Chapter 15: Psychological disorders Flashcards
abnormal psychology
the scientific study of psychological disorders.
acute stress disorder
an anxiety disorder in which fear and related symptoms are experienced soon after a traumatic event and last less than a month.
agoraphobia
a phobia that makes people avoid public places or situations in which escape might be difficult or help unavailable should panic symptoms develop.
antipsychotic drugs
medications that help remove the symptoms of schizophrenia.
antisocial personality disorder
a personality disorder characterized by extreme and callous disregard for the feelings and rights of others.
automatic thoughts
specific upsetting thoughts that arise unbidden.
bipolar disorder
a mood disorder in which periods of mania alternate with periods of depression.
borderline personality disorder
a personality disorder characterized by severe instability in emotions and self-concept and high levels of volatility.
catatonia
extreme psychomotor symptoms of schizophrenia, including catatonic stupor, catatonic rigidity, and catatonic posturing.
cognitive triad
a pattern of thinking in which individuals repeatedly interpret their experiences, themselves, and their futures in negative ways that lead them to feel depressed.
comorbidity
the condition in which a person’s symptoms qualify him for two or more diagnoses.
compulsions
irrational repetitive and rigid behaviours or mental acts that people feel compelled to perform to prevent or reduce anxiety.
delusions
blatantly false beliefs that are firmly held despite evidence to the contrary.
depression
a persistent sad state in which life seems dark and its challenges overwhelming.
developmental psychopathology
the study of how problem behaviours evolve as a function of a person’s genes and early experiences, and how these early issues affect the person at later life stages.
diagnosis
a clinician’s determination that a person’s cluster of symptoms represents a particular disorder.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
the leading classification system for psychological disorders in Canada; DSM-5 is the current version.
dissociative disorder
a psychological disorder characterized by major loss of memory without a clear physical cause; types include dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, and dissociative identity disorder.
equifinality
the idea that different children can start from different points and wind up at the same outcome.
family systems theory
a theory holding that each family has its own implicit rules, relationship structure, and communication patterns that shape the behaviour of the individual members.
generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
an anxiety disorder in which people feel excessive anxiety and worry under most circumstances.
hallucinations
imagined sights, sounds, or other sensory events experienced as if they were real.
International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
the system used by most countries to classify psychological disorders; published by the World Health Organization and currently in its 10th edition (ICD-10).
loose associations or derailment
a common thought disorder of schizophrenia, characterized by rapid shifts from one topic to another.
major depressive disorder
a disorder characterized by a depressed mood that is significantly disabling and is not caused by such factors as drugs or a general medical condition.
mania
a persistent state of euphoria or frenzied energy.
multifinality
the idea that children can start from the same point and wind up at any number of different outcomes.
negative symptoms
in the case of schizophrenia, symptoms that seem to reflect pathological deficits, including poverty of speech, flat affect, loss of volition, and social withdrawal.
obsessions
persistent thoughts, ideas, impulses, or images that seem to invade a person’s consciousness.
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
a mental disorder associated with repeated, abnormal, anxiety-provoking thoughts and/or repeated rigid behaviours.
panic attacks
periodic, short bouts of panic.
panic disorder
an anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent and unpredictable panic attacks that occur without apparent provocation.
personality disorder
an inflexible pattern of inner experience and outward behaviour that causes distress or difficulty with daily functioning.
phobia
a persistent and unreasonable fear of a particular object, activity, or situation.
positive symptoms
in the case of schizophrenia, symptoms that seem to represent pathological excesses in behaviour, including delusions, disorganized thinking and speech, hallucinations, and inappropriate affect.
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
an anxiety disorder in which fear and related symptoms continue to be experienced long after a traumatic event.
psychosis
loss of contact with reality.
resilience
the ability to recover from or avoid the serious effects of negative circumstances.
risk factors
biological and environmental factors that contribute to problem outcomes.
schizophrenia
a mental disorder characterized by disorganized thoughts, lack of contact with reality, and sometimes hallucinations.
social anxiety disorder
an anxiety disorder in which people feel severe, persistent, and irrational fears of social or performance situations in which embarrassment may occur.
somatic symptom and related disorders
excessive thought, feelings, and behaviours related to somatic symptoms.
