Diagnosis and abnormal psych Flashcards
The DSM is \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ in nature and, as such, only addresses the etiology of disorders for which the cause is clearly known (e.g., PTSD).
Atheoretical
Regarding multiaxial assessment, identify and describe the 5 axes used with each individual diagnosis.
Axis I: Clinical disorders and other conditions that may be a focus of clinical attention; Axis II: Mental retardation and personality disorders; Axis III: General medical conditions; Axis IV: Psychosocial and environmental problems; Axis V: GAF
When a therapist applies
diagnoses for a person on
both Axis I and Axis II, what words should be used to emphasize the one that is the focus of treatment?
Principle Diagnosis (or Reason for Visit)

Routinely used defense mechanisms and maladaptive personality traits that are not pervasive enough to qualify for a personality disorder can be recorded on what axis?
Axis II
This diagnosis requires the
following three criteria: (1) Significantly sub-average intellectual functioning, (2) concurrent impairments or deficits in at least 2 areas of adaptive functioning, and (3) onset before age 18.
Mental Retardation
True or False: A therapist should not consider impairment caused by a client’s physical or environmental limitations when using the GAF scale (Axis V)?
True
What are the 4 degrees of mental retardation and their corresponding IQ scores, as defined by the DSM?
Mild (IQ = 50-55 to 70); Moderate (IQ = 35-40 to 50-55); Severe (IQ = 20-25 to 35-40); Profound (IQ = 20-25 or below)
The DSM-IV-TR takes a ________ approach to mental disorder diagnosis, classifying a person as either meeting or not meeting a disorder’s given criteria. This differs from a ________ approach, which quantifies a persons symptoms rather than classifying them.
Categorical; dimensional
People with this degree of
mental retardation are able to develop social and communication skills during childhood, acquire about a 6th grade level of academic skills, and are able to work and live independently as adults.
Mild Retardation (85% of all mentally retarded people)
What biological antecedent to mental retardation is caused by a lack of the enzyme necessary to oxidize phenylalanine (and amino acid in protein foods)?
Phenylketonuria (PKU)
This biological cause of mental retardation occurs due to a faulty distribution of chromosomes when the egg or sperm is formed, leaving the person with 47 rather than 46 chromosomes.
Down’s Syndrome (aka Trisomy-21)
________ retardation is often related to early deprivation of nurturance, deficiencies in health care, early deficiencies in social, cognitive, and other stimulation, and poverty.
Cultural-familial
What disorder is characterized
by delayed or abnormal functioning in: social interaction, language as used in social communication, or symbolic or imaginative play by age 3?
Autism Disorder
True or False: As people with Autism grow older, they may become more interested in developing relationships, which is usually absent in Autistic children?
True- though they usually do not understand the customs that regulate social interaction
With this level of mental retardation, people may require guidance and some supervision in social and occupational settings; they usually have no more than a 2nd grade academic level; and as adults, they can contribute to their own support by performing unskilled or semiskilled work under close supervision.
Moderate Retardation (10% of all mentally retarded people)
What is the term used to define a person’s tendency to repeat the words or phrases of others?
Echolalia
People with this degree of mental
retardation have poor motor skills and communication skills as a child, though may learn to talk and can be trained in simple hygiene tasks; and they are often able to perform simple tasks as a adults, often living in highly supervised settings (e.g., group homes, with family).
Severe Retardation (3-4% of all mentally retarded people)
What form of therapy has been shown to be fairly successful in treating people with Autism?
Behavioral therapy, particularly techniques such as shaping and operant conditioning, has helped people with Autism replace abnormal behaviors with more desirable ones
At this level of mental retardation, people demonstrate extreme limitations in motor and sensory function; require highly structured environments, usually assisted by a caregiver; and can sometimes perform simple tasks under close supervision in a sheltered workshop.
Profound Retardation (1-2% of all mentally retarded people)
People with ________ experience a significant loss of developed skills (language, social, adaptive behavior, bowel/bladder control, play, and/or motor) after 2 or more years of seemingly normal development.
Childhood Disintegrative
Disorder (similar social/communication
and behavior to those with Autism)
What are the significant
differences between a
person with Autism and a person with Asperger’s Disorder?
While both involve deficits in social interaction and behavior, people with Asperger’s show no impairment in language development, self-help skills, cognitive development, or interest in the environment
What are the 3 Learning Disorders described in the DSM?
Reading Disorder, Mathematics Disorder, and Disorder of Written Expression
True or False: Learning disorders cannot be caused by mental retardation, but mental retardation can be co-diagnosed with a learning disorder?
True
What condition involves inflammation of the middle ear accompanied by accumulation of liquid in the middle ear cleft and is said to cause cerebellar-vestibular dysfunction, which has been linked to the development of learning disorders?
Otitis Media with Effusion (OME)
This diagnosis would likely apply when a person's academic/occupational or social abilities are impeded by their inappropriate use of speech sounds.
Phonological Disorder
While considered “normal childhood dysfluency” when it occurs in young children, ________ is said to be aggravated by tension or anxiety in more mature individuals.
Stuttering
A young person whose scholastic achievement
is impeded by abnormal
clumsiness would likely receive a diagnosis of ________.
Motor Skills Disorder
True or False: Children
classified as ADHD tend
to become delinquent and antisocial young adults?
True- about 70% exhibit signs of ADHD throughout their lives

Onset of symptoms must be before what age, and for what duration, in order to assign an ADHD diagnosis?
7 y/o and for a duration of at least 6 months; also, symptoms must be present in 2 or more settings
What are common comorbid problems
experienced by children
and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD?
50% meet criteria for Conduct
Disorder, 25% have emotional disorder, 20% have Learning Disorder, and others experience social maladjustment, motor incoordination, and visual/audio impairments
What personality
characteristics have
been noted to develop as a result of untreated ADHD?
Narcissism and passive-aggressive traits (usually subside once ADHD is treated)

ADHD has been linked to
abnormalities in the ________ by research that found
diminished glucose metabolism and decreased blood flow in
this region, as well as pathways
connecting this region to the caudate nucleus.
Prefrontal cortex
The core feature of this disorder is a progressive pattern of developmental regression that begins before age 4 and is characterized by decelerated head growth, loss of hand skills, lack of bodily coordination, severe deficiencies in overall language development, psychomotor retardation, and lacking social interest.
Rett’s Disorder (only been found in females)
True or False: There is no genetic link regarding ADHD?
False- about 57% of children whose parents have ADHD are later diagnosed, while twin studies have revealed a .80 average heritability for hyperactivity/impulsivity
This idea suggests that the core of ADHD is not attention deficits but rather a lack of ability to adjust activity levels to fit the requirements of different settings.
Behavioral disinhibition hypothesis (Barkley)
What are some of the undesirable side effects of methylphenidate (Ritalin), which is often used to treat ADHD?
Somatic symptoms (decreased appetite, insomnia, stomach aches); movement abnormalities (motor and vocal tics, stereotyped movements); obsessive-compulsive symptoms (though more common with dextroamphetamine); growth suppression (hence “drug holidays”)
A child or adolescent who persistently violates social rules and norms, such as acting aggressively toward animals, destroying property, or stealing, is likely to receive what diagnosis?
Conduct Disorder
Regarding Conduct Disorder, what differentiates “Childhood Onset” from “Adolescent Onset?”
Childhood Onset diagnosed when symptoms present prior to age 10; Adolescent Onset when symptoms occur at age 10 or later
To diagnose Conduct Disorder, the person has to display ________ or more signs for at least ________ months, with at least one sign present in the past ________ months.
3; 12; 6

What diagnosis best applies for a child or young adolescent who is very negative, argumentative, and defiant to adults (usually parents), rarely accepts responsibility for their actions, but tends not to get into much trouble outside of the home?
Oppositional Defiant Disorder
This disorder involves persistently eating non-nutritive substances such as paint, cloth, sand, grass, etc. for at least 1 month; it is typically associated with Mental Retardation.
Pica
What is the diagnosis of a child who, for at least one month following normal functioning, recurrently regurgitates and re-chews their food?
Rumination Disorder
 True or False: Learning disorders cannot be caused by mental retardation, but mental retardation can be co-diagnosed with a learning disorder? True  A person with \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ is able to read regularly spelled words, but unable to decipher words spelled irregularly (e.g., reads "fight" as "fit"); a person with \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ might produce responses that are related to the target word in meaning but not visually or phonologically (e.g., substitutes "down" for "up" or "hot" for "cold"), which is referred to as "semantic paralexia."
Surface dyslexia; deep dyslexia
What disorder is diagnosed for
a child who, before age 6, chronically fails to eat enough food for at least one month, which leads to weight loss or failure to gain weight? It is commonly referred to as ________.
Feeding Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood; failure to thrive
A person presenting with symptoms similar to Tourette’s Disorder who experiences tics in only one domain (movements or vocal sounds) would be most appropriately diagnosed:
Chronic Motor
or Vocal Tic Disorder
Regarding elimination disorders, ________ and ________ refer to repeated involuntary or intentional elimination of feces and urine, respectively.
Encopresis; enuresis
After administering a battery of standardized tests of intelligence to a client, results reveal severe deficits in both receptive and expressive language development, while the client’s performance on nonverbal measures are considerably higher. What is the likely diagnosis?
Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder
Treatment of enuresis often includes ________, which involves placing a pad under the child that sounds an alarm as soon urine touches it and are associated with the highest long-term success rate.
Moisture alarms (aka bell-and-pad)
True or False: It is recommended that a child with school phobia be removed from the academic setting until his fear is appropriately resolved?
False- the consensus is that the child should be returned to school
Usually caused by separation
anxiety, ________ refers to the experience of intense anxiety about going to school and is often an early sign of depression or another serious mental disorder.
School Phobia
What disorder is characterized by a chronic failure to talk in certain situations (e.g., school) for at least 1 month, despite competently and easily talking in other situations (e.g., home)?
Selective Mutism
Often associated with Mental Retardation, ________ is characterized by repetitive motor behaviors that are not functional, such as head banging or body-rocking, and cause physical harm or significantly interfere with normal activities.
Stereotypic Movement Disorder
A child who has a short nose, narrow upper lip, small chin, and flat mid-face, and who experiences developmental delays, failure to thrive, and is usually mild to moderately mentally retarded characterizes what non-DSM condition?
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (caused by chronic consumption of alcohol by mother during pregnancy)
The 3 types of ADHD include ________, which is
characterized by 6 or more symptoms of inattention and 6 or more symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsiveness; ________, which is diagnoses when a person has 6 or more symptoms of inattention but fewer than 6 symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsiveness; and ________, which is characterized by 6 or more symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsiveness but fewer than 6 symptoms of inattention.
Combined; Predominantly Inattentive; Predominantly Hyperactivity-Impulsive
What is the 3rd most
frequent cause of
death for infants
between 1 month and 1 year old?
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
What are the subtypes of Personality Change Due to a General Medical Condition?
Labile, Disinhibited, Aggressive, Apathetic, Paranoid, Other, Unspecified, and Combined
What is the most likely diagnosis for a person who becomes catatonic as a direct result of cerebrovascular disease?
Catatonic Disorder Due to a General Medical Condition
This diagnosis is given when a
reversible syndrome develops in a person due to recently terminating or reducing the use of a substance after using it in large quantities over a long period of time.
Substance Withdrawal
A client who discloses a history of extensive LSD use, though no longer uses, reports that he occasionally re-experiences hallucinations similar to those he experienced when using the LSD. What is the most appropriate diagnosis?
Hallucinogen
Persisting Perception Disorder
Describe the typical onset and duration of delirium.
Onset is usually rapid and duration is brief, typically less than 1 month
What four groups have research has found to be most at-risk for developing delirium?
Older people (60+ y/o); people with decreased cerebral reserve (e.g., prior CNS injury or impaired cognition); post-cardiotomy patients; people going through drug withdrawal
What percent of people over age 85 have dementia?
20%
What is the term used when an elderly person’s
experience of depression impairs their cognitive ability, but is unrelated to a general medical condition or substance use?
Pseudo-dementia
What is the only way to confirm with certainty that a person has Alzheimer’s Disease?
Postmortem brain autopsy or biopsy
A person who presents with significant problems in memory and/or other cognitive disturbances following a cerebrovascular disease (e.g., stroke or infarction) would receive what diagnosis?
Vascular Dementia
What is another term for what the DSM calls Dementia Due to HIV Disease?
AIDS Dementia Complex
When a person’s dementia is caused by the persisting effects of substance use, rather than the direct effects of intoxication or withdrawal, the most appropriate diagnosis is what?
Substance-Induced Persisting Dementia (with the responsible substance indicated)
Significant impairment in one’s ability to learn new information is referred to as ________ amnesia, while marked diminishment in one’s ability to recall learned information or events is called ________ amnesia.
Anterograde; retrograde
Alcohol-Induced Persisting Amnestic Disorder due to thiamine and other vitamin B deficiencies is know as ________.
Korsakoff’s Syndrome
When a person’s amnesia is due to a medical condition, such as hypoxia, seizures, or head trauma, the correct diagnosis is:
Amnestic Disorder
Due to a General
Medical Condition (with specific condition indicated)
What drug produces severe nausea when taken in conjunction with alcohol and is used to assist in the treatment of alcoholism?
Antabuse
In people diagnosed with Conduct Disorder, those with ________ Onset have a worse prognosis and are more likely to receive a later diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder, while problematic behavior of those with ________ Onset is usually a product of their relationships with delinquent peers.
Childhood; Adolescent
True or False: A person cannot receive diagnosed with both Substance Abuse and Substance Dependence?
True- if a person meets the criteria for Dependence, Abuse is not diagnosed
Research has shown that alcoholics who are administered the WAIS perform relatively normal on _______ subtests, while their ________ subtest scores are often poorer than expected, especially on visual-spatial measures.
Verbal; performance
Occurring during alcohol withdrawal, ________ involve typical signs of delirium, in addition to hallucinations, delusions, autonomic hyperactivity, and agitation; they are often associated with a co-occurring medical condition (e.g., liver failure).
Delirium tremens
Withdrawal and Intoxication by what 2 substances share the same diagnostic criteria in the DSM?
Cocaine and amphetamine
What substance does not lead
to physical dependence, has no significant withdrawal symptoms, and has no evidence of causing any long-term negative or toxic effects to it’s users (based on governmental studies)?
Cannabis (Marijuana)
What term is used to describe the phenomenon that a person’s substance use relapse leads to feelings of guilt and failure, which in turn lead to more relapses?
Abstinence Violation Effect (AVE)
In any substance abuse treatment,
the first and most important step involves what?
Getting the person
to acknowledge that they have a problem, as denial is common
What 2 forms of treatment,
when done in tandem, have the highest benefit for people in treatment for nicotine dependence (e.g., looking to quit smoking)?
Nicotine replacement therapy (gum, patch) and behavioral intervention (stimulus control, aversive techniques)
This Tic Disorder has its onset before age 18 and is characterized by involuntary jerky movements, vocal sounds (grunts, clicks), and sometimes coprolalia (uttering obscene words); people with this diagnosis often have attention and hyperactivity problems.
Tourette’s Disorder
The symptoms of what disorder
affect content of thought, form of thought, perception, affect, sense of self, volition, interpersonal functioning, and/or psychomotor behavior, and literally means “splitting of the mind?”
Schizophrenia
A person diagnosed with Schizophrenia ________ Type might present with loose associations, incoherence, flat or inappropriate affect, and regressed behavior that is largely uninhibited (e.g., laugh w/ out reason, incongruous facial gestures).
Disorganized
What type of Schizophrenia is characterized by psychomotor motor disturbance, including posturing, mutism, rigidity, motoric immobility, extreme negativism, and/or extreme excitement?
Catatonic Type
A person who present with symptoms of Schizophrenia though do not clearly qualify as disorganized, catatonic, or paranoid types would be classified as what type?
Undifferentiated Type
A client who speaks candidly
and lucidly about a nonexistent world, is preoccupied with voices telling her “the world is ending,” and whose speech, overt behavior, and affect are largely appropriate best fits what type of Schizophrenia?
Paranoid Type
A client who has had an episode of Schizophrenia and continues to
display less severe negative and/or
positive symptoms (e.g., flat affect,
odd beliefs), though no prominent positive psychotic symptoms are
present would be classified as what type?
Residual Type

What type of speech is a common symptom of psychosis
characterized by responses
that do not relate to questions
asked, or one paragraph, sentence, or phrase is not
logically connected to those that occur before or after?
Loosening of Associations (Loose Associations)
What diagnosis is most appropriate for a child who experiences excessive anxiety, lasting for at least 4 weeks, in response to separation from home or a significant figure of attachment (parent) and is often accompanied by somatic complaints (nausea, dizziness)?
Separation
Anxiety Disorder

A child with this disorder presents with extremely disturbed and developmentally inappropriate relatedness; the Inhibited Type fails to initiate or respond in age-expected manners to social interactions, while the Disinhibited Type is socially indiscriminate (e.g., easily affectionate with strangers).
Reactive
Attachment Disorder

A child diagnosed with ________ may present similarly as depressed adults, though often mask their feelings with delinquency, phobias, underachievement, psychosomatic complaints, hyperactivity, or aggression; it is often associated with family abuse or neglect.
Childhood Depression
A person presents for therapy after family members noticed significantly increased paranoia following a car accident where the person sustained a head injury. Collateral information suggests the paranoia presented only after the accident. What is the most likely primary diagnosis?
Personality Change Due to a General Medical Condition
What is diagnosed when maladaptive behavioral or psychological changes occur during or shortly after using or being exposed to a substance (e.g., alcohol, caffeine, opioids), and the changes are due to the physiological effects of the substance on the central nervous system?
Substance Intoxication
A person with ________ experiences a reduced
level of awareness and understanding of the environment, impaired ability to focus, maintain, or switch attention (disturbances of consciousness), as well as memory impairment, disorientation, or language difficulties (cognitive disturbances); sometimes illusions or hallucinations (perceptual disturbance) occur instead of cognitive disturbances.
Delirium
A client is relatively alert, though her memory has significantly declined and she has been experiencing increased difficulty recognizing objects, organizing her thoughts, and understanding abstract concepts. These problems have seriously impeded her normal functioning. What is her most likely diagnosis?
Dementia
The initial stages of ________ involves forgetting tasks and repeating questions,
which progresses to impaired ability to perform day-to-day tasks independently (e.g., cooking, driving, getting dressed). In the final stages, incontinence, severe language impairment, and the inability to walk or sit-up are typical.
Alzheimer’s Disease
The DSM defines Substance _______ as
a cluster of cognitive, behavioral, and
physiological symptoms indicating that
the individual continues use of the substance despite significant substance-related problems, while Substance ________ refers to less severe maladaptive substance use that leads to general problems in life (e.g., academic, relational, legal).
Dependence; Abuse
A client complains presents to therapy as nervous, is speaking rapidly, appears nervous, and has a flushed face. He reports having a difficult time sleeping and mentions increased diarrhea. During the session, he coyly states he has started consuming copious quantities of “Red Bull” energy drinks. What is a possible diagnosis?
Caffeine Intoxication
An approach used for the treatment of substance dependence, ________ contends substance dependence is a collection of maladaptive, over-learned habit patterns, rather than physiological responses to substance use; it does not label or blame people, but rather views them as responsible for learning more adaptive habits.
Relapse Prevention Therapy (CBT in nature)
The ________ symptoms of schizophrenia are distortions of normal functions, such as delusions and hallucinations; the ________ symptoms represent a decrease or loss of functions that are usually present, such as alogia (restricted fluency of thought/speech), avolition (restricted initiation of goal-directed behavior), and flat affect.
Positive; negative
What term refers to the idea that
schizophrenia is associated with either an excess of the monoamine neurotransmitters (dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, glutamate) or with increased sensitivity to the dopamine ordinarily present in the brain?
Dopamine hypothesis
According to Gottesman, what are the lifetime probabilities for developing Schizophrenia among biological siblings, dizygotic (fraternal) twins, and monozygotic (identical) twins, in percentages?
Biological = 10%; dizygotic twins = 16%; monozygotic twins = 48%
The theory (Mednick) that
proposes Schizophrenia occurs
in people physiologically predisposed to the condition
who are confronted with an adverse and stressful
environment is referred to as what?
Diathesis-stress
(vulnerability) theory
Research suggests that Schizophrenic patients from ________ countries tend to have a more acute onset, but shorter clinical course, and usually a complete remission when compared to patients from ________ countries.
Non-industrialized; industrialized

The theory (Mednick) that
proposes Schizophrenia occurs
in people physiologically predisposed to the condition
who are confronted with an adverse and stressful
environment is referred to as what?
Diathesis-stress
(vulnerability) theory

Research suggests that Schizophrenic patients from ________ countries tend to have a more acute onset, but shorter clinical course, and usually a complete remission when compared to patients from ________ countries.
Non-industrialized; industrialized

One side-effect of pharmacological treatment of Schizophrenia, ________ is characterized by repetitive, involuntary, purposeless movements, such as grimacing, lip smacking, rapid eye blinking, and lip puckering.
Tardive dyskinesia
What is the likely diagnosis of a
person who presents with symptoms identical to Schizophrenia, which he has been experiencing for less than 6 months, though he has not experienced a significant decline in overall functioning?
Schizophreniform Disorder
This disorder is characterized by symptoms of both a Mood Disorder and Schizophrenia, where psychotic symptoms are present and mood symptoms absent for 2 weeks or more; psychotic features are more prominent than in a Mood Disorder with Psychotic Features.
Schizoaffective Disorder
A person who presents with
delusions that are theoretically plausible (non-bizarre), appropriate behavior, and no marked impairment in functioning would receive what diagnosis?
Delusional Disorder
This Delusional Disorder
type is characterized by
the delusion that a person, typically of higher status, is in love with the patient.
Erotomanic Type
Delusional Disorder ________ Type is characterized by the delusion that one has made a truly meaningful discovery and/or has a remarkable talent.
Grandiose Type
What Delusional Disorder
type does a man who is
convinced his wife is cheating, based on the fact she came home from work with a wrinkled shirt, best fit?
Jealous Type
A person with Delusional Disorder who believes they, or someone they know, is being malevolently mistreated best qualify for what type of the disorder?
Persecutory Type
This type of Delusional Disorder is characterized by the irrational conviction that one has a physical defect, disorder, or disease.
Somatic Type
When a client’s delusional
belief cannot be clearly determined or is not described by the specific types, they would receive a diagnosis of Delusional Disorder ________ Type.
Unspecified
True or False: A person can present with more than one type of Delusional Disorder?
True- this is referred to as Mixed Type
A person experiences the sudden onset of at least one psychotic symptom (delusion, hallucination, etc) that lasts from several hours up to a month, and then returns to premorbid level of functioning, the most appropriate diagnosis is:
Brief Psychotic Disorder
If a Brief Psychotic Disorder is in response to a very stressful event, it is sometimes referred to a ________ and the diagnosis would include the specifier ________.
Brief Reactive
Psychosis; With Marked Stressor(s)
This French term often refers to when a person in
close relation to another person who has a
psychotic disorder begins
experiencing similar delusions.
Folie a Deux (aka Shared Psychotic Disorder)
A ________ Episode involves impaired functionality as a result of abnormally elevated,
expansive, or irritable mood for a period of at
least 1 week, in addition to symptoms such as
grandiosity, flight of ideas, and increased
verbosity; a ________ Episode is similar,
however the duration must be 4 days, no psychotic features or functional impairment is present, and hospitalization is not needed.
Manic; Hypomanic
A person who reports experiencing both mania
and major depression in
a single day, for at least
1 week, is experiencing a:
Mixed Episode
This is characterized by a change in prior functioning due to the experience of depressed mood or loss of pleasure, in addition to at least 5 other symptoms of depression, during a two-week period.
Major Depressive Episode
________ involves the presence of at least 1 manic or mixed episode at some time, and the person may or may not have experienced 1 or more major depressive episodes; the diagnosis of ________ is given when 1 or more major depressive episodes and at least one hypomanic episode are present.
Bipolar I; Bipolar II
Considered a Bipolar Disorder,
________ Disorder involves a
mood disturbance of at least 2 years where the person
alternates between hypomania
and mild to moderate
depressive states; functioning is often unimpaired.
Cyclothymic
According to the DSM,
approximately what percentage of people with Major Depressive Disorder die by suicide?
15%
A person experiencing their first (and perhaps only) depressive episode would be diagnose Major Depressive Disorder, ________, while one who has experienced more than one episode in a 2 year period would receive the indicator ________.
Single Episode; Recurrent
Research has shown that
women appear to experience depression at
a higher rate than men. What are some of the possible reasons for this?
Men are likely underrepresented due to underreporting; coping styles
differ- men employ action and
mastery strategies, women tend to
brood and dwell on problems; women tend to express more
extreme levels of well-being than men
What is the appropriate diagnosis for a woman who,
within 4 weeks after giving birth, experiences mood
swings, tearfulness, and other depressive symptoms suggestive of a Mood Disorder?
Postpartum Depression
A 24 y/o client reports he has felt “pretty down” for most his life, stating he experiences difficulty falling asleep, low self-image, decreased energy, feelings of hopelessness, and difficulty concentrating and making decisions. He explains, however, that it rarely affected his functional capacities. What’s the likely diagnosis?
Dysthymic Disorder
A person who has both Major Depressive Disorder and Dysthymic Disorder is best characterized by the condition known as what?
Double Depression
This etiological explanation of depression holds that depression is caused by low levels of norepinephrine in the brain, while mania is due to excess norepinephrine levels; the fact that effective antidepressants (tricyclics, MAOIs) increase norepinephrine, while mood stabilizers (lithium) increase it, support this theory.
Catecholamine Hypothesis

The ________ Theory suggests depression is a result of low norepinephrine and low serotonin levels, while mania is caused by low norepinephrine and high serotonin levels; the effectiveness of SSRIs support this theory.
Permissive
A person experiencing depression often views negative events as stable over time rather than transient, global rather than specific, and internal rather than external. What is the term used to describe this attributional style?
Learned Helplessness (M. Seligman)
While ________ and ________ are considered most effective for treating the classic symptoms of depression, ________ are more likely to be prescribed if the person has atypical symptoms, such as hypochondria or obsessive-compulsiveness.
SSRIs; tricyclics; MAOIs
Practitioners of ________ contend depression is caused by difficulties in relationships stemming from early life, particularly those related to the development of attachment, and serve to maintain depression later in life; this approach embraces the medical model and views depression as a an illness to be treated with both medication and concurrent therapy.
Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
This is diagnosed when a person displays onset and remission of Major Depressive Episodes at characteristic times of the year; typically onset is in fall or winter and remission is in spring.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
It has been proposed that Seasonal Affective Disorder is related to abnormal regulation of ________ secretions by the pineal gland, hence the benefit of light therapy for people with this condition.
Melatonin
A discrete period of intense apprehension, fear, or discomfort, often involving a sense of doom, and characterized by at least 4 somatic or cognitive symptoms (sweating, trembling, nausea, etc) is referred to as what?
Panic Attack
As defined by the DSM, this condition involves “anxiety about being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult (or embarrassing) or in which help may not be available in the event of having an unexpected or situationally predisposed panic attack or panic like symptoms.”
Agoraphobia
A client reports experiencing numerous panic attacks that are unexpected and, consequently, worries excessively (for at least 1 month) about having another attack. This worry, particularly about losing control, has caused behavioral changes. What is the most likely diagnosis?
Panic Disorder
A person diagnosed with ________ makes efforts to avoid social or performance situations that might place him under the judgment, scrutiny, or observation of others, or expose him to strangers; being in such situations provokes a severe anxiety response.
Social Phobia
Those people who experience intense fears of certain stimuli, such as heights, animals, and closed spaces, are placed in what general diagnostic category?
Specific Phobia
________ panic attacks are most characteristic of
Specific Phobia and Social
Phobia, occurring every
time a person is exposed to a specific stimulus.
Situationally bound
What is the term used to describe panic attacks that occur without warning and in the absence of a trigger (must occur for a diagnosis of Panic Disorder)?
Unexpected panic attacks
An example of ________ panic
attacks would be a person who only occasionally experiences panic attacks in certain situations, and may experience attacks in other unrelated situations as well.
Situationally predisposed
This behavioral approach to treating Specific Phobias involves directly exposing the client to the object of fear until they recognizes there is nothing to fear, which leads to the fear being extinguished.
In-vivo exposure
________ are persistent thoughts a person experiences as intrusive, inappropriate, distressing, and uncontrollable; ________ are repetitive behaviors performed according to a rigid set of rules, usually in response to the former.
Obsessions; compulsions
True or False: People diagnosed with OCD are of a disproportionately higher SES and higher intelligence?
True
A client reports increased distress following her witnessing of a tragic car accident 2 months prior. She says she has since had difficulty falling asleep, and when she does sleep she has nightmares about the incident. What is the likely diagnosis?
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
PTSD can be either ________, which is when symptoms last less than 3 months, or ________, when the duration of symptoms is more than 3 months.
Acute; chronic
A woman presents to a clinic reporting she was raped 5 days prior and has since been very fearful, helpless, and has had some flashbacks of the event. During the interview, it is determined she has also been experiencing depersonalization, sense of detachment, and reduced awareness of her surroundings. What’s the most appropriate diagnosis?
Acute Stress Disorder (PTSD should be considered once symptoms persist beyond 1 month)
A person with ________ experiences excessive anxiety and worry about numerous life circumstances and feels incapable of controlling their worry; symptoms, lasting at least 6 months, include restlessness, irritability, difficulty concentrating, etc.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Disorders included in this general class, according to the DSM, are characterized by physical symptoms that have no known physiological cause and are believe to be attributable to psychological factors.
Somatoform Disorders
A client presents to therapy reporting he is blind and reveals his loss of sight occurred shortly after witnessing the suicide of a colleague. Medical records, however, suggest no physiological explanation for the blindness. What’s the likely diagnosis?
Conversion Disorder (impaired voluntary motor or sensory function that has psychological cause)
The 2 possible explanations for the development of Conversion Disorder are
________, which is when the symptom reduces anxiety and keeps internal
conflict out of awareness, and ________,
which is when the symptom helps the
person to avoid an unpleasant activity or obtain otherwise unavailable support.
Primary gain;
secondary gain
A person who presents as
dramatic, vague, and exaggerated and who has made numerous physical complaints over several years, though those complaints have no clear physical cause, would receive what diagnosis?
Somatization Disorder
People with Somatization Disorder frequently exhibit ________ and ________, which are often the reasons for their initial therapy visit.
Anxiety; depression
What is the best diagnosis for a person who has at least 1 physical complaint that has persisted for at least 6 months and cannot be fully explained by a medical condition or substance use (e.g., chronic fatigue, appetite loss)?
Undifferentiated Somatoform Disorder (if less than 6 months = Somatoform Disorder NOS)
A client reports to her therapist that she experiences immense pain in
her abdomen area; however, she
discloses doctors have found no
physical cause. Recognizing the client’s preoccupation with the pain,
the therapist is likely to diagnosis what?
Pain Disorder
What condition is characterized
by a preoccupation with fears one has a serious disease
based on a misunderstanding of normal bodily functions,
despite medical evidence and
reassurance that nothing is wrong?
Hypochondriasis (no delusions; person is aware of exaggerated fears)
A preoccupation with non-existent physical flaws that interferes with one’s functioning and is often dealt with via excessive plastic surgery is characteristic of what disorder?
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
The core feature of ________ Disorders are deliberately produced physical or psychological symptoms; people with this condition possess a desire to assume the role of a sick person.
Factitious
A person diagnosed with Factitious Disorder with
Psychological Symptoms
is likely to induce their psychological symptoms by the use of ________.
Psychoactive substances
A person who voluntarily produces or fakes physical symptoms and who has spent enough time in hospital settings to develop rather extensive medical knowledge would be best diagnosed with what?
Munchausen Syndrome (or Factitious Disorder with Physical Symptoms; hospital addiction)
A physician at a hospital discovers that a child she has treated on numerous occasions for similar conditions is likely having symptoms fabricated by his mother. This being the case, the mother would most appropriately be diagnosed with what?
Factitious Disorder by Proxy (or Munchausen by Proxy)
This term refers to one’s deliberate production of either fraudulent or exaggerated symptoms motivated by external incentives (secondary gain).
Malingering
A pervasive pattern of distrust and suspiciousness in which the person consistently interprets the motives of others as malicious is characteristic of what disorder?
Paranoid Personality Disorder
What is the main difference between Paranoid Personality Disorder and Psychotic Disorders involving paranoia?
Paranoid Personality
Disorder does not
involve delusions,
while Psychotic Disorders do
People with this disorder are pervasively indifferent to social relationships, express a limited range of emotions in social situations, often prefer to be “loners,” and usually function adequately in non-social situations.
Schizoid Personality Disorder
What disorder is characterized by a pattern of social and interpersonal deficits involving severe discomfort with and limited capacity for close relationships, as well as perceptual and cognitive distortions and odd/eccentric behavior?
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
People with this disorder often act sexually seductive, have
exaggerated though shallow emotions that shift rapidly, are easily influenced by others, seek constant reassurance/praise, and may consider relationships to be more close than they really are.
Histrionic Personality Disorder
Often preoccupied with fantasies of power and success, people with ________ display a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy, which can lead to exploitative relationships.
Narcissistic
Personality Disorder
This disorder is characterized
by a pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and affect, significant impulsivity (e.g., suicide threats, substance use), and fear of abandonment/domination.
Borderline Personality Disorder
What are the dominant
defense mechanisms used by a person with Borderline Personality Disorder?
Splitting, idealization, and projective identification
Developed for the treatment of Borderline
Personality Disorder, ________emphasizes
mindfulness, social skills
training, and affect regulation.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
A person with this condition must have had symptoms of Conduct Disorder before 15 y/o and demonstrate a pattern of disregard for and violation of others rights; some symptoms include lack remorse/empathy, impulsivity, irritability and aggressiveness, and deceitfulness.
Antisocial
Personality Disorder
What is another term used to refer to people diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder?
Sociopath

A person with this condition must have had symptoms of Conduct Disorder before 15 y/o and demonstrate a pattern of disregard for and violation of others rights; some symptoms include lack remorse/empathy, impulsivity, irritability and aggressiveness, and deceitfulness.
Antisocial
Personality Disorder

What is another term used to refer to people diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder?
Sociopath

This condition is characterized by a persistent pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, resulting in limited social contacts despite a longing for contact and relationships.
Avoidant Personality Disorder
What diagnosis is given when there is a pervasive and excessive need
to be taken care of, leading to clinging and submissive behavior and fears of separation; people with this disorder often struggle to make decisions and take responsibility for their lives.
Dependent Personality Disorder
Typically, _______ refers to a person’s deliberate or inadvertent support of another’s addiction or dependence.
Codependency
What condition is characterized
by a persistent preoccupation with perfectionism, orderliness, and mental and interpersonal control, which severely limits openness, flexibility, and efficiency?
Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder
What defense mechanism do people diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder most often rely on?
Reaction formation- defending against an unacceptable impulse by expressing its opposite
This condition is characterized by a refusal to maintain age and height
appropriate body weight, fear of
losing control of one’s weight, a
distorted body image, and often
amenorrhea; weight is usually
controlled by restricting caloric intake or bingeing/purging.
Anorexia Nervosa
Developed by Minuchin for
the treatment of Anorexia
Nervosa, the ________ refers to family members
and the therapist eating a meal together.
Family lunch
What condition is given when a person persistently binge eats and engages in inappropriate compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain (e.g., excessive exercise, self-induced vomiting) at an average rate of twice per week for 3 months?
Bulimia Nervosa
True or False: Bulimics are more likely than Anorexics to become engaged in treatment due to their awareness that their behavior is abnormal?
True
A person who presents with an inability to recall important personal information, usually of a stressful or traumatic nature, and too extensive to be attributed to ordinary forgetfulness, would receive what diagnosis?
Dissociative Amnesia
This condition is characterized by unanticipated travel away
from home or work, an inability to remember some or all of
one’s past, and confusion about
personal identity or the adoption of a new identity.
Dissociative Fugue
This diagnosis is given when a person develops at least 2 identifiable personality states that recurrently take control of the person’s behavior, and the person is unable to recall important personal information to an extent greater than ordinary forgetfulness.
Dissociative Identity Disorder
(previously Multiple
Personality Disorder)
A person who repeatedly experiences a sense of estrangement from self, feelings of unreality, dreamlike states, and ego-dystonic bodily sensations, while reality testing remains intact, would best be diagnosed with what?
Depersonalization Disorder
Often diagnosed as Dissociative Disorder NOS, ________ is characterized by a person providing answers to questions that are close to the truth but not completely true.
Ganser’s Syndrome (aka syndrome of approximate answers)
People with ________ have repeated, powerful sexually arousing fantasies or urges to engage in sexual behaviors involving nonhuman objects, suffering/humiliation of self/partner, or children or other non-consenting partners, and the symptoms cause marked distress or impairment.
Paraphilias
This term refers to people who are sexually
aroused by wearing
clothing usually worn by the opposite sex.
Transvestism
The 4 stages of the Sexual Response Cycle are ________, characterized by sexual fantasies; ________, which entails feeling sexual pleasure and consequent physiological changes; ________, or the culmination of the sexual pleasure with release of sexual tension; and ________, consisting of general muscle relaxation and well-being.
Desire; excitement; orgasm; resolution
Affecting the Desire stage of the Sexual Response Cycle, ________ refers to absent/deficient sexual desires and ________ refers to extreme aversion to and avoidance of sexual contact.
Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder; Sexual Aversion Disorder
Conditions of the Excitement stage of the Sexual Response Cycle include ________, involving inadequate lubrication/swelling of the genitals and/or subjective lack of excitement, and ________, characterized by recurrent failure to attain or maintain an erection.
Female Sexual
Arousal Disorder; Male Erectile Disorder
What three conditions are parts of the orgasm stage of the Sexual Response Cycle?
Female Orgasmic Disorder, Male Orgasmic Disorder, and Premature Ejaculation
This term refers to vaginal muscle
contractions that make penile penetration difficult and painful.
Vaginismus
This term refers to
sexual pain this is not due to
Vaginismus (usually not in males).
Dyspareunia
________ is the most common sexual dysfunction in males, while ________ is the most common sexual dysfunction in females.
Premature Ejaculation; Orgasmic Disorder
As treatment for sexual disorders, ________ requires partners to touch and stroke each other’s naked bodies in a comfortable, relaxed setting, desensitizing the couple to anxiety cues usually encountered during sexual play.
Sensate focus
This is the most effective treatment for premature ejaculation- it involves one partner squeezing the penis of the aroused partner just before ejaculation, thus inhibiting ejaculation and promoting self-control.
Squeeze technique (aka “stop and start”)
What exercise involves women tightening pelvic floor muscles, as if to stop urinating, and is used to strengthen the perineum to prepare for pregnancy, treat incontinence, and enhance sexual pleasure?
Kegel exercise
A person whose experience of discomfort with their actual gender role and intense identification with the opposite gender causes functional impairment would receive what diagnosis?
Gender Identity Disorder
What is diagnosed when a person displays a sexual disorder that does not meet the criteria for a more specific sexual disorder, such as Ego-Dystonic Homosexuality?
Sexual Disorder NOS
________ are characterized by disturbances in the amount, quality, and timing of sleep.
Dyssomnias
A person experiencing ________ has trouble falling or staying asleep, or does not feel rested after a sufficient period of sleep, leading to marked distress of impaired functioning.
Insomnia
What is the diagnosis when functioning is impaired due to extreme sleepiness for at least 1 month, which has manifested as either prolonged sleep episodes or daytime sleepiness, not due to lack of sleep?
Hypersomnia
This disorder is characterized
by irresistible episodes of restorative sleep that occur nearly every day for a period of at least 3 months and either cataplexy or repeated intrusions of REM sleep.
Narcolepsy
Breathing-Related Sleep Disorders include ________ (episodes of breathing cessation), ________ (abnormally low or shallow breathing), and ________ (abnormal blood oxygen and carbon dioxide due to impaired ventilatory control).
Sleep apnea; hypopneas; hypoventilation
A person whose arousal increases at night but is
very tired during the day,
impairing work functionality, might be
diagnosed with this disorder.
Circadian
Rhythm Sleep Disorder
What disorders involve abnormal behavioral or physiological events during sleep or at the threshold between sleep and awakening?
Parasomnias
This disorder is characterized by repeated awakenings due to frightening dreams that usually involve threats to self-esteem, survival, or security, and causes significant distress or functional impairment.
Nightmare Disorder
A person who awakens suddenly, usually accompanied by a panicky scream, though has difficulty recalling the dream would receive what diagnosis?
Sleep Terror Disorder
This disorder is characterized by repeated episodes of elaborated behaviors that lead to leaving the bed and walking around, without the person being aware of the episode or remembering it later.
Sleepwalking Disorder
Impulse Control Disorders, characterized by failure to resist an impulse to perform a harmful act, include what?
Pathological Gambling, Pyromania, Kleptomania, Intermittent Explosive Disorder, and Trichotillomania
This is diagnosed when a person develops emotional or behavioral symptoms in reaction to an identifiable stressor/s within 3 months of the onset of the stressor/s; once the stressor is terminated, symptoms last less than 6 months.
Adjustment Disorder
The difference between ________ and ________ is the former refers to the misperception or misinterpretation of an actual stimulus, whereas the latter refers to false beliefs that are firmly held despite contradictory evidence (and do not represent beliefs widely accepted by one’s culture).
Illusions; delusions
What are sensory perceptions that seem real but occur without the presence of an external stimulus?
Hallucinations
A client who reports that certain
external events have a particular personal meaning would be demonstrating what type of symptom (e.g., belief that newscasters are talking directly to the client)?
Ideas of reference
This is a nervous system disorder that involves recurring seizures with no identifiable cause; it effects about .5% of the population.
Epilepsy
Once referred to as grand-mal seizures, ________ involve episodes of violent shaking, during which the person becomes blue and stiff, and can last up to an hour. After a seizure of this type, the person usually falls into a deep sleep.
Generalized tonic-clonic seizures
What types of seizures are
similar to tonic-clonic seizures, but are very brief
and not characterized by post-seizure deep sleep?
Generalized absence seizures (aka petit-mal)
A person undergoing this seizure appears confused and clumsy and is often mistakenly identified as intoxicated- the person may stare blankly, make chewing movements, and get up and walk around. They can occur in the temporal or frontal lobes.
Complex-partial seizures
Also known as Jacksonian seizures, ________ affect only one side of the body and involve an uncontrollable trembling or jerking of an arm or leg.
Simple partial seizures
What are caused by sustained contraction of muscles in the forehead, scalp, and neck, and is often experienced as a band being tightened around one’s head?
Tension headaches
What is the most commonly used modality of biofeedback treatment for tension headaches?
EMG biofeedback
Thought to be caused by
dilation and spasms of the cerebral blood vessels, ________ are experienced as intense throbbing, usually on one side of the head, and often accompanied by nausea and/or other gastrointestinal problems.
Migraine headaches
What is the most commonly used modality of biofeedback treatment for migraine headaches?
Thermal hand warming biofeedback (person trained to warm their hands)
High blood pressure that has an unknown cause is referred to as ________, whereas if the high blood pressure is the result of a known disorder it is called ________.
Essential hypertension; secondary hypertension
A woman’s experience of
irritability, depressed affect, fatigue, and nervousness a few days before her menstrual period starts is termed what?
Premenstrual
Syndrome (PMS)
What condition is characterized by a woman’s routine experience of 5 symptoms such as marked depression, hopelessness, affective lability, lethargy, and sleep disturbance (to name a few) during the last week of the luteal phase, with symptoms easing within a few days of the onset of menses and absent the week following menses?
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder
Selye, who studied reactions to stress, has described the ________, which is a set of characteristic responses over time under conditions of stress.
General Adaptation Syndrome
The three stages of General Adaptation Syndrome are ________, in which the body’s sympathetic arousal system is mobilized; with prolonged stress the ________ stage occurs, in which defenses are stabilized and symptoms disappear, but at a cost; the final stage, ________, results from prolonged resistance that leaves the body susceptible to organ failure or complete collapse.
Alarm reaction;
resistance;
exhaustion (remembered by acronym “ARE”)
A person with this type of personality is competitive, achievement oriented, highly involved with work, and is active and aggressive.
Type A
Friedman believes what four components comprise the pathogenic core of Type A behavior patterns?
Irritation, impatience, aggravation, and anger
What aspects of Type A behavior are more likely to increase the risk of heart attack?
Emotional and temperamental (anger, hostility), as opposed to behavioral (job involvement)
The ________, a comprehensive quality of life measure, is used to assess the impact of disease on a persons physical and emotional functioning.
Sickness Impact Profile (SIP)
What controversial PTSD treatment combines both CBT and client-centered approaches with lateral eye-movements, usually involving the client following the finger movements of the therapist?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
