Tags & Description
Agoraphobia
Irrational fear of entering open or crowded spaces
Phobia
Persistent and irrational fear, resulting in avoidance of an object or situation that disrupts behavior
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
Persistence of wanted thoughts and actions that time consuming, cause distress and interfere with everyday living
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Four or more weeks of haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and sleep problems
Somatic Symptom Disorder
psychological disorder in which the symptoms take a bodily form without apparent physical cause
Conversion Disorder
anxiety is converted into a physical symptom
Illness Anxiety Disorder
normal physical sensations are interpreted as symptoms of disease
Dissociative Disorders
Conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated) from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings
Dissociative Identity Disorder
a disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities, formerly called multiple personality disorder
Anorexia Nervosa
A condition in which a normal-weight person (usually an adolescent woman) continuously loses weight but still feels overweight
Bulimia Nervosa
A disorder characterized by episodes of overeating, usually high-calorie foods, followed by vomiting, using laxatives, fasting, or excessive exercise.
Binge-Eating Disorder
A disorder characterized by episodes of binge eating, followed by feelings of remorse or disgust - but without purging or fasting
Personality Disorders
Characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning
Antisocial Personality Disorder
A disorder in which the person (usually men) exhibits a lack of conscience for wrongdoing, even toward friends and family members
Psychotherapy
treatment consisting of interactions between a trained therapist and a patient seeking treatment
Biomedical Therapy
prescribed medications or procedures that act on the person's physiology
Eclectic Approach
uses techniques from various forms of therapy
Psychoanalysis
Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. A common technique is free association
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 Theory
therapy deriving from the psychoanalytic tradition that views individuals as responding to unconscious forces and childhood experiences
Insight therapies
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.
Active listening
a feature of client-centered therapy where the therapist echoes, relates, and clarifies the patient's thinking, acknowledging expressed feelings
Unconditional Positive Regard
according to Rogers, an attitude of total acceptance toward another person
Behavior Therapy
Applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors
Counterconditioning
procedure that conditions new responses to stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors
Exposure Therapies
Expose patients to things they fear and avoid. Through repeated exposures, anxiety lessens because they habituate to the things feared
Systematic Desensitization
A type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias.
Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy
Anxiety treatment that progressively exposes people to simulations of their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking
Aversive Conditioning
Type of counterconditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol)
Token Economy
Operant conditioning procedure in which people earn a token of some sort for exhibiting a desired behavior and can later exchange the tokens for various privileges or treats
Cognitive Therapy
therapy that teaches people new, more adaptive ways of thinking and acting; based on the assumption that thoughts intervene between events and our emotional reactions
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
Confrontational cognitive therapy, developed by Albert Ellis, that vigorously challenges people's illogical, self-defeating attitudes and assumptions
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Combine the reversal of self-defeated thinking with efforts to modify behavior
Group Therapy
Normally consists of 6-9 people attending a 90-minute session that can help more people and costs less.
Family Therapy
Treats the family as a system. Views an individual's unwanted behaviors as influenced by, or directed at, other family members
Regression Toward the Mean
Tendency for extreme or unusual scores to fall back (regress) toward their average.
Meta-Analysis
Thousands of patients benefit more from therapy than those who did not go to therapy
Evidence-Based Practice
Clinical decision making that integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and patient characteristics and preferences
Therapeutic Alliance
Bond of trust and mutual understanding between a therapist and client, who work together constructively to overcome the client's problem
Resilience
Personal strength that helps most people cope with stress and recover from adversity and even trauma
Psychopharmacology
Study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior
Antipsychotic Drugs
Drugs used to treat schizophrenia and other forms of severe thought disorder
Antianxiety Drugs
Depress the CNS, and reduce anxiety and tension by elevating the levels of neurotransmitters like GABA
Antidepressant Drugs
Inhibitors that improve the mood by elevating levels of serotonin by inhibiting reuptake
Electroconvulsive Therapy
used for severely depressed patients who do not respond to drugs
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
Pulsating magnetic coil is placed over prefrontal regions of the brain to treat depression with minimal side effect
Psychosurgery
Surgery that removes or destroys brain tissue in an effort to change behavior
Lobotomy
Psychosurgical procedure once used to calm uncontrollably emotional or violent patients. The procedure cut the nerves connecting the frontal lobes to the emotion-controlling centers of the inner brain
Psychological Disorder
deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional patterns of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors
ADHD
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (extreme inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity)
medical model
view of mental illness as due to a physical disorder requiring medical treatment
DSM-5
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (classifies 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 that consists of sudden, overwhelming attacks of terror
phobia
a persistent and irrational fear and avoidance f an object or situation that disrupts behavior
social anxiety disorder
an anxiety disorder involving the extreme and irrational fear of being embarrassed, judged, or scrutinized by others in social situations
agoraphobia
An abnormal fear of open or public places
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
persistence of unwanted thoughts and/or actions that are time-consuming, cause distress and interfere with everyday living
posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
a disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, numbness of feeling, and/or insomnia
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 feels sad and hopeless (depression is the "common cold" of psychological disorders because of its pervasiveness)
mania
a mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state
bipolar disorder
A mood disorder in which the person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania.
rumination
compulsive fretting; overthinking about our problems and their causes
schizophrenia
a group of severe disorders characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and actions ("split mind")
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
hallucinations
false sensory experiences, such as auditory and/or seeing something in the absence of an external visual stimulus