Disorders Flashcards
Abnormal behavior (in history)
Evil spirits: the supernatural theory that abnormal behavior dictated you were a witch, a warlock, or needed an exorcism
Check your fluids: the biological theory that abmornal bodily fluids went along with abnormal behavior
Statistical frequency approach
The approach that behavior is abnormal if it occurs infrequently in relation to the behaviors of the general population
Social norms approach
The approach that behavior is abnormal if it deviated greatly from accepted social norms
Maladaptive behavior approach
The approach that behavior is abnormal if it interferes with the individual’s ability to function as a person or in society
Continuity hypothesis
States that abnormal behavior is just a more severe version of regular psychological problems
Discontinuity hypothesis
States that abnormal behavior is separate from your run-of-the-mill psychological problems; abnormal behavior is in a class all by itself
Psychopathology
Any pattern of emotions, behaviors, or thoughts an appropriate to the situation AND leads to personal distress or the inability to achieve important goals
Synonymous terms:
- mental illness
- mental disorders
- psychological disorders
Medical model
Mental disorders are linked to disease and therefore have symptoms that can be diagnosed and treated
Psychoanalytic approach
Mental disorders lie in unconscious conflicts or unresolved conflicts in a psychosexual stage
Cognitive-behavioral approach
Understands and treats mental disorders by looking at cognitive processing and learning conditioning
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
Currently DSM-V; Designed by the American Psychological Association in 1962, when men showed abnormal behavior after War, to use a uniform system for classifying mental disorders.
Insanity
Not a psychological term, but a legal one, Showing competent to stand trial, involuntary commitment, and determining verdicts by reason of insanity
Disorders
Generally characterized by a combination of abnormal thoughts perceptions emotions behavior and relationships with others. Can affect mood, thinking, and behavior.
Anxiety disorders
Psychological disorders that involve excessive levels of negative emotions like nervousness, attention, and worry.
Phobias
A phobia is an intense, unrealistic fear, in which the reaction is often out of proportion to the danger elicited by the object or situation.
Specific or simple phobias
An unreasonable fear caused by the presence of a particular situation or object. Known to cause mild or no danger, often develops during childhood and becomes less severe as the individual gets older.
Social phobia
An intense, persistent fear of being watched and judged by others.
Agoraphobia
An extreme or irrational fear of entering open or crowded places, of leaving one’s own home, or of being in places from which escape is difficult
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
Characterized by persistent and pervasive feelings of anxiety, without any external cause. Mild, but relentless.
Panic Attack Disorder
Sudden and repeated attacks of fear that have no connection to events in a person’s present experience.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
A disorder that develops in some people who have experienced or witnessed a shocking, scary, or dangerous event in which one feels intense fear, helplessness, or horror.
Tics
Unwanted involuntary movements, sounds, or twitches, such as exaggerated eye blinks, that people do repeatedly.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
A common, chronic, and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and/or behaviors (compulsions) that they feel the urge to repeat over and over.
Obsessions (OCD)
Persistent, reoccurring irrational thoughts that a person is unable to control and that interfere with normal everyday functioning.
Compulsions (OCD)
Irresistible impulses to perform some ritual over and over even though the ritual serves no rational purpose.
Compulsive hoarding
The acquisition of, and failure to discard, a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of no value.
TKS or Taijin Kyofusho
A common Japan-specific social phobia categorized by a morbid fear of offending others through one’s awkward social or physical behaviors.
Somatoform disorders
The appearance of real physical symptoms in an individual that cannot be accounted for by a medical or neurological diagnosis.
Conversion disorder
A mental condition in which a person has blindness, paralysis, or other nervous system (neurologic) symptoms that cannot be explained by a medical evaluation.
Hypochondriasis
Known as hypochondria, an obsession with the idea of having a serious but undiagnosed medical condition.
