Z.D Medical Psychology

Question 1

Panic disorder and treatment

Answer 1

Defined as the presence of one or both of:

• Persistent concern or worry about additional panic attacks or their consequences (e.g. losing control, having a heart attack, going crazy).
• Significant maladaptive change in behaviour related to the attacks (avoidance of panic-inducing behaviours or unfamiliar situations).

Treatment:

• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT):
  
  • Finding an alternative, or realistic explanation for the fear and the symptoms. Overcome avoidance behaviour and doing behavioural experiments.
• Medication, effective together with CBT.
• Self-help

Same treatment for agorophobia + exposure therapy

Question 2

Response prevention: ERP

Answer 2

Exposure and response prevention therapy.

• Exposure - forcing the patient to experience the stimulus and learn, through association with relaxation, that it no longer produces anxiety.
• Response prevention - The patient is prevented from engaging in usual compulsive rituals.

Question 3

5 stages of dying /Phases of grief

Answer 3

1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

Question 4

Explain good stress and 5 benefits:

Answer 4

Good stress is stress that is beneficial and motivating.

1. Increased attention and alertness, vitality
2. Thinking faster
3. Creativity
4. Successful problem solving
5. Evolutionary purposes, adaption, coping mechanism

Question 5

Stress stages:

Answer 5

1. The alarm stage.
2. The resistance stage.
3. The exhaustion stage.

Question 6

Intrinsic motivation theories:

Answer 6

Intrinsic motivation is an energizing of behavior that comes from within an individual, out of will and interest for the activity at hand.

No external rewards are required to incite the intrinsically motivated person into action. The reward is the behavior itself. Engage in behaviour because it is personally rewarding and not because of an external reward.

Question 7

Normal wakeful consciousness:

Answer 7

The state of consciousness you experience when you are awake and aware of thoughts, feelings and perception of internal events and the environment.

Question 8

Mankoff theory

Answer 8

Types of stigma:

• Ascribed when born (blindness)
• Achieved (Criminal)

Question 9

Theory of Goffmann:

Answer 9

Types of stigma:

• Physical eg. disability.
• Moral eg. prostitution.
• Racial, national eg. being another skin colour than your own.

Question 10

CHD risks:

Answer 10

Stress

type A and type D personality

neurosis

depression

anxiety

sleep deprivation

Question 11

Human developmental program:

Answer 11

• Some elemental skills build up upon specific way of learning called developmental programs
• These developmental programs are:
  
  • genetically based specific learning mechanisms elicited by environmental key triggers
  • characterized with sensitive periods
  • could be elicited in this sensitive periods only

Question 12

Define consciousness:

Answer 12

Consciousness is the state or quality of awareness, or, of being aware of an external object or something within oneself. Everything you experience.
Awareness of one self and our surroundings.

Question 13

Managing negative thoughts

Answer 13

1. Recognise thought distortions.
2. Identify
3. Challenge negative thoughts.
4. Reframe

• Practice gratitude.
• Meditation
• Take a brake from negative thinking.
• Release judgement.
• Focus on your strengths.
• Seek out professional support.

Question 14

Sleep paralysis:

Answer 14

Sleep paralysis is when, during awakening or falling asleep, a person is aware but unable to move or speak. During an episode, one may hear, feel, or see things that are not there.

Question 15

Type D personality:

Answer 15

Type D (also known as “distressed” or “disease-prone”) persons tend to be worried, irritable, and express a great deal of negative emotions.

Question 16

Vital exhaustion:

Answer 16

Burnout syndrome.

Emotional and physical exhaustion resulting from a combination of exposure to environmental and internal stressors and inadequate coping and adaptive skills.

Excess fatigue, hopelessness, loss of libido, increased irritability and problems with sleep.

(1) Feelings of excessive fatigue and lack of energy.
(2) Increasing irritability.
(3) Feelings of demoralisation.

Question 17

Difficulty in personality disorders treatment

Answer 17

• Many patients with personality disorders don’t consider themselves as having a problem thus, they would less readily cooperate with the doctor/take treatment.
• diagnosis of personality disorders is challenging and could be mistaken for other problem(e.g. depression). this may result in giving treatment which isn’t suitable for treating the problem.
• personality disorders treatment must include both drugs and psychotherapy.
• treatment is useful only for treating the symptoms of the illness and not the underlying cause ,so patient will never be “cured”.

Question 18

Diagnosing anorexia nervosa:

Answer 18

1. Low body weight BMI <17,5
2. Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat
3. Distorted body image
4. Guilt after eating
5. Low self esteem.
6. Intense food rituals.
7. Fatigue, fainting

Question 19

Trait:

Answer 19

a distinguishing quality of a personality

Question 20

Personal disposition:

Answer 20

The way the trait manifests itself

Question 21

Behaviorism:

Answer 21

A systematic approach to understanding the behaviour of humans and other animals. It assumes that all behaviours are

either reflexes produced by a response to certain stimuli in the environment, or

a consequence of that individual’s history, including especially reinforcement and punishment,

together with the individual’s current motivational state and controlling stimuli.

Question 22

Motivational interviewing:

Answer 22

A method to facilitate intrinsic motivation within a client in order to change behaviour.

• *Goal-directed** and directive, deliberately trying to influence clients in a certain direction. Patients way and aim to resolve the problem is the focus.
• *Non-judgmental**, non-confrontational and avoiding argument.

Counsellor help the client become more aware of the problem and imagine a better future. etc.

Question 23

Emotion:

Answer 23

A complex mental state that is defined in terms of:

1. Interpretation of a stimulus - someone shouts at you
2. Feeling - you have subjective experience of fear
3. Psychological response - Increased heart rate, symph. nervous system.
4. Behaviour - Facial expression, running away.

Question 24

Stigma:

Answer 24

Conditions and characteristics of the body or the behaviour

which produce aversion and resistance in the environment

shame, frustration and self-esteem disorders in the individual concern.