Exam 1-PSY 320 Flashcards
Mental Hygiene Movement
Movement to treat mental patients more humanely and to view mental disorders as medical diseases.
Psychopathology
Symptoms that cause mental, emotional, and/or physical pain.
Continuum Model of Abnormality
Model of abnormality that views mental disorders not as categorically different from “normal” experiences but as lying somewhere along a continuum from healthy, functional behavior, thoughts, and feelings to unhealthy, dysfunctional behaviors, thoughts, and feelings.
Cultural Relativism
View that norms among cultures set the standard for what counts as normal behavior, which implies that abnormal behavior can only be defined relative to these norms and that no universal definition of abnormality is therefore possible; only definitions of abnormality relative to a specific culture are possible.
Unusualness
Criterion for abnormality that suggests that abnormal behaviors are rare or unexpected.
Distress
In defining abnormality, the view that behaviors should be considered abnormal only if the individual suffers distress and wishes to be rid of the behaviors.
Mental Illness
Phrase used to refer a physical illnesses that causes severe abnormal thoughts, behaviors, and feelings.
Biological Theories
Theories of abnormality that focus on biological causes of abnormal behaviors.
Supernatural Theories
Theories that see mental disorders as the result of super natural forces, such as divine intervention, curses, demonic possession, and/or personal sins; mental disorders then can be cured through religious rituals, exorcisms, confessions, and/or death.
Psychological Theories
Theories that view mental disorders as caused by psychological processes, such as beliefs, thinking styles and coping styles
Trephination
Procedure in which holes were drilled in the skulls of people displaying abnormal behavior, presumably to allow evil spirits to depart their bodies; performed in the Stone Age
Psychic Epidemics
Phenomena in which large numbers of people begin to engage in unusual behaviors that appear to have a psychological origin
Moral Treatment
Type of treatment delivered in mental hospitals in which patients were treated with respect and dignity and were encouraged to exercise self-control
General Paresis
Disease that leads to paralysis, insanity, and eventually death; discovery of this disease helped establish a connection between biological diseases and mental disorders
Mesmerism
Treatment for hysterical patients based on the idea that magnetic fluids in the patients’ bodies are affected by the magnetic forces of other people and objects; the patients’ magnetic forces are thought to be realigned by the practitioner through his or her own magnetic force.
Psychoanalysis
Form of treatment for psychopathology involving alleviating unconscious conflicts driving psychological symptoms by helping people gain insight into their conflicts and finding ways of resolving these conflicts.
Behaviorism
Study of the impact of reinforcements and punishments on behavior.
Cognitions
Thoughts or Beliefs
Self-efficacy beliefs
Beliefs that one can engage in the behaviors necessary to overcome a situation
Patient’s Rights Movement
Movement to ensure that mental patients retain their basic rights and to remove them from institutions and care for them in the community
Community Mental Health Centers
Institutions for the treatment of people with mental health problems in the community; may include teams of social workers, therapists, and physicians who coordinate care.
Halfway Houses
Living facilities that offer people with long-term mental health problems the opportunity to live in a structured, supportive environment while they are trying to reestablish employment and ties to family and friends.
Day Treatment Centers
Mental Health facilities that allow people to obtain treatment, along with occupational and rehabilitative therapies, during the day but to live at home at night.
Managed Care
Health care system I which all necessary services for an individual patient are supposed to be coordinated by a primary care provider; the goals are to coordinate services for an existing medical problem and to prevent future medical problems.
Theory
Set of assumptions about the likely causes of abnormality and appropriate treatments.
Biological Approach
View that biological factors cause and should be used to treat abnormality
Psychological Approach
Approaches to abnormality that focus on personality, behavior, and ways of thinking as possible causes of abnormality
Sociocultural Approach
Approach to psychopathology focusing on the role of the environment, stress, and culture in producing psychopathology
Biopsychosocial Approach
Approach to psychopathology that seeks to integrate biological, psychological, and social factors in understanding and treating psychopathology
Diathesis-Stress model
Models that assert that only when a diathesis or vulnerability interacts with a stress or trigger will a disorder emerge.
Cerebral Cortex
Part of the brain that regulates complex activities, such as speech and analytical thinking.
Thalamus
Structure of the brain that directs incoming information from sense receptors (such as vision and hearing) to the cerebrum.
Hypothalamus
Component of the brain that regulates eating, drinking, sex, and basic emotions; abnormal behaviors involving any of these activities may be the result of dysfunction in the hypothalamus
Limbic System
Part of the brain that relays information from the primitive brain stem about changes in bodily functions to the cortex, where the information is interpreted.
Amygdala
Structure of the limbic system critical to emotions such as fear.
Hippocampus
Structure of the brain involved in memory and in the stress response.
Neurotransmitter
Biochemicals, released from a sending neuron, that transmit messages to a receiving neuron in the brain and nervous system.
Synapse
Space between a sending neuron into which neurotransmitters are first released (also known as the synaptic gap)
Receptors
Molecules on the membranes of neurons to which neurotransmitters bind.
Reuptake
Process in which a sending neuron reabsorbs some of the neurotransmitter in the synapse, decreasing the amount left in the synapse.
Degradation
Process in which a receiving neuron releases an enzyme into the synapse, breaking down neurotransmitters into other biochemical.
Endocrine System
System of glands that produces many different hormones.
Hormone
Chemical that carries messages throughout the body, potentially affecting a person’s mood, level of energy, and reaction to stress.
Pituitary
Major endocrine gland that lies partly on the outgrowth of the brain and just below the hypothalamus; produces the largest number of different hormones and controls the secretions of other endocrine glands.
Behavior Genetics
Study of the processes by which genes affect behavior and the extent to which personality and abnormality are genetically inherited
Polygenics
Combination of many genes, each of which makes a small contribution to an inherited trait.
Epigenetics
Study of how environmental conditions can change the expression of genes without changing the gene sequence.
Antipsychotic Drug
Drugs used to treat psychotic symptoms, such as delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking.
Antidepressant Drugs
Drugs used to treat the symptoms of depression, such as sad mood, negative thinking, and disturbances of sleep and appetite; common types are tricyclics, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors.
Lithium
Drug used to treat manic and depressive symptoms.
Anticonvulsants
Drugs used to treat mania and depression
Antianxiety Drugs
Drugs used to treat anxiety, insomnia, and other psychological symptoms.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
Treatment for depression that involves the induction of a brain seizure by passing electrical current through the patient’s brain while he or she is anesthetized.
Psychosurgery
Rare treatment for mental disorders in which a neurosurgeon attempts to destroy small areas of the brain thought to be involved in a patient’s symptoms
Behavioral Approaches
Approaches to psychopathology that focus on the influence of reinforcements and punishments in producing behavior; the two core principles or processes of learning according to behaviorism are classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
Classical Conditioning
Form of learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus that naturally elicits a response, thereby making the neutral stimulus itself sufficient to elicit the same response.
Unconditioned Stimulus
In classical conditioning, stimulus that naturally elicits a reaction, as food elicits salivation in dogs.
Unconditioned Response
In classical conditioning, response that naturally follows when a certain stimulus appears, such as a dog salivating when it smells food.
Conditioned Response
In classical conditioning, response that first followed a natural stimulus but that now follows a conditioned stimulus.
Conditioned Stimulus
In classical conditioning, previously neutral stimulus that, through pairing with a natural stimulus, becomes sufficient to elicit a response.
Operant Conditioning
Form of learning in which behaviors lead to consequences that either reinforce or punish the organism, leading to an increased of a decreased probability of a future response
Modeling
Process of learning behaviors by imitating others, especially authority figures or people like oneself.
Observational Learning
Learning that occurs when a person observes the rewards and punishments of another’s behavior and then behaves in accordance with the same rewards and punishments
Behavioral Therapies
Psychotherapeutic approaches that focus on identifying the reinforcements and punishments contributing to a person’s maladaptive behaviors and on changing specific behaviors.
Systematic Desensitization Therapy
Type of behavior therapy that attempts to reduce client anxiety through relaxation techniques and progressive exposure to feared stimuli
Cognitive Theories
Theories that focus on belief systems and ways of thinking as the causes of abnormal behavior.
Cognitions
Thoughts or beliefs
Causal Attribution
Explanation for why an event occurred
Global Assumptions
Fundamental beliefs that encompass all types of situations.
Cognitive Therapies
Therapeutic Approaches that focus on changing people’s maladaptive thought patterns.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapies (CBT)
Treatment focused on changing negative patterns of thinking and solving concrete problems through brief sessions in which a therapist helps a client challenge negative thoughts, consider alternative perspectives, and take effective actions.
Psychodynamic Theories
Theories developed by Freud’s followers but usually differing somewhat from Freud’s original theories.
Psychoanalysis
Form of treatment for psychopathology involving alleviating unconscious conflicts driving psychological symptoms by helping people gain insight into their conflicts and finding ways of resolving these conflicts.
Catharsis
Expression of emotions connected to memories and conflicts, which, according to Freud, leads to the release of energy used to keep these memories in the unconscious.
Repression
Defense mechanism in which the ego pushes anxiety provoking material back into the unconscious
Libido
According to Freud, psychical energy derived from physiological drives.
Id
According to Freud, most primitive part of the unconscious; consists of drivers and impulses seeking immediate gratifications
Ego
Part of the psyche that channels libido to be acceptable to the superego and within the constraints of reality.
Superego
Part of the unconscious that consists of absolute moral standards internalized from one’s parents during childhood and from one’s culture
Unconscious
Area of the psyche where memories, wishes, and needs are stored and where conflicts among the id, ego, and superego are played out
Preconscious
According to Freud, area of the psyche that contains material from the unconscious before it reaches the conscious mind
Conscious
Refers to mental contents and processes of which we are actively aware.
Defense Mechanisms
Strategies the ego uses to disguise or transform unconscious wishes
Psychosexual stages
According to Freud, stages in the developmental process children pass through; in each stage, sex drives are focused on the stimulation of certain areas of the body, and particular psychological issues can arouse anxiety
Ego psychology
Branch of psychodynamic theory emphasizing the importance of the individual’s ability to regulate defenses in ways that allow healthy functioning within the realities of society
Object Relations
View held by a group of modern psychodynamic theorists that one develops a self-concept and appraisals of others in a four-stage process during childhood and retains them throughout adulthood; psychopathology consists of an incomplete progression though these stages or an acquisition of poor self- and other concepts
Collective Unconscious
According to Carl Jung, the wisdom accumulated by a society over hundreds of years of human existence and stored in the memories of individuals.
Psychodynamic Therapies
Therapies focused on uncovering and resolving unconscious conflicts that drive psychological symptoms.
Free Association
Method of uncovering unconscious conflicts in which the client is taught to talk about whatever comes to mind, without censoring any thoughts.
Resistance
In psychodynamic therapy, when a client finds it difficult or impossible to address certain material, the client’s resistance signals an unconscious conflict, which the therapist then tries to interpret
Transference
In psychodynamic therapies, the client’s reaction to the therapist as if the therapist were an important person in his or her early development; the client’s feelings and beliefs about this other person are transferred onto the therapist
Working Through
Method used in psychodynamic therapies in which the client repeatedly goes over and over painful memories and difficult issues as a way to understand and accept them.
Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
More structured, short-term version of psychodynamic therapies.
Humanistic Therapy
Type of therapy in which the goal is to help the client discover his or her place in the world and to accomplish self-actualization through self-exploration; based on the assumption that the natural tendency for humans is toward growth (also called person-centered therapy).
Self-actualization
Fulfillment of one’s potential for love, creativity, and meaning.
Humanistic Theories
Views that people strive to develop their innate potential for goodness and self-actualization; abnormality arises as a result of societal pressures to conform to unchosen dictates that clash with a person’s self-actualization needs and from an inability to satisfy more basic needs, such as hunger.
Client-Centered Therapy (CCT)
Carl Roger’s form of psychotherapy, which consists of an equal relationship between therapist and client as the client searches for his or her inner self, receiving unconditional positive regard and an empathic understanding from the therapist.
Reflection
Method of responding in which a therapist expresses his or her attempt to understand what the client is experiencing and trying to communicate.
Family Systems Theories
Theories that see the family as a complex system that works to maintain the status quo
Family Systems Therapy
Psychotherapy that focuses on the family, rather than the individual, as the source of problems; family therapists challenge communication styles, disrupt pathological family dynamics, and challenge defensive conceptions in order to harmonize relationships among all members and within each member.
Emotion-focused approaches
Theories of disorders that view poor regulation of emotions as being at the core of many types of psychopathology, including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and most of the personality disorders.
Primary Prevention
Prevention of the development of psychological disorders before they start.
Secondary Prevention
Detection of psychological disorders in their earliest stages and treatment designed to reduce their development.
Tertiary Prevention
Program focusing on people who already have a disease with the aim of preventing relapse and reducing the impact of the disease on the person’s quality of life.
Assessment
Process of gathering information about a person’s symptom and their possible causes.
Diagnosis
Label given to a set of symptoms that tend to occur together
Validity
Degree of correspondence between a measurement an the phenomenon under study
Reliability
Degree of consistency in a measurement–that is, the extent to which it yields accurate measurements of a phenomenon across several trials, across different populations, and in different forms.
Structured Interview
Meeting between a clinician and a client or a client’s associate(s) in which the clinician asks questions that are standardized and are usually designed to determine whether a diagnosis is warranted.
Symptom Questionnaire
Questionnaire that assesses what symptoms a person is experiencing
Personality Inventories
Questionnaires that assess people’s typical ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving; used to obtain information about people’s wellbeing, self-concept, attitudes and beliefs.
Behavioral Observation
Method for assessing the frequency of a client’s behaviors and the specific situations in which they occur
Self-monitoring
Method of assessment in which a client records the number of times per day that he or she engages in a specific behavior and the conditions surrounding the behavior.
Intelligence Tests
Tests that assess a person’s intellectual strengths and weaknesses
Neuropsychological Tests
Tests of cognitive, sensory, and/or motor skills that attempt to differentiate people with deficits in these areas from normal subjects.
Computerized Tomography (CT)
Method of analyzing brain structure by passing narrow X-ray beams through a person’s head from several angles to produce measurements from which a computer can construct an image of the brain.
Positron Emissions Test (PET)
Method of localizing and measuring brain activity by detecting photons that result from the metabolization of an injected isotope
Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT)
Procedure to assess brain functioning in which a tracer substance in injected into the bloodstream and then travels to the brain, where it can indicate the activity level of specific areas of the brain when viewed through a SPECT scanner.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Method of measuring both brain structure and brain function through the construction of a magnetic field that affects hydrogen atoms in the brain, emitting signals that a computer then records and uses to produce a three-dimensional image of the brain.
Psychophysiological Tests
Tests in which instruments are attached to the periphery of the body to record changes due to activity in the nervous system
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
Procedure in which multiple electrodes are placed on the scalp to detect low-voltage electrical current produced by the firing of specific neurons in the brain
