Key Words

Question 1

Classification of mental disorder

Answer 1

The process of organising symptoms into categories based on which symptoms frequently cluster together

Question 2

Schizophrenia

Answer 2

A severe mental disorder where contact with reality and insight are impaired, an example of psychosis

Question 3

Positive symptoms of schizophrenia

Answer 3

Atypical symptoms experienced in addition to normal experiences. They include hallucinations and delusions

Question 4

Hallucinations

Answer 4

A positive symptom of schizophrenia. They are sensory experiences that have either no basis in reality or are distorted perceptions of things that are there.

Question 5

Delusions

Answer 5

A positive symptom of schizophrenia. They involve beliefs that have no basis in reality, for example a person believes that they are someone else or that they are the victim of a conspiracy

Question 6

Negative symptoms of schizophrenia

Answer 6

Atypical experiences that represent the loss of a usual experience such as a loss of clear thinking or a loss of motivation

Question 7

Speech poverty

Answer 7

A negative symptom of schizophrenia. It involves reduced frequency and quality of speech

Question 8

Avolution

Answer 8

A negative symptom of schizophrenia. It involves loss of motivation to carry out tasks and results in lowered activity levels

Question 9

Co-morbidity

Answer 9

The occurrence of two disorders or conditions together, for example a person has both schizophrenia and a personality disorder. Where two conditions are frequently diagnosed together it calls into question the validity of classifying the two disorders separately.

Question 10

Symptom overlap

Answer 10

Occurs when two or more conditions share symptoms. Where conditions share many symptoms this calls into question the validity of classifying the two disorders separately

Question 11

Genetics

Answer 11

Genes consist of DNA strands. DNA produces ‘instructions’ for general physical features on an organism (such as eye colour, height) and also specific physical features (such as neurotransmitter levels and size of brain structures). These may impact on psychological features (such as intelligence and mental disorder). Genes are transmitted from parents to offspring, i.e. inherited

Question 12

Neural correlates

Answer 12

Patterns of structure or activity in the brain that occur in conjunction with an experience and may be implicated in the origins of that experience

Question 13

Dopamine

Answer 13

A neurotransmitter that generally has an excitatory effect and is linked to the sensation of pleasure. Unusually high levels are associated with schizophrenia and unusually low levels are associated with Parkinson’s disease

Question 14

Family dysfunction

Answer 14

Refers to processes within a family such as poor family communication, cold parenting and high levels of expressed emotion. These may be risk factors for both the development and maintenance of schizophrenia

Question 15

Cognitive explanations

Answer 15

Explanations that focus on mental processes such as thinking, language and attention

Question 16

Dysfunctional thought processing

Answer 16

Information processing that does not represent reality accurately and produces undesirable consequences

Question 17

Antipsychotics

Answer 17

Drugs used to reduce the intensity of symptoms, in particular the positive symptoms, of psychotic disorders like schizophrenia

Question 18

Typical antipsychotics

Answer 18

The first generation of drugs for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, having been used since the 1950s. They work as dopamine antagonists and include chlorpromazine

Question 19

Atypical antipsychotics

Answer 19

Drugs for schizophrenia (a psychotic disorder) developed after typical antipsychotics. They typically target a range of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, Examples include clozapine and risperidone

Question 20

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)

Answer 20

A method for treating mental disorders based on both cognitive and behavioural techniques. From the cognitive viewpoint the therapy aims to deal with thinking such as challenging negative thoughts. The therapy includes behavioural techniques

Question 21

Family therapy

Answer 21

A psychological therapy carried out with all or some members of a family with the aim of improving the communications within the family and reducing the stress of living as a family

Question 22

Token economies

Answer 22

A form of behavioural modification, where desirable behaviours are encouraged by the use of selective reinforcement. For example, people are given rewards (tokens) when they engage in socially desirable behaviours. The tokens are secondary reinforcers and can then be exchanged for primary reinforcers - food or privileges.

Question 23

Interactionist approach

Answer 23

A way to explain the development of behaviour in terms of a range of factors, including both biological and psychological ones. Most importantly such factors don’t simply add together but combine in a way that can’t be predicted by each one separately i.e. they interact

Question 24

Diathesis-stress model

Answer 24

An interactionist approach to explaining behaviour. For example schizophrenia is explained as the result of both an underlying vulnerability (diathesis) and a trigger (stressor), both of which are necessary for the onset of schizophrenia. In early versions of the diathesis-stress model, vulnerability was genetic and triggers were psychological. Nowadays both genes and trauma are seen as diatheses, and stress can be psychological or biological in nature