Week 6 - Somatic and Dissociative Disorders

Question 1

Dissociation refers to..?

Answer 1

Where one part of mental functioning is split off from the main part of mental functioning (perception, identity.. etc)

Usually sensory or motor system

Question 2

‘Affect’ is the experience of…?

Answer 2

of feeling or emotion

Question 3

what is la belle indifference?

Answer 3

a common feature of conversion disorder, involving an odd lack of concern regarding ones loss of bodily function

Question 4

Mass Hysteria is where…?

Answer 4

Epidemics of conversion disorder occur periodically in large numbers, where a whole bunch of people experience the same symptoms - usually at schools or workplaces where there has been a degree of stress

Question 5

In factitious disorder, malingering means?

Answer 5

faking a symptom of disorder for the purpose of getting something out of it. E.g. money etc.

Question 6

In somatic disorder, what is the effect of a ‘false body map’?

Answer 6

The false body maps fail to encode information coming from the body, where the person will experience deficits in their sensory function (blindness or numbness)

Or they may be distorted giving incorrect information (causing random pain)

Falsely triggered responses of previously learned experiences (a random seizure)

Question 7

Explain the ‘Gate Control Theory’

Answer 7

The ‘gates’ in our spinal cord can be opened or closed, depending on the flow of impulses from peripheral receptors - determining how much pain we experience

Controlled by:

• the more activity in the pain fibers, more gates are opened.
• the more activity in the peripheral fibers that convey small stimuli from around the body, the more they close
• messages descending from the brain can open or close the gates

Question 8

The inability to consciously experience or describe emotions, is called?

Answer 8

Alexithymia

Question 9

Factors which influence one another becoming more and more intense, is called?

Answer 9

Somatosensory amplification

Question 10

Attribution is?

Answer 10

an explanation a person forms about why an event occurred.

Question 11

what is a ‘culture bound syndrome’?

Answer 11

Syndromes which only occur in some cultures

Question 12

A change in an individuals sense of his/her physical self, is defined as…?

Answer 12

Denationalisation

Question 13

A change in an individuals sense of the world, is referred to as…?

Answer 13

Derealisation

Question 14

Feelings of uncertainty, puzzlement or conflict regarding ones identity, is defined as…?

Answer 14

Identity Confusion

Question 15

The most extreme of dissociative experiences - objective behaviours indicating that the individual has assumed alternative identities at different times, is defined as…?

Answer 15

Identity alteration

Question 16

Forgetting what happened during a certain period but remembering previous and subsequent events, is referred to as..?

Answer 16

Localised Amnesia

Question 17

Only remembering some, but not all features to an event, is called..?

Answer 17

Selective amnesia

Question 18

Amnesia for all personal information, including, history, identity of friends and family, is referred to as?

Answer 18

Generalised amnesia

Question 19

The inability to recall events subsequent to a specific time, is referred to as?

Answer 19

Continuous amnesia

Question 20

The inability to recall certain categories of experiences, is referred to as..?

Answer 20

Systematised amnesia

Question 21

when a person undergoes a sudden, unexpected journey from home and assumes a new identity, with amnesia for the previous identity, is referred to as?

Answer 21

Dissociative fugue

Question 22

Post-hypnotic amnesia is..?

Answer 22

Memory loss after being in a hypnotic state for events that occurred during hypnosis

Question 23

State-dependent memory is..?

Answer 23

Improved memory in situations that are similar to the situation in which the information was learned

Question 24

What is Iatrogenesis?

Answer 24

a process by which an adverse effect is caused by treatment