Chapter 17: Defining Psychological Disorders

Question 1

What is a psychological disorder?

Answer 1

An ongoing dysfunctional pattern of thought, emotion, and behaviour that cause s significant distress, and that is considered deviant in that person’s culture or society.

Question 2

What is the bio-psycho-social model of illness?

Answer 2

A way of understanding disorder that assumes disorder is caused by biological, psychological, and social factors.

Question 3

What does the biological component of the bio-psycho-social model refer to?

Answer 3

The influences on disorder that come from the functioning of the individual’s body. Particularly important are genetic characteristics that make some people more vulnerable to a disorder than others and the influence of neurotransmitters.

Question 4

What does the psychological component of the bio-psycho-social model refer to?

Answer 4

The influences that come from the individual, such as patterns of negative thinking and stress responses.

Question 5

What does the social component of the bio-psycho-social model refer to?

Answer 5

The influence on disorder due to social and cultural factors such as socioeconomic status, homelessness, abuse, and discrimination.

Question 6

When does comorbidity occur?

Answer 6

When people who suffer from one disorder also suffer at the same time from other disorders.

Question 7

What is a stigma?

Answer 7

A stigma refers to a disgrace or defect that indicates that a person belongs to a culturally devalued social group.

Question 8

What is the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM)?

Answer 8

A document that provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders.

Question 9

What are anxiety disorders?

Answer 9

Psychological disturbances marked by irrational fears, often of everyday objects and situations.

Question 10

What is a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)?

Answer 10

A psychological disorder diagnosed in situations in which a person has been excessively worrying about money, health, work, family life, or relationships for at least 6 months, and when the anxiety causes significant distress and dysfunction.

Question 11

What are the physical symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder?

Answer 11

Irritability, sleep problems, difficulty concentrating, muscle aches, trembling, perspiration, and hot flashes.

Question 12

What is panic disorder?

Answer 12

A psychological disorder characterized by sudden attacks of anxiety and terror that have led to significant behaviour changes in the person’s life.

Question 13

What are the symptoms of a panic attack?

Answer 13

Shortness of breath, heart palpitations, trembling, dizziness, choking sensations, nausea, and an intense feeling of dread or impending doom.

Question 14

What is a phobia?

Answer 14

A specific fear of a certain object, situation, or activity.

Question 15

What is social phobia?

Answer 15

Extreme shyness around people or discomfort in social situations.

Question 16

What is agoraphobia?

Answer 16

Anxiety about being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing, or in which help might not be available.

Question 17

What is obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)?

Answer 17

A psychological disorder that is diagnosed when an individual continuously experiences distressing or frightening thoughts, and engaging in obsessions (repetitive thoughts) or compulsions (repetitive behaviours) in an attempt to calm these thoughts.

Question 18

What do people with PTSD experience?

Answer 18

High levels of anxiety along with reexperiencing the trauma, and a strong desire to avoid any reminders of the event.

Question 19

What is a dissociative disorder?

Answer 19

A condition that involves disruptions or or breakdowns of memory, awareness, and identity.

Question 20

What is dissociative amnesia? What is it normally caused by?

Answer 20

A psychological disorder that involves extensive, but selective, memory loss, but in which there is no physiological explanation for the forgetting.
It is normally caused by a trauma.

Question 21

What is dissociative fugue?

Answer 21

A psychological disorder in which an individual loses complete memory of his or her identity and may even assume a new one, often far from home.

Question 22

What is dissociative identity disorder?

Answer 22

A psychological disorder in which two or more distinct and individual personalities exist in the same person, and there is an extreme memory disruption regarding personal information about the other personalities.

Question 23

Define mood.

Answer 23

The positive or negative feelings that are in the background of our everyday experiences.

Question 24

What are mood disorders?

Answer 24

Psychological disorders that in which the person’s mood negatively influences his or her physical, perceptual, social, and cognitive processes.

Question 25

What are the behaviours associated with depression?

Answer 25

Changes in appetite, difficulty concentrating and making decisions, fatigue, feelings of hopelessness, increased substance use, irritability, loss of interest in activities or hobbies, loss of interest in personal appearance, persistent aches and pains, sleep disorders, and thoughts of suicide.

Question 26

What is dysthymia?

Answer 26

A condition characterized by mild, but chronic, depressive symptoms that last for at least two years.

Question 27

What is major depressive disorder (clinical depression)?

Answer 27

A mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities.

Question 28

What is bipolar disorder?

Answer 28

A psychological disorder characterized by swings in mood from overly “high” to sad and hopeless, and back again, with periods of near-normal mood in between.

Question 29

What is schizophrenia?

Answer 29

A serious psychological disorder marked by delusions, hallucinations, loss of contact with reality, inappropriate affect, disorganized speech, social withdrawal, and deterioration of adaptive behaviour.

Question 30

What do positive symptoms of schizophrenia refer to? What are some examples of these symptoms?

Answer 30

Positive symptoms refer to the presence of abnormal behaviours or experiences that are not observed in normal people.
These symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, derailment, disorganized behaviour, inappropriate affect, and movement disorders.

Question 31

What do negative symptoms of schizophrenia refer to? What are some examples of these symptoms?

Answer 31

Negative symptoms refer to the loss or deterioration of thoughts and behaviours that are typical of normal functioning.
These symptoms include social withdrawal, flat affect and lack of pleasure in everyday life, apathy and loss of motivation, distorted sense of time, lack of goal-oriented activity, limited speech, and poor hygiene and grooming.

Question 32

What do cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia refer to? What are some examples of these symptoms?

Answer 32

Cognitive symptoms are the changes in cognitive processes that accompany schizophrenia.
These symptoms include poor executive control, trouble focusing, working memory problems, and poor problem-solving abilities.

Question 33

What are hallucinations?

Answer 33

Imaginary sensations that occur in the absence of a real stimulus or which are gross distortions of a real stimulus.

Question 34

What are delusions?

Answer 34

False beliefs not commonly shared by others within one’s culture, and maintained even though they are obviously out of touch with reality.

Question 35

What is derailment?

Answer 35

The shifting from one subject to another, without following any one line of thought to conclusion.

Question 36

What is a personality disorder?

Answer 36

A disorder characterized by inflexible patterns of thinking, feeling, or relating to others that cause problems in personal, social, and work situations.

Question 37

What are the three categories of personality disorders?

Answer 37

Odd or eccentric behaviour, dramatic or erratic behaviour, and anxious or inhibited behaviour.

Question 38

What are the personality disorders associated with odd or eccentric behaviours?

Answer 38

Schizotypal, paranoid, and schizoid.

Question 39

What are the personality disorders associated with dramatic or erratic behaviours?

Answer 39

Antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic.

Question 40

What personality disorders are associated with anxious or inhibited behaviours?

Answer 40

Avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive.

Question 41

What is borderline personality disorder?

Answer 41

A psychological disorder characterized by a prolonged disturbance of personality accompanied by mood swings, unstable personal relationships, identity problems, threats of self-destructive behaviour, fears of abandonment, and impulsivity.

Question 42

What is antisocial personality disorder?

Answer 42

A disorder characterized by a disregard for the rights of others, and a tendency to violate those rights without being concerned about doing so.
It is a pervasive pattern of violation of the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood.