Exploring Psychology (Chapter 14)

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

A psychological disorder marked by extreme inattention and/or hyperactivity and impulsivity.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions), actions (compulsions), or both.

Delusion

A false belief, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders.

Phobia

An anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object, activity, or situation.

Bulimia Nervosa

An eating disorder in which a person alternates binge eating (usually of high-calorie foods) with purging (by vomiting or laxative use) or fasting.

Chronic Schizophrenia

(Also called process schizophrenia) a form of schizophrenia in which symptoms usually appear by late adolescence or early adulthood. As people age, psychotic episodes last longer and recovery periods shorten.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdraw, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling and/or insomnia that lingers for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience.

Bipolar Disorder

A disorder in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania. (Formerly called manic-depressive disorder).

Psychological Disorder

A syndrome marked by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior.

Generalized Anxiety Disorders

An anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of automatic nervous system arousal.

Panic Disorder

An anxiety disorder marked by unpredictable, minutes-long episodes of intense dread in which a person experiences terror and accompanying chest pain, choking, or other frightening sensations. Often followed by worry over a possible next attack.

Rumination

Compulsive fretting; overthinking about our problems and their causes.

Dissociative Disorders

Controversial, rare disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from pervious memories, thoughts, and feelings.

Binge-Eating Disorder

Significant binge-eating episodes, followed by distress, disgust, or guilt, but without the compensatory purging or fasting that marks bulimia nervosa.

Medical Model

The concept that diseases, in this case psychological disorders, have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and, in the most cases, cured, often through treatment in a hospital.

Epigenetics

They study of environmental influences on a gene expression that occur without a DNA change.

Schizophrenia

A psychological disorder characterized by delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and/or diminished, inappropriate emotional expression.

Anorexia Nervosa

An eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly underweight; sometimes accompanied by excessive exercise.

Acute Schizophrenia

(Also called reactive schizophrenia) a form of schizophrenia that can begin at any age, frequently occurs in response to an emotionally traumatic event, and has extended recovery periods.

Major Depression Disorder

A disorder in which a person experiences, in the absence of drugs or another medical condition, two or more weeks with five or more symptoms, at least one of which must be either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.

Personality Disorders

Inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning.

Anxiety Disorders

Psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety.

Psychotic Disorders

A group of psychological disorders marked by irrational ideas, distorted perceptions, and a loss of contact with reality.

Mania

A hyperactive, wildly optimistic state in which dangerously poor judgment is common.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

A personality disorder in which a person (usually a man) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members; may be aggressive and ruthless or a clever con artist.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID):

A rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities. Formerly called multiple personality disorder.

DSM-5

The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Disorders, Fifth Edition; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders.