Psychological Disorders Flashcards
A syndrome marked by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognitions, emotion regulation, or behavior.
Psychological disorder
The concept that diseases, in this case psychological disorders, have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and, in most cases, cured, often through treatment in a hospital.
Medical model
“Above” or “in addition to” (epi) genetics; the study of the molecular mechanisms by which environments can influence genetic expression (without a DNA change).
Epigenetics
The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders.
DSM-5
Psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety.
Anxiety Disorders
An anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
An anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person may experience terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations; often followed by worry over a possible next attack.
Panic Disorder
An anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation.
Specific Phobia
A disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions), actions (compulsions), or both.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
A disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, hypervigilance, avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia that lingers for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience.
Somatic symptom disorder: A psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD):
A disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease. (Formerly called hypochondriasis.)
Illness anxiety disorder
A disorder in which a person experiences, in the absence of drug use or a medical condition, two or more weeks with five or more symptoms, at least one of which must be either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.
Major depressive disorder
A group of disorders in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania. (Formerly called manic-depressive disorder.)
Bipolar Disorders
A hyperactive, wildly optimistic state in which dangerously poor judgment is common.
Mania
Compulsive fretting; overthinking our problems and their causes
Rumination
A disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished, inappropriate emotional expression.
Schizophrenia
A group of disorders marked by irrational ideas, distorted perceptions, and a loss of contact with reality.
Psychotic disorders
A false belief, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders.
Delusion
A form of schizophrenia in which symptoms usually appear by late adolescence or early adulthood. As people age, psychotic episodes last longer and recovery periods shorten.
Chronic schizophrenia
A form of schizophrenia that can begin at any age, frequently occurs in response to a traumatic event, and from which recovery is much more likely.
Acute schizophrenia
Controversial, rare disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings.
Dissociative disorders
A rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating identities.
Dissociative identity disorder (DID)
Inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning.
Personality disorders
A personality disorder in which a person (usually a man) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members; may be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist.
Antisocial personality disorder
An eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly underweight, and has an inaccurate self-perception; sometimes accompanied by excessive exercise.
Anorexia Nervosa
An eating disorder in which a person’s binge eating (usually of high-calorie foods) is followed by inappropriate weight-loss-promoting behavior, such as vomiting, laxative use, fasting, or excessive exercise.
Bulimia Nervosa
Significant binge-eating episodes, followed by distress, disgust, or guilt, but without the compensatory behavior that marks bulimia nervosa.
Binge-eating Disorder
Central nervous system abnormalities (usually in the brain) that start in childhood and alter thinking and behavior (as in intellectual limitations or a psychological disorder).
Neurodevelopmental disorder
A condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence test score of 70 or below and difficulty adapting to the demands of life. (Formerly referred to as mental retardation.)
Intellectual disability
A disorder that appears in childhood and is marked by significant limitations in communication and social interaction, and by rigidly fixated interests and repetitive behaviors.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD):
A psychological disorder marked by extreme inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
