Psychological/Psychiatric Disabilities Flashcards
List the four types of anxiety disorders
- Panic disorder
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Describe panic disorder
An anxiety disorder that causes feelings of terror or impending doom. Symptoms can resemble a heart attack.
Describe phobias
Strong, excessive, paralyzing fears of particular objects or situations (e.g. claustrophobia, spiders, social interactions, etc.). Symptoms can be similar to panic attacks, with a rapid heart rate, difficulty breathing, etc.
Describe post-traumatic stress disorder
An anxiety disorder that may occur after a person has been exposed to a terrifying or traumatic event (e.g. acts of violence, war, natural disasters, etc.)
PTSD may cause nightmares, flashbacks of the event, or feelings of worry, anger, sadness or guilt
Describe obsessive-compulsive disorder
An anxiety disorder where a person has perpetually upsetting or distressing thoughts called obsessions. To alleviate the obsessions, the person may perform repeated acts called compulsions. For example, if a person has obsessions about germs they may repeatedly wash their hands or clean a room.
Name three common types of mood disorders
depression, bipolar disorder, seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
Describe depression
Depression is characterized as a brain disorder. People who have depression may experience sadness, loss of interest in enjoyable activities, worthless feelings, or suicidal thoughts. Causes of depression can be genetic, biological, environmental and psychological
Describe bipolar disorder
A mood disorder that consists of cycles where a person may feel mania (highs and happy feelings) and depression (low, sad feelings)
Describe seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
SAD is a mood disorder that affects individuals during the fall and winter months, possibly due to shortened daylight hours
List some potential causes of schizophrenia
Not known for sure, but theories suggest that genetics and biology may be factors
Describe positive schizophrenia
Positive schizophrenia experiences include hallucinations and delusions.
People with positive schizophrenia see things and hear voices.
Describe negative schizophrenia
Negative schizophrenia experiences involve a lack of motivation, a dreary mood, and isolating oneself from society.
Other things people experience include difficulty expressing themselves, attention and memory deficits, and trouble controlling movements.
Define/describe Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
ADHD is a behavioral disorder where a person has difficulty focusing, paying attention, and controlling behavior.
The person may also be hyperactive.
ADHD typically starts in childhood and continues into adulthood.
What are some of the potential causes of ADHD
Unknown, but genetics and environmental factors may play a role.
Name and describe the three sub-categories of ADHD.
- Inattention - difficulty focusing and processing new information, being distracted easily, daydreaming, difficulty organizing and completing a task, difficulty following instructions
- Hyperactivity - continuous talking, running around, fidgeting, touching things, difficulty completing quiet tasks
- Impulsivity - lack of patience, difficulty waiting on things, shouting unsolicited remarks, difficulty controlling emotions, interrupting activities and conversations
Describe anti-social personality disorder
A personality disorder where a person exhibits a pattern of behavior that shows no regard for the rights of others and violates the rights of others.
People with antisocial personality disorder may fail to conform to social norms and laws, habitually lie, or act impulsively and recklessly.
Describe borderline personality disorder
A person experiences long term instability in mood, behaviors, relationships, and self-image.
Someone may experience lingering feelings of loneliness, boredom, and anger.
Reactions to situations may be extreme and range from panic to depression to rage.
May include substance abuse or self-harming/suicidal behaviors
Describe anorexia nervosa
An eating disorder that causes a person to eat very little food to keep weight at an unhealthy low.
Involves a strong fear about gaining weight.
The person may cut their food into very small pieces, refuse to eat in front of people, exercise excessively, and may have a distorted perception of body image.
Describe bulimia nervosa
Characterized by cycles of bingeing on food and then purging.
The person overeats, then feels a loss of control and self-disgust for overeating.
This causes the person to rid himself/herself of the food through vomiting, using laxatives or diuretics, excessively exercising, or fasting.
Describe compulsive eating disorder
Characterized by eating a very large period of food over a short period of time.
A person may feel out of control during an episode.
May involve eating much faster than normal, eating when there is no indication of hunger, eating between daily meals, or eating more than 5,000 calories in one sitting.
This may result in the person feeling self-disgust or depressed
