FCPS AP Psych Unit 8

DSM5 - the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders

Psychological Disorder - a syndrome marked by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior

Dysfunctional - Interfering with the ability to conduct daily activities in a constructive way 

Distressful - The person and others feel pain and discomfort associated with his or her emotions, thoughts, or behaviors

Deviant - goes against the norm of behavior (may be abnormal in one culture, but normal in another)

Dangerous – cause harm to self or others

Medical Model - the concept that diseases, in this case psychological disorders, have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and cured

Biopsychosocial Approach to Disorders - biological, socio-cultural, and psychological factors combine and interact to produce psychological disorders.

Insanity Plea - Legal (not psychiatric) determination of whether someone was aware enough of their own actions to be held responsible for their behavior. Mentally ill patients in certain circumstances can plead legally insane

McNaughton Rule - a rule determining insanity, which asks whether the defendant knew what he or she was doing or whether the defendant knew what he or she was doing was wrong

Forensic Psychology - intersections between psychological practice and research and the judicial system

Confidentiality - professionals will not divulge the information they obtain from a client

Evolutionary -Views abnormal behavior and disorders as originating in an individual’s genetics

Cognitive - Focuses on an individual’s dysfunctionalt houghts or beliefs as the cause of the disorder

Sociocultural - Looks at how a person’s gender, nationality, race, ethnicity, sex, or societal status impacts their mental state

Humanistic - Disorders occur when an individual has an incongruent self-concept

Behavioral - Disorders are learned and maintained through conditioning and environmental factors (consequences are key)

Psychodynamic - Disorders are the result of repressed unconscious thoughts

Biological - Disorders are the result of abnormalities that occur in an individual’s nervous system or brain

Biopsychosocial - Looks at genetic factors, structures of the body, psychological influences such as stress, and cultural expectations put on an individual to see why the disorder is occurring

Positives of diagnostic labels - Treatment for the disorders and research

Negatives of diagnostic labels - self-fulfilling prophecies and causing others around them to treat and perceive them based on stereotypical beliefs

The Rosenhan Study -s a famous 1973 experiment that analyzed labeling by sending mentally healthy subjects to psychiatric hospitals by feigning hallucinations. They faked the disorder to get into the hospitals, but once they were in, they acted normal.

Neurodevelopmental Disorders - Groups of disabilities in the functioning of the brain that emerge at birth or during very early childhood & affect the individual’s behavior, memory, concentration and/or ability to learn

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD):  is characterized by atypical behaviors, speech, interests, thought patterns, & interpersonal interactions. People with ASD have a difficult time interpreting social cues and may prefer routine over spontaneity.

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

Intellectual disability (ID):  is characterized by below-average intelligence or mental ability and a lack of skills necessary for day-to-day living. Low IQ score of 70 or below. Have limitations in learning,  solving problems, communicating, and lack many skills needed for everyday life.

Neurocognitive Disorders: Group of disorders in which the primary problem is in cognitive function, impairments in cognitive abilities such as memory, problem solving, and perception

Alzheimer’s Disease: A fatal generative disease that destroys memory and other important mental functions. Symptoms include short-term memory loss, headaches, difficulty walking and driving, and an inability to focus

Delirium: A rapidly developing, acute disturbance in attention, and orientation that makes it very difficult to concentrate and think in a clear and organized manner

Schizophrenia: Psychotic disorder in which personal, social, and occupational functioning deteriorate as a result of unusual perceptions, odd thoughts, disturbed emotions, and motor abnormality. Schizophrenia is an example of psychosis, in which a person loses complete contact with reality and experiences false sensations.

Psychosis: a syndrome of neurocognitive symptoms that impairs cognitive capacity leading to deficits of perception, functioning, and social relatedness.

Positive Symptoms: involve behavioral access or peculiarities like hallucinations, delusions, disorganized  thought and nonsensical speech, and bizarre behaviors

Negative Symptoms: involve absence of health behaviors like flat affect, social withdrawal, alogia, cataonia, and avolition

Hallucination: Perceiving a sensory stimuli that no one else is able to perceive, vividly real to the person experiencing it, content is usually negative (hearing voices, tasting, seeing, feeling, or smelling things that are not there)

Delusion: fixed false beliefs that are not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence.

Delusions of reference: Believing that hidden messages are being sent to you via newspaper, TV, radio, or magazines

Delusion of persecution: When you're convinced that someone is mistreating, conspiring against, or planning to harm you or your loved one.

Disorganized Speech/Thinking: might quickly jump from one unrelated topic to another, engage in incoherent “word salad,” repeat things another person says back to them, or appear to be speaking with nonexistent entities

Catatonia: A pattern of extreme psychomotor symptoms which may include catatonic stupor, rigidity, or posturing

Flat Affect: emotionless state (unchanging facial expression, decreased spontaneous movements, a lack of expressive gestures, poor eye contact, lack of vocal inflections, and slowed speech)

Avolition: Apathy and an inability to start or complete a course of action 

Alogia - involves a disruption in the thought process that leads to a lack of speech and issues with verbal fluency

Diathesis-Stress Model: People inherit a predisposition or diathesis that increases their risk of schizophrenia; exposure to stress may put one at higher risk of developing schizophrenia

Mood disorders - are characterized by unusual and disruptive changes in mood, manifesting in depression, mania, or both

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 (symptoms include loss of appetite, sleeping problems, low energy and self-esteem, loss of focus, and hopelessness)

Seasonal Affectiveness Disorder (SAD) - A mood disorder characterized by depression that occurs at the same time every year.

Seasonal affective disorder occurs in climates where there is less sunlight at certain times of the year. Symptoms include fatigue, depression, hopelessness, and social withdrawal.

Bipolar Disorder - Mood swings alternating between periods of major depression and mania. Rapid cycling is usually short periods 

of mania followed almost immediately by deep pression, usually for longer duration

Mania: euphoric, giddy, easily irritated, with: exaggerated optimism, hypersociality and sexuality, delight in everything, impulsivity and overactivity, racing thoughts; the mind won’t settle down, and little desire for sleep

Social-Cognitive Perspective of Mood Disorders: Low self-esteem,

Rumination - overthinking about our problems and their causes, learned helplessness, and depressive explanatory style

Anxiety Disorders - Psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety

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

Panic Disorder - Experience of terror and physical symptoms (chest pains, choking) in unpredictable situations. Attacks of intense anxiety along with severe chest pain, tightness of muscles, choking, sweating, other acute symptoms during 

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) - Characterized by pattern of persistent, unwanted thoughts and behaviors

Phobic Disorder - Occurs when a phobia - an irrational fear of an object or situation - becomes so disruptive that it interferes with normal functioning. Most people have some form of phobia, but it does not interfere with their lives to a large degree. There can be phobias of animals, heights, bugs, storms, enclosed space, or the outdoors.

Social Anxiety Disorder  - intense fear of social situations, leading to avoidance of such. Fear of being visibly nervous in front of others .Extreme anticipatory anxiety about social interactions and performance situations, such as speaking to a group.  Fear of eating in public

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

Post Traumatic 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. Victims re-experience the traumatic event in nightmares about the event, or flashbacks in which they relieve the event

Posttraumatic growth - Positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises

Dissociative Disorder-  is defined as a disruption causing inconsistencies in consciousness. A person may have memory loss or a complete change in identity.

Dissociative Identity Disorder - A rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities. Formerly called multiple personality disorder.

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

Dissociative Fugue - Dissociative fugue (formerly called psychogenic fugue) is a psychological state in which a person loses awareness of their identity or other important autobiographical information and also engages in some form of unexpected travel

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 (example: unexplained paralysis and blindness

Illness Anxiety Disorder - A disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease.

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.

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

Bulimia Nervosa - An eating disorder in which a person alternates binge eating (usually of high-calorie foods) with purging (by vomiting or laxative use) 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.

Cluster A - the "odd, eccentric" cluster

Cluster B - the "dramatic, emotional, erratic" cluster

Cluster C- (the "anxious, fearful" cluster

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 Therapy - an approach to psychotherapy, that depending on the client's problems, uses techniques from various forms of therapy

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

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

Aaron Beck is known for youth inventory, anxiety inventory, Beck Scales-depression inventory, the hopelessness scale, and cognitive therapy. He sought to change a patient's beliefs about themselves and their lives 

Albert Ellis is known for Rational-Emotive Therapy and he believed that problems come from irrational thinking.

Sigmund Freud is known for his subfield of psychoanalysis and research in consciousness, defense mechanisms, repression, and negotiation through id/ego/superego. He tries to bring unconscious thoughts into awareness during therapy, point out resistance in the mind, and transfer your feelings.

Mary Cover Jones came up with an exposure therapy called systematic desensitization. She is a behavioral psychologist and aimed to treat phobias by exposing the stimuli in a present context. She introduced the idea of systematic desensitization.

Carl Rogers is a humanistic psychologist and he believed in client-centered therapy The therapist would use an unconditional positive regard and provide an accepting, genuine, and an empathic environment for the patient to express their feelings and overcome disorders.

B.F. Skinner is known for operant conditioning, reinforcement schedules, and the Skinner box. He believed in behavior modification therapy which uses learning principles to eliminate unwanted thoughts and fears.

Psychodynamic Therapy - views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and that seeks to enhance self-insight

Psychoanalysis - Sigmund Freud's therapeutic technique. 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

Insight Therapies - a variety of therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person's awareness of underlying motives and defenses

Humanistic Therapy -  Aim to boost self-fulfillment by helping people grow in self-awareness and self-acceptance

Person-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. Nondirective therapy, the therapist listens, without judging or interpreting, and seeks to refrain from directing the client toward certain insights

Active Listening - empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies.

Unconditional Positive Regard - a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude

Behavior Therapy - therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of 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 that treat anxieties by exposing people to the things they fear or avoid

Systematic Desensitization - a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant, relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias (see chart to the right)

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy - and anxiety treatment that progressively exposes people to electronic simulations of their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking

Aversion Conditioning - a type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state with an unwanted behavior

Token Economy - an operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token of some sort for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange the tokens for various privileges or treats

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy - a popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy with behavior therapy. Based on the idea that how we think (cognition), how we feel (emotion) and how we act (behavior) all interact together (picture to the left)

Sociocultural psychology  - contextualizes personal development within societal expectations and norms. The psychology of an individual is heavily shaped by those factors, as well as interactions between other people and cultures

Therapeutic Alliance - a bond of trust and mutual understanding between a therapist and client, who work together constructively to overcome the client's problem

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

Biomedical Therapy: Based on the premise that the symptoms of many psychological disorders involve biological factors, involves medication and/or medical procedures to treat psychological disorders

Antipsychotic Drugs - drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder (Prolixin)

Antianxiety Drugs - drugs used to control anxiety and agitation (Xanax)

Antidepressant Drugs - drugs used to treat depression, anxiety, OCD, and PTSD (Prozac)

Mood-Stabilizing Drugs: Designed to treat the combination of manic episodes and depression characteristic of bipolar disorder because they reduce dramatic mood swings (Lithium)

Stimulants -  Stimulate the central nervous system, stop the absorption of dopamine and norepinephrine and allow the brain to experience more stimulation (Adderall)

Rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) - cognitive-behavioral therapy in which clients are directly challenged in their irrational beliefs and helped to restructure their thinking into more rational belief statements

Group Therapy - In a small group, usually around 6 to 12, persons with similar problems come together under the direction or facilitation of a trained therapist or counselor to discuss their psychological issues 

Self-Help Groups -  Facilitator organizes meetings, but there is an absence of a trained psychotherapist directing the process of the group 

Couples/Family Therapy -Trained professionals can direct spouses and family members to openly discuss their individual perspectives on the same issue