problems, uses techniques
from various forms of therapy.

psychoanalysis

Sigmund
Freud’s therapeutic technique.
Freud believed the patient’s
free associations, resistances,
dreams, and transferences—and
the therapist’s interpretations
of them—released previously
repressed feelings, allowing the
patient to gain self-insight.

resistance

in psychoanalysis,
the blocking from consciousness of
anxiety-laden material.

interpretation

in psychoanalysis,
the analyst’s noting supposed
dream meanings, resistances, and
other significant behaviors and
events in order to promote insight.

transference

in psychoanalysis,
the patient’s transfer to the analyst
of emotions linked with other
relationships (such as love or hatred
for a parent).

psychodynamic therapy

therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition that views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and that seeks to enhance self-insight.

insight therapies

a variety of
therapies that aim to improve
psychological functioning by
increasing a person’s awareness of
underlying motives and defenses.

client-centered therapy

a humanistic therapy, developed
by Carl Rogers, in which the
therapist uses techniques such as
active listening within a genuine,
accepting, empathic environment to
facilitate clients’ growth. (Also called
person-centered therapy.)

active listening

empathic
listening in which the listener
echoes, restates, and clarifies. A
feature of Rogers’ client-centered
therapy.

unconditional positive regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental
attitude, which Carl Rogers believed

would help clients to develop self-
awareness and self-acceptance.

behavior therapy

therapy that
applies learning principles to the
elimination of unwanted behaviors.