Psych Ch. 15: Psychological Disorders

Major depressive disorder

A serious to severe depressive disorder in which the person may show loss of appetite, psychomotor retardation, and in extreme cases, delusions of worthlessness.

Disorganized schizophrenia

A type of schizophrenia characterized by disorganized delusions and vivid hallucinations.

Catatonic schizophrenia

A type of schizophrenia characterized by striking motor impairment.

Paranoid schizophrenia

A type of schizophrenia characterized primarily by delusions—commonly of persecution—and by vivid hallucinations.

Phobia

A(n) ________ is an irrational, excessive fear.

Concordance

Agreement.

How common are psychological disorders?

Nearly half (46%) of us will have some psychological disorder during our lifetime. We are most likely to develop depression and anxiety disorders; schizophrenia will affect about 1% of us.

Delusions

Paranoid schizophrenia is characterized by paranoid _______.

Psychological disorders

Patterns of behavior or mental processes that are connected with emotional distress or significant impairment in functioning.

Amnesia

People with generalized dissociative ________ forget their own identities.

Dopamine

People with schizophrenia utilize more of the neurotransmitter ______ than other people do.

Possession

Since the Middle Ages, Europeans have largely explained psychological disorders in terms of _______ by the Devil.

Psychomotor retardation

Slowness in motor activity and (apparently) in thought.

Medical

Terms such as "psychopathology" and "mental patient" suggest the influences of the ______ model.

Personality

_______ disorders are inflexible, maladaptive behavior patterns that impair personal or social functioning and are a source of distress to the individual or to others.

Catatonic

________ schizophrenia is characterized by impaired motor activity and waxy flexibility.

Major

__________ depressive disorder can reach psychotic proportions, with delusional ideas of worthlessness.

Panic

____________ disorder is characterized by sudden attacks in which people typically fear that they may be losing control or going crazy.

Generalized anxiety disorder

Feelings of dread and foreboding and sympathetic arousal of at least 6 months' duration.

Helplessness

Seligman and his colleagues have explored links between depression and learned _______.

La belle indifférence

A French term descriptive of the lack of concern sometimes shown by people with conversion disorders.

Stupor

A condition in which the senses, thought, and movement are dulled.

Dissociative identity disorder

A disorder in which a person appears to have two or more distinct identities or personalities that may alternately emerge.

Conversion disorder

A disorder in which anxiety or unconscious conflicts are "converted" into physical symptoms that often have the effect of helping the person cope with anxiety or conflict.

Bipolar disorder

A disorder in which the mood alternates between two extreme poles (elation and depression); also referred to as manic-depression.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

A disorder that follows a distressing event outside the range of normal human experience and that is characterized by features such as intense fear, avoidance of stimuli associated with the event, and reliving of the event.

Acute stress disorder

A disorder, like PTSD, that is characterized by feelings of anxiety and helplessness and caused by a traumatic event. Acute stress disorder occurs within a month of the event and lasts from 2 days to 4 weeks.

Dissociative fugue

A dissociative disorder in which one experiences amnesia and then flees to a new location.

Dissociative amnesia

A dissociative disorder marked by loss of memory or self-identity; skills and general knowledge are usually retained. Thought to stem from psychological conflict or trauma.

Mood disorder

A disturbance in expressed emotions, generally involving excessive or inappropriate sadness or elation.

Waxy flexibility

A feature of catatonic schizophrenia in which people can be molded into postures that they maintain for quite some time.

Insanity

A legal term descriptive of a person judged to be incapable of recognizing right from wrong or of conforming his or her behavior to the law.

Learned helplessness

A model for the acquisition of depressive behavior based on findings that organisms in unchangeable aversive situations may learn to do nothing.

Hallucination

A perception in the absence of sensory stimulation that is confused with reality.

Borderline personality disorder

A personality disorder characterized by instability in relationships, self-image, mood, and lack of impulse control.

Schizotypal personality disorder

A personality disorder characterized by oddities of thought and behavior but not involving bizarre psychotic behaviors.

Paranoid personality disorder

A personality disorder characterized by persistent suspiciousness but not involving the disorganization of paranoid schizophrenia.

Schizoid personality disorder

A personality disorder characterized by social withdrawal.

Avoidant personality disorder

A personality disorder in which the person is unwilling to enter relationships without assurance of acceptance because of fears of rejection and criticism.

Neuroticism

A personality trait characterized largely by persistent anxiety; Eysenck's term for emotional instability.

Schizophrenia

A psychotic disorder characterized by loss of control of thought processes and inappropriate emotional responses.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

An anxiety disorder defined by recurrent, anxiety-provoking thoughts or images that seem irrational and beyond control (obsessions) and seemingly irresistible urges to engage in thoughts or behaviors that tend to reduce the anxiety (compulsions).

Social phobia

An irrational, excessive fear of public scrutiny.

Do

Anxiety disorders ____ tend to run in families.

What kinds of anxiety disorders are there?

Anxiety disorders are characterized by motor tension, feelings of dread, and overarousal of the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. These disorders include irrational, excessive fears, or phobias; panic disorder, characterized by sudden attacks in which people typically fear that they may be losing control or going crazy; generalized or pervasive anxiety; obsessive-compulsive disorder, in which people are troubled by intrusive thoughts or impulses to repeat some activity; and stress disorders, in which a stressful event is followed by persistent fears and intrusive thoughts about the event.

Perception

Behavior is labeled abnormal when it is unusual, is socially unacceptable, involves faulty _______ of reality (as with hallucinations), and/or is dangerous, self-defeating, or distressing.

Internal

Depressed people are more likely than other people to make _____ attributions for failures.

Serotonin

Depression is connected with underutilization of the neurotransmitter _______.

Culture-bound

Determined by the experiences of being reared within a certain cultural setting.

Anxiety disorders

Disorders characterized by excessive worrying, fear of losing control, nervousness, and inability to relax.

Somatoform disorders

Disorders in which people complain of physical (somatic) problems even though no physical abnormality can be found.

Dissociative disorders

Disorders in which there are sudden, temporary changes in consciousness or self-identity.

What kinds of dissociative disorders are there?

Dissociative disorders are characterized by sudden, temporary changes in consciousness or self-identity. They include dissociative amnesia; dissociative fugue, which involves forgetting plus fleeing and adopting a new identity; and dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality disorder), in which a person behaves as if more than one personality occupies his or her body.

Manic

Elated; showing excessive excitement.

Personality disorders

Enduring patterns of maladaptive behavior that are sources of distress to the individual or others.

Ideas of persecution

Erroneous beliefs that one is being victimized or persecuted.

Delusions

False, persistent beliefs that are unsubstantiated by sensory or objective evidence.

Acrophobia

Fear of high places.

Agoraphobia

Fear of open, crowded places.

Claustrophobia

Fear of tight, small places.

Somatoform

In ______ disorders, people complain of physical problems or persist in believing that they have a serious disease, even though no medical problem can be found.

Conversion

In a(n) _______ disorder, there is a major change in or loss of physical functioning with no organic basis.

Elation

In bipolar disorder, there are mood swings between ______ and depression.

Identity

In dissociative _______ disorder, the person behaves as if distinct personalities occupy the body.

Compulsive

In obsessive-_________ disorder, people are troubled by intrusive thoughts or impulses to repeat some activity.

Flight

Manicky people may have grand delusional schemes and show rapid _____ of ideas.

What is known about the origins of anxiety disorders?

Many learning theorists view phobias as conditioned fears. Cognitive theorists focus on ways people interpret threats. We may be "biologically prepared" to acquire certain kinds of fears. Anxiety disorders tend to run in families. Faulty regulation of neurotransmitters such as GABA may be involved in anxiety disorders.

Abuse

Many people with dissociative disorders have a history of physical or sexual ______.

What is known about the origins of dissociative disorders?

Many psychologists suggest that dissociative disorders help people keep disturbing memories or ideas out of their mind. These memories may involve episodes of childhood sexual or physical abuse. It may be that people with dissociative identity disorder have greater than normal capacity to recall some memories and put others out of mind.

Do

Mood disorders _____ tend to run in families.

What kinds of mood disorders are there?

Mood disorders involve disturbances in expressed emotions. Major depression is characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, loss of interest, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, inability to concentrate, and physical symptoms that may include disturbances in the regulation of eating and sleeping. Bipolar disorder is characterized by dramatic swings in mood between elation and depression; manic episodes include pressured speech and rapid flight or ideas.

What kinds of somatoform disorders are there?

People with somatoform disorders complain of physical problems, although no medical evidence can be found. Somatoform disorders include conversion disorder and hypochodriasis. In conversion disorder, stress is converted into a physical symptom, and the individual may show indifference to it. People diagnosed with hypochondriasis believe they have serious health problems that nobody can detect or explain.

Hypochondriasis

Persistent belief that one is ill despite lack of medical findings.

Specific phobia

Persistent fear of a specific object or situation.

What kinds of personality disorders are there?

Personality disorders are inflexible, maladaptive behavior patterns that impair personal or social functioning and cause distress for the individual or others. The defining trait of paranoid personality disorder is suspiciousness. People with schizotypal personality disorders show oddities of thought, perception, and behavior. Social withdrawal is the major characteristic of schizoid personality disorder. People diagnosed with borderline personality disorder show instability in relationships, self-image, mood, and impulse control. People with antisocial personality disorders persistently violate the rights of others and are in conflict with the law. They show little or no guilt or shame over their misdeeds and are largely undeterred by punishment. People with avoidant personality disorder tend to avoid relationships for fear of rejection.

What are psychological disorders?

Psychological disorders are characterized by unusual behavior, socially unacceptable behavior, faulty perception of reality, personal distress, dangerous behavior, or self-defeating behavior.

How have people viewed psychological disorders?

Psychological disorders were once viewed from a demonological perspective. In modern times, the medical model grew into prominence. Today, many psychologists view psychological disorders from the diathesis-stress perspective or from the biopsychosocial perspective.

Rapid flight of ideas

Rapid speech and topic changes, characteristic of manic behavior.

Mutism

Refusal to talk.

What is known about the origins of mood disorders?

Research emphasizes possible roles for learned helplessness, attributional styles, and underutilization of serotonin in depression. People who are depressed are more likely than other people to make internal, stable, and global attributions for failures. Genetic factors involving regulation of neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, may also be involved in mood disorders.

Lower

Research suggests that people with antisocial personalities have ______ than normal levels of arousal than most people.

Does

Schizophrenia _____ tend to run in families.

What is schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is a severe psychological disorder that is characterized by disturbances in thought and language, such as loosening of associations and delusions; in perception and attention, as in hallucinations; in motor activity, as shown by a stupor or by excited behavior; in mood, as in flat or inappropriate emotional responses; and in social interaction, as in social withdrawal and absorption in daydreams or fantasy.

What is known about the origins of schizophrenia?

Schizophrenia is connected with smaller brains, especially fewer synapses in the prefrontal region, and larger ventricles. Genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia may interact with other factors, such as stress, complications during pregnancy and childbirth, and quality of parenting, to cause the disorder to develop. According to the dopamine theory of schizophrenia, people with schizophrenia utilize more dopamine than other people do.

Biopsychosocial

The _______ perspective explains psychological disorders in terms of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors.

Reliability

The consistency of a method of measurements, as, for example, shown by obtaining similar scores on different testing occasions.

Antisocial personality disorder

The diagnosis given a person who is in frequent conflict with society, yet who is undeterred by punishment and experiences little or no guilt and anxiety.

Predictive validity

The extent to which a diagnosis permits one to predict the course of a disorder and the type of treatment that may be of help.

Validity

The extent to which a method of measurement measures what it is supposed to measure, as, for example, shown by the extent to which test scores predict or are related to an external standard. In the case of intelligence tests, the external standard might involve academic performance.

What kinds of schizophrenia are there?

The major types of schizophrenia are paranoid, disorganized, and catatonic. Paranoid schizophrenia is characterized largely by delusions; disorganized schizophrenia by incoherence; and catatonic schizophrenia by motor impairment.

How are psychological disorders grouped or classified?

The most widely used classification is found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association.

Fewer

The prefrontal region of the brain of people with schizophrenia has ____ synapses than those of other people.

Multiple personality disorder

The previous term for dissociative identity disorder.

Panic disorder

The recurrent experiencing of attacks of extreme anxiety in the absence of external stimuli that usually elicit anxiety.

Attributional style

The tendency to attribute one's behavior to internal or external factors, stable or unstable factors, and global or specific factors.

Biopsychosocial perspective

The view that psychological disorders can be explained by a combination of (a) possible biological vulnerabilities; (b) psychological factors such as stress and self-defeating thoughts; and (c) sociocultural factors such as family relationships and cultural beliefs and expectations.

Diathesis-stress model

The view that psychological disorders can be explained in terms of an underlying vulnerability (diathesis) and problems that create pressure or tension (stress).

What is known about the origins of somatoform disorders?

These disorders may reflect the relative benefits of focusing on physical symptoms rather than fears and conflicts.

Positive symptoms

Those symptoms of schizophrenia that indicate the presence of inappropriate behavior, such as hallucinations, delusions, agitation, and inappropriate giggling.

Negative symptoms

Those symptoms of schizophrenia that reflect the absence of appropriate behavior, such as blank faces, monotonic voices, and motionless bodies.