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MCAT Psychology and Sociology > Psychological Disorders > Flashcards

Psychological Disorders Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the definition of a psychological disorder?

A

a characteristic set of thoughts, feelings, or actions that cause to distress to the sufferer and cause maladaptive functioning in society

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2
Q

What are the two main ways to classify psychological disorders?

A

biomedical approach and biopsychosocial approach

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3
Q

Why is the biomedical approach to understanding psychological disorders limited in its use?

A

it only considers one factor in the development of a disorder, that being primarily genetics

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4
Q

What is the name of the manual that contains up-to-date information of psychological disorders?

A

DSM-5 (diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders)

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5
Q

How many diagnostic classes are there in DSM-5?

A

20

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6
Q

What are the main diagnostic classes of DSM-5 that are tested on the MCAT?

A

schizophrenia disorders, depressive disorders, bipolar disorders, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, dissociative disorders, somatic symptom disorders, and personality disorders

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7
Q

What is schizophrenia?

A

the prototypical psychotic disorder… a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior

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8
Q

What are some characteristics of schizophrenia?

A

delusion, hallucinations, disorganized thought, disorganized behavior, catatonia, negative symptoms

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9
Q

What are the two main categories of schizophrenia?

A

positive and negative symptoms

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10
Q

What are positive symptoms of schizophrenia?

A

the breakdown of the mental state by the addition of unexpected emotion, thoughts, and behavior

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11
Q

What are negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

A

symptoms that involve the absence of normal or desired behavior

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12
Q

What are the main positive symptoms of schizophrenia?

A

delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thought, and disorganized behavior

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13
Q

What are delusions?

A

false beliefs discordant with reality and not shared by others

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14
Q

What is the delusion of reference? Given an example.

A
  • a belief that common elements are directed toward an patient.
  • a schizophrenic patient may believe that an automated announcement in a train is talking specifically to them
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15
Q

What is the delusion of persecution?

A

a belief that the patient is being deliberately discriminated against or threatened

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16
Q

What is the delusion of grandeur?

A

a belief that the patient is a famous person, or somebody easily recognized

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17
Q

What is thought broadcoasting?

A

the belief that one’s thoughts are automatically broadcasted into the world and do not need to be verbalized

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18
Q

What is though insertion?

A

the belief that one’s thoughts are being placed in one’s head

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19
Q

What are hallucinations?

A

perceptions that are not due to external stimuli but are compelling enough to be deemed as reality by the patient

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20
Q

The words “delusion” and “hallucination” are used interchangeably in common language, but in the DSM, they have specific uses. Suppose a schizophrenic patient wakes up at night and claims to see a monster under their bed. Is this a delusion or a hallucination?

A

hallucination

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21
Q

What is disorganized thought?

A

incoherent speech that only the patient can understand

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22
Q

What is a neologism?

A

a word invented by a schizophrenic person

23
Q

What is disorganized behavior?

A

odd, bizarre behavior

24
Q

What are some examples of disorganized behavior?

A

catonia, echolalia, and echopraxia

25
Q

What are some negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

A

disturbance of affect and avolition

26
Q

What are the three main disturbances of affect?

A

flat, blunt, and inappropriate

27
Q

What is avolition?

A

the loss of goals

28
Q

What is the prodromal phase?

A

the stage before schizophrenia, characterized by deterioration, social withdrawal, etc.

29
Q

What are depressive disorders?

A

disorders with long stretches of severe sadness

30
Q

What are the two main types of depressive disorders?

A

major depressive disorder and seasonal affective disorder

31
Q

What are bipolar disorders?

A

mood disorders characterized by both depression and mania

32
Q

In order to be diagnosed with major depression disorder, the patient must have two traits of a long list of traits for at least two weeks. Name the traits on the list.

A

sadness, insomnia, guilt, loss of energy, loss of concentration, anxiety, loss of psychomotor skills, suicidal thoughts

33
Q

What is the difference between a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and persistent depressive disorder (also known as dysthymia)?

A

In dysthymia, the symptoms are milder but last for very long periods of time, usually a year or more.

34
Q

What is seasonal depressive disorder? How is it treated?

A
  • a depressive disorder that usually occurs in the winter, resulting from an imbalance between serotonin and melatonin
  • light therapy
35
Q

What are bipolar disorders characterized by?

A

mood swings that result in very high (mania) states

36
Q

What is the difference between bipolar disorder I and bipolar disorder II?

A

Type 1 has a very intense period of mania and sometimes has a major depressive episode. Type 2 has a much lower intensity period of hypomania and always comes with a major depressive episode.

37
Q

What is cyclothymic disorder?

A

a type of depressive order that involves hypomania and dysthymia

38
Q

What are anxiety characterized by?

A

irrational fear of a particular thing or place

39
Q

What is generalized anxiety disoder?

A

persistent worry about common tasks like mortgage payments, returning emails, making dinner

40
Q

What is agarophobia?

A

fear of places that do not have easy escape routes

41
Q

What is social anxiety disorder?

A

fear of social interactions that could result in awkwardness of embarrassment

42
Q

What is panic disorder?

A

an anxiety disorder that results in random and intense activation of the sympathetic nervous system, often characterized by an impending sense of doom

43
Q

What are obsessive compulsive disorders?

A

disorders where a person is constantly given stress (obsessions) and must release the stress (compulsions)

44
Q

What is body dysmorphic disorder?

A

a disorder where the person does not like their body, often toward one part of their body

45
Q

What are the three main categories of dissociative identity disorders?

A

dissociative amnesia, dissociative identity disorder, derealization/deidentification

46
Q

Dissociative fugue is a symptom of what dissociative disoder?

A

dissociative amnesia

47
Q

What is somatic symptom disorder?

A

irrational or unexpected pain that is disproportionate to an injury’s severity

48
Q

What is is illness anxiety disorder?

A

the constant thoughts of developing an illness

49
Q

What is conversion disorder?

A

the loss of a bodily function or sense after a traumatic event that are not readily explicable or rationalized

50
Q

What does ego-dystonic mean?

A

the individual has a psychological disorder but considers it to be a detriment to their goals, thrust upon them

51
Q

What are the disorders in cluster A of personality disorders?

A

paranoid personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder

52
Q

What are the disorders in cluster B of personality disorders?

A

histrionic, narcissistic personality, borderline, antisocial

53
Q

What are the disorders in cluster C of personality disorders?

A

dependent, avoidant, obsessive-compulsive

MCAT Psychology and Sociology (8 decks)

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