Chapter 1 - Definitions

Question 1

Psychological Disorder

Answer 1

Psychological dysfunction associated with distress or impairment in functioning that is not a typical or culturally expected response.

Question 2

Phobia

Answer 2

Psychological disorder characterised by marked and persistent fear of an object or situation.

Question 3

Abnormal Behaviour

Answer 3

A psychological dysfunction within an individual that is associated with distress or impairment in functioning and a response that is not typical or culturally expected.

Question 4

Psychopathology

Answer 4

Scientifific study of psychological disorders.

Question 5

Scientist-practitioners

Answer 5

Mental health professionals who are expected to apply scientific methods to their work. They must keep current in the latest research on diagnosis and treatment, they must evaluate their own methods for effectiveness, and they may generate their own research to discover new knowledge of disorders and their treatment.

Question 6

Presenting Problem

Answer 6

Original complaint reported by the client to the therapist. The actual treated problem may sometimes be a modification derived from the presenting problem.

Question 7

Clinical Depression

Answer 7

Details of the combination of behaviours, thoughts and feelings of an individual that make up a particular disorder.

Question 8

Prevalence

Answer 8

Number of people displaying a disorder in the total population at any given time (compare with incidence).

Question 9

Incidence

Answer 9

Number of new cases of a disorder appearing during a specific period (compare with prevalence).

Question 10

Course

Answer 10

Pattern of development and change of a disorder over time.

Question 11

Prognosis

Answer 11

Predicted future development of a disorder over time.

Question 12

Aetiology

Answer 12

Cause or source of a disease.

Question 13

Exorcism

Answer 13

Religious ritual that attributes disordered behaviour to possession by demons and seeks to treat the individual by driving the demons from the body.

Question 14

Psychosocial Treatment

Answer 14

Treatment practices that focus on social and cultural factors (such as family experience), as well as psychological influences. These approaches include cognitive, behavioural and interpersonal methods.

Question 15

Moral Therapy

Answer 15

Psychosocial approach in the nineteenth century that involved treating patients as normally as possible in normal environments.

Question 16

Metal Hygiene Movement

Answer 16

Mid-nineteenth century effort to improve care of the mentally disordered by informing the public of their mistreatment.

Question 17

Psychoanalysis

Answer 17

Psychoanalytic assessment and therapy, which emphasises exploration of, and insight into, unconscious processes and conflicts, pioneered by Sigmund Freud.

Question 18

Behaviourism

Answer 18

Explanation of human behaviour, including dysfunction, based on principles of learning and adaptation derived from experimental psychology.

Question 19

Unconscious

Answer 19

Part of the psychic make-up that is outside the awareness of the person.

Question 20

Catharsis

Answer 20

Rapid or sudden release of emotional tension thought to be an important factor in psychoanalytic therapy.

Question 21

Psychoanalytical Model

Answer 21

Complex and comprehensive theory originally advanced by Sigmund Freud that seeks to account for the development and structure of personality, as well as the origin of abnormal behaviour, based primarily on inferred inner entities and forces.

Question 22

ID

Answer 22

In psychoanalysis, the unconscious psychical entity present at birth representing basic sexual and aggressive drives.

Question 23

Ego

Answer 23

In psychoanalysis, the psychical entity responsible for finding realistic and practical ways to satisfy id drives.

Question 24

Superego

Answer 24

In psychoanalysis, the psychical entity responsible for finding realistic and practical ways to satisfy id drives.

Question 25

Intrapsychic Conflict

Answer 25

In psychoanalysis, the psychical entity responsible for finding realistic and practical ways to satisfy id drives.

Question 26

Defence Mechanisms

Answer 26

In psychoanalysis, the psychical entity responsible for finding realistic and practical ways to satisfy id drives.

Question 27

Denial

Answer 27

Refuses to acknowledge some aspect of objective reality or subjective experience that is apparent to others.

Question 28

Displacement

Answer 28

Transfers a feeling about, or a response to, an object that causes discomfort onto another, usually less- threatening, object or person

Question 29

Projection

Answer 29

Falsely attributes own unacceptable feelings, impulses or thoughts to another individual or object.

Question 30

Rationalisation

Answer 30

Conceals the true motivations for actions, thoughts or feelings through elaborate reassuring or self-serving but incorrect explanations.

Question 31

Reaction Formation

Answer 31

Substitutes behaviour, thoughts or feelings that are the direct opposite of unacceptable ones.

Question 32

Repression

Answer 32

Blocks disturbing wishes, thoughts or experiences from conscious awareness.

Question 33

Sublimation

Answer 33

Directs potentially maladaptive feelings or impulses into socially acceptable behaviour.

Question 34

Psychosexual Stages of Development

Answer 34

In psychoanalysis, the sequence of phases a person passes through during development. Each stage is named for the location on the body where id gratification is maximal at that time.

Question 35

Castration Anxiety

Answer 35

In psychoanalysis, the fear in young boys that they will be mutilated genitally because of their lust for their mothers.

Question 36

Neurosis

Answer 36

Obsolete psychodynamic term for psychological disorder thought to result from unconscious conflicts and the anxiety they cause. The plural is neuroses.

Question 37

Ego Pscyhology

Answer 37

Derived from psychoanalysis, this theory emphasises the role of the ego in development and attributes psychologi- cal disorders to failure of the ego to manage impulses and internal conflicts. Also known as self-psychology.

Question 38

Object Relations

Answer 38

Modern development in psychodynamic theory involving the study of how children incorporate the memories and values of people who are close and important to them.

Question 39

Collective Unconscious

Answer 39

Accumulated wisdom of a culture collected and remembered across generations, a psychodynamic concept introduced by Carl Jung.

Question 40

Inferiority Complex

Answer 40

Feeling of being inferior to others while striving for superiority.

Question 41

Free Association

Answer 41

Psychoanalytic therapy technique intended to explore threatening material repressed into the unconscious. The patient is instructed to say whatever comes to mind without censoring.

Question 42

Dream Analysis

Answer 42

Psychoanalytic therapy method in which dream contents are examined as symbolic of id impulses and intrapsychic conflicts.

Question 43

Psychoanalyst

Answer 43

Therapist who practices psychoanalysis after earning a master’s professional degree as a psychologist with specialised training in the psychoanalytic modality and registered as a practising psychologist or an additional PhD degree in the psy- choanalytic therapeutic modality, and receiving additional specialised postdoctoral training.

Question 44

Transference

Answer 44

Psychoanalytic concept suggesting that clients may seek to relate to the therapist as they do to important authority figures, particularly their parents.

Question 45

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Answer 45

Contemporary version of psychoanalysis that still emphasises unconscious processes and conflicts but is briefer and more focused on specific problems.

Question 46

Self-actualising

Answer 46

Process emphasised in humanistic psychology in which people strive to achieve their highest potential against difficult life experiences.

Question 47

Person-centered Therapy

Answer 47

Therapy method in which the client, rather than the counsellor, primarily directs the course of discussion, seeking self-discovery and self-responsibility.

Question 48

Unconditional Positive Regard

Answer 48

Acceptance by the counsellor of the client’s feelings and actions without judgement or condemnation.

Question 49

Behaviour Model

Answer 49

Explanation of human behaviour, including dysfunction, based on principles of learning and adaptation derived from experimental psychology.

Question 50

Classical Conditioning

Answer 50

Fundamental learning process first described by Ivan Pavlov. An event that automatically elicits a response is paired with another stimulus event that does not (a neutral stimulus). After repeated pairings, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that by itself can elicit the desired response.

Question 51

Extinction

Answer 51

Learning process in which a response maintained by reinforcement in operant conditioning or pairing in classical conditioning decreases when that reinforcement or pairing is removed; also the procedure of removing that reinforcement or pairing.

Question 52

Introspection

Answer 52

Early, non-scientific approach to the study of psychology involving systematic attempts to report thoughts and feelings that specific stimuli evoked.

Question 53

Systematic Desensitisation

Answer 53

Behavioural therapy technique to diminish excessive fears, involving gradual exposure to the feared stimulus paired with a positive coping experience, usually relaxation.

Question 54

Behaviour Therapy

Answer 54

Array of therapy methods based on the principles of behavioural and cognitive science, as well as principles of learning as applied to clinical problems. It considers specific behaviours rather than inferred conflicts as legitimate targets for change.

Question 55

Reinforcement

Answer 55

In operant conditioning, consequences for behaviour that strengthen it or increase its frequency. Positive reinforcement involves the contingent delivery of a desired consequence. Negative reinforcement is the contingent escape from an aversive consequence. Unwanted behaviours may result from their reinforcement or the failure to reinforce desired behaviours.

Question 56

Shaping

Answer 56

In operant conditioning, the development of a new response by reinforcing successively more similar versions of that response. Both desirable and undesirable behaviours may be learnt in this manner.