Chapter 15: Psychological disorders

Question 1

abnormal psychology

Answer 1

the scientific study of psychological disorders.

Question 2

acute stress disorder

Answer 2

an anxiety disorder in which fear and related symptoms are experienced soon after a traumatic event and last less than a month.

Question 3

agoraphobia

Answer 3

a phobia that makes people avoid public places or situations in which escape might be difficult or help unavailable should panic symptoms develop.

Question 4

antipsychotic drugs

Answer 4

medications that help remove the symptoms of schizophrenia.

Question 5

antisocial personality disorder

Answer 5

a personality disorder characterized by extreme and callous disregard for the feelings and rights of others.

Question 6

automatic thoughts

Answer 6

specific upsetting thoughts that arise unbidden.

Question 7

bipolar disorder

Answer 7

a mood disorder in which periods of mania alternate with periods of depression.

Question 8

borderline personality disorder

Answer 8

a personality disorder characterized by severe instability in emotions and self-concept and high levels of volatility.

Question 9

catatonia

Answer 9

extreme psychomotor symptoms of schizophrenia, including catatonic stupor, catatonic rigidity, and catatonic posturing.

Question 10

cognitive triad

Answer 10

a pattern of thinking in which individuals repeatedly interpret their experiences, themselves, and their futures in negative ways that lead them to feel depressed.

Question 11

comorbidity

Answer 11

the condition in which a person’s symptoms qualify him for two or more diagnoses.

Question 12

compulsions

Answer 12

irrational repetitive and rigid behaviours or mental acts that people feel compelled to perform to prevent or reduce anxiety.

Question 13

delusions

Answer 13

blatantly false beliefs that are firmly held despite evidence to the contrary.

Question 14

depression

Answer 14

a persistent sad state in which life seems dark and its challenges overwhelming.

Question 15

developmental psychopathology

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

diagnosis

Answer 16

a clinician’s determination that a person’s cluster of symptoms represents a particular disorder.

Question 17

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

Answer 17

the leading classification system for psychological disorders in Canada; DSM-5 is the current version.

Question 18

dissociative disorder

Answer 18

a psychological disorder characterized by major loss of memory without a clear physical cause; types include dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, and dissociative identity disorder.

Question 19

equifinality

Answer 19

the idea that different children can start from different points and wind up at the same outcome.

Question 20

family systems theory

Answer 20

a theory holding that each family has its own implicit rules, relationship structure, and communication patterns that shape the behaviour of the individual members.

Question 21

generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

Answer 21

an anxiety disorder in which people feel excessive anxiety and worry under most circumstances.

Question 22

hallucinations

Answer 22

imagined sights, sounds, or other sensory events experienced as if they were real.

Question 23

International Classification of Diseases (ICD)

Answer 23

the system used by most countries to classify psychological disorders; published by the World Health Organization and currently in its 10th edition (ICD-10).

Question 24

loose associations or derailment

Answer 24

a common thought disorder of schizophrenia, characterized by rapid shifts from one topic to another.

Question 25

major depressive disorder

Answer 25

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.

Question 26

mania

Answer 26

a persistent state of euphoria or frenzied energy.

Question 27

multifinality

Answer 27

the idea that children can start from the same point and wind up at any number of different outcomes.

Question 28

negative symptoms

Answer 28

in the case of schizophrenia, symptoms that seem to reflect pathological deficits, including poverty of speech, flat affect, loss of volition, and social withdrawal.

Question 29

obsessions

Answer 29

persistent thoughts, ideas, impulses, or images that seem to invade a person’s consciousness.

Question 30

obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Answer 30

a mental disorder associated with repeated, abnormal, anxiety-provoking thoughts and/or repeated rigid behaviours.

Question 31

panic attacks

Answer 31

periodic, short bouts of panic.

Question 32

panic disorder

Answer 32

an anxiety disorder characterized by recurrent and unpredictable panic attacks that occur without apparent provocation.

Question 33

personality disorder

Answer 33

an inflexible pattern of inner experience and outward behaviour that causes distress or difficulty with daily functioning.

Question 34

phobia

Answer 34

a persistent and unreasonable fear of a particular object, activity, or situation.

Question 35

positive symptoms

Answer 35

in the case of schizophrenia, symptoms that seem to represent pathological excesses in behaviour, including delusions, disorganized thinking and speech, hallucinations, and inappropriate affect.

Question 36

posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Answer 36

an anxiety disorder in which fear and related symptoms continue to be experienced long after a traumatic event.

Question 37

psychosis

Answer 37

loss of contact with reality.

Question 38

resilience

Answer 38

the ability to recover from or avoid the serious effects of negative circumstances.

Question 39

risk factors

Answer 39

biological and environmental factors that contribute to problem outcomes.

Question 40

schizophrenia

Answer 40

a mental disorder characterized by disorganized thoughts, lack of contact with reality, and sometimes hallucinations.

Question 41

social anxiety disorder

Answer 41

an anxiety disorder in which people feel severe, persistent, and irrational fears of social or performance situations in which embarrassment may occur.

Question 42

somatic symptom and related disorders

Answer 42

excessive thought, feelings, and behaviours related to somatic symptoms.