Ch.14 Flashcards
Aberrant Salience Hypothesis
Heightened levels of dopamine increase attentional and motivational circuits to make ordinary environmental features seem significant.
Acute
Referring to symptoms that develop suddenly and are usually more responsive to treatment.
Bipolar Disorder
Depression and mania that occur together in alternation.
Chronic
Referring to symptoms that develop gradually and persist for a long time with poor response to treatment.
Circadian Rhythm
A rhythm that is a day in length, such as the wake-sleep cycle.
Circannual Rhythm
A rhythm that is a year in length, such as migration and seasonal mood.
Depression
An intense feeling of sadness.
Dopamine Hypothesis
The hypothesis that schizophrenia involves excess dopamine activity in the brain.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
The application of 70–130 volts of electricity to the head of a lightly anesthetized patient, which produces a seizure and convulsions; a treatment for major depression.
Glutamate Theory
The hypothesis that NMDA receptor hypofunction results in glutamate and dopamine increases that produce positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia.
Lithium
A metal administered in the form of lithium carbonate; the medication of choice for treating bipolar disorder.
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
A disorder involving feelings of sadness to the point of hopelessness for weeks at a time, along with slowness of thought, sleep disturbance, and loss of energy and appetite and the ability to enjoy life; in some cases, the person is also agitated or restless. Sometimes called unipolar depression.
(An individual that has lost all hope and is also referred to as unipolar depression)
Mania
A disorder involving excess energy and confidence that often leads to grandiose schemes, decreased need for sleep, increased sexual drive, and, often, abuse of drugs.
Monoamine Hypothesis
The hypothesis that depression involves reduced activity at norepinephrine and serotonin synapses.
Negative Symptoms
Aspects of schizophrenia characterized by the absence or insufficiency of normal behaviors, including lack of affect (emotion), inability to experience pleasure, lack of motivation, poverty of speech, and impaired attention.
Neuroleptics
Drugs that block dopamine receptors in the brain, decreasing many of the positive symptoms of schizophrenia; may cause tardive dyskinesia after prolonged use.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
A disorder consisting of obsessions (recurring thoughts) and compulsions (repetitive, ritualistic acts the person feels compelled to perform).
Phototherapy
A treatment for winter depression involving the use of high-intensity lights for a period of time each day.
Positive Symptoms
Symptoms of schizophrenia that involve the presence or exaggeration of behaviors, such as delusions, hallucinations, thought disorder, and bizarre behavior.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
A prolonged stress reaction to a traumatic event; typically characterized by recurrent thoughts and images (flashbacks), nightmares, lack of concentration, and over-reactivity to environmental stimuli, such as loud noises.
Psychosis
A severe mental disturbance of reality, thought, and orientation.
Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep
The stage of sleep during which most dreaming occurs; research indicates that it is also a time of memory consolidation during which neural activity from the day is replayed.
Schizophrenia
A disabling disorder characterized by perceptual, emotional, and intellectual deficits, loss of contact with reality, and an inability to function in life.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
Depression that is seasonal, being more pronounced in the summer in some people and in the winter in others.
Tardive Dyskinesia
Tremors and involuntary movements caused by blocking of dopamine receptors in the basal ganglia due to prolonged use of drugs that block dopamine signals.
Tourette Syndrome
A disorder characterized by motor and phonic (sound) tics.
Vulnerability Model
The idea that environmental challenges combine with a person’s genetic vulnerability for a disease to exceed the threshold for the disease.
Winter Birth Effect
The tendency for more schizophrenics to be born during the winter and spring months than at any other time of the year.
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
A test of prefrontal functioning that requires the individual to sort cards
