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Abnormal Psychology
exam 1
79
Psychology
Undergraduate 2
09/30/2012

Additional Psychology Flashcards

 


 

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Term
Presenting problem
Definition
Original complaint reported by the client to the therapist. The actual treated problem may be a modification derived from the presenting problem.
Term
Prevalence
Definition
Number of people displaying a disorder in the total population at any given time (compare with incidence).
Term
Incidence
Definition
Number of new cases of a disorder appearing during a specific period (compare with prevalence).
Term
prognosis
Definition
Predicted development of a disorder over time.
Term
course
Definition
Pattern of development and change of a disorder over time.
Term
etiology
Definition
Cause or source of a disorder.
Term
scientist-practitioner
Definition
Mental health professional expected to apply scientific methods to his or her work. A scientist–practitioner must know the latest research on diagnosis and treatment, must evaluate his or her methods for effectiveness, and may generate research to discover information about disorders and their treatment.
Term
psychopathology
Definition
Scientific study of psychological disorders.
Term
moral therapy
Definition
Psychosocial approach in the 19th century that involved treating patients as normally aspossible in normal environments.
Term
psychoanalytic model
Definition
Complex and comprehensive theory originally advanced by Sigmund Freud that seeks to account for the development and structure of personality, as well as the origin of abnormal behavior, based primarily on inferred inner entities and forces.
Term
behavioral model
Definition
Explanation of human behavior, including dysfunction, based on principles of learning and adaptation derived from experimental psychology.
Term
clinical significance
Definition
Degree to which research findings have useful and meaningful applications to real problems.
Term
behavior therapy
Definition
Array of therapeutic methods based on the principles of behavioral and cognitive science, as well as principles of learning as applied to clinical problems. It considers specific behaviors rather than inferred conflicts as legitimate targets for change.
Term
ego psychology
Definition
Psychoanalytic theory that emphasizes the role of the ego in development and attributes psychological disorders to failure of the ego to manage impulses and internal conflicts. Also known as self-psychology.
Term
object relations theory
Definition
Modern development in psychodynamic theory involving the study of how children incorporate the memories and values of people who are close and important to them.
Term
person-centered therapy
Definition
Therapy method in which the client, rather than the counselor, primarily directs the course of discussion, seeking self-discovery and self-responsibility.
Term
psychodynamic psychotherapy
Definition
Contemporary version of psychoanalysis that still emphasizes unconscious processes and conflicts but is briefer and more focused on specific problems.
Term
systematic desensitization
Definition
Behavioral therapy technique to diminish excessive fears, involving gradual exposure to the feared stimulus paired with a positive coping experience, usually relaxation
Term
clinical description
Definition
Details of the combination of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of an individual that make up a particular disorder.
Term
mulitidimensional-Integrative approach
Definition
Approach to the study of psychopathology that holds psychological disorders are always the products of multiple interacting causal factors.
Term
neurotansmitters
Definition
Chemical that crosses the synaptic cleft between nerve cells to transmit impulses from one neuron to the next. Relative excess or deficiency of neurotransmitters is involved in several psychological disorders.
Term
diathesis-stress model
Definition
Hypothesis that both an inherited tendency (a vulnerability) and specific stressful conditions are required to produce a disorder.
Term
reciprocal gene-environment theory
Definition
Hypothesis that people with a genetic predisposition for a disorder may also have a genetic tendency to create environmental risk factors that promote the disorder.
Term
GABA
Definition
Neurotransmitter that reduces activity across the synaptic cleft and thus inhibits a range of behaviors and emotions, especially generalized anxiety.
Term
clinical assessment
Definition
Systematic evaluation and measurement of psychological, biological, and social factors in a person presenting with a possible psychological disorder.
Term
neuroimaging
Definition
Sophisticated computer-aided procedure that allows nonintrusive examination of nervous system structure and function.
Term
mental status exam
Definition
Relatively coarse preliminary test of a client's judgment, orientation to time and place, and emotional and mental state; typically conducted during an initial interview.
Term
informed consent
Definition
Ethical requirement whereby research subjects agree to participate in a study only after they receive full disclosure about the nature of the study and their own role in it.
Term
serotonin
Definition
Neurotransmitter involved in processing of information and coordination of movement, as well as inhibition and restraint. It also assists in the regulation of eating, sexual, and aggressive behaviors, all of which may be involved in different psychological disorders. Its interaction with dopamine is implicated in schizophrenia.
Term
dopamine
Definition
Neurotransmitter whose generalized function is to activate other neurotransmitters and to aid in exploratory and pleasure-seeking behaviors (thus balancing serotonin). A relative excess of dopamine is implicated in schizophrenia (although contradictory evidence suggests the connection is not simple), and its deficit is involved in Parkinson's disease.
Term
norepinephrine
Definition
Neurotransmitter active in the central and peripheral nervous systems, controlling heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, among other functions. Because of its role in the body's alarm reaction, it may also contribute generally and indirectly to panic attacks and other disorders. Also known as noradrenaline
Term
prepared learning
Definition
Ability adaptive for evolution, allowing certain associations to be learned more readily than others.
Term
implicit memory
Definition
Condition of memory in which a person cannot recall past events despite acting in response to them.
Term
modeling
Definition
Learning through observation and imitation of the behavior of other individuals and consequences of that behavior.
Term
behavioral assessment
Definition
Measuring, observing, and systematically evaluating (rather than inferring) the client's thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the actual problem situation or context.
Term
learned helplessness
Definition
Martin Seligman's theory that people become anxious and depressed when they make an attribution that they have no control over the stress in their lives (whether or not they actually have control).
Term
cognitive science
Definition
Field of study that examines how humans and other animals acquire, process, store, and retrieve information.
Term
emotion
Definition
Pattern of action elicited by an external event and a feeling state, accompanied by a characteristic physiological response.
Term
affect
Definition
Conscious, subjective aspect of an emotion that accompanies an action at a given time.
Term
flight or fight response
Definition
Biological reaction to alarming stressors that musters the body's resources (for example, blood flow and respiration) to resist or flee a threat.
Term
mood
Definition
Enduring period of emotionality.
Term
mulitdimensional integrative approach to understanding psychopathology
Definition
Approach to the study of psychopathology that holds psychological disorders are always the products of multiple interacting causal factors.
Term
DSM IV TR
Definition
used by clinicians and psychiatrists to diagnose psychiatric illnesses
Term
generalizibility
Definition
Extent to which research results apply to a range of individuals not included in the study.
Term
comorbidity
Definition
Presence of two or more disorders in an individual at the same time.
Term
epidemiology
Definition
Psychopathology research method examining the prevalence, distribution, and consequences of disorders in populations.
Term
psychophysiological assessment
Definition
Measurement of changes in the nervous system reflecting psychological or emotional events such as anxiety, stress, and sexual arousal.
Term
anxienty
Definition
Mood state characterized by marked negative affect and bodily symptoms of tension in which a person apprehensively anticipates future danger or misfortune. Anxiety may involve feelings, behaviors, and physiological responses.
Term
fear
Definition
Emotion of an immediate alarm reaction to present danger or lifethreatening emergencies.
Term
panic disorder with agoraphobia
Definition
Fear and avoidance of situations the person believes might induce a dreaded panic attack.
Term
panic attack
Definition
Abrupt experience of intense fear or discomfort accompanied by several physical symptoms, such as dizziness or heart palpitations.
Term
generalized anxienty disorder
Definition
Anxiety disorder characterized by intense, uncontrollable, unfocused, chronic, and continuous worry that is distressing and unproductive, accompanied by physical symptoms of tenseness, irritability, and restlessness. Genes may play a role and stress may also contribute to the development. Anyone can develop this disorder, more women than men usually develop it. Can develop whenever. A combination of medicine and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) works best.
Term
brain circuits (under biological contributions)
Definition
Neurotransmitter current or neural pathway in the brain.
Term
stress(social contributions)
Definition
Body's physiological response to a stressor, which is any event or change that requires adaptation.
Term
agoraphobia
Definition
Anxiety about being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult.
Term
obsessive-compulsive disorder
Definition
A cluster C (anxious or fearful) personality disorder featuring a pervasive pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency.
Term
compulsions
Definition
Repetitive, ritualistic, time-consuming behavior or mental act a person feels driven to perform.
Term
separation anxiety
Definition
Excessive, enduring fear in some children that harm will come to them or their parents while they are apart.
Term
blood-injury-injection phobia
Definition
Unreasonable fear and avoidance of exposure to blood, injury, or the possibility of an injection. Victims experience fainting and a drop in blood pressure.
Term
animal phobia
Definition
Unreasonable, enduring fear of animals or insects that usually develops early in life.
Term
social phobia
Definition
Extreme, enduring, irrational fear and avoidance of social or performance situations.
Term
natural environment phobia
Definition
ear of situations or events in nature, especially heights, storms, and water.
Term
acute PTSD
Definition
Severe reaction immediately following a terrifying event, often including amnesia about the event, emotional numbing, and derealization. Many victims later develop posttraumatic stress disorder
Term
Delayed PTSD
Definition
Delayed-onset PTSD describes a situation where a person does not develop a PTSD diagnosis until at least six months after a traumatic event. In some cases, the delayed onset of PTSD can be even longer.
Term
PTSD
Definition
Enduring, distressing emotional disorder that follows exposure to a severe helplessness- or fearinducing threat. The victim reexperiences the trauma, avoids stimuli associated with it, and develops a numbing of responsiveness and an increased vigilance and arousal.
Term
acute stress disorder
Definition
Severe reaction immediately following a terrifying event, often including amnesia about the event, emotional numbing, and derealization. Many victims later develop posttraumatic stress disorder.
Term
panic disorder without agoraphobia
Definition
Panic attacks experienced without development of agoraphobia.
Term
factitious disorder
Definition
Nonexistent physical or psychological disorder deliberately faked for no apparent gain except, possibly, sympathy and attention.
Term
pain disorder
Definition
Somatoform disorder featuring true pain but for which psychological factors play an important role in onset, severity, or maintenance.
Term
hypochonriasis
Definition
Somatoform disorder involving severe anxiety over belief in having a disease process without any evident physical cause.
Term
somatization disorder
Definition
Somatoform disorder involving extreme and long-lasting focus on multiple physical symptoms for which no medical cause is evident.
Term
conversion disorder
Definition
Physical malfunctioning, such as blindness or paralysis, suggesting neurological impairment but with no organic pathology to account for it.
Term
body dysmorphic disorder
Definition
Somatoform disorder featuring a disruptive preoccupation with some imagined defect in appearance (“imagined ugliness”).
Term
munchausen syndrome by proxy
Definition
Term
dissociative fugue
Definition
Dissociative disorder featuring sudden, unexpected travel away from home, along with an inability to recall the past, sometimes with assumption of a new identity.
Term
depersonalization disorder
Definition
Dissociative disorder in which feelings of depersonalization are so severe they dominate the individual's life and prevent normal functioning.
Term
generalized amnesia
Definition
Loss of memory of all personal information, including identity
Term
dissociative identity disorder
Definition
Disorder in which as many as 100 personalities or fragments of personalities coexist within one body and mind. Formerly known as multiple personality disorder.
Term
localized amnesia
Definition
Memory loss limited to specific times and events, particularly traumatic events.
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