Psych 111 Exam 3 Deck 2 Flashcards
What percentage of men and women continue to smoke in the United States?
23% and 18%
What is the average life expectancy of a smoker in comparison to that of a non-smoker
13 to 14 years shorter
Smokers tend to underestimate the chance that negative experiences will happen to themselves. This is known as…
Optimism Bias
Another term for Second-Hand Smoke
Environmental Tobacco Smoke
What is the long-term success rate of quitting for smokers
25%
What is the comparison of mortality rates between men who are highly fit and those who are not very fit
Highly fit men have a 70% reduction in mortality
The Five Main Reasons good health can mean a longer life
- It can enhance cardiovascular fitness and can delay the onset of cardiovascular problems
- Exercise can reduce risk of obesity-related problems
- It can decrease chronic inflammation, which is thought to be linked to various diseases
- It can serve as a buffer to protect against the physical damage of stress
- One of the newest reasons is that it can help create new brain cells
Is alcohol always bad for health?
No; moderate drinking may provide protection against cardiovascular diseases, but overdrinking can produce serious health problems
AIDS
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, a syndrome in which the immune system is gradually weakened and then disabled by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It is the final stage of HIV
What was the survival time of AIDS prior to 1997?
18-24 months
Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART)
Treatment of AIDS with drug regimens has proven to promise substantially longer survival
How is HIV typically transmitted?
Person-to-person contact and exchange of bodily fluids, primarily semen and blood. It has typically been transmitted through relations between gay and bisexual men in the US, but rates of heterosexual transmission have been increasing. Male to female transmission is 8x more common than female to male transmission
Can HIV be transmitted through casual contact? Explain.
No; there is no evidence it can be transmitted through casual contact, sharing food, kissing, or hugging.
The study by MacKellar found that what percentage of men in the study diagnosed with HIV did not know they had it?
77%
What are the four main causes of health-impairing behavior?
- Health impairing habits creep up slowly. Drinking may slowly increase or exercise may slowly decrease over years
- The habits or activities involve activities that are pleasant at the time (smoking, eating)
- The risks and consequences may lie 10, 20, or 30 years down the road
- People have an optimism bias; that is, they tend to underestimate the harm that could be inflicted upon themselves when engaging in the same behaviors as others who they know face dangers
People what personality characteristics will be more likely to rush to the doctor in the presence of illness?
Anxiety and Neuroticism
What are five causes of procrastination in visiting the doctor?
- misinterpreting or downplaying the symptoms
- fear of looking silly if the problem is small
- worry about bothering the physician
- reluctance to disrupt plans
- waste time on trivial matters before going
What are 5 barriers to proper provider-patient communication?
- Economic realities that medical visits are brief, preventing a deep conversation
- Providers using too much medical jargon
- Patients who are worried, nervous, or sick may forget to report certain symptoms
- Patients may be evasive because they fear the real diagnosis
- Patients may be reluctant to challenge the doctor’s word or are too passive with their interactions
What are 5 methods to become a better patient?
- Arrive on time
- Have questions and concerns prepared in advance
- Be accurate and candid in responding to your doctor
- Don’t be embarrassed to ask for clarification
- Don’t be afraid to voice doubts
How often does nonadherence for short-term treatments occur?
30% of the time
How often does nonadherence for chronic treatments occur?
50% of the time
What are the 4 forms of nonadherence?
- Failing to begin treatment
- Stopping regimen early
- May reduce or increase the level of treatment prescribed
- Inconsistent or unreliable in following treatment procedures
How much does nonadherence cost the US health system annually?
$300 billion
How are personality traits linked to nonadherence of treatment
It is not, surprisingly, linked to nonadherence as assumed. However, social support is linked
How is social support linked to nonadherence?
Friends, coworkers, and family can remind the patient to continue to adhere to the prescribed treatment
What are 3 causes of nonadherence?
- The patient misunderstands the instructions given
- The patient finds the treatment aversive or difficult
- Negative attitudes towards the physician
This expert on patient behavior has analyzed why people fail to seek medical treatment as promptly as they should.
Robin DiMatteo
According to this theorist, catastrophic thinking causes, aggravates, and perpetuates emotional reactions to stress that are often unhealthy.
Albert Ellis
This psychologist’s broaden-and-build theory has shed light on how positive emotions can promote resilience in the face of stress.
Barbara Fredrickson
This research team is famous for describing the Type A personality and investigating its role in heart disease.
Friedman and Rosenman
This research team devised the Social Readjustment Rating Scale and studied life change as a form of stress.
Holmes and Rahe
This individual showed that everyday hassles can be an important form of stress.
Lazarus
This theorist coined the term stress and described the general adaptation syndrome.
Selye
Catastrophic Thinking
unrealistically pessimistic appraisals of stress that exaggerate the magnitude of one’s problems
Ellis’s view on the causes of emotional distress
Events themselves do not cause distress, rather it is caused by the way in which people think about negative events
How can you reduce unrealistic appraisals of stress?
You must learn to detect catastrophic thinking and dispute the irrational assumptions that cause it
What percentage of study subjects used humor as a coping mechanism
40%
What are three hypothesis regarding humor’s effectiveness as a coping mechanism?
- It puts a less threatening appraisal on events
- It increases the experience of positive emotions
- High-humor people do not take themselves as seriously as low-humor people do
The Medical Model
Proposes that it is useful to think of abnormal behavior as a disease
Pathology
Refers to manifestations of disease
Why do some critics argue that the Medical Model has outlived its usefulness?
They argue that the Medical Model pins a social stigma against those with abnormal behavior. They are viewed as erratic, dangerous, incompetent, and inferior.
Has stigma regarding mental disorders decreased, increased, or stayed the same?
It has largely stayed the same and may even have increased
Thomas Szasz
He is a critic of the medical model. He asserts that disease or illness can only affect the body, hence there can be no mental illness. He argues that abnormal behavior requires deviance from social norms, and so the medical model’s disease analogy converts moral and social questions into medical ones.
Diagnosis
Distinguishing one illness from another
Etiology
The apparent causation and developmental history of the illness
Prognosis
A forecast about the probable course of the illness
The three main criteria of abnormal behavior
- Deviance
- Maladaptive behavior
- Personal Distress
Deviance as a criteria of abnormal behavior
Their behavior deviates from what society considers acceptable. This varies from culture to culture
Maladaptive Behavior as a criteria of abnormal behavior
Proper are judged to have a psychological disorder if their everyday adaptive skills are impaired
The key criterion of abnormal behavior in the diagnosis of drug or substance disorders
Maladaptive behavior: when the use of drugs begins to interfere with everyday life.
Personal distress as a criteria for psychological disorders
A person’s individual report of their own great personal distress, especially for anxiety and depression
Value Judgement
An assessment of good or bad depending on one’s priorities
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
The DSM is a multiaxial system of classification of mental disorders
On the DSM, which axis contains the most types of disorders?
Axis I
What is Axis II on the DSM used for?
Listing long-running mental disorders and mental retardation
On which two DSM Axes are mental disorders mainly listed and patients diagnosed?
Axes I and II
What is Axis III of the DSM used for?
General Medical Conditions: physical disorders
What is DSM Axis IV used for?
Psychosocial and Environmental Problems: the clinician makes notations regarding the patient’s stress experienced in the past year
What is DSM Axis V used for?
Global Assessment Functioning: Estimates are made of the individual’s current level of adaptive functioning (in social and occupational behavior as a whole) and of the individual’s highest level of functioning in the previous year.
What is one of the biggest issues regarding the DSM?
Should it reduce commitment to the categorical approach?
Comorbidity
The coexistence of two or more disorders. There are concerns that widespread comorbidity may not be indicative of separate diagnoses, but may be symptoms or variations of the same disorder
The dimensional vs. categorical approach in DSM
The categorical approach places people with mental disorders into distinct discontinuous categories. The dimensional approach views the degree to which people exhibit certain characteristics and measures their scores on a limited number of continuous dimensions.
The problem with switching to a dimensional approach from a categorical one in DSM
It is a highly formidable task and there is little agreement
Epidemiology
The study of the distribution of mental or physical disorders in a population
Prevalence in Epidemiology
Refers to the the percentage of a population that exhibit a disorder during a specified time period
Lifetime Prevalence in Epidemiology
The percentage of people who endure a specific disorder at any time in their lives
In the 1980s and 1990s what portion of the population was found to have a psychological disorder?
1/3
The most recent large-scale epidemiological study estimated the lifetime risk of a psychiatric disorder to be ___%
51
The Three most common psychological disorders
- Substance abuse (most)
- Anxiety disorders
- Mood disorders
Anxiety Disorders
A class of disorders marked by feelings of excessive apprehension and anxiety
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Marked by a chronic, high level of anxiety that is not tied to any specific threat
What is the lifetime prevalence of GAD?
Generalized Anxiety Disorder has a lifetime prevalence of 5%-6% and is more frequently seen in females
Phobic Disorder
is marked by a persistent and irrational fear of an object or situation that presents no realistic danger. Mild phobias are common. It is only said to be a disorder when it interferes with social behavior
The physical symptoms that accompany phobic disorders
symptoms of anxiety, including trembling and heart palpitations
Acrophobia
Fear of heights
Claustrophobia
Fear of small enclosed places
Brontophobia
Fear of Storms
The most lifetime prevalent phobia
Animals
Panic Disorder
Characterized by recurrent attacks of overwhelming anxiety that usually occur suddenly and unexpectedly
A common complication of Panic disorders that comes from the fear of the panic attack happening in public to the point that those who suffer it are afraid to leave home
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia
is a fear of going out to public places (or the marketplace)
What proportion of those diagnosed with panic disorder are female?
2/3
When does the onset of panic disorder begin in life?
typically during late adolescence or early adulthood
Obsessions
Thoughts that repeatedly intrude on one’s consciousness in a distressing way
Compulsions
Actions one feels forced to carry out
OCD
is marked by persistent , uncontrollable intrusions of unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and urges to engage in senseless rituals (compulsion)
What do obsessions often center on?
inflicting harm on others, personal failures, suicide, or sexual acts
The most common compulsion of OCD patients
The checking compulsion
In what percent of the population does OCD occur?
2-3%
What percent of OCD cases occur before age 30?
75%
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
involves enduring psychological disturbance attributed to the experience of a major event
What percent of people have faced PTSD at some point in their lives?
7% – prevalence is twice as high in women than in men
One key predictor of vulnerability to PTSD
The intensity of one’s reaction at the time of the traumatic event. Those who are especially emotional during or immediately after the event shoe elevated vulnerability to PTSD later on. It is strongest in those who have disassociative experiences (they believe they are watching a movie, or that time is stretching out in the experience)
The main factors in the etiology of anxiety disorders
Biological factors, conditioning, cognitive factors, and stress
Concordance Rates
To assess the impact of heredity on psychological disorders, investigators use concordance rates, or the percentage of twin pairs or other pairs of relatives who exhibit the same disorder
What percentage of infants display inhibited temperament?
15%-20%
Anxiety Sensitivity
Some people are highly sensitive to the internal psychological symptoms of anxiety, making them more vulnerable to anxiety disorders
The role of therapeutic drugs in creating anxiety disorders
They alter neurotransmitter activity at GABA synapses, possibly playing a role in the development of anxiety disorders
Abnormalities in serotonin have been implicated in ___ disorders
obsessive compulsive
The role of conditioning and learning in the development of anxiety disorders
Classical conditioning may lead to anxiety disorder acquisition which is maintained my operant conditioning
The tendency to develop certain types of object or situational phobias may be explained by preparedness, which is
the idea that people are biologically prepared by their evolutionary history to acquire some fears much more easily than others
The development of phobias is dependent on _____ interactions among a variety of learned processes
synergistic
What three cognitive factors may make people more vulnerable to suffering from anxiety?
- misinterpretation of harmless situations as threatening
- Focusing excessive attention on perceived threats
- Selectively recalling information that seems threatening
Disassociative Disorders
are a class of disorders in which people lose contact with portions of their consciousness or memory, resulting in disruptions in their sense of identity
Dissociative Amnesia
A sudden loss of memory or important personal information that is too extensive to be due to normal forgetting
Dissociative Fugue
People lose their memory for their entire lives along with their sense of personal identity
Dissociative Identity Disorder
involves the coexistence in one person of two or more largely complete, and usually very different, personalities. It used to be called multiple personality disorder (and still is informally used)
Mood Disorder
A class of disorders marked by emotional disturbances of varied kinds that may spill over to disrupt physical, perceptual, social, and thought processes
The difference between unipolar and bipolar disorder
People with unipolar disorder tend to suffer from bouts of depression only, whereas those with bipolar disorder experience both manic and depressive episodes
Major Depressive Disorder
people show persistent feelings of sadness and despair and a loss of interest in previous sources of pleasure.
A Central Feature of Depression is Anhedonia
a diminished ability to experience pleasure
What are two possible other disorders that tend to accompany Major Depressive Disorder?
Anxiety disorders and substance use disorders
When in life does depression typically occur?
Before age 40
For what percentage of cases do people with depression experience more than one episode in their lifetime?
75%-90%
What is the average number of depressive episodes in life?
5-6
What is the lifetime prevalence estimate of the existence of depressive disorders?
13%-14%
How much more frequently does depression occur in women than in men
twice as much
Do genetics play a role in the gender gap in depression
It does not appear so
Susan Nolen-Hoeksema
She argues that women experience more depression than men because they are far more likely to be victims of sexual assault, somewhat more likely to endure poverty, sexual harassment, role constraints, and pressure to be attractive and thin.
The formal term for bipolar disorder
Manic-Depressive Disorder
Manic Depressive Disorder
a.k.a. bipolar disorder, it is characterized by the experience of one or more manic episodes as well as periods of depression
Characteristics of manic periods in bipolar disorder
self-esteem skyrockets, optimism, energy, and extravagant plans, days without sleep, judgment impaired, talking rapidly, changes in subject, gambling, spending, and reckless sexual activities
What percent of the population is affected by bipolar disorders?
1%
What is the gender gap in bipolar disorder?
There is none, as it appears equally in males and females
What is the age of onset for manic depressive disorder?
Late teens
How long do bipolar episodes last?
typically 4 months
How many deaths does suicide cause annually?
30,000
What percentage of those who complete suicide suffered from a mental disorder?
90%
What percentage of those who completed suicide suffered from a mood disorder?
60%
Suicide Prevention Tips
- Take suicide talk seriously
- Provide empathy and social support
- Identify and Clarify the crucial problem
- Do not promise to keep suicidal ideation a secret
- Do not leave the person alone in an acute crisis
- Encourage professional consultation
Correlations have been found between mood disorders and abnormal levels of which two key neurotransmitters in the brain?
norepinephrine and serotonin
Low levels of which neurotransmitter appear to be an underlying factor in depression?
low levels of serotonin
What is the best documented correlation between depression and a part of the brain?
the reduced hippocampal volume. It is 8-10% smaller in depressed subjects
The Hippocampus
Known to play a major role in memory consolidation
Describe the link between the HPA Axis and Depression
One of the brain-body pathways runs from the hypothalamus to the pituitary gland to the adrenal cortex which releases corticosteroids (HPA Axis). Overactivity along this HPA Axis may play a role in the development of depression. It may trigger Neurogenesis suppression
Learned Helplessness and Researcher
Martin Seligman proposed that depression is caused by passive “giving up”produced by exposure to unavoidable events
Retrospective Design and its flaw
Looking backward in time from known outcomes. You cannot determine which variable preceded the other.
Prospective Design and its flaw
Testing hypotheses forward in time, as opposed to retrospective. They are difficult and time-consuming, however they can provide more causation
What could be an interpersonal cause of depression?
Depression-prone people lack the social finesse needed to acquire important reinforcers, like good friends, top jobs, and desirable spouses
Do the majority of people experiencing severe stress also experience severe depression?
No
Schizophrenic Disorders
A class of disorders marked by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and deterioration of adaptive behavior.
Disturbed ___ lies at the heart of schizophrenic disorders, while disturbed ___ lies at the heart of mood disorders
thought; emotion
The common symptoms of schizophrenia
Delusions, Irrational Thought, Deterioration of Adaptive Behavior, Hallucinations, and Disturbed emotion
Delusions
False beliefs that are maintained even though they clearly are out of touch with reality
Delusions of Grandeur
People maintain they are famous or important when they are not
What percent of schizophrenic patients have auditory hallucinations?
About 75%
Hallucinations
Sensory perceptions that occur in the absence of a real, external stimulus or are gross distortions of perceptual input
The three subtypes of Schizophrenia
Paranoid, Catatonic, Disorganized
Paranoid Schizophrenia
Dominated by delusions of persecution along with delusions of grandeur
Catatonic Schizophrenia
Marked my striking motor disturbances, ranging from muscular rigidity to random motor activity
Disorganized Schizophrenia
A particularly severe deterioration in maladaptive behavior is seen
Undifferentiated Schizophrenia
Idiosyncratic mixtures of schizophrenic symptoms. This is for those who do not fit into the other three subtypes neatly
Nancy Andreasen
Proposed a new way of looking at schizophrenia subtypes, focusing on positive and negative, rather than on the paranoid, catatonic, and disorganized subtypes
Only ___% of patients enjoy full recovery
20%
The Dopamine Hypothesis of Schizophrenia
Excess dopamine activity in the brain in the neurochemical basis for schizophrenia
A long-term study in Germany regarding Cannabis use found that controlling for several environmental factors, Cannabis use generally ___ the risk of psychotic disturbance
doubled
In Schizophrenic patients, there is sometimes a reduction in gray and white brain matter. What could this be indicative of?
Loss of synaptic density and myelinization
The Neurodevelopmental Hypothesis of Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is caused in part by various disruptions in the normal maturation processes in the brain before or at birth
Expressed Emotion
is the degree to which a relative of a patient displays highly critical or emotionally overinvolved attitudes toward the patient.
Personality Disorders
are a class of disorders marked by extreme, inflexible personality traits that cause subjective distress or impaired social and occupational functioning
The Three Clusters of personality disorders
anxious-fearful, odd-eccentric, and dramatic-impulsive
Avoidant Personality Disorder
Excessively sensitive to potential rejection, humiliation, or shame; socially withdrawn in spite of desire for acceptance
Dependent Personality Disorder
Lacking in self-reliance and self-esteem; passively allowing others to make decisions; subordinating own needs to others
OCPD
Preoccupied with organization, rules, lists, and trivial details; extremely conventional, serious, and formal; unable to express warm emotions
Schizoid Personality Disorder
Defective in capacity for forming social relationship; showing absence of warm, tender feelings for others
Schizotypal Personality Disorder
Showing social deficits and oddities of thinking, perception, and communication that resemble schizophrenia
Paranoid Personality Disorder
Showing pervasive and unwarranted suspiciousness and mistrust; overly sensitive; prone to jealousy
Histrionic Personality Disorder
Overly dramatic; exaggerating emotions; egocentric, seeking attention
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
Grandiose self-importance, preoccupied with success fantasies; expecting social treatment; lacking interpersonal empathy
Borderline Personality Disorder
Unstable self-image, mood, and interpersonal relationships; impulsive and unpredictable
Antisocial Personality Disorder
Chronically violating the rights of others, failing to accept norms, to form attachments, or sustain consistent work behavior; exploitive and reckless
Insanity
is a legal status indicating that a person cannot be held responsible for his or her actions because of mental illness.
M’naghten Rule
insanity exists when a mental disorder makes a person unable to distinguish right from wrong
Involuntary Commitment
people are hospitalized in psychiatric facilities against their will
On what grounds will a court decide on involuntary commitment for a convicted person?
If professional and legal authorities believe that the person is
1. dangerous to themselves
2. dangerous to others
3. unable to provide for their own basic care
assuming they have a mental illness
The Realistic View of Mental Illness
They believe that the criteria for mental illness varies across cultures
Eating Disorders
are severe disturbances in eating behavior characterized by preoccupation with weight and unhealthy efforts to control weight.
Anorexia Nervosa
involves intense fear of gaining weight, disturbed body image, refusal to maintain normal weight, and use of dangerous measures to lose weight.
Bulimia Nervosa
involves habitually engaging in out-of-control overeating followed by unhealthy compensatory efforts, such as self-induced vomiting, fasting, abuse of laxatives and diuretics, and excessive exercise.
Binge-Eating Disorder
involves distress-inducing eating binges that are not accompanied by the purging, fasting, and excessive exercise seen in bulimia.
