Chapter 3

Question 1

what is a Clinical Assessment?

Answer 1

systematic evaluation and measurement of psychological, biological and social factors in a person presenting with a possible psychological disorder

Question 2

what is a Diagnosis?

Answer 2

the process of determining whether a presenting problem meets established criteria for a specific psychological disorder

Question 3

what makes a panic disorder?

Answer 3

when someone has recurrent and unexpected panic attacks and persistent anxiety about having another panic attacks and avoiding triggers.
- may occur with or without agoraphobia

Question 4

what is agoraphobia?

Answer 4

“fear of the market place”

now known as: fear or avoidance of certain situations in fear of having a panic attack

Question 5

t or f. you can only have agoraphobia with panic disorder

Answer 5

f.

you can have agoraphobia without having a panic disorder

Question 6

what is the DSM?

Answer 6

the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

- used to make a diagnosis

Question 7

true or false?

complete avoidance of feared situations is not helpful

Answer 7

true
- avoidance becomes negatively reinforced (reduces fear, more likely to keep happening each time), however, the avoidance prevents the person from overcoming the phobia

Question 8

what is exposure therapy?

Answer 8

you are exposed to the conditioned stimuli to realize that it won’t harm you and overcome the phobia
- result/goal is extinction

Question 9

types of exposure therapy

Answer 9

• imaginal (think of the stimuli)
• in vivo (exposed to real thing)
• interoceptive (physical movements)
• systematic desensitization (hierarchy of fears)

Question 10

What is the main goal of exposure therapy?

Answer 10

main goal: change emotions and response towards the stimuli

Question 11

how do therapists begin their sessions with patients?

Answer 11

they begin by asking patients to describe in a relatively open-ended way, the major difficulties that have brought him or her to the workplace
- this helps break the ice and it reveals the central problems as seen through the patients eyes

Question 12

define reliability.

Answer 12

the degree to which a measurement is consistent - for example, over time or among different raters

Question 13

what is Validity?

Answer 13

the degree to which a technique actually measures what purports to measure

Question 14

what is standardization?

Answer 14

the process of establishing specific norms and requirements for a measurement technique to ensure it is used consistently across measurement occasions
- this includes instructions for administering the measure, evaluating its findings, and comparing these data for large numbers of people

Question 15

what is a mental status exam?

Answer 15

a relatively coarse preliminary test of a client’s judgement, orientation to time and place, and emotional and mental state; typically conducted during an initial interview

Question 16

what is a behavioural assessment?

Answer 16

an assessment that involves measuring, observing, and systematically evaluating (rather than inferring) the client’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviour in the actual problem situation or context

Question 17

what does self-monitoring refer to?

Answer 17

the action by which clients observe and record their own behaviours as either an assessment of a problem and its change or a treatment procedure that makes them more aware of their responses
- also called self-observation

Question 18

what are projective tests?

Answer 18

psychoanalytically based measures that present ambiguous stimuli to clients on the assumption that responses will reveal their unconscious conflicts.
- such tests are inferential and lack high reliability and validity

Question 19

what are personal inventories?

Answer 19

self-report questionnaires that assess personal traits by asking respondents to identify descriptions that apply to them

Question 20

what is intelligence quotient? (IQ)

Answer 20

the score on an intelligence test, abbreviated IQ, estimating a person’s deviation from average test performance

Question 21

what is neuropsychological testing?

Answer 21

assessment of brain and nervous system functioning by testing an individual’s performance on behavioural tasks

Question 22

what are false positives?

Answer 22

assessment errors in which pathology is reported (ex: test results are positive) when none is actually present

Question 23

what are false negatives?

Answer 23

assessment errors in which no pathology is noted (ex: test results are negative) when it is actually present

Question 24

what is neuroimaging?

Answer 24

sophisticate computer-aided procedures that allow nonintrusive examination of nervous system structure and function.

Question 25

what is a psychophysiological assessment?

Answer 25

a measurement of changes in the nervous system reflecting psychological or emotional events, such as anxiety, stress, and sexual arousal.

Question 26

what is an electroencephalogram (EEG)?

Answer 26

a measure of electrical activity patterns in the brain take through electrodes placed on the scalp

Question 27

define classification

Answer 27

the assignment of objects or people to categories based on shared characteristics

Question 28

define taxonomy

Answer 28

system of naming and classification (ex: specimens) in science

Question 29

define nosology

Answer 29

the classification and naming system for medical and psychological phenomena

Question 30

define nomenclature

Answer 30

in a naming system or nosology, the actual labels or names that are applied
- in psychopathology these include, for example, mood disorders and eating disorders

Question 31

what is the classical categorical approach?

Answer 31

a classification method founded on the assumption of clear-cut differences among disorders, each with a different known cause.

Question 32

define the dimensional approach

Answer 32

a method of categorizing characteristics on a continuum rather than on a binary, either-or, or all-or-none basis

Question 33

what is the prototypical approach?

Answer 33

a system for categorizing disorders using both essential defining characteristics and a range of variation on other characteristics

Question 34

define comorbidity

Answer 34

the presence of two or more disorders in an individual at the same time

Question 35

define labelling

Answer 35

applying a name to a phenomenon or a pattern of behaviour

- the label may acquire negative connotations or be applied erroneously to the person rather than his or her behaviours

Question 36

what is a stigma?

Answer 36

a combination of stereotypic negative beliefs, prejudices, and attitudes resulting in reduced life opportunities for the devalued group in question