Chapter 14 Terms

Question 1

Mental Disorder

Answer 1

A persistent disturbance or dysfunction in behavior, thoughts, or emotions that causes significant distress or impairment.

Question 2

Medical Model

Answer 2

An approach that conceptualizes abnormal psychological experiences as illnesses that, like physical illnesses, have biological and environmental causes, defined symptoms, and possible cures.

Question 3

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

Answer 3

A classification system that describes the features used to diagnose each recognized mental disorder and indicates how that disorder can be distinguished from other, similar problems.

Question 4

Comorbidity

Answer 4

The co-occurrence of two or more disorders in a single individual.

Question 5

Biopsychosocial Perspective

Answer 5

A view that explains mental disorders as the result of interactions among biological, psychological, and social factors.

Question 6

Diathesis-Stress Model

Answer 6

A model that suggests that a person may be predisposed to a psychological disorder that remains unexpressed until triggered by stress.

Question 7

Research Domain Criteria Project (RDoC)

Answer 7

An initiative that aims to guide the classification and understanding of mental disorders by revealing the basic processes that give rise to them.

Question 8

Anxiety Disorder

Answer 8

The class of mental disorders in which anxiety is the predominant feature.

Question 9

Phobic Disorders

Answer 9

Disorders characterized by marked, persistent, and excessive fear and avoidance of specific objects, activities, or situations.

Question 10

Specific Phobia

Answer 10

A disorder that involves an irrational fear of a particular object or situation that markedly interferes with an individual’s ability to function.

Question 11

Social Phobia

Answer 11

A disorder that involves an irrational fear or being publicly humiliated or embarrassed.

Question 12

Preparedness Theory

Answer 12

The idea that people are instinctively predisposed toward certain fears.

Question 13

Panic Disorder

Answer 13

A disorder characterized by the sudden occurrence of multiple psychological and physiological symptoms that contribute to a feeling of stark terror.

Question 14

Agoraphobia

Answer 14

A specific phobia involving a fear of public places.

Question 15

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Answer 15

A disorder characterized by chronic excessive worry accompanied by three or more of the following symptoms: restlessness, fatigue, concentration problems, irritability, muscle tension, ad sleep disturbance.

Question 16

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Answer 16

A disorder in which repetitive, intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and ritualistic behaviors (compulsions) designed to fend off those thoughts interfere significantly with an individual’s functioning.

Question 17

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Answer 17

A disorder characterized by chronic physiological arousal, recurrent unwanted thoughts or images of the trauma, and avoidance of things that call the traumatic event to mind.

Question 18

Mood Disorders

Answer 18

Mental Disorders that have mood disturbances as their predominant feature.

Question 19

Major Depressive Disorder (or Unipolar Depression)

Answer 19

A disorder characterized by a severely depressed mood and/or inability to experience pleasure that lasts 2 or more weeks and is accompanied by feelings of worthlessness, lethargy, and sleep and appetite disturbances.

Question 20

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Answer 20

Recurrent depressive episodes in a seasonal pattern.

Question 21

Helplessness Theory

Answer 21

The idea that individuals who are prone to depression automatically attribute negative experiences to causes that are internal (i.e., their own fault), stable (i.e., unlikely to change), and global (i.e., widespread).

Question 22

Bipolar Disorder

Answer 22

A condition characterized by cycles of abnormal, persistent high mood (mania) and low mood (depression).

Question 23

Schizophrenia

Answer 23

A psychotic disorder characterized by the profound disruption of basic psychological processes; a distorted perception of reality; altered or blunted emotion; and disturbances in thought, motivation, and behavior.

Question 24

Positive Symptoms

Answer 24

Thoughts and behaviors, such as delusions and hallucinations, present in schizophrenia but not seen in those without the disorder.

Question 25

Hallucinations

Answer 25

A false perceptual experience that has a compelling sense of being real despite the absence of external stimulation.

Question 26

Delusion

Answer 26

A false belief, often bizarre and grandiose, that is mantained in spite of its irrationality.

Question 27

Disorganized Speech

Answer 27

A severe disruption of verbal communication in which ideas shift rapidly and incoherently among unrelated topics.

Question 28

Grossly Disorganized Behavior

Answer 28

Behavior that is inappropriate for the situation or ineffective in attaining goals, often with specific motor disturbances.

Question 29

Negative Symptoms

Answer 29

Deficits in or disruptions of normal emotions and behaviors.

Question 30

Cognitive Symptoms

Answer 30

Deficits in cognitive abilities, specifically executive functioning, attention, and working memory, present in those with schizophrenia.

Question 31

Dopamine Hypothesis

Answer 31

The idea that schizophrenia involves an excess of dopamine activity.

Question 32

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Answer 32

A condition beginning in early childhood in which a person shows persistent communication deficits as well as restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviors, interests, or activities.

Question 33

Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Answer 33

A persistent pattern of severe problems with inattention and/or hyperactivity or impulsiveness that cause significant impairments in functioning.

Question 34

Conflict Disorder

Answer 34

A persistent pattern of deviant behavior involving aggression toward people or animals, destruction of property, deceitfulness or theft, or serious rule violations.

Question 35

Personality Disorders

Answer 35

Enduring patterns of thinking, feeling, or relating to others or controlling impulses that deviate from cultural expectations and cause distress or impaired functioning.

Question 36

Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD)

Answer 36

A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood.

Question 37

Suicide

Answer 37

Intentional self-inflicted death

Question 38

Suicide attempt

Answer 38

Engagement in potentially harmful behavior with some intention of dying.

Question 39

Nonsuicidal Self-Injury (NSSI)

Answer 39

Direct, deliberate destruction body tissue in the absence of any intent to die.