Psychological Disorders

Question 1

Psychogenic Amnesia     

Answer 1

Condition wherein a person cannot remember things but no physiological basis for the disruption in memory can be identified.  

Question 2

Generalized Anxiety Disorder  

Answer 2

Condition wherein a person experiences constant, low-level anxiety.     
Such a person constantly feels nervous and out of sorts.    

Question 3

Antisocial Personality Disorder     

Answer 3

Condition wherein a person has little regard for the feelings of others. They view the world as a hostile place where people need to look out for themselves.  
   
Criminals seem to manifest a high incidence of antisocial personality disorder.     

Question 4

Paranoid Personality Disorder 

Answer 4

Sufferers feel constantly persecuted.     

Question 5

Dependent Personality Disorder      

Answer 5

Sufferers rely too much on the attention and help of others.      

Question 6

Narcissistic Personality Disorder   

Answer 6

Sufferers see themselves as the center of the universe (narcissism means self-love).      

Question 7

Somatic (Body) Symptom Disorders     

Answer 7

Occur when a person manifests a psychological problem through a physiological symptom.    

Such a person experiences a physical problem in the absence of any physical cause.  

One somatic symptom disorder is conversion disorder.  

Question 8

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder 

Answer 8

Sufferers may be overly concerned with certain thoughts and performing certain behaviors, but they will not be debilitated to the same extent that someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder would.

Question 9

Major Depressive Disorder     

Answer 9

The most common mood disorder. Often referred to as the common cold of all psychological disorders. 
  
One key diagnostic factor is the length of the depressive episode.   
   
People who are clinically depressed remain unhappy for more than two weeks in the absence of a clear reason.   
   
Other common symptoms of depression include loss of appetite, fatigue, change in sleeping patterns, lack of interest in normally enjoyable activities, and feelings of worthlessness.     

Question 10

Histrionic Personality Disorder     

Answer 10

Sufferers exhibit overly dramatic behavior (histrionics).   

Question 11

Dopamine Hypothesis     

Answer 11

States that high levels of dopamine seem to be associated with schizophrenia. 

Question 12

Seasonal Affective Disorder   

Answer 12

Condition wherein a person experiences depression but only during certain times of the year, usually winter, when there is less sunlight. 

Question 13

Delusions of Grandeur   

Answer 13

Belief that you enjoy greater power and influence than you do.    

Question 14

Delusions of Persecution      

Answer 14

Belief that people are out to get you.    

Question 15

Schizophrenic Disorders 

Answer 15

Schizophrenia is one of the most severe and debilitating psychological disorders. It tends to strike people as they enter young adulthood.     
 
The fundamental symptom of schizophrenia is disordered, distorted thinking often demonstrated through delusions and/or hallucinations.    

Delusions are beliefs that have no basis in reality.  

Hallucinations are perceptions in the absence of any sensory stimulation.     

Question 16

Social Anxiety Disorder 

Answer 16

Fear of a situation in which one could embarrass oneself in public, such as when eating in a restaurant or giving a lecture.  

Question 17

Waxy Flexibility  

Answer 17

A characteristic of catatonia.      

Sufferers allow their bodies to be moved into any alternative shape and will then hold that new pose. 

Question 18

Diathesis-Stress Model  

Answer 18

Often applied to schizophrenia but can be more widely applied to many psychological and physical disorders. 

Environmental stressors can provide the circumstances under which a biological predisposition for illness can express itself.
 
Helps explain why even people with identical genetic makeups (i.e., monozygotic twins) do not always suffer from the same disorders.      

Question 19

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder      

Answer 19

Involves flashbacks or nightmares following a person’s involvement in or observation of an extremely troubling event such as a war or a natural disaster.   

Question 20

Personality Disorders   

Answer 20

Well-established, maladaptive ways of behaving that negatively affect people’s ability to function.   

Question 21

Rosenhan Study    

Answer 21

In 1978, David Rosenhan conducted a study in which he and a number of associates sought admission to a number of mental hospitals.

All claimed that they had been hearing voices; that was the sole symptom they reported. All were admitted to the institutions as suffering from schizophrenia. 

At that time, they ceased reporting any unusual symptoms and behaved as they usually did.

None of the researchers were exposed as imposters, and all ultimately left the institutions with the diagnosis of schizophrenia in remission.     

Question 22

Psychological Disorder  

Answer 22

Disorders are defined by four criteria:   

1. Maladaptive (harmful) and/or disturbing to the individual. For example, someone who has agoraphobia, fear of open spaces and is thus unable to leave his or her home experiences something maladaptive and disturbing. 
2. Disturbing to others. For example, zoophilia, being sexually aroused by animals, disturbs others.   
     
3. Unusual, not shared by many members of the population. For example, in the United States, having visions is atypical, while in some other cultures, it occurs more commonly.   
    
4. Irrational; it does not make sense to the average person. For example, feeling depressed when your family first moves away from all your friends is not seen as being irrational, while prolonged depression due to virtually any situation is.     

Question 23

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM)  

Answer 23

Reference book that describes the symptoms of everything currently considered to be a psychological disorder.   
  
The current version of the DSM is the DSM-5.    

Question 24

Anxiety Disorders 

Answer 24

Category of psychological disorders.      
Includes the diagnoses for specific phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder.   

Question 25

Specific Phobia   

Answer 25

Intense unwarranted fear of a situation or object such as claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces) or arachnophobia (fear of spiders).  

Question 26

Agoraphobia

Answer 26

Fear of open, public spaces.  

People with severe agoraphobia may be afraid to venture out of their homes at all.  

Question 27

Agoraphobia

Answer 27

Fear of open, public spaces.  

People with severe agoraphobia may be afraid to venture out of their homes at all.  

Question 28

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)      

Answer 28

Formerly known as multiple personality disorder.  
    
Condition wherein a person has several personalities rather than one integrated personality.    

Someone with DID can have any number of personalities. The different personalities can represent many different ages and both sexes.   
   
Often, two of the personalities will be the opposite of each other. 
    
People with DID commonly have a history of sexual abuse or some other terrible childhood trauma. 
     
Theories about the causes of DID and the validity of the DID diagnosis vary. Some researchers argue that DID symptoms may be induced by poor therapeutic techniques.    

Question 29

Bipolar Disorder  

Answer 29

Usually involves both depressed and manic episodes. 
  
People experience manic episodes in different ways, but they usually involve feelings of high energy. While some sufferers will feel a heightened sense of confidence and power, others simply feel anxious and irritable.  
  
Even though some people feel an inflated sense of well-being during the manic period, they usually engage in excessively risky and poorly thought-out behavior that ultimately has negative consequences for them.