Abnormal Behavior and Therapy (Modules 48-55) Flashcards
Psychological Disorder
Deviant, distressful and dysfunctional patterns of thoughts, feelings or behaviors
Medical Model
The concept that diseases have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated and in most cases, cured, often through treatment in a hospital
What do psychologists who believe in biopsychosocial approach believe is the cause of disorders?
All behavior, normal and disordered, arises from the interaction between nature and nurture
What is the evidence of biopsychosocial beliefs?
There are links between specific disorders and cultures. For example, eating disorders are most frequent in western cultures.
What is the DSM-5 used for?
Classifying psychological disorders
What do critics say against the DSM?
It casts too wide a net and brings almost any kind of behavior within the compass of psychiatry.
Summarize the layout of the Rosenhan study.
Rosenhan sent a few non-mentally ill people to a mental institution on the complaint of “hearing voices” in order to gauge how long it would take for them to be diagnosed and released. All were misdiagnosed and the longest detainment was 30 days.
What can happen when we label a person with a disorder?
Labeling affects how we perceive a person; labels create preconceptions that guide our perceptions and our interpretations. Labels can also change reality – people, when expecting a certain reaction, may act in a way that elicits that reaction.
What are the benefits of diagnostic labeling?
Mental health professionals use labels to communicate about their cases, to comprehend the underlying causes and to discern effective treatment programs.
What percentage of adults in American suffer from a mental disorder in a given year?
26%
What are five risk factors for mental disorders?
Academic failure, birth complications, chronic pain, medical illness and social incompetence
Anxiety Disorders
Psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
General persistence anxiety without cause although a person may be exposed to triggers that worsen it
What does it mean that the anxiety of GAD is free-floating?
A person with GAD cannot identify, and therefore cannot deal with or avoid, the cause of their anxiety.
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 sensations
Phobia
An anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object or person
Social Anxiety Disorder (social phobia)
An intense fear of being scrutinized by others, avoid potentially embarrassing social situations, such as speaking up, eating out or going to parties
Agoraphobia
Fear or avoidance of situations in which escape might be difficult or help unavailable when panic strikes
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
An anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions)
When does OCD cross the line between normal and disorder?
When obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors interfere with everyday living and cause the person distress
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
An anxiety disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety and/or insomnia that lingers for more than four weeks after a traumatic experience
What were old names for PTSD?
Shellshock and battle fatigue
What determines whether a person suffers PTSD after a traumatic event?
The greater one’s emotional distress during a trauma, the higher the risk for post-traumatic symptoms
Posttraumatic Growth
Positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises
Explain how we learn fear from the learning perspective.
Fear Conditioning: Link between conditioned fear and anxiety. Ex. Assault victims feel anxious when returning to a crime scene.
Observational Learning: Observing others’ fears. Ex. Children learn to fear the same things as their parents.
Give an example of how an anxiety disorder might have been passed down from our biological ancestors.
We seem biologically prepared to fear threats faced by our ancestors: spiders, snaked, heights, and darkness. This may be a result of natural selection.
What two neurotransmitters might be involved in anxiety?
Serotonin and glutamate
Dissociative Disorders
Disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts and feelings
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)
A rare dissociative condition in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities
What was the old name for DID?
Multiple personality disorder
Why do some people believe that DID is NOT a real disorder?
Some argue that DID is merely a more extreme version of our capacity to vary the “selves” we present – the you your friends see vs the you your grandparents see. Also, many argue that DID is a product of roleplaying.
What evidence is there that DID IS a real disorder?
Distinct brain and body states are associated with difference personalities – for example, handedness sometimes switches with personalities.
Personality Disorders
Psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning
What does each cluster of personality disorders focus on?
One cluster focuses on anxiety; another on eccentric behaviors; another, dramatic and/or impulsive behaviors.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
A personality disorder in which a person exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing. May be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist.
Why do most criminals not have Antisocial Personality Disorder?
Most criminals show responsible concern for friends and family members.
Is ther ea genetic link for Antisocial Personality Disorder?
No single gene codes this behavior, but twin studies show that biological relatives of people exhibiting antisocial tendencies are at an increased risk of being antisocial.
Somatoform Disorder
Psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause
Conversion Disorder
A rare somatoform disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease
Illness Anxiety Disorder (Hypochondriasis)
A somatoform disease in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease
Mood Disorders
Psychological disorders characterized by emotional extremes
Major-Depressive Disorder
A mood disorder in which a person experiences two or more week of significantly depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness and diminished interest or pleasure in most activities
What are the five symptoms of depression?
1) Lethargy
2) Feelings of worthlessness
3) Loss of interest in family
4) Loss of interest in friends
5) Loss of interest in activities
Mania
A mood disorder marked by a wild, hyperactive, wildly optimistic state
Bipolar Disorder
A mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania
Give some examples of behaviors someone would have during their manic phase.
Euphoric, hyperactive, wildly optimistic – over talkative, overactive, elated, little need for sleep, fewer sexual inhibitions – speech is loud, flighty and hard to interrupt – finds advice irritation – reckless spending and unprotected sex
Who is more at risk for depression – men or women?
Women
What neurotransmitter is scarce during depression and overabundant during mania?
Norepinephrine
What neurotransmitters are probably involved in depression?
Norepinephrine and serotonin
What kinds of thought patterns do people with depression have?
Tend to explain events in terms that are stable (“It’s going to last forever!”), global (“It’s going to affect everything I do!”) and internal (“It’s all my fault!”)
Schizophrenia
A group of severe disorders characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions and inappropriate emotions and actions
Psychosis
A severe mental disorder in which thoughts and emotions are so impaired that contact is lost with external reality
Delusions
False beliefs, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders.
What is word salad?
Jumbled ideas
Hallucinations
False sensory experiences, such as seeing something in the absence of external visual stimuli. Ex. Voices making insulting remarks or giving orders
Explain what it means that disorganized thoughts may result from a breakdown in selective attention?
We normally have a remarkable capacity for giving our undivided attention to one set of sensory stimuli while filtering out others. Those with schizophrenia cannot do this.
What is a flat affect?
Emotionless state
What are positive symptoms of schizophrenia?
Hallucinations, talk in disorganized and deluded ways, and exhibit inappropriate laughter, tears or rage
What are negative symptoms of schizophrenia?
Toneless voice, expressionless face, and mute and rigid bodies
What neurotransmitter is linked to schizophrenia? Too little or too much?
Too much dopamine
What parts of the brain are affected by schizophrenia?
Frontal lobes, thalamus and amygdala
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 medical procedures that act directly on the patient’s nervous system
Eclectic Approach
An approach to psychotherapy that, depending on the client’s problems, uses techniques from various forms of therapy
What are the four types of “talk therapies”?
Psychoanalytic, humanistic, behavioral and cognitive
Psychoanalysis
Freud’s therapeutic technique; releasing repressed feelings and allowing the patient to gain self-insight
Who is the founder of psychoanalysis?
Sigmund Freud
What does psychoanalytic therapy presume?
Healthier, less anxious living becomes possible when people release the energy they had previously devoted to id-ego-superego conflicts.
What is the goal of psychoanalytic therapy?
To unearth the past (often int eh form of repressed memories from childhood) in hope of unmasking the present
Free association
In psychoanalysis, a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind
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
Transferring
In psychoanalysis, the patient’s transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships
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 which aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing the client’s awareness of underlying motives and defenses
How is psychoanalytic therapy different from humanistic therapy?
Psychoanalytic therapy focuses on the past, while humanistic therapy emphasizes the present and the future; unconscious thought; revealing hidden determinants over taking immediate responsibility for feelings and actions; and curing over promoting growth.
Client-centered therapy
Humanistic therapy in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, emphatic environment to facilitate clients’ growth
Who is the founder of client-centered therapy?
Carl Rogers
Active listening
Emphatic 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 to be conducive to developing self-awareness and self-acceptance
Behavior therapy
Therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors
How is behavior therapy different from psychodynamic and humanistic therapies?
Proponents of behavior therapy doubt the healing powers of self-awareness (ex. you can be aware of why you’re anxious and still feel anxious). They believe that the application of learning principles can eliminate problem behaviors.
Counterconditioning
A behavior therapy procedure that uses classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors; includes exposure therapy and aversive conditioning
Exposure therapy
Behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitizations, that treats anxieties by exposing people to the thing they fear and 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.
Who created exposure therapy and systematic desensitization?
Joseph Wolpe
Explain an example of how you would use both of these therapies with a social anxiety.
One could use exposure therapy by exposing the client more to social situations. Systematic desensitization would involve associating a relaxed state of mind with social situations.
Virtual reality exposure therapy
An anxiety treatment that progressively exposes people to simulations of their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders or public speaking
Aversive conditioning
A type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behaviors (such as drinking alcohol)
Ex. After drinking alcohol laced with a drug that induces vomiting, people may associate alcohol with vomiting.
Does aversive conditioning work?
In the short run, it may. However, cognition influences conditioning; patients know that they can drink without fear of nausea outside of the therapist’s office.
How does behavior modification work?
Operant conditioning; reinforcing desired behaviors while withholding reinforcement or punishing undesired behaviors.
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 fro various privileges or treats
Give examples of disorders that are best treated by cognitive therapy.
Depression
Cognitive Therapies
Therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions
Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy
Psychotherapy that focuses on resolving emotional and behavioral problems and disturbances and enabling people to lead happier lives
Person to created Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy
Albert Ellis
Explain how Aaron Beck would treat depression.
Beck would seek to reverse clients’ catastrophizing beliefs about themselves, their situations and their futures through gentle questioning the that reveals illogical thinking (does your failure to get into law school really mean you’ll always be unhappy?).
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
A popular integrative therapy that combines cognitive therapy (changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior)
What types of disorders are best treated by CBT?
Anxiety and mood disorders
Group Therapy
Therapy in which multiple people meet with one therapist at the same time
Family Therapy
Therapy that treats the family as a system; views an individual’s unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members
What is one of the most famous self-help groups?
Alcoholics Anonymous
What three reasons make psychologists skeptical about client testimonials of therapies effectiveness?
1) People often enter therapy in crisis.
2) Clients may need to believe that the therapy was worth it.
3) Clients generally speak kindly of their therapist.
Evidence-based practice
Clinical decision-making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and patient characteristics and preferences
What does a therapist do during eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR)?
Wave their finger in front of patients’ eyes
Psychopharmacology
The study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior
What needs to be used when testing a new drug to make sure it is actually effective and people are not just getting results due to the placebo effect?
Double-blind procedure
Antipsychotic drugs
Drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe though disorder
Tardive Dyskinesia
Involuntary movements of the facial muscles, tongue and limbs; a possible neurotoxic side effect of long-term use of antipsychotic drugs that target certain dopamine receptors
Anti-anxiety drugs
Drugs used to control anxiety and agitation
What is the critical of anti-anxiety drugs?
They reduce symptoms without resolving underlying problems.
Antidepressant drugs
Drugs used to treat depression; also increasingly prescribed for anxiety. Different types work by altering the availability of various neurotransmitters.
What other disorders are antidepressants used for?
Anxiety disorders
What neurotransmitters do antidepressants affect?
Norepinephrine and serotonin
What does SSRI stand for?
Selective serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor
what disorder are mood stabilizing drugs mostly used to treat?
Bipolar Disorder
What is the name of the salt that is a mood stabilizer?
Lithium
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
A biomedical therapy for severely depressed patients in which a brief electric current is sent through the brain of an anesthetized patient
What is ECT used to treat today?
Depression
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
The application of repeated pulses of magnetic energy to the brain; used to stimulate or suppress brain activity
What is rTMS used to treat today?
Depression
Psychosurgery
Surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior
Lobotomy
A now-rare psychosurgical procedure once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients; the procedure cut the nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain.
What happened to people who had a lobotomy?
Lobotomies decreased people’s misery or tension, but also produced permanently lethargic, immature, uncreative individuals.
