Chapter 16: Psychological Disorders Study Guide – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
Psychological Disorders
answer
persistently harmful; thoughts, feelings, and actions
question
What are the three things that a behavior must be in order to be considered a disorder?
answer
deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional; standards for acceptability vary because deviant behavior in one culture, may not be considered deviant in another culture
question
Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder
answer
plagues children who display one or more of: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity
question
What is the medical perspective and who proposed it?
answer
psychology disorders are viewed as mental sickness or illness , diagnosed on the basis of symptoms and cured through treatment; prosed by Phillipe Pinel; believed that psychological disorders always had PHYSICAL causes
question
Biopscyhosocial Perspective
answer
assumes that biological, socio-cultural, and psychological factors combine and interact to produce psychological disorders; today's psychologist recognize that all behavior arises form the interaction of nature and nurture
question
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV)
answer
the most widely used system for classifying psychological disorders; defines a diagnostic process and 16 clinical syndromes; diagnoses by different professionals are similar
question
What is one major criticism of DSM-IV?
answer
as the number of disorder categories increased, the number of adults who met the criteria for att least one disorder increased as well
question
What is the unDSM?
answer
a manual of human strengths and virtues; drawas insight from many researchers
question
What are the pros of diagnostic labels?
answer
labels may be helpful for healthcare professional when communicating with one another and establishing therapy
question
What are the cons of diagnostic labels?
answer
studies have shown that labeling has a significant effect on our interpretation of individuals and may cause us to stigmatize; may be viewed or looked at diffrently
question
Anxiety disorder
answer
psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors; the key to differentiate disorders from anxiety is the intensity or persistence
question
What are the four common anxiety disorders?
answer
generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder
question
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
answer
inability to identify or avoid the cause of certain feelins; autonomic arousal; persistent and uncontrollable tenseness and apprehension; "free floating" anxiety
question
Panic Disorders
answer
in some instances, anxiety may intensify dramatically and unpredictably and be accompanied by chest pain or choking; Panic attack: minute-long episodes of intense dread
question
Agoraphobia
answer
a phobia of people who fear situations in which escape or help might not be possible
question
Phobia
answer
when a person has an irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation
question
Social Phobia
answer
when a person has an intense fear of being scrutinized by others
question
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
answer
when a person cannot control repetitive thoughts and actions; older people are less likely than teens and young adults to suffer from this disorder; high metabolic activity in the frontal lobe which is involved in directing attention
question
Acrophobia
answer
fear of heights
question
Claustrophobia
answer
fear of closed spaces
question
Hemophobia
answer
fear of blood
question
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
answer
four or more weeks of nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, sleep problems; some pscyhologists believe this disorder to be misdiagnosed because because of survivor resilience
question
Post-Traumatic Growth
answer
people experience an increased appreciation for life after a life-threatening or horrible experience
question
What was Freud's theory on anxiety?
answer
he suggested that we repress our painful and intolerable ideas, feelings, and thoughts, resulting in anxiety
question
What are learning theorist's view about anxiety?
answer
fear conditioning leads to anxiety; this anxiety becomes associated with other objects or events (classical conditioning); investigators believe that fear responses are inculcated through observational learning
question
stimulus generalization
answer
when a person who fears heights after a fall comes to fear airplanes
question
Biological perspective on anxiety
answer
natural selection has lead our ancestors to learn to fear snakes, spiders, and other animals; humans probably are biological prepared to develop certain fears; compulsive acts typically exaggerate behaviors that contribute to our species survival
question
PET scans of person with obsessive compulsive disorder reveal excessive activity in the brain in the ____________ ___________ cortex. Some antidepressant drugs dampen fear-circuit activity in the ____________ thus reducing behavior
answer
anterior cingulate; amygdala
question
Dissociative Disorder
answer
conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings; having a sense of being unreal, being separated from the body, watching yourself as if in a movie
question
Dissociative Identity Disorder
answer
a person who develops two or more distinct personalities is suffering from this; formerly called multiple personality disorder
question
What are two pieces of evidence brought forth by those who do not accept dissociative identity disorder as a genuine disorder?
answer
the prevalence of the disease became more widespread in the 1980s when DSM first listed the disorder; much less prevalent outside of north America; skeptics claim these disorders are sometimes contrived by fantasy-prone people; and hat sometimes they are constructed out of the therapist-patient interaction
question
How do the psychoanalytic and learning perspectives view dissociative disorders?
answer
as way of dealing with anxiety
question
Mood disorders
answer
psychological disorders characterized by emotional extremes
question
What are the two types of mood disorders?
answer
major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder
question
major depressive disorder
answer
depression is the common cold of psychological disorders; occurs when signs of depression last two weeks or more and are not caused by drugs or medical conditions; lethargy and fatigue, feelings of worthlessness, loss of interest; number one reason people seek mental health services
question
Dysthymic Disorder
answer
lies between a blue mood and a major depressive disorder; characterized by daily depression lasting two years or more
question
Can a person with depression recover without treatment?
answer
yes
question
mania
answer
euphoria, hyperactivity, being wildly optimistic
question
bipolar disorder
answer
less common among creative professionals who rely on precision and logic than among those who rely on emotional expression and creativity; an alternation between depression and mania
question
What is the "gender difference" when it comes to depression?
answer
compared with men, women are more vulnerable to major depression; in general, women are most vulnerable to disorders involving internalized states such as depression, anxiety, and inhibited sexual desire
question
Describe men's mental disorders?
answer
they tend to be more external and include alcohol abuse, antisocial conduct, lack of impulse control
question
What is the most severe form of behavioral response to depression?
answer
suicide
question
How are depressive episodes usually triggered?
answer
by a stressful event
question
What is the psychoanalytic explanation of depression?
answer
suggests that depression occurs when significant losses evoke feelings associated with losses experienced in childhood
question
What is the genetic influence on mood disorders?
answer
they tend to run in families; studies of identical twins reveal that genetic influence on mood disorders is strong
question
How is linkage analysis used in research of genetics in relation to depression?
answer
researchers exam the chromosomes of both the affected and unaffected family members
question
Association sstdies
answer
studies that search for correlations between DNA variation and population traits
question
What are some biological reasons for depression?
answer
depression may be caused by low levels of norepinephrine and seratonin
question
Drugs that alleviate mania, reduce ______________
answer
norepinephrine
question
How do drugs alleviate depression?
answer
they increase the amount of norepinephrine or serotonin in the blood by blocking reuptake or inhibiting their chemical breakdown
question
What diet can predispose someone to depression?
answer
a diet with lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids
question
Describe the brain's of a person with depression?
answer
the brains of depressed people tend to be less active, especially in an area of the left frontal lobe; in severly depressed patients, it may even be smaller in size
question
How do anti-depressant drugs that boost serotonin pmotoe recovery in the hippocampus
answer
the hippocampus is important in processing memory and is vulnerable to stress related damage; drugs that boost serotonin may promote recovery by stimulating neurons in this area of the brain
question
Social-Cognitive perspective of depression
answer
depression may be linked with self-defeating beliefs and negative explanatory style; some believes may arise from lerned helplessness
question
How do depressed people tend to explain failure?
answer
stable (it will always be like this), global (the whole world is over, I can't seem to do anything right), internal (it is all my fault); if you tend to see circumstances as inevitable, and ruminate when bad things happen, you usually experience dperession
question
Depressing thoughts usually coincide with a ___________ mood
answer
depressed
question
Being withdrawn, self-focued, and complaining tends to elicit ___________ ___________-
answer
social rejection
question
What is the cycle of depression?
answer
negative, stressful events, negative explanatory style, hopeless/depressed mood or state, hampered thinking and acting
question
Schizophrenia
answer
Refers to a split reality
question
What are three manifestations of schizophrenia?
answer
disorganized thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and actions
question
Delusions
answer
The distorted, false beliefs of schizophrenia patients
question
What do psychologists attribute schizophrenia thinking to?
answer
A breakdown in capacity for selective attention
question
Describe the percpetions of people with schizophrenia
answer
they are usually disturbed and take the form of auditory hallucinations
question
Flat affect
answer
patients of schizophrenia lapse into this zombie-like state of apparent apathy
question
Catatonia
answer
patient may remain motionless for hours and then become agitated
question
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia
answer
hallucinations, talk in disorganized way, exhibit inappropriate behavior
question
Negative Symptoms of schizophrenia
answer
beahvior, toneless voice, expressionless faces, mute/rigid bodies
question
When is recovery for schizophrenia more likely?
answer
when the patient develops slowly (chronic schizoprhenia) there is less chance of recovery than when it develops rapidly (acute schizophrenia) in response to life stressors
question
Describe the brain tissue of patients with schizophrenia
answer
the brain tissue has an excess of receptors of the neurotransmitter dopamine and drugs that block these receptors, have been found to decrease these symptoms; enlarged fluid-filled areas and a corresponding loss of cerebral tissue is present in those with schizophrenia; also an enlarged thalmus which accounts for difficulty in filtering sensory input
question
Drugs that interfere with receptors for the neurotrasnmitter ________ can produce negative symptoms of schizophrenia
answer
glutamate
question
Where do people with schizophrenia generally have high brain activity?
answer
in the frontal lobe
question
What do some scientist contend are the reasons for brain abnormalites in schizophrenic patients?
answer
low birth weight, oxygen deprivation, viral infections
question
What does the role of prenatal environment play into the risk of contracting schizophrenia?
answer
the role of a prenatal environment is demonstrated by the fact that identical twins with the same placenta are more likely to experience schizophrenia (share the disorder)
question
It appears that for schizophrenia to develop ther must be both a _______ _______ and some _____ trigger
answer
genetic disposition; environmental
question
Personality disorder
answer
exists when an individual has character traits that are enduring and impair social functioning
question
Avodiant disorder
answer
a fearful sensitivity to rejection
question
schizoid personality disdorder
answer
eccentric behaviors such as emotionless, disengagement
question
histronic personality disorder
answer
shallow, attention getting emotions
question
Narcissistic
answer
a person who exaggerates his or her own importance
question
borderline personality disorder
answer
a person who has an unstable identity and an unstable relationship
question
antisocial personality
answer
a person who seems to have no conscience, lies, steals, and is generally irresponsible; previously labeled as psychopath; diagnosed as early as 3-6 years old
question
Describe antisocial disorders in adults
answer
adults tend to have impulse uninhibited, unconcerned with social reward, and low in anxiety
question
PET scans of murders' brains reveal reduced activity in the ________ _______
answer
frontal lobes
question
In terms of age, when do most psychological disorders appear?
answer
during early adulthood
