Disorders

Question 1

Abnormal behavior (in history)

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Statistical frequency approach

Answer 2

The approach that behavior is abnormal if it occurs infrequently in relation to the behaviors of the general population

Question 3

Social norms approach

Answer 3

The approach that behavior is abnormal if it deviated greatly from accepted social norms

Question 4

Maladaptive behavior approach

Answer 4

The approach that behavior is abnormal if it interferes with the individual’s ability to function as a person or in society

Question 5

Continuity hypothesis

Answer 5

States that abnormal behavior is just a more severe version of regular psychological problems

Question 6

Discontinuity hypothesis

Answer 6

States that abnormal behavior is separate from your run-of-the-mill psychological problems; abnormal behavior is in a class all by itself

Question 7

Psychopathology

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Medical model

Answer 8

Mental disorders are linked to disease and therefore have symptoms that can be diagnosed and treated

Question 9

Psychoanalytic approach

Answer 9

Mental disorders lie in unconscious conflicts or unresolved conflicts in a psychosexual stage

Question 10

Cognitive-behavioral approach

Answer 10

Understands and treats mental disorders by looking at cognitive processing and learning conditioning

Question 11

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Insanity

Answer 12

Not a psychological term, but a legal one, Showing competent to stand trial, involuntary commitment, and determining verdicts by reason of insanity

Question 13

Disorders

Answer 13

Generally characterized by a combination of abnormal thoughts perceptions emotions behavior and relationships with others. Can affect mood, thinking, and behavior.

Question 14

Anxiety disorders

Answer 14

Psychological disorders that involve excessive levels of negative emotions like nervousness, attention, and worry.

Question 15

Phobias

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

Specific or simple phobias

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

Social phobia

Answer 17

An intense, persistent fear of being watched and judged by others.

Question 18

Agoraphobia

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Answer 19

Characterized by persistent and pervasive feelings of anxiety, without any external cause. Mild, but relentless.

Question 20

Panic Attack Disorder

Answer 20

Sudden and repeated attacks of fear that have no connection to events in a person’s present experience.

Question 21

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

Tics

Answer 22

Unwanted involuntary movements, sounds, or twitches, such as exaggerated eye blinks, that people do repeatedly.

Question 23

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

Obsessions (OCD)

Answer 24

Persistent, reoccurring irrational thoughts that a person is unable to control and that interfere with normal everyday functioning.

Question 25

Compulsions (OCD)

Answer 25

Irresistible impulses to perform some ritual over and over even though the ritual serves no rational purpose.

Question 26

Compulsive hoarding

Answer 26

The acquisition of, and failure to discard, a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of no value.

Question 27

TKS or Taijin Kyofusho

Answer 27

A common Japan-specific social phobia categorized by a morbid fear of offending others through one’s awkward social or physical behaviors.

Question 28

Somatoform disorders

Answer 28

The appearance of real physical symptoms in an individual that cannot be accounted for by a medical or neurological diagnosis.

Question 29

Conversion disorder

Answer 29

A mental condition in which a person has blindness, paralysis, or other nervous system (neurologic) symptoms that cannot be explained by a medical evaluation.

Question 30

Hypochondriasis

Answer 30

Known as hypochondria, an obsession with the idea of having a serious but undiagnosed medical condition.