clinical psych

Psychology would not be the science that it is today without the contributions of many talented men and women

Aaron Beck

Created the popular cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) 

You can expect about 10% of items in previous AP Psychology exams to refer to specific names from either the history of psychology or current researchers

You should connect the name with the concept/experiment that they contributed to psychology

• Abnormal Behavior maladaptive actions or cognitive processes that defy social norms 

• Deinstitutionalization  late twentieth-century movement to release large numbers of asylum patients and reintegrate them into their communities 

• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) the diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric Association, used to categorize and diagnose psychological disorders 

• Psychologist- can’t prescribe meds, supports people through psychotherapy

• Psychiatrist-can prescribe meds, identify disorders/diagnose, generally works inside hospitals

• Medical Model maintains that abnormal behaviors are symptoms of an underlying disease

• Psychoanalytic Model maintains that abnormal behaviors are caused by repressed memories of childhood trauma and unconscious conflicts

• Humanistic Model views psychological disorders as temporary impediments to self-actualization that result from unsatisfied needs

• Cognitive Model maintains that abnormal behaviors result from faulty beliefs and maladaptive emotional responses

Albert Ellis

An early pioneer of cognitive therapy who created rational-emotive behavioral therapy

Sigmund Freud the founder of psychoanalytic therapy, the first “talking cure”

Mary Cover Jones one of the first people to apply classical conditioning techniques to psychological treatment; successfully treated a child’s rabbit phobia by pairing rabbits with a positive stimulus

Psychodynamic

Emphasizes behavior is determined by your past experiences that are left in the unconscious mind and childhood experiences

Cognitive

Focuses on internal processes of the mind influencing behavior

Carl Rogers creator of client-centered therapy, the most popular humanistic psychotherapy

Biological

The influence of genetics and brain chemistry (physical  & biological processes)

B.F. Skinner a behaviorist who believed that application of learning principles could help patients improve their functioning

Behavioral

Focus on observable behaviors, people/ animals are controlled by their environment, positive/negative consequences

Joseph Wolpe created systematic desensitization, now used to treat phobias

Humanistic

Human capacity for choice and growth, motivation for people to fulfill their potential

• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Result of some trauma experienced by the victim. Victims re-experience the traumatic event in nightmares about the event, or flashbacks in which they relieve the event

Mood Disorders

• Bipolar Disorder Mood swings alternating between periods of major depression and mania

• Major Depressive Disorder Involves intense depressed mood, reduced interest or pleasure in activities, loss of energy, and problems in making decisions for a minimum of 2 weeks

Personality Disorders

• Paranoid Personality Disorder “Accusatory” Pattern of distrust and suspiciousness about other people’s motives, individual thinks that others are out to threaten, betray, exploit, or harm

• Schizoid Personality Disorder “Aloof” Characterized by persistent avoidance of social relationships and little expression of emotion

• Schizotypal Personality Disorder “Awkward” Characterized by extreme discomfort in close relationships, very odd patterns of thinking and perceiving, and behavioral eccentricities

• Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) Characterized by a general pattern of disregard for and violation of other people’s rights (closely linked to criminal behavior)

• Borderline Personality Disorder Characterized by repeated instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and mood and by impulsive behavior

• Histrionic Personality Disorder Characterized by a pattern of excessive emotionality (dramatic) and attention seeking

• Narcissistic Personality Disorder Characterized by a broad pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy

• Avoidant Personality Disorder Characterized by consistent discomfort and restraint in social situations, overwhelming feelings of inadequacy, and extreme sensitivity to negative evaluation/potential rejection, humanilitation

• Dependent Personality Disorder Characterized by a pattern of clinging and obedience, fear of separation, and an ongoing need to be taken care of

• Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder Characterized by an intense focus on orderliness, perfectionism, and control that the person loses flexibility, openness, and efficiency

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

• Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Disorder marked by the inability to focus attention, or overactive and impulsive behavior, or both

• Biological Model maintains that psychological disorders result from imbalances in brain chemistry and other biological causes, including heredity and evolution 

• Sociocultural Model maintains that psychological disorders are culturally specific and caused by a variety of social and cultural factors 

• Behavioral Model maintains that abnormal behaviors are the products of learning, just like any other behaviors

• Currently, in the DSM-5, abnormal behavior is generally defined as…

• Deviant, Distressing, Dysfunctional, Dangerous

Anxiety Disorders

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) Experience excessive anxiety under most circumstances and worry about practically anything

• Panic Disorder Anxiety disorder marked by recurrent and unpredictable panic attacks

• Specific Phobia  Intense, irrational fear responses to specific stimuli

• Agoraphobia  Afraid to be in public situations from which escape might be difficult or help unavailable if panic-like or embarrassing symptoms were to occur

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)  Compound disorder of thought and behavior Obsessions are persistent, intrusive, and unwanted thoughts that an individual cannot get out of his or her mind Compulsions are ritualistic behaviors performed repeatedly

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  Somatic Disorders

  • Somatic Symptom Disorder (SDD)  Characterized by physical symptoms including pain, and high anxiety in these individuals about having a disease

  • Illness Anxiety Disorder (IAD)  Characterized by a preoccupation with a serious medical or health condition with either no or mild physical (somatic) symptoms such as nausea or dizziness that has persisted for 6 months

  • Conversion Disorder  Characterized by loss of some bodily function without physical damage to the affected organs or their neural connections

  
  

  Dissociative Disorders

  • Dissociative Amnesia  Loss of memory for a traumatic event or period of time that is too painful for an individual to remember

  • Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) Rare mental disorder characterized by at least two distinct and relatively enduring identities or dissociated personality states that recurrently control a person’s behavior

  • Schizophrenia Psychotic disorder in which personal, social, and occupational functioning deteriorate as a result of unusual perceptions, odd thoughts, disturbed emotions, and motor abnormalities

  
  

  • Dopamine Hypothesis  High fluctuation of levels of dopamine can be responsible for schizophrenic symptoms

  
  
  

  Research suggests that psychotherapy generally helps patients to make positive changes in their lives, but some types of treatment are more effective for particular conditions than others

  
  

  • Diagnostic Labels the categories of disorders recognized by the DSM, used to diagnose patients

  • Rosenhan Experiment Experiment underscoring the way that diagnostic labels can bias people’s perceptions of patients; hospital staff did not recognize that pseudopatients with a diagnosis of mental illness were in fact health

  
  

  • Confidentiality the obligation not to disclose particular kinds of information, including mental health information, except in limited cases, Mandated in the U.S. by HIPAA

  • Insanity immunity from legal responsibility due to an inability to tell the difference between right and wrong; a legal category, not a psychiatric one

  
  

  • Psychotherapy an ongoing relationship between a patient and a therapist, in which the two discuss the patient’s experiences and symptoms

  • Pharmacological Treatment when a mental health professional prescribes a drug for a patient to alleviate psychological distress

  
  
  
  
  

  • Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Disorder marked by extreme unresponsiveness to others, severe communication deficits, and highly repetitive and rigid behaviors, interests, and activities

  • Intellectual Disability (ID)  Disorder marked by intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior that are well below average

  
  

  Neurocognitive Disorders

  • Alzheimer’s Disease Fatal degenerative disease in which brain neurons progressively die, characterized by loss of memory, reasoning, emotion, and control of bodily functions

  
  

  Eating & Feeding Disorders

  • Anorexia Nervosa (Anorexia) Life-threatening eating disorder that involves intense fear of weight gain or becoming overweight, distorted perception of one’s weight/body shape, persistent restriction of caloric intake

  • Body dysmorphia increasing cognitive misperception of being overweight despite evidence to the contrary

  • Bulimia Nervosa (Bulimia) Recurrent binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors for the intake of food, such as purging

  • Binge Eating Disorder Uncontrollably eating a large amount of food in a short period of time; after a bingeing episode a person will not purge and will feel an extreme sense of guilt

  
  
  
  

  Exposure Treatment

  • Flooding Exposing people to fear-invoking objects or situations intensely and rapidly

  
  

  • Systematic Desensitization Developed by Joseph Wolpe, a client makes a list of fears and then learns to relax while concentrating on these fears

  
  

  • Aversion Therapy Pairing an undesirable behavior with an aversive stimulus in the hope that the unwanted behavior will eventually be reduced

  
  

  • Token Economy Behavioral strategy relies on reinforcement to modify behavior. Clients are allowed to earn tokens that can be exchanged for special privileges or desired items

  
  

  • Biofeedback Mind-body technique that involves using visual or auditory feedback to gain control over involuntary bodily functions

  
  

  • Gestalt Therapy a humanistic therapy that maintains that psychological distress occurs when patients focus on what could be, rather than on the present moment; developed by Fritz Perls 

  
  

  • Cognitive Distortions automatic and irrational perceptions of the world that contribute to feelings of anxiety or depression

  
  
  
  

  • Core Belief a deeply held belief that guides an individual’s thoughts 

  • Cognitive Restructuring a cognitive therapy technique that requires patients to challenge irrational beliefs and replace them with more realistic ones

  
  

  • Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists Human emotions and behavior are predominantly generated by ideas, beliefs, attitudes and thinking

  • Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) Developed in 1950s by Albert Ellis, psychological problems arise when thoughts are irrational and lead to behavioral consequences that are distressful

  
  

  • Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Therapy Researched by Aaron Beck, based on the idea that how we think (cognition), how we feel (emotion) and how we act (behavior) all interact together

  
  

  • Mindfulness strategies to cultivate a state of conscious awareness

  
  

  • Psychoanalysis The primary focus of psychodynamic therapy is to uncover the unconscious content of a client’s psyche in order to alleviate psychic tension

  • Free Association The client spontaneously reports thoughts, feelings, and mental images that come to mind (no censorship)

  
  
  

  • Resistance “Mental Blocks” The patient’s conscious or unconscious attempt to block disturbing memories, motives, and experiences (sensitive material)

  • Transference The process by which a patient projects or transfers unresolved conflicts and feelings onto the therapist

  
  

  • Client-Centered Therapy the most popular humanistic therapy, which views patients as “clients” and focuses on authenticity and healthy self-concept

  • Unconditional Positive Regard, allow client to steer the direction of the therapy, clients have value

  • Active listening therapist listens to client, paraphrasing what the client says, prevents advice or judgements

  
  

  Biomedical Therapy

  • Antidepressant Drugs Elevate mood by affecting neurotransmitters such as serotonin that are linked to depression

  • SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) – blocks the reuptake of serotonin

  • Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) A biological treatment in which a brain seizure is triggered as an electric current passes through electrodes attached to the patient’s forehead

  • Deep Brian Stimulation an invasive biomedical treatment that delivers electric shocks to the brain directly through an implanted electrode sometimes used for severe OCD