Chapter 13: Psychological Disorders Flashcards
Psychological disorder
A clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotional regulation, or behaviour that is usually associated with significant distress or disability in social, occupational, and other important activities.
Syndrome
A cluster of physical or mental symptoms that are typical of a particular condition or psychological disorder and that tend to occur simultaneously
Symptom
A physical or mental feature that may be regarded as an indication of a particular condition or psychological disorder
Psychopathology
The scientific study of psychological disorders, or the disorders themselves
Point prevalence
The percentage of people in a given population who have a given psychological disorder at any particular point in time
Lifetime prevalence
The percentage of people in a certain population who will have a given psychological disorder at any point in their lives
Clinical assessment
A procedure for gathering the information that is needed to evaluate an individual’s psychological functioning and to determine whether a clinical diagnosis is warranted
Clinical interview
An interview in which a clinician asks the patient to describe his or her problems and concerns
Self-report measure
A standardized clinical assessment tool that consists of a fixed set of questions that a patient answers
Projective tests
A form of clinical assessment in which a person responds to unstructured or ambiguous stimuli; is is thought that responses reveal unconscious wishes and conflicts
Diathesis-stress model
A conception of psychopathology that distinguishes the factors that create a risk of illness (the diathesis) from the factors that turn the risk into a problem (the stress)
Learned helplessness
A state of passive resignation to an aversive situation that one has come to believe is outside of one’s control
Neuroticism
A personality dimension associated with heightened levels of negative affect
Biopsychosocial model
A way of understanding what makes people healthy by recognizing that biology, psychology, and social context all combine to shape health outcomes
Anxiety
A feeling of intense worry, nervousness, or unease.
Specific phobia
A marked fear or anxiety about a particular object or situation, such as snakes, bridges, lightning, dentists, or blood
Social anxiety disorder
An anxiety disorder characterized by extreme fear of being watched, evaluated, and judged by others
Panic disorder
An anxiety disorder characterized by the occurrence of unexpected panic attacks
Panic attacks
A sudden episode of uncontrollable anxiety, accompanied by terrifying bodily symptoms that include one or more of the following: labored breathing, choking, dizziness, tingling hands and feet, sweating, trembling, heart palpitations, chest pain.
Agoraphobia
A fear of being in situations in which help might not be available or escape might be difficult or embarrassing
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
An anxiety disorder characterized by continuous, pervasive, and difficult-to-control anxiety
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
An anxiety disorder that manifests itself through obsessions (unwanted and disturbing thoughts) and/or compulsions (ritualistic actions performed to control the obsessions)
Obsession
A recurrent unwanted or disturbing thought
Compulsion
A ritualistic action performed to control an obsession
Trauma-and stressor-related disorders
Psychological disorders that are triggered by an event that involves actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violation
Acute stress disorder
A trauma- or stressor-related disorder that lasts less than one month
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
A trauma- or stressor- related disorder that lasts one month or longer
Comorbidity
The occurrence of two or more disorders in a single individual at any given point in time
Concordance rate
The probability that a person with a particular familial relationship to a patient (for example, an identical twin) has the same disorder as the patient
Mood-related disorders
Disorders that involve prominent disturbance in a person’s positive and negative feeling state
Major depressive disorder
A mood disorder characterized by feelings of sadness, emptiness, and anhedonia (diminished interest or pleasure in activities that usually provide pleasure, such as eating or exercising)
Depression
A mood disorder characterized by feelings of sadness, emptiness, and anhedonia (diminished interest or pleasure in activities that usually provide pleasure, such as eating or exercising)
Anhedonia
Diminished interest or pleasure in nearly all of the activities that usually provide pleasure, such as eating, exercising, or spending time with friends
Rumination
The process of repetitively turning emotional difficulties over and over in the mind
Bipolar disorder
A mood-related disorder characterized by both manic (excited and energetic) episodes and depressive episodes, with normal periods interspersed; formerly called manic-depressive illness
Hypomania
A mild form of mania marked by high spirits, happiness, self-confidence, and a high level of nervous energy
Mania
A state of high excitement and energy often characterized by racing thoughts, a feeling of invincibility or omnipotence, and a lack of boundaries or inhibitions
Negative cognitive schema
A mental framework in which a person consistently interprets events negatively.
Explanatory style
How a person explains why bad things happen to him or her
Schizophrenia
A psychological disorder characterized by a loss of contact with reality and a breakdown of the normal functions of the mind, leading to bizarre perceptions
Positive symptoms
In psychopathology, behaviours that are not present in healthy people
Delusions
False beliefs that are rigidly maintained despite overweight contradictory evidence
Hallucinations
Sensory experiences that occur in the absence of any sensory input or stimulation
Negative symptoms
In psychopathology, an absence of behaviours usually seen in healthy people
Dopamine hypothesis
The hypothesis that schizophrenia arises from an abnormally high level of activity in brain circuits that are sensitive to the neurotransmitter dopamine
Neurodevelopmental disorder
A disorder that stems from early brain abnormalities
Civil commitment laws
Laws that specify when people can be hospitalized (“committed”) against their will for mental treatment
Not guilty by reason of insanity
A modern legal concept that holds that people are not responsible for criminal behaviour if at the time of that behaviour they had a mental disorder that left them substantially unable either to understand that what they were doing was wrong or to behave as they knew they should
Criminal commitment
Enforced hospitalization (“commitment”) for criminals who plead not guilty by reason of insanity
Autism spectrum disorder
A disorder usually diagnosed in young children, and characterized by a wide range of developmental problems, including persistent deficits in social communication/interaction and restricted or repetitive patterns of interest or behaviour
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
A disorder usually diagnosed in young children that involves a wide range of symptoms, including blurting out answers in class, fidgeting, and difficulty in shifting attentional focus
Dissociative identity disorder (DID)
A disorder (formerly known as as multiple personality disorder) defined by the presence of two or more distinct personality states within a single person, each with its own style, habits, beliefs, and memories
Personality disorder
A pattern of behaviour and inner experience that deviates markedly from cultural norms and expectations, is inflexible and pervasive across a broad range of personal and social situations, and leads to clinically significant distress of impairment
Antisocial personality disorder
A personality disorder marked by a pervasive pattern of disregarded for and violation of the rights of others, as well as a lack of empathy and remorse
