Clinical psychology Flashcards
DSM
Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders
Psychological disorder
persistent dysfunction in behavior, thoughts, or emotions that cause significant distress or impairment
Benefits of DSM
Helps to communicate between practitioners
Allows for greater standardization of diagnoses
Can guide practitioner in selecting the “most effective” treatment options
Drawback of DSM
Labeling/ diagnosis can lead to stigma, lower self esteem, feeling of helplessness
Can be problematic if just “below” cut off
Systematic diagnosis of mental illnesses can be difficult
Anxiety
Negative mood state accompanied by bodily symptoms such as increased heart rate, muscle tension, a sense of unease, and apprehension about the future
Generalized anxiety disorder
Excessive worry about everyday things that is out of proportion to the specific cause of worry
At least 6 months of excessive anxiety
Worry can be reinforced
What can generalized anxiety disorder be accompanied by
Difficulty concentrating
Muscle tension, fatigue
Sleep problems
Panic disorder
Recurrent unexpected panic attacks
Intense anxiety and avoidance related to the attack for at least a month
Causes significant distress or interferences with life
agoraphobia
a fear of public places
Specific phobia
Irrational fear of a specific object or situation that substantially interfered with the person’s ability to function
5 major subtypes of specific phobia
Blood injury injection
Situational type (planes, elevator)
Natural environment (storms, heights, water)
Animal type
Other (choking, vomiting)
Preparedness theory
people are predisposed toward certain fears
PTSD
recurrent unwanted thoughts or images of the trauma and avoidance of things that call the traumatic event to mind
Social anxiety disorder
Fear of social situations which leads to worry and diminished day to day functioning
Obsessive
Unwanted, inappropriate and persistent thoughts
Obsessive compulsive disorder
Obsessive thoughts and compulsions that seem irrational or nonsensical
Take up a significant amount of time (at least 1 hour per day)
Causes significant distress or impairment in function
Compulsions
Repetitive, often ritualistic behaviors
What are top 2 symptoms of Major depressive episode
Depressed mood
Anhedonia
Bipolar disorder
Characterized by cycles of abnormal, persistent high mood (mania) and low mood (depression)
What contributes to depression
Biological, Psychological, Social,
Schizophrenia
Delusions/ False beliefs
Persecutory
Belief that people are out to harm you
Grandiose
Thinking you are really influential and important person
Referential
Thinking that someone or something is talking to you through messages
Hallucinations
Perceptual experiences that occur even when there is no stimulus in outside world generating those experiences
Can be auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory, or somatic
Disorganized speech
Speech that is difficult to follow because answers do not clearly follow questions or one sentences does not logically flow from another
What are top 3 symptoms of Schizophrenia
Delusions
Hallucinations
Disorganized speech
Schizophrenia Symptoms
Large ventricles
Reduces brain volume
