unit 5

Health Psychology - a subfield of psychology that explores the impact of the psychological, behavioral, and cultural factors on health and wellness

Psychoneuroimmunology - the study of how psychological, neural, and endocrine processes together affect our immune system and resulting health

Stress - the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging

Approach and Avoidance motives - the drive to move toward (approach) or away from (avoid) a stimulus

General adaptation syndrome (GAS) - Selye’s concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases: alarm, resistance, exhaustion

Tend-and-befriend response - under stress, people (especially women) may nurture themselves and others (tend) and bond with and seek support from others (befriend)

Coronary Heart Disease - the clogging of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle, a leading cause of death in many developed countries

Type A - FriedmaCoping - alleviating stress using emotional, cognitive, or behavioral methods

Problem-focused coping - attempting to alleviate stress directly – by changing the stressor or the way we interact with the stressor

Emotion-focused coping - attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction

Personal Control - our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless

Learned helplessness - the hopelessness and passive resignation humans and other animals learn when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

External Locus of Control - the perception that outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate

Internal Locus of Control - the perception that we control our own fate

Self-control - the ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for greater long-term rewards

n and Roseman’s term for competitive, hard-driving, impatient, verbally aggressive, and anger prone people

Type B - Friedman and Roseman’s term for easygoing, relaxed people

Catharsis - in psychology, the idea that “releasing” aggressive energy (through action or fantasy) relieves aggressive urges

Positive Psychology - The scientific study of human flourishing, with the goals of promoting strengths and virtues that foster well-being, resilience, and positive emotions, and that help individuals and communities to thrive

Subjective Well-Being - self-perceived happiness or satisfaction with life. Used along with measures of objective well-being (for example, physical and economic indicators) to evaluate people’s quality of life

Feel-good, Do-good phenomenon - people’s tendency to be helpful when in a good mood

Adaptation-level phenomenon - our tendency to form judgements (of sounds, of lights, of income) relative to a neutral level defined by our prior experience

Relative Deprivation - the perception that we are worse off relative to those with whom we compare ourselves

Broaden-and-build theory - proposes that positive emotions broaden our awareness, which over time helps us build novel and meaningful skills and resilience that improve well-being

Character strengths and virtues - a classification system to identify positive traits; organized into categories of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence

Resilience - the personal strength that helps people cope with stress and recover from adversity and even trauma

Aerobic Exercise - sustained exercise that increases heart and lung fitness; also helps alleviate depression and anxiety

Mindfulness Meditation - a reflective practice in which people attend to current experiences in a nonjudgmental and accepting manner

Gratitude - an appreciative emotion people often experience when they benefit from other’s actions or recognize their own good fortune

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

Diathesis-stress model - the concept that genetic predispositions (diathesis) combine with environmental stressors (stress) to influence psychological disorder

Epigenetics - “above” or “in addition to” genetics; the study of the molecular mechanisms by which environments can influence genetic expression (without a DNA change)

DSM-5-TR - the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition, Text Revision; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders

Anxiety Disorders - a group of disorders characterized by excessive fear and anxiety and related maladaptive disorders

Social Anxiety disorder - intense fear and avoidance of social situations

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

Obsessive-Compulsive-Disorder (OCD) - a disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions), actions (compulsions), or both

Hoarding disorder - a persistent difficulty parting with possessions, regardless of their value

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) - a disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, hypervigilance, avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia that lingers for 4 weeks or more after a traumatic experience

Trauma-and stressor-related disorders - a group of disorders in which exposure to a traumatic or stressful event is followed by psychological distress

may experience terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations; often followed by worry over a possible net attack

Agoraphobia - fear or avoidance of situations, such as crowds or wide open places, where one may experience a loss of control and panic

Depressive disorders - a group of disorders characterized by an enduring sad, empty, or irritable mood, along with physical and cognitive changes that affect a person’s ability to function

Bipolar disorders Bipolar I disorder - the most severe form, in which people experience a euphoric, talkative, highly energetic, and overly ambitious state that lasts a week or longer

Mania - a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state in which dangerously poor judgement is common

Bipolar II disorder - a less severe form of bipolar in which people move between depression and a milder hypomania

Depressive disorders- a group of disorders in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania (aka manic-depressive disorder)

Major depressive disorder - a disorder in which a person experiences five or more symptoms lasting two or more weeks, in the absence of drug use or a medical condition, at least one of which must be either 1. Depressed mood or 2. Loss of interest or pleasure

Persistent depressive disorder - a disorder in which people experience a depressed mood on more days than not for at least two years

Bipolar I disorder - the most severe form, in which people experience a euphoric, talkative, highly energetic, and overly ambitious state that lasts a week or longer

Mania - a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state in which dangerously poor judgement is common

Bipolar II disorder - a less severe form of bipolar in which people move between depression and a milder hypomaniaSchizophrenia spectrum disorder -  a group of disorders characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking or speech, disorganized or unusual motor behavior, and negative symptoms (such as diminished emotional expression)

Psychotic disorders - a group of disorders marked by irrational ideas, distorted perceptions, and a loss of contact with reality

Delusion - a false belief, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders

Chronic schizophrenia - a form of schizophrenia in which symptoms usually appear by late adolescence or early adulthood. As people age, psychotic episodes last longer and recovery periods shorten

Acute schizophrenia - a form of schizophrenia that can begin at any age, frequently occurs in response to a traumatic event, and from which recovery is much more likely

Dissociative disorders - a controversial, rare group of disorders characterized by a disruption of or discontinuity in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behavior

Dissociative Identity disorder DID - a rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating identities 

Dissociative amnesia - a disorder in which people with intact brains reportedly experience memory gaps; may report not remember trauma-related specific events, people, places, or aspects of their identity and life history

Personality disorders - a group of disorders characterized by enduring inner experiences or behavior patterns that differ from someone’s cultural norms and expectations, are pervasive and inflexible, begin in adolescence or early adulthood, are stable over time, and cause distress or impairment

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

Feeding and Eating disorders - a group of disorders characterized by altered consumption or absorption of food that impairs health or physiological functioning (feeding disorders children, eating disorders for those who self-feed)

Anorexia nervosa - an eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly underweight, and has an inaccurate self-perception; sometimes accompanied by excessive exercise

Bulimia nervosa - an eating disorder in which a person’s binge eating (usually of high calorie foods) is followed by inappropriate weight-loss-promoting behavior, such as vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise

Neurodevelopmental Disorders - central nervous system abnormalities (usually in the brain) that start in childhood and alter thinking and behavior (as in intellectual limitations or a psychological disorder)

Autism spectrum disorder ASD - a disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by limitations in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder ADHD - a psychological disorder marked by extreme inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity

Eclectic Approach - an approach to psychotherapy that uses techniques from various forms of therapy

Psychoanalysis - Freud’s therapeutic technique, using patient’s free associations, resistances, and dreams the therapist interprets them, the patient releases repressed feelings, and the patient gains self-insight

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

Interpretation - in psychoanalysis, the analyst’s noting of supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in an effort to promote insight

Transference - the patient’s transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (love or hatred for a parent)

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

Insight Therapies 

Person-centered therapy - humanistic therapy, by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within an accepting, genuine, empathic environment to facilitate clients’ growth

Active listening - empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and seeks clarification. A feature of Rogers’ person-centered therapy

Unconditional positive regard - a caring, accepting, nonjudgemental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed would help clients develop self-awareness and self-acceptance

Behavior therapy - therapy that uses learning principles to reduce unwanted behaviors

Counterconditioning - behavior therapy procedures that use classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors

Exposure therapies - behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization and virtual reality exposure therapy, that treat anxieties by exposing people to things they fear and avoid

Systematic desensitization - a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli

Virtual reality exposure therapy - a counterconditioning technique that treats anxiety through creative electronic simulations in which people can safely face specific fears, such as flying, spiders, or public speaking

Token economy - an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange tokens for privileges and treats

Cognitive therapy - therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions

Rational-emotive behavior therapy REBT - a confrontational cognitive therapy by Albert Ellis, that vigorously challenges peoples’ illogical, self-defeating attitudes and assumptions

Cognitive-behavioral therapy CBT- a popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior) 

Group Therapy - therapy conducted with groups rather than individuals, providing benefits from group interaction

Family therapy - therapy that treats people in the context of their family system. Views an individual’s unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members. 

Confirmation bias - a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

Meta-analysis - a statistical procedure for analyzing the results of multiple studies to reach an overall conclusion

Evidence-based practice

Therapeutic Alliance

Psychopharmacology - the study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior

Antipsychotic drugs - drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe though disorders

Antianxiety drugs

Antidepressant drugs 

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

Psychosurgery - surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue to change behavior

Lobotomy - cutting nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the emotion controlling centers of the inner brain

Hypnosis - the hypnotist suggests to the subject that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur. Uses suggestion to reduce unpleasant physical sensations or emotions

Dissociation - a split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others

Posthypnotic suggestion - a suggestion, made during a hypnosis session, to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized

Posttraumatic growth - positive psychological changes following a struggle with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises