PS101 full list of terms -review Flashcards
vagus nerve stimulation
: a procedure in which an implanted device sends electrical signals to the brain through the vagus nerve; used to treat severe depression.
Trephining
prehistoric practice of chipping a hole in the skull as a treatment for various brain conditions.
treatment or therapy
systematic procedures designed to change abnormal behaviour into more normal behaviour.
Transference
process through which clients come to act and feel toward the therapist as they did toward important figures in their childhood
transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
a procedure in which an electromagnetic coil placed on or above a person’s head sends a current into the prefrontal cortex; used to treat severe depression.
token economy
operant conditioning therapy program in which participants receive tokens (that can be traded for rewards) when they display desired behaviours.
Therapy outcome studies
research that looks at the effects of various treatments.
social skills training
behavioural therapy technique in which therapists serve as models and teachers to help clients acquire desired social behaviours.
self-help groups
groups consisting of people who have similar problems and come together to help and support one another without the direct leadership of a professional clinician.
Resistance
practice in which clients encounter a block in their free associations or change the subject to avoid a potentially painful discussion.
relational psychoanalytic therapy
a school of psychodynamic therapy holding that therapists should work to form more equal relationships with clients.
rational-emotive behavioural therapy
Ellis’s therapy technique designed to help clients discover and change the irrational assumptions that govern their emotions, behaviours, and thinking.
psychotropic drugs
medications that act primarily on the brain.
Psychotherapy
a treatment system in which a client and therapist use words and acts to overcome the client’s psychological difficulties.
Psychosurgery
brain surgery often used in hopes of relieving abnormal functioning.
mood stabilizing drugs
psychotropic drugs that help stabilize the moods of people suffering from bipolar disorder.
Lobotomy
surgical practice of cutting the connections between the frontal lobe and the lower centres of the brain.
individual therapy
psychotherapy format in which the therapist sees the client alone; the oldest of the modern formats.
group therapy
psychotherapy format in which a therapist sees several clients at the same time.
gender-sensitive or feminist therapies
approaches that seek to address the unique pressures of being female.
free association
psychodynamic therapy technique of allowing clients to freely talk about whatever they want.
family therapy
a format in which therapists meet with all members of a family to help the whole family to change.
empirically supported or evidence-based treatment movement
movement to help clinicians become more familiar with and apply research findings concerning the effectiveness of particular treatments.
electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
use of electric shock to trigger a brain seizure in hopes of relieving abnormal functioning.
deep brain stimulation
a procedure in which implanted electrodes deliver constant low stimulation to a small area of the brain; used to treat severe depression, Parkinson’s disease, and epilepsy.
culture-sensitive therapies
approaches that seek to address the unique issues faced by members of cultural minority groups.
couple therapy or marital therapy
therapy format in which a therapist works with two people who are in a long-term relationship.
community mental health treatment
treatment programs that emphasize community care, including an emphasis on prevention.
cognitive therapy
Beck’s cognitive therapy technique designed to help clients recognize and change their dysfunctional thoughts and ways of thinking.
Catharsis
reliving of past repressed feelings as a means of settling internal conflicts and overcoming problems.
biological therapy
the use of physical and chemical procedures to help people overcome psychological difficulties.
aversion therapy
therapy designed to help clients to acquire anxiety responses to stimuli that the clients have been finding too attractive.
antipsychotic drugs
psychotropic drugs that help correct grossly confused or distorted thinking.
Antidepressant drugs
psychotropic drugs that lift the mood of depressed people.
antianxiety drugs
psychotropic drugs that reduce tension and anxiety.
somatic symptom and related disorders
excessive thought, feelings, and behaviours related to somatic symptoms.
Schizophrenia
a mental disorder characterized by disorganized thoughts, lack of contact with reality, and sometimes hallucinations.
social anxiety disorder
an anxiety disorder in which people feel severe, persistent, and irrational fears of social or performance situations in which embarrassment may occur.
risk factors
biological and environmental factors that contribute to problem outcomes.
Resilience
the ability to recover from or avoid the serious effects of negative circumstances.
Psychosis
loss of contact with reality.
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
an anxiety disorder in which fear and related symptoms continue to be experienced long after a traumatic event.
positive symptoms
in the case of schizophrenia, symptoms that seem to represent pathological excesses in behaviour, including delusions, disorganized thinking and speech, hallucinations, and inappropriate affect.
personality disorder
an inflexible pattern of inner experience and outward behaviour that causes distress or difficulty with daily functioning.
negative symptoms
in the case of schizophrenia, symptoms that seem to reflect pathological deficits, including poverty of speech, flat affect, loss of volition, and social withdrawal.
Multifinality
the idea that children can start from the same point and wind up at any number of different outcomes.
loose associations or derailment
a common thought disorder of schizophrenia, characterized by rapid shifts from one topic to another.
International Classification of Diseases (ICD)
the system used by most countries to classify psychological disorders; published by the World Health Organization and currently in its 10th edition (ICD-10).
generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
an anxiety disorder in which people feel excessive anxiety and worry under most circumstances.
family systems theory
a theory holding that each family has its own implicit rules, relationship structure, and communication patterns that shape the behaviour of the individual members.
Equifinality
the idea that different children can start from different points and wind up at the same outcome.
dissociative disorder
a psychological disorder characterized by major loss of memory without a clear physical cause; types include dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, and dissociative identity disorder.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)
the leading classification system for psychological disorders in Canada; DSM-5 is the current version.
developmental psychopathology
the study of how problem behaviours evolve as a function of a person’s genes and early experiences, and how these early issues affect the person at later life stages.
Compulsions
irrational repetitive and rigid behaviours or mental acts that people feel compelled to perform to prevent or reduce anxiety.
Comorbidity
the condition in which a person’s symptoms qualify him for two or more diagnoses.
cognitive triad
a pattern of thinking in which individuals repeatedly interpret their experiences, themselves, and their futures in negative ways that lead them to feel depressed.
Catatonia
extreme psychomotor symptoms of schizophrenia, including catatonic stupor, catatonic rigidity, and catatonic posturing.
borderline personality disorder
a personality disorder characterized by severe instability in emotions and self-concept and high levels of volatility.
automatic thoughts
specific upsetting thoughts that arise unbidden.
antisocial personality disorder
a personality disorder characterized by extreme and callous disregard for the feelings and rights of others.
antipsychotic drugs
medications that help remove the symptoms of schizophrenia.
Agoraphobia
a phobia that makes people avoid public places or situations in which escape might be difficult or help unavailable should panic symptoms develop.
acute stress disorder
an anxiety disorder in which fear and related symptoms are experienced soon after a traumatic event and last less than a month
Superego
according to psychoanalytic theory, the personality element in charge of determining which impulses are acceptable to express openly and which are unacceptable; develops as we observe and internalize the behaviours of others in our culture.
psychosexual stages
according to psychoanalytic theory, stages in the development of personality; the stages—labelled oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital—are primarily influenced by sexuality and aggression.
positive psychology
an area of psychology focusing on positive experiences and healthy mental functioning.
Phrenology
a method of assessing a person’s mental and moral qualities by studying the shape of the person’s skull.
personality disorder
an inflexible pattern of inner experience and outward behaviour that causes distress or difficulty with daily functioning.
Neurosis
an abnormal behaviour pattern caused by unresolved conflicts between the id, ego, and superego.
Interactionism
a view emphasizing the relationship between a person’s underlying personality traits and the reinforcing aspects of the situations in which they choose to put themselves.
Id
according to psychoanalytic theory, the personality element representing basic instinctual drives, such as those related to eating, sleeping, sex, and comfort.
five-factor theory
an empirically derived trait theory that proposes five major trait categories: agreeableness/disagreeableness, extroversion/introversion, neuroticism/stability, conscientiousness/irresponsibility, and openness to experience/unimaginativeness.
Ego
according to psychoanalytic theory, the personality element that works to help satisfy the drives of the id while complying with the constraints placed on behaviour by the environment.