unit 8 psych vocab

psychological disorder

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

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

a psychological disorder marked by the appearance by age 7 of one or more of three key symptoms: extreme inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

medical model

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

DSM-5

the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition; a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders.

anxiety disorders

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

generalized anxiety disorder

an anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic 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.

phobia

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

social anxiety disorder

intense fear of social situations, leading to avoidance of such. (Formerly

agoraphobia

fear or avoidance of situations, such as crowds or wide open places, where one has felt loss of control and panic.

obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

a disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions).

posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

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

posttraumatic growth

positive psychological changes as a result of struggling with extremely challenging circumstances and life crises.

mood disorders

psychological disorders characterized by emotional extremes.

major depressive disorder

a mood 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.

mania

a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state.

bipolar disorder

a mood disorder in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania.

schizophrenia

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

psychosis

a psychological disorder in which a person loses contact with reality, experiencing irrational ideas and distorted perceptions.

delusions

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

hallucination

false sensory experience, such as seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus.

somatic symptom disorder

a psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a somatic (bodily) form without apparent physical cause.

conversion disorder

a disorder in which a person experiences very specific genuine physical symptoms for which no physiological basis can be found.

illness anxiety disorder

a disorder in which a person interprets normal physical sensations as symptoms of a disease.

dissociative disorders

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

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.

anorexia nervosa

an eating disorder in which a person (usually an adolescent female) maintains a starvation diet despite being significantly (15 percent or more) underweight.

bulimia nervosa

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

binge-eating disorder

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

personality disorders

psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning.

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.

psychotherapy

treatment involving psychological techniques; consists of interactions between a trained therapist and someone seeking to overcome psychological difficulties or achieve personal growth.

biomedical therapy

prescribed medications or procedures that act directly on the person’s physiology.

eclectic approach

an approach to psychotherapy that, depending on the client’s problems, uses techniques from various forms of therapy.

psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud’s therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patient’s free associations, resistances, dreams, and transferences—and the therapist’s interpretations of them—released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight.

resistance

in psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material.

interpretation

in psychoanalysis, the analyst’s noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight.

transference

in psychoanalysis, the patient’s transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent).

psychodynamic therapy

therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition that views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences, and that seeks to enhance self-insight.

insight therapies

a variety of therapies that aim to improve psychological functioning by increasing a person’s awareness of underlying motives and defenses.

client-centered therapy

a humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathic environment to facilitate clients’ growth. (Also called person-centered therapy.)

active listening

empathic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers’ client-centered therapy.

unconditional positive regard

a caring, accepting, nonjudgmental attitude, which Carl Rogers believed

would help clients to develop self- awareness and self-acceptance.

behavior therapy

therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors.