chapter 15 psychological disorders Flashcards
demonic model
view of mental illness in which behaving oddly, hearing voices, or talking to oneself was attributed to evil spirits infesting the body
medical model
view of mental illness as a result of a physical disorder requiring medical treatment
asylum
institution for people with mental illnesses created in the 15th century
deinstitutionalization
the governmental policy of the 1960s and 1970s that focused on releasing hospitalized psychiatric patients into the community and closing mental hospital
interrater reliability:
the extent to which different raters (such as different psychologists) agree on patients’ diagnoses
labeling theorists
scholars who argue that psychiatric diagnoses exert powerful negative effects on people’s perceptions and behaviors
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM)diagnostic system containing the American Psychiatric Association (APA) criteria for mental disorders”
prevalence
percentage of people within a population who have a specific mental disorder
comorbidity
co-occurrence of two or more diagnoses within the same person
categorical model
model in which a mental disorder differs from normal functioning in kind rather than degree
dimensional model
model in which a mental disorder differs from normal functioning in degree rather than kind
medical students’ syndrome
As medical students first become familiar with the symptoms of specific diseases, they often begin to focus on their bodily processes
involuntary commitment
procedure of placing some people with mental illnesses in a psychiatric hospital or another facility based on their potential danger to themselves or others or their inability to care for themselves.
insanity defense
Legal defense proposing that people shouldn’t be held legally responsible for their actions if they weren’t of “sound mind” when committing them.
somatic symptom disorder
condition marked by excessive anxiety about physical symptoms with a medical or purely psychological origin.
illness anxiety disorder
condition marked by intense preoccupation with the possibility of a serious undiagnosed illness.
generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
continual feelings of worry, anxiety, physical tension, and irritability across many areas of life functioning.
phobia
intense fear of an object or a situation that’s greatly out of proportion to its actual threat.
agoraphobia
fear of being in a place or situation from which escape is difficult or embarrassing or in which help is unavailable in the event of a panic attack.
social anxiety disorder
intense fear of negative evaluation in social situations.
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
marked emotional disturbance after experiencing or witnessing a severely stressful event.
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
condition marked by repeated and lengthy (at least one hour per day) immersion in obsessions, compulsions, or both.
obsession
persistent idea, thought, or urge that is unwanted, causing marked distress
compulsion
repetitive behavior or mental act performed to reduce or prevent stress.
catastrophizing
is a core feature of anxious thinking People catastrophize when they predict terrible events—such as contracting a life-threatening illness from turning a doorknob—despite their low probability
hompophones
words that sound the same but have two different meanings and spellings
anxiety sensitivity
fear of anxiety-related sensations.
major depressive episode
state in which a person experiences a lingering depressed mood or diminished interest in pleasurable activities, along with symptoms that include weight loss and sleep difficulties.
learned helplessness
tendency to feel helpless in the face of events we can’t control.
manic episode
experience marked by dramatically elevated mood, decreased need for sleep, increased energy, inflated self-esteem, increased talkativeness, and irresponsible behavior
bipolar disorder
condition marked by a history of at least one manic episode.
psychache
agonizing psychological pain
personality disorder
condition in which personality traits, appearing first in adolescence, are inflexible, stable, expressed in a wide variety of situations, and lead to distress or impairment.
borderline personality disorder
condition marked by extreme instability in mood, identity, and impulse control
dissociative disorder
condition involving disruptions in consciousness, memory, identity, or perception”
depersonalization/derealization
disordercondition marked by multiple episodes of depersonalization, derealization, or both.
dissociative amnesia
inability to recall important personal information—most often related to a stressful experience—that can’t be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.
dissociative fugue
sudden, unexpected travel away from home or the workplace, accompanied by amnesia for significant life events
antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)
condition marked by a lengthy history of irresponsible or illegal actions.
Yerkes–Dodson law
describes a well-established psychological principle: an inverted U-shaped relationship between arousal on the one hand and mood and performance on the other. As this law reminds us, people who are habitually under aroused experience stimulus hunger
dissociative identity disorder (DID)
condition characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personality states that recurrently take control of the person’s behavior.
schizophrenia
severe disorder of thought and emotion associated with a loss of contact with reality.
dementia praecox
meaning psychological deterioration in youth.
delusion
strongly held fixed belief that has no basis in reality.
psychotic symptom
psychological problem reflecting serious distortions in reality.
hallucination
sensory perception that occurs in the absence of an external stimulus.
Command hallucinations
which tell patients what to do (“Go over to that man and tell him to shut up
Capgras syndrome
Belief that a familiar person has been replaced by an imposter
Fregoli delusion
-that different people are actually the same person in disguise
Clinical lycanthropy
Belief that one has turned into a wolf or has the ability to do so
Cervanthropy
Belief that one has turned into a deer.
Truman Show delusion
Belief that one is being filmed and the films are being viewed by others, as depicted in the 1998 movie The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey
Folie à deux
French for the “folly of two” a person in a close relationship induces the same delusion in his or her partner (e.g., the government is poisoning their food). Rare cases of folie a deux in identical twins, folie a trois (involving three people), and folie a famille (involving an entire family) have also been reported
Somatoparaphrenia
Unawareness of a body part, such as a limb (or an entire side of the body), or the belief that it belongs to another person.
Cotard delusion
Belief that one is dead
echolalia
repeat a phrase in conversation in a parrotlike manner,”
expressed emotion (EE)—
that is, criticism, hostility, and overinvolvement
diathesis-stress model
perspective proposing that mental disorders are a joint product of a genetic vulnerability, called a diathesis, and stressors that trigger this vulnerability.
