Bernstein et al., Psychology, 6/e Keyterms

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Psychology, Sixth Edition
Douglas A. Bernstein - University of South Florida and University of Southampton
Louis A. Penner - University of South Florida
Alison Clarke-Stewart - University of California, Irvine
Edward J. Roy - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Keyterms
Chapter 15: Psychological Disorders

Psychopathology involves patterns of thinking and behavior that are maladaptive, disruptive, or uncomfortable either for the person affected or for those with whom he or she associates. (see introductory section)
REMEMBER:Psych refers to "mental" or "psychological," and pathos refers to "illness" or "sickness." Psychopathology means the study of mental illness or disorder.
Impaired functioning is difficulty in fulfilling appropriate and expected family, social, and work-related roles. (see What Is Abnormal?)
Example: Jed drinks so much on weekends and evenings that he can't get up and go to class during the week or complete his homework. Consequently, he fails out of college. Jed is experiencing impaired functioning.
The biopsychosocial model is a view of mental disorders as caused by a combination of interacting biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. (see Explaining Psychological Disorders)
The neurobiological model attributes abnormal behavior to the presence of biochemical, genetic, or other physical problems. (see Explaining Psychological Disorders)
Example: Nora's doctor believes that her depression is caused by an imbalance of some neurotransmitter levels. Nora is taking an antidepressant to correct this physical problem.
The psychological model views abnormal behavior as caused by mental processes. The psychodynamic, social-cognitive, and humanistic approaches are examples. (see Explaining Psychological Disorders)
A socioculturalmodel of abnormal behavior looks for the influence of factors such as gender, social situations, cultural expectations, and historical eras on behavior. (see Explaining Psychological Disorders)
Example: The greater tolerance for excessive drinking in men may make alcohol abuse more likely in men than in women.
The diathesis-stress approach attributes abnormal behavior to more than one cause; the model recognizes the integration of a person's biological predisposition, environmental surroundings, and psychological factors in mental illness. (see Diathesis-Stress as an Integrative Explanation)
Example: Frank has a biological susceptibility to stress. Entering the combined medical and doctoral program put him under a lot of stress. He was very depressed by the end of his first semester. Juan tends to be less stress-sensitive and is handling the same program with much less trouble.
Anxiety disorders are characterized by fear that causes a disruption in a person's life. Anxiety disorders include phobias, generalized anxiety disorders, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder. (see Anxiety Disorders)
Phobias are strong, irrational fears of an object or situation that should not cause such a reaction. Examples are specific and social phobias. (see Phobia)
A specific phobia is a fear of something specific, such as heights, animals, or air travel. (see Phobia)
Example: Claustrophobia is the fear of being in closed places.
A social phobia is a fear of being negatively evaluated by others or of doing something so impulsive or outrageous that public humiliation will result. (see Phobia)
Example: Rosa is terrified of giving a speech to her class (social situation). She is afraid that she will be completely unable to speak and will embarrass herself by stammering until she blushes and has to run away.
Agoraphobia is the fear of being alone or away from the security of home. (see Phobia)
Example: Eliza is afraid to leave her house. She cannot go shopping or out for an evening. She cannot hold a job or visit her friends and family. She cannot take her children to the doctor or drive them anywhere. Although she is less fearful when accompanied by her husband, she is still uncomfortable in any situation outside her home.
Generalized anxiety disorder involves relatively mild but long-lasting anxiety that is not focused on any object or situation. (see Generalized Anxiety Disorder)
Example: Leslie has had a feeling of vague apprehension for about six weeks and always feels as though something bad is going to happen to her. She cannot sleep and is constantly tired and irritable.
Panicdisorder consists of attacks of extreme fear and panic that occur with no warning and no obvious cause. Symptoms include heart palpitations, chest pain or pressure, dizziness, sweating, and a feeling of faintness. (see Panic Disorder)
Example: Akbar, a university professor, often experiences panic attacks. He can be in the middle of lecturing, driving his car, or browsing in a bookstore when he suddenly becomes terrified for no specific reason. He also experiences chest pain and dizziness during these episodes.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) involves an obsession with particular thoughts or images, which motivates repetitive, uncontrollable behaviors. (see Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)
Example: Simon cannot enter a room and feel comfortable unless he touches all the walls first. If he cannot do this, he becomes very anxious and highly agitated.
Somatoform disorders are characterized by the presence of physical symptoms of illness in the absence of a physical cause. They include conversion disorder, hypochondriasis, somatization disorder, and pain disorder. (see Somatoform Disorders)
REMEMBER:Soma means "body." Somatoform disorders are characterized by perceived body illnesses in the absence of an actual physical problem.
A conversion disorder is a condition in which a person reports being blind, deaf, paralyzed, insensitive to pain, or even pregnant, but is not. The imagined physical disabilities often help the person be removed from the stressful situation. (see Somatoform Disorders)
REMEMBER:Conversion means a "change from one state to another." Think of a person experiencing a changed physical state (blindness, deafness) but without physical explanation.
Example: Joanie is a volunteer nurse on a cancer ward. She calls the hospital and calmly tells them that she cannot come to work because she cannot move her legs. There is nothing physically wrong, but the problem allows her to avoid dealing with patients who are in great pain and near death.
Hypochondriasis is an unjustified concern that one has a serious illness. A person with this disorder makes frequent visits to doctors and will not be convinced that he or she is healthy. (see Somatoform Disorders)
Somatization disorder is similar to hypochondriasis. People frequently go to the doctor with vague complaints about a multitude of physical problems rather than any specific disease. (see Somatoform Disorders)
Pain disorder involves the experience of sometimes extreme pain in the absence of a physical cause. (see Somatoform Disorders)
Dissociative disorders involve a sudden and usually temporary disruption in a person's memory, consciousness, or identity. (see Dissociative Disorders)
Example: Bill, lost in New York City, does not remember his name, home address, or workplace. He cannot remember anything that will give him a clue to his identity. Bill is suffering from a dissociative disorder.
REMEMBER:Dissociate means to "break a connection" or "disunite." Bill is disconnected from his past.
Dissociative fugue is a disorder in which a person experiences sudden memory loss, adopts a new identity, and moves to a new place. (see Dissociative Disorders)
Dissociative amnesia involves sudden loss of memory for personal information, but the person does not adopt a new identity and move to a new locale. (see Dissociative Disorders)
Dissociative identity disorder (the least common dissociative disorder) is a condition in which a person reports having more than one identity, each of which speaks, acts, and writes in a very different way. (see Dissociative Disorders)
Mood disorders (also called affective disorders) are extreme changes in mood, lasting for extended periods of time, that are inconsistent with the happy or sad events in a person's life. They include major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, mania, and the bipolar disorders. (see Mood Disorders)
Major depressive disorder is a mood disorder typified by feelings of sadness and hopelessness and an inability to enjoy oneself or take pleasure in anything. Simple tasks seem to require enormous effort, and concentration is impaired. (see Mood Disorders)
Example: Shelly is depressed. She sits on the couch and watches television without enjoying the shows. She lacks the energy to clean the house or to care for the children. She cries frequently for no apparent reason other than that she feels life is pointless.
Delusions are false beliefs. There are several types of delusions. (see Mood Disorders)
Example: Regina believes that she has been selected by the government to take over the moon once it is colonized. She anxiously checks the mail each day to see if her instructions have arrived from the president.
Dysthymic disorder is a form of mood disorder that is similar to depression but is less severe and lasts for a shorter time. (see Mood Disorders)
Mania is an elated, very active emotional state. (see Mood Disorders)
Example: Lenny is a carpenter. While in a manic state, he decided to build a copy of the Empire State Building in his backyard. He called his office and quit his job, ordered supplies, and asked his neighbors to help him. When the people down the street tried to tell Lenny that he should check the city building codes before undertaking such an enormous task, he became belligerent. He stormed out of their house, accusing them of having no faith in the will, determination, and ability of American neighborhoods.
Bipolar I disorder (manic-depression) is a form of mood disorder that involves extreme mood changes in which feelings of mania are followed by severe depression. (see Mood Disorders)
REMEMBER:Bi means "two," and polar means "extreme." A bipolar disorder is an affective disorder in which mood alternates between two opposite feelings: elation (mania) and extreme sadness (depression).
Cyclothymic disorder is a less severe form of bipolar I disorder in which mood swings are not as extreme. (see Mood Disorders)
REMEMBER: A person's moods cycle between happiness and sadness in cyclothymic disorder.
Schizophrenia is characterized by several types of abnormal behaviors or disorders, including abnormalities in thinking, perception and attention, affect, motor behavior, personal identity, motivation, and day-to-day functioning. (see Schizophrenia)
Example: Neologisms, an abnormality seen in the thinking, speaking, and writing of people with schizophrenia, are words that have meaning only to the person speaking them. For example, the word teardom in "I hereby teardom your happiness" is a neologism. There is no such word.
Hallucinations are false perceptions that occur as schizophrenic symptoms. (see Symptoms of Schizophrenia)
Example: Many people with schizophrenia hear "voices" talking to them inside their heads. They may also report seeing things that don't really exist.
Positive symptoms of schizophrenia involve distortions of cognitive, perceptual, or behavioral functioning, such as hallucinations or delusions. (see Categorizing Schizophrenia)
REMEMBER: They are called positive symptoms because they are undesirable additions to mental processing.
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia involve a decrease or loss in normal functioning, such as absence of pleasure or lack of emotional expression. (see Categorizing Schizophrenia)
REMEMBER: They are called negative symptoms because they subtract elements from normal mental life.
Personality disorders are long-standing behavior patterns that create problems, usually for others, and are not as severe as mental disorders. There are several types of personality disorders, including schizotypal, avoidant, narcissistic, and antisocial. (see Personality Disorders)
Antisocialpersonality disorder involves a long-term persistent pattern of impulsive, selfish, unscrupulous, even criminal behavior. People with antisocial personalities appear to have no morals and can be dangerous to the public because they very rarely experience deep feelings for anyone. Typically, they are smooth-talking, intelligent, charming liars who have no sense of responsibility. (see Personality Disorders)
Example: Andre, although quite charming, has been in trouble since his early teens. He has stolen cars, broken into people's homes, terrorized small children, and conned elderly people out of their social security checks. His parents and social worker have tried all sorts of remedies from punishment to counseling to no avail. Andre is now thirty and in prison for raping and murdering a teenage girl. The prison psychiatrist noted that Andre expresses no regret or remorse for his behavior.
Substance-related disorders are characterized by long-term drug use that causes physical or psychological harm to the user or others. Alcoholism is one example. (see Substance-Related Disorders)
Addiction is the development of a physical need for a psychoactive drug. (see Substance-Related Disorders)
Example: Sheila takes heroin on a regular basis. Without the heroin, she experiences extreme nausea and vomiting and other physical symptoms. Sheila is addicted to heroin.
Alcoholism is characterized by frequent and extreme consumption of alcoholic beverages. (see Substance-Related Disorders)
Example: Nancy has been an alcoholic for twenty years. She began drinking socially when she moved to the suburbs. Eventually, she drank every day to the point of being drunk, and she finally lost her job. Her children have suffered because they do not have regular meals, cannot bring their friends home, and often hear their parents argue about their mother's drinking.





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