Psychological Disorders Flashcards
Biomedical approach to psychological disorders
Assumes that any disorder has roots in biomedical disturbances and thus the solution should also be of a biomedical nature. Fails to take into account other factors of disorder like SES and lifestyle
Biopsychosocial approach to psychological disorders
Broader than biomedical approach. Assumes there are biological, psychological, and social components to to an individual’s disorder. Treatment is both direct and indirect therapy
Direct therapy
Acts directly on the patient
Indirect therapy
Aims to increase social support for the patient by educating and empowering their family and friends
Schizophrenia
Prototypical psychotic disorder. Its positive symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thought and behavior. Often associated with the downward drift effect
Psychotic disorder
Individuals with one of these suffer from one or more of the following: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thought, disorganized behavior, catatonia, and negative symptoms
Positive symptoms
Behaviors, thoughts, or feelings added to the normal behavior such as delusions and hallucinations
Negative symptoms
Those that involve the absence of normal or desired behavior, such as disturbance of affect and avolition.
Delusions
False beliefs discordant with reality and not shared by others in the individual’s culture that are maintained despite of strong evidence to the contrary
Delusions of reference
Involve the belief that common elements in the environment are directed toward the individual (e.g. believing that the TV characters are talking to you)
Delusions of persecution
Involve the belief that the person is being deliberately interfered with, discriminated against, plotted against, or threatened
Delusions of grandeur
Common in bipolar I disorder, involve the belief that the person is remarkable in some significant way, such as being an inventor, historical figure, or religious icon
Thought broadcasting
A delusion that involves the belief that one’s thoughts are broadcast directly from one’s head to the external world
Thought insertion
A delusion that involves the belief that thoughts are being placed in one’s head
Hallucinations
Perceptions that are not due to external stimuli but have a compelling sense of reality
Disorganized thought
Characterized by loosening of associations. May be exhibited as speech in which ideas shift from one subject to another in such a way that the listener would be unable to follow the train of thought
Word salad
When speech is so disorganized that it seems that the words are thrown together incomprehensibly
Neologisms
Invented new words
Disorganized behavior
The inability to carry out activities of daily living, such as paying bills, maintaining hygiene, keeping appoitnemts
Catatonia
Certain motor behaviors characteristic of people with schizophrenia. Patient’s spontaneous movement and activity may be greatly reduced or the patient may maintain a rigid posture, refusing to be moved. Behavior may also include useless and bizarre movements not caused by external stimuli, echolalia, or echopraxia
Echolalia
Repeating another’s words
Echopraxia
Imitating another’s actions
Disturbance of affect
A negative symptom. A disturbance in the experience and display of emotion. Includes blunting, flat effect, and inappropriate affect
Blunting
A sever reduction in the intensity of affect expression
Flat effect aka emotional flattening
No signs of emotional expression
Inappropriate affect
The affect is clearly discordant with the context of the individual’s speech
Avolition
Marked by decreased engagement in purposeful, goal-directed action
Prodromal phase
Prior to schizophrenia diagnosis, patients often go through this phase, characterized by poor adjustment (e.g. clear evidence of deterioration, social withdrawal, role functioning impairment, peculiar behavior, inappropriate affect, and unusual experiences). Followed by the active phase of symptomatic behavior
Major depressive disorder
A mood disorder characterized by at least on major depressive episode
Major depressive episode
A period of at least two weeks with at least five of the following symptoms: prominent and relatively persistent depressed mood, loss of interest in all or almost all formerly enjoyable activities (anhedonia), appetite disturbances, substantial weight changes, sleep disturbances, decreased energy, feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt (sometimes delusional), difficulty concentrating or thinking, psychomotor symptoms (feeling “slowed down”) and thoughts of death or attempts at suicide. At least one of the symptoms must be depressed mood or anhedonia. (SIG E. CAPS)
Persistent depressive disorder
A diagnosis given to individuals who suffer from dysthymia, a depressed mood that isn’t severe enough to meet the criteria of a major depressive episode, most of the time for at least two years
Seasonal Affective Disorder
A depressive disorder best characterized as MDD with a seasonal onset. Often treated with bright light therapy