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AP Psych – Abnormal Psychology Review

Chelsea Ashworth
3-2-11

Psychological Disorders

• ADHD/ADD – Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder


• Autism spectrum
o Classical autism – disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social
interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior
o Asperger syndrome – significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted
and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests
o Pervasive Developmental Disorder – atypical, severe autism
o Rett syndrome – complete lack of verbal skills and mobility, seizures, repetitive tick-like
gestures
o Childhood Disintegrative Disorder – late onset of developmental delays in language,
social function, and motor skills
• Anxiety Disorders
o Generalized Anxiety Disorder – feeling persistently and uncontrollably tense and uneasy
with no real causation
o Panic Disorder – anxiety that escalates into periodic episodes of intense dread
o Phobias – irrational fear of a specific object or situation
 Fear of spiders
 Fear of snakes
 Fear of heights
 Fear of stressful situations
 Fear of dogs
o Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – persistent and repetitive thoughts and actions, often
motivated by fear
 Checkers
 Washers/cleaners
 Orderers
 Obsessionals
 Hoarders
o Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – when a past trauma causes memories, nightmares,
social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and sleep problems
• Dissociative Disorders
o Dissociative amnesia – occurs when a person blocks out certain information, usually
associated with a stressful or traumatic event, leaving him or her unable to remember
important personal information
o Dissociative fugue – suddenly efforts to abandon a past life/identity, usually due to
trauma/ severe stress; show signs of amnesia and have no conscious reason for leaving
o Depersonalization – loss of self-awareness/identity; feeling that one doesn’t have control
over his/her actions
o Dissociative Identity Disorder – a controversial diagnosis where patients seem to have
sets of multiple identities/ personalities
• Mood Disorders
o Bipolar I & II – person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression
and the hyperactive, wildly optimistic, impulsive phase of mania (I is more severe)
o Manic episode – mania describes the occurrence of extreme elation or extreme depression
o Major depressive episode – deep unhappiness, lethargy, and feelings of worthlessness
AP Psych – Abnormal Psychology Review
Chelsea Ashworth
3-2-11
AP Psych – Abnormal Psychology Review
Chelsea Ashworth
3-2-11
• Schizophrenia
o Schizotypal – uncomfortable with close relationships, thought/perceptual distortions,
peculiar behavior
o Schizoid – detachment from social relationships, lack of emotion in social settings
o Borderline – general instability in personal relationships, self-image, and emotions;
impulsiveness
o Dependent – extreme need to be taken care of, separation anxiety, passive and clingy
behavior
o Antisocial – disregard for the rights of others, violates/takes advantage of others,
manipulation
o Histrionic – excessive emotionality, attention-seeking, overreaction to social situations,
shallow, self-centered
o Narcissistic – grandiose self-image, need for admiration, demanding nature, lack of
empathy for others
o Obsessive compulsive – preoccupation with order, perfectionism, and control
o Avoidant – socially inhibited, feels inadequate, oversensitive to criticism
o Paranoid – interprets the actions of others as threatening, malicious
• Personality Disorders [see above]
o Eccentric: paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal
o Dramatic: antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic
o Anxious: avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive
• Somatoform Disorders – disorder where the patient has a physical symptom/ailment but there
doesn’t appear to be any physical/medical cause
• Hysteria – physical symptoms with no physiological explanation, usually triggered by a traumatic
event or extreme anxiety (ie-convulsions)
• Neurotic Disorder – disorder that causes physical distress without any physiological cause
• Psychotic Disorder – loss of touch with reality, hallucinations, delusions
• DSM-IV – manual of mental disorders that aids in diagnosis and treatment protocol
• Medical model (Philippe Pinel) – a more humane approach to treating mentally-ill patients,
involves a physiological/medical approach
• Bio-psycho-social model – examines all contributing factors to a mental illness (biological,
psychological, social)
• Ancient treatments and explanations – credited disorders to demonic possession, used lobotomy
AP Psych – Abnormal Psychology Review
Chelsea Ashworth
3-2-11

Psychological Therapies

• Psychotherapy – an emotionally charged, confiding interaction between a trained therapist and


someone suffering from psychological difficulties
• Psychoanalysis – to gain insight into the unconscious origins of disorders
o Resistance – a disruptive response by the client to some topic they find sensitive, signals
a sensitive topic that might be causation of the disorder
o Dream interpretation – patient recalls dreams in order for the therapist to analyze their
unconscious meaning
o Transference – where patients transfer their feelings of a particular person in their lives to
the therapist
o Interpretation – therapists tries to interpret the meaning of certain utterance, behaviors
o Defense mechanisms – way for the mind to protect us from being consciously aware of
thoughts or feelings that are too difficult to tolerate, signals a sensitive topic
o Psychosexual stage/fixation – fixation on an earlier psychosexual stage that is causing the
disorder (Freud)
o Insight – therapist helps the patient become more aware of his/herself
• Humanism – focus on clients’ current conscious feelings and on their taking responsibility for
their own growth
o Carl Rogers – used active listening to express genuineness, acceptance, and empathy
o Person/client centered therapy – centers around the patient
o Active listening – therapist listens to the patient explain and uses their input to
analyze/interpret the situation
o Unconditional positive regard – therapist shows no judgment, only positive review
• Behavioral – don’t attempt to explain the origin of problem behaviors; instead, attempt to modify
the problem behaviors themselves
o Counter conditioning – uses principles of classical conditioning that attempts to replace
bad or unpleasant emotional responses to a stimulus with more pleasant responses
o Systematic desensitization – reduce a person's anxiety responses through counter
conditioning by presenting them with the feared stimulus
o Token economy – type of conditioning in which the patient is given a reward for
good/desired behavior
o Aversive therapy – use of something unpleasant, or a punishment, to stop an unwanted
behavior
• Cognitive – aims to change self-defeating thinking by training people to look at themselves in
new, more positive ways
o Aaron Beck’s theory of depression – depressed people acquire a negative schema of the
world in childhood and adolescence
o Albert Ellis’ Rational Emotive therapy – focuses on resolving emotional and behavioral
problems and disturbances and enabling people to lead happier and more fulfilling lives
o Cognitive-behavioral therapy – emphasizes the important role of thinking in how we feel
and what we do
• Biomedical
o Psychopharmacology
 Antipsychotics – tranquilizing psychiatric medication primarily used to manage
psychosis
 Tardive Dyskinesia – side effect of long-term antipsychotic drug use; involuntary
movement of facial muscles, tongue, and limbs
AP Psych – Abnormal Psychology Review
Chelsea Ashworth
3-2-11
 Sedatives – sedate the patient (put them to sleep or in a twilight state)
 Stimulants – psychoactive drugs which induce temporary improvements in either
mental or physical function
 Mood stabilizers – psychiatric medication used to treat mood disorders
 Anti-anxiety – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, selective serotonin-
norepinpehrine reuptake inhibitor, reduce the level of chemicals that procoke
anxiety
o Electroconvulsive therapy – stimulates mild seizures, by sending mild shocks to the
brain, to create a re-wiring of neural networks
o Psychosurgery – cutting of neural cords that connect the frontal lobe to the emotion
control center (lobotomy)
• Eclectic Therapy – combines the above approaches to create a varied treatment, used by most
psychologists/psychiatrists
• Four types of mental health professionals
o Psychiatrists – physician who specializes in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of
mental disorders, can provide medication
o Clinical psychologists – integration of science, theory and clinical knowledge for the
purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically based distress or
dysfunction, cannot provide medication
o Clinical/psychiatric social workers – provide mental health services for the prevention,
diagnosis, and treatment of mental, behavioral, and emotional disorders in individuals,
families, and groups
o Counselors – counsel those suspected/affected by mental illness
• Family/group therapy – therapy in which a group of afflicted people convene together to discuss
disorder, treatment, and struggles

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