AbnormalPsych123

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  1. Abnormal behavior
    • A psychological dysfunction within an individual that is associated with
    • distress or impairment in functioning and a response that is not
    • typical or culturally expected.
  2. behavior therapy
    • Array of therapy 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.
  3. behavior model
    • Explanation of human behavior, including
    • dysfunction, based on principles of learning and adaptation derived from
    • experimental psychology.
  4. behaviorism
    • Explanation of human behavior, including
    • dysfunction, based on principles of learning and adaptation derived from
    • experimental psychology.
  5. classical conditioning
    • Fundamental learning process first described by
    • Ivan Pavlov. An event that automatically elicits a response is paired
    • with another stimulus event that does not (a neutral stimulus). After
    • repeated pairings, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus
    • that by itself can elicit the desired response.
  6. clinical description
    Details of the combination of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of an individual that make up a particular disorder.
  7. course
    Pattern of development and change of a disorder over time.
  8. ego psychology
    • Derived from psychoanalysis, this theory
    • 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.
  9. free association
    • Psychoanalytic therapy technique intended to
    • explore threatening material repressed into the unconscious. The patient
    • is instructed to say whatever comes to mind without censoring.
  10. incidence
    Number of new cases of a disorder appearing during a specific period (compare with prevalence).
  11. intrapsyhic conflicts
    In psychoanalysis, the struggles among the id, ego, and superego.
  12. introspection
    • Early, nonscientific approach to the study of
    • psychology involving systematic attempts to report thoughts and feelings
    • that specific stimuli evoked.
  13. moral therapy
    Psychosocial approach in the 19th century that involved treating patients as normally as possible in normal environments.
  14. neurosis
    • Obsolete psychodynamic term for psychological
    • disorder thought to result from unconscious conflicts and the anxiety
    • they cause. Plural is neuroses.
  15. object relations
    • 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.
  16. prevalence
    Number of people displaying a disorder in the total population at any given time (compare with incidence).
  17. psychoanalysis
    • Psychoanalytic assessment and therapy, which
    • emphasizes exploration of, and insight into, unconscious processes and
    • conflicts, pioneered by Sigmund Freud.
  18. psychoanalyst
    • Therapist who practices psychoanalysis after
    • earning either an M.D. or a Ph.D. degree and receiving additional
    • specialized postdoctoral training.
  19. psychoanalytic model
    • 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.
  20. psychodynamic psychotherapy
    • Contemporary version of psychoanalysis that
    • still emphasizes unconscious processes and conflicts but is briefer and
    • more focused on specific problems.
  21. psychosocial treatment
    • Treatment practices that focus on social and
    • cultural factors (such as family experience), as well as psychological
    • influences. These approaches include cognitive, behavioral, and
    • interpersonal methods.
  22. scientist practioners
    • Mental health professionals who are expected to
    • apply scientific methods to their work. They must keep current in the
    • latest research on diagnosis and treatment, they must evaluate their own
    • methods for effectiveness, and they may generate their own research to
    • discover new knowledge of disorders and their treatment.
  23. Shaping
    • In operant conditioning, the development of a
    • new response by reinforcing successively more similar versions of that
    • response. Both desirable and undesirable behaviors may be learned in
    • this manner.
  24. affect
    Conscious, subjective aspect of an emotion that accompanies an action at a given time.
  25. agonist
    Chemical substance that effectively increases the activity of a neurotransmitter by imitating its effects.
  26. antagonist
    In neuroscience, a chemical substance that decreases or blocks the effects of a neurotransmitter.
  27. cognitive science
    field of study that examines how humans and other animals acquire, process, store, and retrieve information.
  28. diathesis stress model
    • Hypothesis that both an inherited tendency (a
    • vulnerability) and specific stressful conditions are required to produce
    • a disorder.
  29. dopamine
    • 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.
  30. emotion
    Pattern of action elicited by an external event and a feeling state, accompanied by a characteristic physiological response.
  31. epigenetics
    • The study of factors other than inherited DNA
    • sequence, such as new learning or stress, that alter the Phenotypic
    • expression of genes.
  32. equifinality
    Developmental psychopathology principle that a behavior or disorder may have several causes.
  33. GABA
    • Neuro transmitter that reduces activity across
    • the synapse and thus inhibits a range of behaviors and emotions,
    • especially generalized anxiety.
  34. glutamate
    Amino acid neurotransmitter that excites many different neurons, leading to action.
  35. inverse agonist
    Chemical substance that produces effects opposite those of a particular neurotransmitter.
  36. modeling.observational learnign
    Learning through observation and imitation of the behavior of other individuals and consequences of that behavior.
  37. multidemensional integrative approach
    • Approach to the study of psychopathology that
    • holds psychological disorders as always being the products of multiple
    • interacting causal factors.
  38. norepinephrine
    • 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.
  39. prepared learning
    An ability has been adaptive for evolution, allowing certain associations can be learned more readily than others.
  40. reciprical gene environment model
    • 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.
  41. serotonin
    • 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.
  42. vulnerability
    Susceptibility or tendency to develop a disorder.
  43. behavioral assessment
    • Measuring, observing, and systematically
    • evaluating (rather than inferring) the client’s thoughts, feelings, and
    • behavior in the actual problem situation or context.
  44. classical categorical approach
    Classification method founded on the assumption of clear-cut differences among disorders, each with a different known cause.
  45. classification
    Assignment of objects or people to categories on the basis of shared characteristics.
  46. clinical assessment
    • Systematic evaluation and measurement of
    • psychological, biological, and social factors in a person presenting
    • with a possible psychological disorder.
  47. comorbidity
    Presence of two or more disorders in an individual at the same time.
  48. diagnosis
    Process of determining whether a presenting problem meets the established criteria for a specific psychological disorder.
  49. dimensional approach
    Method of categorizing characteristics on a continuum rather than on a binary, either-or, or all-or-none basis.
  50. false negative
    Assessment error in which no pathology is noted (that is, test results are negative) when one is actually present.
  51. false positive
    Assessment error in which pathology is reported (that is, test results are positive) when none is actually present.
  52. familial aggregation
    The extent to which a disorder is found among a patient’s relatives.
  53. idiographic strategy
    Close and detailed investigation of an individual emphasizing what makes that person unique (compare with nomothetic strategy).
  54. intelligence quotient (IQ)
    Score on an intelligence test estimating a person’s deviation from average test performance.
  55. labeling
    • Applying a name to a phenomenon or a pattern of
    • behavior. The label may acquire negative connotations or be applied
    • erroneously to the person rather than that person’s behaviors.
  56. mental status exam
    • 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.
  57. neuroimaging
    Sophisticated computer-aided procedures that allow nonintrusive examination of nervous system structure and function.
  58. neuropsychological testing
    Assessment of brain and nervous system functioning by testing an individual’s performance on behavioral tasks.
  59. nomenclature
    • In a naming system or nosology, the actual
    • labels or names that are applied. In psychopathology, these include mood
    • disorders and eating disorders.
  60. nomothetic strategy
    • Identification and examination of large groups
    • of people with the same disorder to note similarities and develop
    • general laws (compare with idiographic strategy).
  61. nosology
    Classification and naming system for medical and psychological phenomena.
  62. personality disorders
    • Enduring maladaptive patterns for relating to
    • the environment and self, exhibited in a range of contexts that cause
    • significant functional impairment or subjective distress.
  63. projective tests
    • Psychoanalytically based measures that present
    • ambiguous stimuli to clients on the assumption that their responses will
    • reveal their unconscious conflicts. Such tests are inferential and lack
    • high reliability and validity.
  64. prototypical approach
    • System for categorizing disorders using both
    • essential, defining characteristics and a range of variation on other
    • characteristics.
  65. psychophysiological assessment
    • Measurement of changes in the nervous system
    • reflecting psychological or emotional events such as anxiety, stress,
    • and sexual arousal.
  66. reliability
    Degree to which a measurement is consistent—for example, over time or among different raters.
  67. self-monitoring
    • Action by which clients observe and record their
    • own behaviors as either an assessment of a problem and its change or a
    • treatment procedure that makes them more aware of their responses. Also
    • called self-observation.
  68. standardization
    • Process of establishing specific norms and
    • requirements for a measurement technique to ensure it is used
    • consistently across measurement occasions. This includes instructions
    • for administering the measure, evaluating its findings, and comparing
    • these to data for large numbers of people.
  69. taxonomy
    System of naming and classification (for example, of specimens) in science.
  70. validity
    Degree to which a technique measures what it purports to measure.

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Author:
 Sanchejq
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 132330
Filename:
 AbnormalPsych123
Updated:
2012-02-03 09:21:09
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