UNIT 4: Disorders + Therapy
AP Psychology — Disorders & Therapy Terms
Psychological Disorders
1) Psychological Disorders — Patterns of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that cause significant distress or impairment in daily functioning, and are considered atypical or dysfunctional by society.
2) DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition) — The American Psychiatric Association's standard classification system used by mental health professionals to diagnose psychological disorders.
3) Disadvantages of Diagnostic Labeling — Labels can stigmatize individuals, create self-fulfilling prophecies, cause others to interpret normal behavior as disordered, and may oversimplify complex human experiences.
4) Advantages of Diagnostic Labeling — Labels help communicate information efficiently among professionals, guide treatment decisions, enable research, and help individuals understand and validate their experiences.
Anxiety Disorders
5) Anxiety Disorders — A group of disorders characterized by excessive fear, worry, and related behavioral disturbances that interfere with daily life.
6) Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) — A disorder involving persistent, excessive, and uncontrollable worry about a variety of everyday things for at least six months.
7) Panic Disorder — A disorder marked by recurring, unexpected panic attacks and persistent concern or behavioral changes related to the attacks.
8) Panic Attack — A sudden episode of intense fear that triggers severe physical reactions (racing heart, sweating, shortness of breath) in the absence of real danger.
9) Agoraphobia — An anxiety disorder involving fear and avoidance of situations where escape might be difficult or help unavailable during a panic attack (e.g., crowds, open spaces, public transportation).
10) Phobias — Intense, irrational, persistent fears of specific objects or situations that lead to avoidance behavior (e.g., fear of spiders, heights, or blood).
11) Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder) — An intense fear of social situations in which one might be judged, embarrassed, or humiliated by others.
Obsessive-Compulsive Related Disorders
12) Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) — A disorder characterized by unwanted, intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and/or repetitive behaviors or mental acts (compulsions) performed to reduce anxiety.
13) Hoarding Disorder — A disorder involving persistent difficulty discarding possessions regardless of their value, resulting in cluttered living spaces and significant distress or impairment.
Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders
14) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) — A disorder that develops after exposure to a traumatic event, characterized by flashbacks, nightmares, hyperarousal, avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, and negative changes in mood and cognition.
Explaining Anxiety Disorders
15) The Learning Perspective
a) Fear Conditioning — Learning to fear a neutral stimulus after it is repeatedly paired with a frightening event (classical conditioning).
b) Stimulus Generalization — The tendency for a conditioned fear response to spread to stimuli similar to the original feared stimulus.
c) Reinforcement — Avoidance of feared stimuli reduces anxiety, which negatively reinforces the avoidance behavior and maintains the disorder.
d) Observational Learning — Acquiring fears by watching others display fear responses to certain stimuli (modeling).
16) The Biological Perspective
a) Natural Selection — Humans may be evolutionarily predisposed to fear certain threats (e.g., snakes, heights) that posed dangers to ancestors.
b) Genes — Anxiety disorders tend to run in families, suggesting a hereditary component that increases vulnerability.
c) Physiology — Overactive brain circuits (e.g., the amygdala) and imbalances in neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA can contribute to anxiety disorders.
Mood Disorders
17) Mood Disorders — Psychological disorders characterized by emotional extremes that disrupt daily functioning, including depression and bipolar disorders.
18) Major Depressive Disorder — A disorder marked by at least two weeks of depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, and other symptoms such as sleep changes, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness, and difficulty concentrating.
19) Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthymia) — A chronic form of depression in which a person experiences a depressed mood for most of the day, more days than not, for at least two years.
20) Bipolar I Disorder — A mood disorder involving at least one full manic episode, often alternating with major depressive episodes.
21) Bipolar II Disorder — A mood disorder involving at least one hypomanic episode (less severe than full mania) and at least one major depressive episode, but no full manic episodes.
22) Manic Episode — A period of abnormally elevated, expansive, or irritable mood lasting at least one week, accompanied by increased energy, decreased need for sleep, grandiosity, and impulsive behavior.
Explaining Mood Disorders
23) The Biological Perspective
a) Genetic Influences — Depression and bipolar disorder run in families; identical twins show higher concordance rates, indicating a strong hereditary component.
b) The Depressed Brain — Brain imaging shows reduced activity in the frontal lobes; neurotransmitter imbalances (especially serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine) are associated with depression.
24) The Social-Cognitive Perspective
a) Negative Thoughts Feed Negative Moods — Pessimistic thinking styles and negative attributions about events worsen depressive feelings.
b) Negative Moods Feed Negative Thoughts — A depressed mood makes negative thoughts more accessible, reinforcing the depressive state.
c) Depression's Vicious Cycle — Negative events trigger negative thinking, which worsens mood, which impairs behavior and relationships, which in turn generates more negative events and thoughts, perpetuating depression.
Dissociative Disorders
25) Dissociative Disorders — Disorders involving disruptions in consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, behavior, or sense of self that are not caused by substances or another medical condition.
26) Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) — A disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating identities or personality states, often with gaps in memory between them. Formerly called multiple personality disorder.
27) Evidence That DID Is Real — Different identities show distinct physiological responses (e.g., different EEG patterns, vision differences); symptoms appear across cultures; identities are often linked to severe childhood trauma and abuse.
28) Evidence That DID Is Not Real — DID diagnoses increased dramatically after media portrayals, suggesting social contagion; therapist suggestions may inadvertently create alternate identities; it is rarely diagnosed outside of North America.
29) Dissociative Amnesia — A dissociative disorder involving an inability to recall important autobiographical information, usually following a stressful or traumatic event, that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness. May include a dissociative fugue (sudden travel away from home with memory loss).
Schizophrenia
30) Schizophrenia — A severe psychological disorder characterized by disorganized thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and behaviors, reflecting a break from reality.
a) Disorganized Thinking — Fragmented and bizarre thought processes, often communicated through disorganized speech.
i) Delusion of Persecution — A false belief that one is being followed, plotted against, or harassed by others.
ii) Delusion of Grandeur — A false belief that one has exceptional importance, power, or identity (e.g., believing oneself to be a famous figure or deity).
iii) Word Salad — Incoherent, random mixing of words and phrases with no logical connection, reflecting severely disorganized thought.
b) Disturbed Perceptions — Experiencing the world in distorted ways, including sensory experiences without real stimuli.
i) Hallucinations — False sensory experiences (most commonly auditory — hearing voices) that feel real but have no external source.
c) Inappropriate Emotions and Actions — Displaying emotions and behaviors that are out of context or severely reduced.
i) Flat Affect — A severe reduction in emotional expressiveness; speaking in a monotone and showing little facial expression.
ii) Catatonia — A state of unresponsiveness and immobility, sometimes involving rigid posturing, that can occur in schizophrenia.
Understanding Schizophrenia
31) Brain Abnormalities
a) Dopamine Activity — Schizophrenia is associated with excess dopamine receptor activity; drugs that block dopamine reduce symptoms.
b) Brain Anatomy — People with schizophrenia often show enlarged ventricles (fluid-filled spaces) and reduced gray matter volume, particularly in the frontal lobes.
c) Maternal Virus During Midpregnancy — Exposure to certain viral infections (e.g., influenza) during the second trimester of pregnancy can disrupt fetal brain development and increase risk of schizophrenia.
32) Genetic Factors — Schizophrenia runs in families; having a first-degree relative with the disorder significantly raises risk, and identical twins have a roughly 50% concordance rate, indicating both genetic and environmental contributions.
Personality Disorders
33) Personality Disorders — Inflexible and enduring patterns of inner experience and behavior that deviate from cultural expectations, causing distress or impairment across many situations.
Cluster A — Odd or Eccentric
a) Paranoid Personality Disorder — A pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others, interpreting motives as malevolent without sufficient basis.
b) Schizoid Personality Disorder — A pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of emotional expression; preference for being alone with little interest in intimacy.
c) Schizotypal Personality Disorder — Acute discomfort in close relationships, cognitive or perceptual distortions, and eccentric behavior (e.g., odd beliefs, magical thinking).
Cluster B — Dramatic, Emotional, or Erratic
d) Histrionic Personality Disorder — A pattern of excessive emotionality and attention-seeking behavior, including inappropriate seductiveness and shallow emotions.
e) Narcissistic Personality Disorder — A pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy for others.
f) Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) — A pattern of instability in relationships, self-image, and emotions, along with marked impulsivity and fears of abandonment.
g) Antisocial Personality Disorder — A pattern of disregard for and violation of others' rights, including deceitfulness, impulsivity, aggression, and lack of remorse. Often associated with criminal behavior.
Cluster C — Anxious or Fearful
h) Avoidant Personality Disorder — A pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, leading to avoidance of social interaction despite a desire for connection.
i) Dependent Personality Disorder — An excessive need to be taken care of, leading to submissive and clinging behavior and fears of separation.
j) Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) — A preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and control (distinct from OCD — it is a personality style, not driven by obsessions/compulsions).
Eating Disorders
34) Anorexia Nervosa — An eating disorder characterized by an intense fear of gaining weight, a distorted body image, and self-starvation leading to significantly low body weight.
35) Bulimia Nervosa — An eating disorder marked by cycles of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors (purging, fasting, or excessive exercise) to prevent weight gain.
Additional Terms (Not in Textbook)
36) Diathesis-Stress Model — A framework proposing that psychological disorders develop when a biological or genetic predisposition (diathesis) is triggered by environmental stressors.
37) Taijin Kyofusho — A culture-bound syndrome common in Japan involving an intense fear that one's body, appearance, or actions will offend or embarrass others (rather than fear of personal embarrassment, as in social anxiety).
38) Ataque de Nervios — A culture-bound syndrome found primarily in Latino cultures, involving episodes of intense emotional upset including crying, screaming, trembling, and aggression, often triggered by a stressful event.
39) Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) — A neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that interfere with functioning and development.
40) Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) — A neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in social communication and interaction, and restricted or repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities, ranging widely in severity.
Therapy Terms
1) Psychotherapy — Interaction between a trained therapist and a client aimed at treating psychological disorders or improving mental health through psychological techniques.
2) Eclectic Approach — A therapeutic approach that draws on techniques and principles from multiple therapy traditions, tailored to the individual client's needs.
Psychoanalysis — Sigmund Freud
3) Aims of Psychoanalysis — To bring repressed feelings and unconscious conflicts into conscious awareness, so the client can gain insight and resolve psychological tension rooted in past experiences.
4) Methods of Psychoanalysis
a) Free Association — A technique in which the client relaxes and says whatever comes to mind without censoring, allowing the therapist to identify unconscious thoughts, conflicts, and desires.
5) Psychodynamic Therapy — A modern, shorter-term offshoot of psychoanalysis that focuses on unconscious processes and how past relationships influence present behavior, but is less intensive than traditional psychoanalysis.
Humanistic Therapies — Maslow and Rogers
6) Focus of Humanistic Therapies — To help people grow toward their full potential by fostering self-awareness, self-acceptance, and personal responsibility in a supportive, nonjudgmental environment.
7) Client-Centered Therapy (Person-Centered Therapy) — Carl Rogers' humanistic therapy in which the therapist provides unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and empathy to help the client develop self-awareness and self-acceptance.
8) Active Listening — A technique used in client-centered therapy in which the therapist listens attentively, paraphrases, and reflects back the client's feelings to demonstrate empathy and understanding.
Behavior Therapies — Skinner
9) Behavior Therapy — A therapy approach that applies learning principles (classical and operant conditioning) to eliminate unwanted behaviors and replace them with healthier ones.
10) Classical Conditioning Techniques
a) Systematic Desensitization — A technique to treat phobias by gradually exposing clients to anxiety-provoking stimuli while they practice relaxation, working up a hierarchy of fears.
b) Exposure Therapy — A technique in which clients are directly exposed to feared stimuli (in imagination or reality) until the anxiety response is extinguished.
c) Progressive Relaxation — A technique in which clients learn to alternately tense and relax different muscle groups to achieve a deep state of physical relaxation, often used alongside systematic desensitization.
d) Aversive Conditioning — A technique that pairs an unwanted behavior with an unpleasant stimulus to reduce the behavior's appeal (e.g., pairing alcohol with a nausea-inducing drug).
11) Operant Conditioning
a) Token Economy — A behavior modification system in which individuals earn tokens for displaying desired behaviors, which can be exchanged for rewards or privileges.
b) Behavior Modification — The use of operant conditioning principles (reinforcement and punishment) to shape and change behavior in a desired direction.
Cognitive Therapies — Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis
12) Cognitive Therapies — Therapies that focus on identifying and changing distorted, irrational thought patterns that contribute to psychological disorders.
13) Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT) — A widely used therapy that combines cognitive techniques (changing negative thought patterns) with behavioral techniques (changing maladaptive behaviors) to treat a range of disorders.
Biological/Biomedical Therapies
14) Psychopharmacology — The study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior, and the use of medication to treat psychological disorders.
a) Antipsychotic Drugs — Medications used to treat schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders by blocking dopamine receptors and reducing symptoms like hallucinations and delusions (e.g., chlorpromazine, haloperidol, clozapine).
b) Anti-Anxiety Drugs — Medications (e.g., benzodiazepines like Xanax or Valium) that depress central nervous system activity to reduce tension and anxiety; often habit-forming.
c) Antidepressant Drugs — Medications used to treat depression, anxiety, and related disorders by affecting neurotransmitter levels.
i) SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) — The most commonly prescribed antidepressants (e.g., Prozac, Zoloft) that work by blocking the reabsorption of serotonin, increasing its availability in the synapse.
ii) Lithium — A mood-stabilizing drug used to treat bipolar disorder by reducing the frequency and severity of manic and depressive episodes.
15) Tardive Dyskinesia — A serious side effect of long-term use of antipsychotic drugs, characterized by involuntary, repetitive movements of the face and body (e.g., lip smacking, tongue movements, grimacing).
16) Lesioning — A surgical procedure in which specific areas of the brain are destroyed (using electrodes or other tools) to reduce symptoms of severe psychiatric or neurological disorders.
17) Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) — A biomedical treatment for severe depression in which brief electrical currents are passed through the brain of an anesthetized patient, triggering a controlled seizure and often providing rapid relief of symptoms.
18) Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) — A noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in specific areas of the brain; used to treat depression, particularly when medications have failed.
19) Lobotomy — A now-abandoned surgical procedure that severed the connections between the prefrontal lobes and the rest of the brain; used historically to reduce agitation in severely disturbed patients but caused serious personality and cognitive damage.
Additional Therapy Terms (Not in Textbook)
20) Biopsychosocial (Eclectic) Therapy — A comprehensive treatment approach that addresses biological (medication), psychological (therapy), and social (support systems, environment) factors together, recognizing that mental health is influenced by all three.
21) Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) — Developed by Albert Ellis; a cognitive therapy that identifies and vigorously challenges irrational beliefs (e.g., "I must be perfect to be worthwhile") and replaces them with rational ones to reduce emotional distress.
22) Cognitive Triad — Aaron Beck's concept describing the three interconnected patterns of negative thinking in depression: negative views of oneself, the world, and the future.
23) Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) — A form of CBT developed by Marsha Linehan, primarily for borderline personality disorder, that teaches skills in mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness while balancing acceptance and change.
24) Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) — A therapeutic approach based on operant conditioning principles that systematically analyzes and modifies behavior; widely used to improve social, communication, and learning skills in individuals with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental conditions.