Abnormal Psychology - Flash Cards
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Schizotypal Personality Disorder is diagnosed in the presence of (a) pervasive social and interpersonal deficits involving acute discomfort with and reduced capacity for close relationships and (b) eccentricities in cognition, perception, and behavior as manifested by the presence of at least five symptoms - e.g., ideas of reference; odd beliefs or magical thinking that influence behavior; bodily illusions and other unusual perceptions; is suspicious or has paranoid ideation; inappropriate or constricted affect; lacks close friends or confidants other than first-degree relatives; excessive social anxiety.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
OCD is characterized by recurrent obsessions and/or compulsions that are time-consuming or cause clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning: Obsessions are persistent thoughts, impulses, or images that the person experiences as intrusive and unwanted and that he/she attempts to ignore or suppress, and compulsions are repetitious and deliberate behaviors or mental acts that the person feels driven to perform either in response to an obsession or according to rigid rules. A combination of exposure with response prevention and the tricyclic clomipramine or an SSRI is usually the treatment-of-choice for OCD.
Bulimia Nervosa
Bulimia Nervosa is characterized by (a) recurrent episodes of binge eating that are accompanied by a sense of a lack of control; (b) inappropriate compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain (e.g., self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise); and (c) self-evaluation that is unduly influenced by body shape and weight.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
The diagnosis of PTSD requires exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence; presence of at least one intrusion symptom related to the event; persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the event; negative changes in cognition or mood associated with the event; and marked change in arousal and reactivity associated with the event. Symptoms must have a duration of more than one month and must cause clinically significant distress or impaired functioning. The treatment-of-choice is a comprehensive cognitive-behavioral intervention that incorporates exposure, cognitive restructuring, and anxiety management or similar techniques.
Behavioral Pediatrics (Hospitalization, Compliance)
Hospitalized children are at increased risk for emotional and behavioral problems, and children ages one to four tend to have the most negative reactions to hospitalization. Children and adolescents with chronic medical conditions have higher rates of school-related problems (e.g., CNS irradiation and intrathecal chemotherapy for leukemia have been linked to impaired neurocognitive functioning and learning disabilities). Compliance with medical regimens is a particular problem for adolescents.
Erectile Disorder
A diagnosis of Erectile Disorder requires the presence of at least one of three symptoms (marked difficulty in obtaining an erection during sexual activity, marked difficulty in maintaining an erection until completion of sexual activity, marked decrease in erectile rigidity) on all or almost all occasions of sexual activity.
Learned Helplessness Model
Seligman’s learned helplessness model proposes that depression is due to exposure to uncontrollable negative events and internal, stable, and global attributions for those events. A reformulation of the theory by Abramson, Metalsky, and Alloy emphasizes the role of hopelessness.
Reactive Attachment Disorder
Reactive Attachment Disorder is characterized by a pattern of inhibited and emotionally withdrawn behavior toward adult caregivers as manifested by a lack of seeking or responding to comfort when distressed and a persistent social and emotional disturbance. The diagnosis requires evidence that the child has experienced extreme insufficient care that is believed to be the cause of the disturbed behavior. Symptoms must be apparent before the child is five years of age, and the child must have a developmental age of at least nine months.
Vascular Neurocognitive Disorder
Vascular Neurocognitive Disorder is diagnosed when the criteria for Major or Mild Neurocognitive Disorder are met, the clinical features are consistent with a vascular etiology, and there is evidence of cerebrovascular disease from the individual’s history, a physical examination, and/or neuroimaging that is considered sufficient to account for his/her symptoms. This disorder often has a stepwise, fluctuating course with a patchy pattern of symptoms that is determined by the location of the brain damage.
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Antisocial Personality Disorder is characterized by a pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others that has occurred since age 15 and involves at least three characteristic symptoms - e.g., failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behavior; deceitfulness; impulsivity; reckless disregard for the safety of self and others; lack of remorse. The person must be at least 18 years old and have a history of Conduct Disorder before 15 years of age.
Persistent Depressive Disorder
Persistent Depressive Disorder is characterized by a depressed mood (or in children and adolescents, a depressed or irritable mood) on most days for at least two years in adults or one year in children and adolescents as indicated by the presence of at least two characteristic symptoms - poor appetite or overeating; insomnia or hypersomnia; low energy or fatigue; low self-esteem; poor concentration or difficulty making decisions; feelings of hopelessness. During the two- or one-year period, the individual has not been symptom-free for more than two months, and symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impaired functioning.
Risk Factors for Suicide
High risk for suicide is associated with a warning; previous attempts; a plan (especially one involving a lethal weapon); male gender; being divorced, separate, or widowed; and feelings of hopelessness. For most age groups, the rates are highest for Whites; an exception is for American-Indian/Alaskan Native individuals ages 15 to 34 who have a rate 2.5 times higher than the national average for this age group. Of the mental disorders, the highest risk is associated with Major Depression and Bipolar Disorder. Suicide attempters (vs. completers) are most likely to be female.
Marlatt And Gordon / Relapse Prevention Therapy
Marlatt and Gordon view addiction as an “overlearned maladaptive habit pattern,” and their relapse prevention therapy focuses on identifying circumstances that increase the risk for relapse and implementing cognitive and behavioral strategies that help the client prevent and cope effectively with lapses.
Intellectual Disability
Intellectual Disability is diagnosed in the presence of (a) deficits in intellectual functions (e.g., reasoning, problem solving, abstract thinking); (b) deficits in adaptive functioning that result in a failure to meet community standards of personal independence and social responsibility and impair functioning across multiple environments in one or more activities of daily life; and (c) an onset of intellectual and adaptive functioning deficits during the developmental period. Four degrees of severity (mild, moderate, severe, and profound) are based on adaptive functioning in conceptual, social, and practical domains.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Narcissistic Personality Disorder involves a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy as indicated by at least five characteristic symptoms - e.g., has a grandiose sense of self-importance; is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, beauty, love; believes he/she is unique and can be understood only by other high-status people; requires excessive admiration; has a sense of entitlement; lacks empathy; is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him/her.
Major Depressive Disorder with Seasonal Pattern
The seasonal pattern specifier is applied to Major Depressive, Bipolar I disorder, and Bipolar II Disorder when there is a temporal relationship between the onset of a mood episode and a particular time of the year. This condition is also known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and, in the Northern Hemisphere, most commonly occurs during the winter months. People with SAD usually experience hypersomnia, increased appetite and weight gain, and a craving for carbohydrates.
Specific Learning Disorder
Specific Learning Disorder is diagnosed when a person exhibits difficulties related to academic skills as indicated by the presence of at least one characteristic symptom that persists for at least six months despite the provision of interventions targeting those difficulties. The diagnosis requires that the individual’s academic skills are substantially below those expected for his/her age, interfere with academic or occupational performance or activities of daily living, began during the school-age years, and are not better accounted for by another condition or disorder or other factor such as uncorrected visual or auditory impairment or psychosocial adversity.
Behavioral Theory Of Depression (Lewinsohn)
Lewinsohn’s behavioral theory attributes depression to a low rate of response-contingent reinforcement.
Histrionic Personality Disorder
Histrionic Personality Disorder is characterized by a pervasive pattern of emotionality and attention-seeking as manifested by at least five characteristic symptoms - e.g., discomfort when not the center of attention; inappropriately sexually seductive or provocative; rapidly shifting and shallow emotions; consistent use of physical appearance to gain attention; considers relationships to be more intimate than they are.
Major Depressive Disorder
A diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder requires the presence of at least five symptoms of a major depressive episode nearly everyday for at least two weeks, with at least one symptom being depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure. Symptoms are depressed mood (or, in children and adolescents, a depressed or irritable mood); markedly diminished interest or pleasure in most or all activities; significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain or a decrease or increase in appetite; insomnia or hypersomnia; psychomotor agitation or retardation; fatigue or loss of energy; feelings of worthless or excessive guilt; diminished ability to think or concentrate; recurrent thoughts of death, recurrent suicidal ideation, or a suicide attempt. Symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impaired functioning. Treatment usually includes cognitive-behavioral therapy and an SSRI or other antidepressant.
Insomnia Disorder
Insomnia Disorder is characterized by dissatisfaction with sleep quality or quantity that is associated with at least one characteristic symptom- difficulty initiating sleep; difficulty maintaining sleep; early-morning awakening with an inability to return to sleep. The sleep disturbance occurs at least three nights each week, has been present for at least three months, occurs despite sufficient opportunities for sleep, and causes significant distress or impaired functioning.
Enuresis
Enuresis involves repeated voiding of urine into the bed or clothes at least twice a week for three or more consecutive months. Urination is usually involuntary but can be intentional and is not due to substance use or a medical condition. Enuresis is diagnosed only when the individual is at least five years old or the equivalent developmental level. The bell-and-pad (urine alarm) is the most common treatment.
Tobacco Withdrawal
Tobacco Withdrawal is characterized by the development of at least four characteristic symptoms within 24 hours of abrupt cessation or reduction in the use of tobacco - i.e., irritability or anger, anxiety, impaired concentration, increased appetite, restlessness, depressed mood, insomnia.
Conversion Disorder
The symptoms of Conversion Disorder involve disturbances in voluntary motor or sensory functioning and suggest a serious neurological or other medical condition (e.g., paralysis, seizures, blindness, loss of pain sensation) with evidence of an incompatibility between the symptom and recognized neurological or medical conditions.
Dissociative Amnesia
A diagnosis of Dissociative Amnesia requires an inability to recall important personal information that cannot be attributed to ordinary forgetfulness and causes clinically significant distress or impaired functioning. It is often related to exposure to one or more traumatic events. The most common forms of amnesia are localized and selective.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Linehan’s (1987) Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was designed as a treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder and incorporates three strategies: (a) group skills training to help clients regulate their emotions and improve their social and coping skills; (b) individual outpatient therapy to strengthen clients’ motivation and newly-acquired skills; and (c) telephone consultations to provide additional support and between-sessions coaching. Research has confirmed that it reduces premature termination from therapy, psychiatric hospitalizations, and parasuicidal behaviors.
Neurocognitive Disorder Due To Alzheimer’s Disease
This disorder is diagnosed when the criteria for Major or Mild Neurocognitive Disorder are met, there is an insidious onset and gradual progression of impairment in one or more cognitive domains (or at least two domains for Major Neurocognitive Disorder), and the criteria for probable or possible Alzheimer’s disease are met. It involves a slow, progressive decline in cognitive functioning that can be described in terms of the following stages: Stage 1 (1 to 3 years) involves anterograde amnesia (especially for declarative memories); deficits in visuospatial skills (wandering); indifference, irritability, and sadness; and anomia. Stage 2 (2 to 10 years) is characterized by increasing retrograde amnesia; flat or labile mood; restlessness and agitation; delusions; fluent aphasia; acalculia; and ideomotor apraxia (inability to translate an idea into movement). Stage 3 (8 to 12 years) entails severely deteriorated intellectual functioning; apathy; limb rigidity; and urinary and fecal incontinence.
Conduct Disorder
The diagnosis of Conduct Disorder requires a persistent pattern of behavior that violates the basic rights of others and/or age-appropriate social norms or rules as evidenced by the presence of at least three characteristic symptoms during the past 12 months and at least one symptom in the past six months. Symptoms are divided into four categories: aggression to people and animals; destruction of property; deceitfulness or theft; and serious violation of rules. Symptoms must cause significant impairment in functioning, and the disorder cannot be assigned to individuals over age 18 who meet the criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder.
Schizophreniform Disorder
The diagnostic criteria for Schizophreniform Disorder are identical to those for Schizophrenia except that the disturbance is present for at least one month but less than six months and impaired social or occupational functioning may occur but is not required.
Brief Psychotic Disorder
Brief Psychotic Disorder is characterized by the presence of one or more of four characteristic symptoms (delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior) with at least one symptom being delusions, hallucinations, or disorganized speech. Symptoms are present for at least one day but less than one month with an eventual return to full premorbid functioning.
