Exam Flashcards
<p>What is borderline personality disorder? How can it be viewed through the dimensional approach? How common is it? What is its major risk?</p>
<p>It is characterized by volatility, instability, and impulsivity relating to oneself, the world, and others. It is characterized by anxiety, fear, and deep insecurity. It can be seen in the dimensional approach as a disturbance in the self-other relationship (lack of clear borders), primarily, with unhealthy self-self relationship as well. The pathological trait at its heart is negative affectivity, and disinhibition. It is the most commonly diagnosed personality disorder: 1.6%-5.9% prevalence. Its major risk is injurious self-harm: suicide and non-suicidal self harm.</p>
<p>What is it important to keep in mind when diagnosing neurocognitive disorders?</p>
<p>That the person show deficits that are GREATER than those typically seen at a certain age.</p>
<p>What is the name of the personality disorder characterized by a persistent state of suspcion and mistrust of others without sufficient justification?</p>
<p>paranoid personality disorder. Cluster A</p>
<p>What are the causes of antisocial personality disorder? How to treat it?</p>
<p>Remember conduct disorder: gene-environment interactions. Strong abnormalities in brain regions associated with processing social information and fear. Underarousal hypothesis: low levels of cortisol leads to sensation ands timulation seeking. Fearlessness hypothesis: higher threshold for experiencing fear. Child-parent conflicts. Best to intervene early in childhood with treatment. CBT and cognitive therapy: learning new behaviours, and correct cognitive disotrtions, recognizing signs that norms are being violated, and teaching them about consequences of violating norms.</p>
<p>What are the difference between acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder?</p>
<p>acute stress disorder is short: symptoms persist for at least 3 days but not longer than 1 month after event, rather than persisting for longer than 1 month, as in PTSD. Also, acute stress disorder requires 9 symptoms from ANY of the symptom clusters, whereas PTSD needs at least 1 symptom from EACH of its clusters.</p>
<p>What are the social and sociocultural risk factors (causes) of trauma/stress-related disorders?</p>
<p>They are not having a social support network (especially during childhood), family trauma/conflict/maltreatment, and gender (woman are 2x more likely than men to develop trauma/stress-related disorders, which they think is caused by gender roles/socialization/age of trauamtic event exposure.</p>
<p>What are the main parts of the brain involved in threat-response and what do they do?</p>
<p>The thalamus acts as the sensory relay into higher brain regions, the amygdala acts as the alarm bell/highlighter that plays a part in the fast fear response, the hippocampus which is involved in memory and learning (such as retrieving relavent memories), the PFC which is involved in interpretation and planning, and the sensorimotor cortex which is involved in coordinating motor and sense functions needed for behaviour.</p>
<p>How should old age be factored into diagnosis?</p>
<p>Presentation of certain disorders can look different in old age. There are cohort effects, such that people experiencing anxiety might describe it in terms that seem to indicate it's much milder than it really is "im concerned" or "i'm fretting". Also, there disorders like depression might have more cognitive symptoms in old age (difficulty concentrating, or thinking), and might overlap with underlying medical conditions like vascular depression, which is cauesd by a restriction of blood flow to the brain.</p>
<p>What is the abstinence-violation effect?</p>
<p>It describes the catastrophization that occurs when you violate your abstinence from a drug. Ex: "I'm terrible and I can't do it ever, so I might as well take this since it's impossible."</p>
<p>What are the signs of a physical dependence? What are the signs of a psychological dependence?</p>
<p>Physical dependence is seen in 1.) Tolerance (need more to get same "buzz") 2.) Withdrawal (physical symptoms associated with substance being out of your system). Pyschological dependence is seen in 1.) Repeated use despite significant costs 2.) Compulsion (loss of control / desperation) 3.) Returning to the substance even after abstinence / getting clean.</p>
<p>What is the name of the disorder characterized by gaining sexual gratification by targeting prepubescent or early pubescent children?</p>
<p>Pedophilic disorder</p>
<p>What is the name of the disorder characterized by furtively touching unsuspecting strangers?</p>
<p>Frotteuristic Disorder</p>
<p>What are impulse-control disoders? Give some examples.</p>
<p>They addictions, basically, but to behaviours rather than substances. Example: Gambling Disorder, Kleptomania, Pyromania, Internet Gaming Disorder. Research suggests that the etiology is similar to substance-abuse.</p>
<p>What is Mild Neurocognitive Disorder?</p>
<p>It is a NEW disorder int he DSM-5, that targets the EARLY STAGES of cognitive decline, which DO NOT YET interfere with INDEPENDENCE in practical day-to-day life.</p>
<p>What is reverse tolerance?</p>
<p>It is when some people need less and less of a substance to experience its effects. Can happen in marijuana users.</p>
<p>What is a paraphilia?</p>
<p>It describes sexual arousal/gratification that comes from socially unacceptable and/or non-normative objects, situations, or individuals.</p>
<p>What is the name of the disorder characterized by gaining sexual gratification through cross-dressing?</p>
<p>Transvestic Disorder</p>
<p>What are the causes of borderline personality disorder? How to treat it?</p>
<p>The biological causes are genetic (trait impulsivity), as well as through difference in brain structure and function (there is reduced brain volume in some regeions that are involved with emotion regulation, and high reactivity in the brain in potentially threatening situations - cyberball experiment). The psychological causes are a host of negative cognitions: I am bad. the world sux. nothing is going to change, and I can't change, etc. The social causes invovle childhood abuse and neglect. Treatments involve medication for mood (antidepressents for depression/anxiety, lithium for mood swings, and aytpical antipsychotics maybe), psychotherapy (dialectical beahviour therapy!!! super effective for suicidality, specifically. also dynamic deconstructive therapy and transference-focused psychotherapy, which help people develop a healthy and coherenet sense of self.)</p>
<p>What's the named of the disorder characterized by strange patterns of behaviour addressed at delusionary themes, with normal behaving in other spheres?</p>
<p>Delusional Disorder</p>
<p>What is Dialectical behaviour therapy specifically good at addressing? What steps does it use?</p>
<p>Suicidality and self harm rooted in poor self image. Pretreatment step: improve therapeutic relationship. Stage 1: create stability in life. Stage 2: address trauma. Stage 3: create self-respect and self-worth.</p>
<p>What causes neurocognitve disorders?</p>
<p>All sorts of medical conditions and other conditions: Alzheimers, vascular disease, prion disease, Huntington's disease, HIV infection, Substance abuse, Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, Lewy body disease</p>
<p>What does the genetic perspective say about the etiology of schizophrenia?</p>
<p>Although no "schizophrenia" genes have been identified, several endophenotypes have been implicated. Furthermore, there is a strong genetic component, as expressed inthe prevalanece rates of schizophrenia among relatives in a family. The closer the familial relationship, the more likely there is a correlation of schizophrenia between them. Additionally, there are environmental/epigenetic causes.</p>
<p>What is the dimensional approach to personality disorders?</p>
<p>The dimensional approach says personality disorders are 1) a disturbance in the continuum of a healthy self COMBINED WITH 2) one or more pathological personality traits. The continuum of a healthy self is composed in relation to three relationships: self with self, self with others, self with world. A healthy self-world relationship is seen in: meaningful goal making consistent with identity, that is adaptive, and and self-corrective. A healthy self-self relationship is seen in: an identity that clearly distinguishes between itself, the world, and others, that extents through space and time, and that accurately reflects the truth about what one is. A health self-others relationship is seen in: interpersonal relationships that grow through two-way adaptive process that bring about the realization and flourishing of all parties, involving positive emotions and intimacy.</p>
<p>What is paranoid personality disorder? How can it be viewed through the dimensional approach?</p>
<p>It is characterized by a persistent state of suspicion and mistrust of others without sufficient justification because of the expectation of maltreatment or exploitation causing clinically significant distress or dysfunction. Dimensionally, this can be seen as a disturbance in the self-others and and potentially the self-world relationship, and involves the pathological trait of Detatchment and Negative Affectivity (suspiciousness)</p>
<p>What happens in the brain due to Alzheimer's Disease, and where?</p>
<p>There are two main problems which cause neurons to die, starting arounding the hippocampus and surrounding area: 1.) Twisted tangles of TAU (neurofibrillary tangles) inside cell eventually lead to death. TAU holds microtubules together, which provide platforms of intracellular transport, and structure to cells. These can even "infect" neighbor cells. 2.) Beta amyloid plaques (neuritic) aggregate in spaces between neurons. These are normally byproducts of metabolism that get cleaned away, but in alzheimers those enzymbes dont' do their job, eventually leading to "choking" the neurons, leading to death.</p>
<p>What's the difference between transgenderism and gender dysphoria?</p>
<p>Transgenderism involves an incongruence between one's gender and one's sex. Gender dysphoria involves an incongruence between one's gender and one's sex PLUS clinically significan distress and/or impairment.</p>
<p>Give an example of two depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, dissociate anesthetics, and multi-phasic (sub. with multiple effects).</p>
<p>depressants: alcohol (also multiphasic, initially it's a stimulant), opioids, sedatives // stimulants: caffeine, ampehtamines, cocaine // hallucinogens: LSD, salvia, mescaline, Psilocybin // dissociative anesthetics: PCP (phenylcyclohexyl piperidine), Ketamine // Multi-phasic Substances: Nicotine/Cannabis/Inhalants/Ecstasy (MDMA), GHB (gamma hydroybutyrate)</p>
<p>What's the name of the disorder characterized by having at least 1 psychotic symptom for more than a day and less than a month?</p>
<p>Brief Psychotic disorder</p>
<p>What brain structure/functioning changes do we see in older adults?</p>
<p>Volume reduction in hippocampus and PFC, affecting memory and executive control. In terms of functioning, there is also increased default network "stuckness"—have a hard time attending to the world. Also, oldder adults show signs of compensation: they recruit more brain parts to do the same tasks compared to younger individuals.</p>
<p>What characterizes dependent personality disorder? How can it be viewed through the dimensional approach? What are its causes, and therefore, how is it treated?</p>
<p>It is characterized by extreme lack of self-confidence leading to desparate need to rely on others to take care of you, and a fear of abandonment that manifests as submissiveness. It can be seen in the dimensional approach as a disturbance in the self-other relationship, self-world, as well as the self-self relationship. The pathological trait at its root is Negative Affectivity. It is thought to be caused by learning mechanisms (rewarded for dependence, punished for independence), combined with distorted cognitions about the self. It is therefore treated through gradual development of confidence.</p>
<p>How is gender dysphoria displayed throughout the lifespan?</p>
<p>In children, it might look like differences in play behaviour: who the child plays with, and with what kind of toys (preference for one, rejection of the other). In adults, the diagnostic criteria includes internal experiences of one's gender, desire to change their gender, feelings about their relationship to the world. So, the criteria looks different across the lifespan.</p>
<p>What is antisocial personality disorder? How is it distinguished from psychopathy? How can it be viewed through the dimensional approach?</p>
<p>It is characterized by pervasive patterns of disregard for others and norms, occuring since age 15, although not diagnosable until age 18. Is is preceded by conduct disorder. It can be distinguished from psychopathy in that APD is in the DSM-5 (not psychopathy), it is characterized by behaviours (as opposed to psychopathy, which is characterized by what's going on inside a person - calousness, impulsivity, lack of empathy, etc.). It can be seen in the dimensional approach as a disturbance in the self-other relationship, primarily, with unhealthy self-self relationship as well. The pathological trait at its heart is antagonism, and disinhibition.</p>
<p>What do dissociative anesthetics do?</p>
<p>They produce hazy, dream-like states characterized by dissociation, i.e. detachment.</p>
<p>When/how do individuals with paraphilic disorders get treatment?</p>
<p>They usually don't seek treatment. If they do, it's at the behest of the court, a spound/partner, or when the person seeks treatment due to fears/anxiety of acting on their urges/impulses. Sometimes medication is used like SSRIs to reduce sexual drive, but they're not often very effective. Behaviour approaches focus on extinction or aversive conditioning, while reinforcing appropriate sexual behaviours. There's also attempts made to improve appropriate social skills. CBT is also used, and focuses on how a person think/behaves in the company of others, and aims to modify them to be adaptive.</p>
<p>What is the name of the disorder characterized by eating non-foods? regurgitating and rechewing food? severely avoiding/restricting certain foods? What is the name of the class of disorder these three can fit into?</p>
<p>Pica. Rumination Disorder. Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. CLASS: Feeding Disorders.</p>
<p>What are the psychological causes, generally, of sexual disfunctions? What about the sociocultural? What does self determination theory have to say about this?</p>
<p>PSYCHOLOGICAL: stress in relationships and quality/intimacy of/satisfaction with relationship // abuse, especially in childhood // perfomance anxiety // self-conscious, especially in relation to one's body - 30% of women report issues here affect their sex, with 51% report hiding parts of their body // maladaptive cognitions: prohibitive beliefs, expectancies, catastrophizing, etc. // psychological conditions/disorders: depression, anxiety, etc. SOCIOCULTURAL: nature of relationship (intimacy, care, amount of conflict/resentment), gender/cultural scripts (MALES: potency related to status in some cultures // FEMALES: sexual restraint related to status in some cultures) Self Determination Theory says that sex is most satisfactory when we fulfill the needs of AUTONOMY, COMPETENCY, and AFFILIATION.</p>
<p>What are the biological causes, generally, of sexual disfunctions?</p>
<p>Often they are related to lifestyles. Cardiovascular issues, medical conditions and some medications (cardiovascular medications or antidepressents such as SSRIs), alcohol and nicotine, obesity/lack of exercise.</p>
<p>What is the name of the disorder characterized by gradual cognitive decline that does interferes with daily functioning?</p>
<p>major neurocognitve disorder (previously labelled dementia)</p>
<p>What are the 4 (5) phases of the human sexual response cycle? What broadly characterizes each phase?</p>
<p>According to Masters & Johnson, they are 0.) The Desire Phase (not in masters & johnson's theory) 1.) EXCITEMENT Phase (Increase in bloodflow to genitals (vasocongestion), increase muscle tension throughout body (myotonia), increased sensitivity leading to pleasure. 2.) PLATEAU (decreased attention to irrelevant stimuli - the feeling that orgasm is inevitable is tightly focused on. increase in heart rate and breathing.) 3.) ORGASM (Contraction of muscles in the genitals and the rest of the body) 4.) RESOLUTION: (decrease blood flow to the genitals (reduction in vasocongestion), reduction muscle tension in genitals and rest of body (reduction in myotonia))</p>
<p>What happens in neurocognitive disorder due to frontotemporal lobar degeneration? What are its symptoms, and what are they associated with?</p>
<p>There is a loss of neuronal mass in the frontal and temporal areas. Associated with frontal losses, are changes in behaviour, personality, social skills (ex: impulsivity, apathy, loss of empathy, overeating, stereotyped behavioural patterns). Associated with temporal damage, is increasing dificulties with fluent speach or word meaning.</p>
<p>What is lewy body disease? What does neurocognitive disease disorder due to lewy body disease look like?</p>
<p>Lewy bodies are abnormal bundles of proteins found INSIDE the neuron, which leads to Lewy Body Dementia characterized by: parkinson's-like symptoms, alterations in attention and alertness (wherewithall), visual hallucinations, impaired mobility. IMPORTANTLY: language and memory usually remain intact.</p>
<p>What is the name of the disorder characterized by gaining sexual gratification by being humiliated, made to suffer, or made to feel helpless?</p>
<p>sexual masochism disorder</p>
<p>What characterizes Bulimia Nervosa? What causes binges? What are its risks? When does it usually develop? What distinguishes bulimia from anorexia nervosa?</p>
<p>Bulimia Nervosa is characterized by binge-eating (which is compulsive, i.e. subject lacks control) followed by compensatory behaviour, such as fasting/purging/extreme exercise/or laxative/diuretic use. The binges are often characterized by interpersonal stressors, such as those found in relationships. There are many physical complications, such as dehydration and electrolyte imbalances, tooth enamel erosion, salivary gland swelling. excessive laxative use can lead to odema: swelling of tissue due to fluid aggregation. It usually develops in late adolescence/early adulthood. Bulimics have normal body weight, and their bingeing episodes are actually characterized by eating A LOT of food, not just a relatively high amount of food (anorexics call their eating binges even though the quantity is relatively low).</p>
<p>What do all treatments that target sexual dysfunction have in common?</p>
<p>They all involve psychoeducation.</p>
<p>Describe roughly how a threatening stimulus activates the bodies HPA axis and sympathetic nervous system, and describe the regulatory mechanisms built into the response. What roles do epinephrine and cortisol play?</p>
<p>A threat is detected, which is processed cortically and then the amygdala fires in response. This triggers the hypothalamus to release corticotrophin releasing hormone (CRH). This, however, can be inhibited by the hippocampus if relavent memories/learning apply to the situation. The CRH tells the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) which binds to the adrenal glands on the kidneys, which then release cortisol and epinephrine. The hypothalamus can also use the sympathetic nervous system to tell the adrenal glands to release epinephrine directly, without going through the pituitary gland signalling process. Cortisol increases glucose supply, enhances the use of glucose by your brain, and suppresses immune system's inflammator response. Epinphrine also releases glucose, but acts primarily on your cardiovascular system (heart, lungs and vasculature) to prepapre for movement. There is a negative feedback loop from the adrenal glands to the pituitary gland and to the hypothalamus mediated by cortisol. This causes less ACTH and CRH to be released and REDUCES the stress reponse. There is also a positive feedback loop from the adrenal gland to the pituitary gland to release ACTH mediated by epinephrine, which INCREASES the stress response.</p>
<p>What is the disorder characterized by little or no sexual activity in imagination or reality, causing significant distress and/or impairment, that has been present for at least 6 months in MALES? and in females?</p>
<p>In MALES: Male hypoactive sexual desire disorder. // FEMALES: Female sexual interest/arousal disorder.</p>
<p>What role does the cortex play in addiction?</p>
<p>The PFC helps regulate the reward circuit (VTA-NAc), but in addiction is not able to. Additionally, the cortex plays an important role in expectancies (PFC and Orbitofrontal. The cingulate gyrus plays an important role in learning (tied closely to the limbic system, i.e. hippocampus and amygdala), emotional processing, and and memory.</p>
<p>What is the estimated approximate prevalence of Alzheimer's disease in 2030? What is the symtpom course?</p>
<p>It is expected to be 13.8%. The symptom course begins by initial memory and learning problems that worsen. You get irritability, and social withdrawal, along with aphasia, apraxia, agnosia, anomia. You also see difficulties with planning, organizaing, sequencing, or abstracting information. The early signs are often missed by professionals.</p>
<p>During what age range is binging most prevalent? Why is binge drinking so dangerous?</p>
<p>21-29, but especially 21-25. Rapid consumptoin of alcohol can lead to alcohol poisoning, which (b/c of major CNS depression), might cause you to stop breathing, cause a coma, or kill you outright.</p>
<p>What are the systems (loose) that respond to stress inside the mind and body?</p>
<p>There is the brain response, hormonal response, autonomic nervous system reponse, immune response, cognitive response, behaviour response, and emotional response.</p>
<p>What is male hypoactive sexual desire disorder?</p>
<p>Characterized by little or no sexual activity in imagination or reality, causing significant distress and/or impairment, that has been present for at least 6 months.</p>
<p>What is the name of the disorder characterized by inflicting suffering to gain sexual gratification?</p>
<p>sexual sadism disorder</p>
<p>What does the cognitive perspectives say about the etiology of schizophrenia? Give an important example of a difference in processing between people with schizophrenia and healthy individuals.</p>
<p>The cognitive perspective says that people with schizophrenia show important differences in attention, working memory, and perception measures. An example speaking to this difference is in the Charlie Chaplin mask illusion. In healthy individuals, top-down processing overrides bottom-up processing so that the mask appears concave even though it should appear convex. In people with schizophrenia, bottom-up processing dominates, so the mask appears to be concave. This shows difficiencies in top-down processing of sensory stimuli.</p>
<p>In the context of substance abuse, what are the levels of involvement?</p>
<p>Starting from the lowest: 1.) Substance use (ingestion of psychoactive substance in amounts that don't cause impairments of functioning) 2.) Intoxication (injesting enough of a psychoactive substance in order to impair judgement, cause mood disturbances, or cause dificiency in motor ability) 3.) Substance Abuse (repititive behaviour of substance use that causes significant impairments in functioning) 4.) Substance Dependence / Addiction (Compulsive substance-seeking behaviour, loss of control, distress when substance is unobtainable. Involves both a psychological and physical dependence.)</p>
<p>What are the 6 common themes of delusions?</p>
<p>Grandeur (I'm great or famous), Persecution (others are plotting against me), Control (Something else is trying to take control of me), Reference (The world secretly revolves around me), Thought Broadcasting (Other people are listening to my thoughts), Thought Withdrawal/Insertion (Someone/something is removing/inserting thoughts from my mind). The latter 3 are called "Delusions of Influence".</p>
<p>What is schizoid personality disorder? How can it be viewed through the dimensional approach?</p>
<p>It is characterized by a pervasive detatchment from social relationships, and a inhibited/restricted range of emotion, causing clinically significant distress or impairment. Individuals come off as cold, or uninterested. This involves disturbances in the self-other relationship, and the pathological trait of Detachment and Negative Affectivity (restricted affectivity).</p>
<p>Which researchers conducted the early work on human sexuality? Briefly describe their work.</p>
<p>Kiney's early work sampled people's sexual behaviour and revealed how people had sex, that women were interested, that people had sex outside of committed relationships, and that homosexuality was relatively common. This was surprising at the time. Masters & Johnson invited uninhibited people to perform sexual acts in their lab, either masturbating or with more people. They reportedly witnessed over 4000 orgasms. From this was born their theories about the sexual response cycle.</p>
<p>How is adaptation and allostasis though about vis-a-vis the autonomic nervous system?</p>
<p>Allostasis is brought about via the parasympathetic nervous system, where as adaptation is brought about via the sympathetic branch.</p>
<p>What kind of abnormalities do we see in the endophenotypes more likely found among schizophrenics?</p>
<p>We see more motor and physical anomalies, metabolic abnormalities (how cells use glucose), neuropsychological abnormalities, neuromotor abnormalities (smooth pursuit problems—how eyes track something moving), sensory processing abnormalities (EEGs are diff)</p>
<p>What are the ABCs of self-control strategies in substance-abuse treatment?</p>
<p>They are: control the ANTECEDENTS: What are my triggers and how do I avoid/remove them. control the BEHAVIOURS: don't walk by the liquor store, replace behaviours (chew gum when craving hits), buy one beer at a time, hide your matches in somewhere annoying. control the CONSEQUENCES: reward nonuse behaviour and punish use behaviour. swtich to a branch of beer/cigarrettes that aren't your favourite. Reminding yourself of the benefits/downside of the quitting/continuing.</p>
<p>What are the psychological causes of trauma/stress-related disorder and what are its risk-factors?</p>
<p>From the learning perspective, there is conditioning. The traumatic event is an unconditioned stimuli, and all the things that become triggers associated with it become conditioned stimuli. Additionally, there is negative reinforcement which can trap people in cycles of avoiding the stimuli that trigger them. There is also cognitive AND learning generlization, which can expand the triggering stimuli further. Risk factors include pre-existing conditions like anxiety or depression, negative emotions like anger/hositility, and negative cognitive styles like those seen in mood disorders (beliefs about myself, world, the future, overgeneralization, personlization, black or white thinking, etc.)</p>
<p>What characterizes Binge-Eating Disorder? How is it (dis)similar to bulimia? What are its risks? When does it usually develop?</p>
<p>Binge-eating disorder is characterized by a loss of control over ones eating behaviours leading to the injestion of large quantities of food. Unlike in bulimia, there is no compensatory behaviour. This can lead to obesity, which is where the primary health risks are, however, psychologically it can be uncomfortable due to feelings of disomfort (from being disgustingly full), shame, loss of control, embarrassment. It usually develops in late adolescence/early adulthood like in bulimia.</p>
<p>What are cluster A, B, C personality disorders?</p>
<p>Cluster A is made paranoid, schizoid, and schizotypal personality disorder. This cluster is characterized by difficulty interacting socially, and thoughts that don't line up with reality. Cluster B is on the opposite end of cluster A's limited affective expression: narcissistic, histrionic, antisocial, and borderline personality disorder. These disorder are characterized by highly emotional and unpredictable behaviours. Cluster C personality disorders are about fear and/or anxiety: avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.</p>
<p>What is a psychosis?</p>
<p>It is a loss of contact with reality.</p>
<p>What is the mesocortical pathway, and what role does it play in addiction?</p>
<p>They mesocortical pathway connects dopaminergic cell bodies in theVTA extensively to the cortex, especially the frontal lobe, including the PFC and the cingulate gyrus. The PFC is involved in impulse control, executive function, and decision making. The cingulate gyrus is part of the limbic system, and plays an important role in memory formation, learning, and emotional processing. The PFC in turn projects back to the VTA. It is thought that dopamine disregulation in the VTA and NAc causes the PFC to be unable to regulate dopamine release. That, combined with the increased emotionality and compulsiveness (cingulate gyrus?)</p>
<p>What are the biological causes of eating disorders?</p>
<p>Genetic: there is a relatively moderate to strong heritability, often involving genes related to serotonin and dopamin regulation. Pubertal weight gain: people that put on a lot of weight at puberty have a higher incidence of eating disorders. Disregulation is grehlin (more causes more hunger) and leptin (more causes more satiation). brain differences revolving around endogenous opiods which are involved in positive reinforcement after binges, which cause that euphoria brought about by them.</p>
<p>Generally, what are the psychological treatments for sexual disfunctions?</p>
<p>They always involve psychoeducation. They often concentrate anxiety reduction (mindfulness, tackling expectancies, CBT for distorted thinking process), relaxation technques (for genito-pelvic pain, for instance), and communication training. Therapies often invovle structured behaviour exercises that involve graded tasks that gradually increase the intensity/quality of sexual interaction. For example: for genito-pelvic pain, you might start by learning to masturbate, then work your way up to stimulation using just one finger, then something larger. For premature ejaculation, you might learn to start slow, and pay attention to how close you are to climax so you can stop and squeeze. For performance anxiety, you might begin by stipulating the sexual interaction without any performance goals, such as beginning by just touch, then just genital touch, then play, but without any goals, etc. working your way up.</p>
<p>What are the treatments for acute stress disorder and PTSD?</p>
<p>They are medication, usually SSRIs and SNRIs (which themselves are not very helpful <6%), but you might also get anxiolotics, mood stabilizers, and prazosin (reduces nightmares). Psychologically there is psychotherapy: CBT and Trauma-focused CBT, which involves psychoeducation (what is PTSD?), helping individual challenge negative cognitive styles vis-a-vis their PTSD, helping people find solutions to their practical problems to counter helplessness, as well as exposure to trauma-related stimuli, and coping techniques like mindfulness. There is also Prologned Exposure Therapy, which involves exposure to trauma-related stimuli in-person or in imagination, to create extinction of learning.</p>
<p>What is adjustment disorder? How can it be distinguished from other trauma/stress-related disorders?</p>
<p>It is characterized by severe reactions in response to a identifiable stressor within the 3 months before the onset of symptoms. The reaction is one of anxiety/depression in addition to impairing behaviour changes. Important to distinguishing this from other trauma/stress-related disorders is that it be related to a specified stressor, so that the onset corresponds to the stressor, and the symptoms go away/reduce dramatically when the consequences of the stressor go away.</p>
<p>What is the name of the disorder characterized by gaining sexual gratification through inanimate objects or nongenital body parts?</p>
<p>Fetishistic Disorder</p>
<p>What is the dopamine-glutamate hypothesis? What's going on in the brain in relation to this hypothesis?</p>
<p>Glutamate regulates dopamine activity in the brain. In the frontal cortex, normally, glutamate increases dopamine signalling, but b/c there's not enough glutamate there in schizophrenia, and b/c dopamine there increases cell firing, there's both underactivity in cell firing and dopamine. On the other hand, in the basal ganglia, glutamate still promotes cell firing, but dopamine inhibits it. Because there's not enough glutamate, there's dopamine overactivity, causing an inhibition of cell firing. So dopamin isn't doing what it's supposed to because glutamate isn't correctly regulating it.</p>
<p>What are the three main medication treatments for substance-abuse?</p>
<p>They are: AGONIST SUBSTITUTION (like methadone): this creates a similar affect, but is safer. downside: you can become addicted to this new substance. ANTAGONIST: take something that blocks the effects of the drug you're taking (ex: Naltrexone) These often act by binding to the receptor sites drugs work on. Lastly, AVERSIVE TREATMENT: this creates extinction by producing a aversive sensation/effect when the drug is ingested (ex: Disulfiram)</p>
<p>In the context of stress, what is adaptation, allostasis, and allostatic load?</p>
<p>Adaptation is the internal and behavioural response needed to address a threat/challenge that uses up resources. Allostasis describes the processes that bring about adaptation to stress, as well as those the down-regulate that adaptation when the stress no longer exists. "Allo" means "variable" and stasis means "standing still". The idea is that we make large changes to get ahead of stresses to maintain our homeostasis. Allostatic load is the wear and tear put on the body in the process of going about with allostasis, i.e. meeting the stressors of the world.</p>
<p>What are the causes of substance-related disorders? What about personality?</p>
<p>They are genetic (like gene influencing alcohol breakdown enzyme (ALDH), or those affecting dopamin receptors) and epigenetic. There are biological factors that involve the nature and function of the reward circuit (NAc), as well as dopamine activity. A MAJOR lense to see the cause of addiction is through the learning model. Think OPERANT and CLASSICAL CONDITIONING (as well as OBSERVATIONAL). Think about how cues prompt addiction, how euphoria is a positve reinforcer, how the reduce of stress/anxiety/withdrawal symptoms is a negative reinforcer. From the cognitive perspective, positive expectancies play a large role, as do maladaptive coping strategies/beliefs about the self, etc. From a personality perspective, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN ADDICTIVE PERSONALITY, however, there ARE personality traits associated with an increased risk of substance-related disorders. Personality traits associated: rebeliosness, risk-taking, impulsivity. From a social and sociocultural perspective, culture plays an important roll. Family and friend attitudes are huge. Childhood maltreatment, and victimization play important roll. Also going back to observational learning, models in environment model behaviour and normalize behaviours and beliefs. Another important cause, is timing of first use - the earlier the worse. Also, the addictive potential of the substance.</p>
<p>What is the second most frequent cause of neurocognitive disorders after Alzheimers? What are the proximate and distal causes?</p>
<p>Nerucognitive disorder due to vascular diease. Atherosclerosis is a thickening of arteries that narrows them and reduces blood flow, which can lead to brain damage. This can be a one-time thing (as in a stroke, which causes numbness in the face/arm, confusion, trouble speaking, walking dizziness etc.) or a gradual thing. This ist he proximate cause. The distal cause is obviously lifestyle factors.</p>
<p>What cognitive ability does not decline with age? Which do?</p>
<p>Vocabulary basically doesn't decline with age. Perceptual speed (ex: quickly comparing patterns), Episodic Memory, Spatial Visualization (ex: rotating something in your mind), and Reasoning declines with age</p>
<p>What characterizes fetishistic disorder and transvestic disorder? What is common between them?</p>
<p>Both diagnoses require a paraphilia that has lasted at least 6 months + impairment/distress and/or risk of harm to others. Additionally, they're both involve non-human objects for sexual gratification. Fetishistic disorder is when sexual impulses are targeted at inanimate objects, or nongenital body parts (partialism) (in imagination or reality). Transvestic disorder is when sexual gratification is targeted at cross-dressing (in imagination or reality)</p>
<p>What are the causes of personality disorders, generally, and what does the treatment appraoch involve?</p>
<p>The causes are genetics (40%-60% heritable) and environemental: early abuse, upbringing. Because personality disorders are very difficult to treat, treatment must involve: structure (coordinated approach to treatment applied at many levels), treatment alliance (a secure positive relationship with a therapist/clinician/doctor), consistency (regularity to create habits and dependibility), Validation (accept as true and sensical the feelings others have, but don't necessarily endorse or support them), Motivation (create in them a desire to change), Metacognition (create in them tools to analyze their own thoughts and behaviours).</p>
<p>According to the DSM, what is delayed ejaculation disorder and premature ejaculation disorder? What are their prevalence rates?</p>
<p>Delayed ejaculation is a disorder characterized by in ability to ejaculate or long delays to achieve ejaculation which causes distress at least 3/4 of the time. DSM is not clear about what a "delay" is. Its prevalence is <1%. Premature ejaculation is a disorder characterized by a male cumming in 1 minute or less AND distress about that fact. By this strict definition, only 1-3% of men meet this criteria, but if its loosened a bit, 21-30% of men meet this criteria. For both of these these disruptions need to be persistent, and last for at least 6 months AND cause distress/impairment.</p>
