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Definition
| The concept that diseases have physical causes that can be diagnosed, treated, and, in most cases, cured. When appled to psychological disorders, the medical model assumes that these mental illnesses can be diagnosed on the basis of their symptoms and cured through therapy, which may include treatment in psychiatric hospital. |
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Definition
| The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition), a widely used system for classifying psychological disorders. Presently distributed in an updated "text revision" (DSM-IV-TR) |
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Definition
| Psychological disorders characterized by distressing, persistent anxiety or maladaptive behaviors that reduce anxiety |
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Term
| Generalized anxiety disorder |
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Definition
| An anxiety disorder in which a person is continually tense, apprehensive, and in a state of autonomic nervous system arousal. |
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Definition
| 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. |
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Definition
| An anxiety disorder marked by a persistent, irrational fear and avoidance of a specific object or situation. |
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| Obsessive-compulsive Disorder |
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Definition
| An anxiety disorder characterized by unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and/or actions (compulsions). |
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| Post-traumatic stress disorder |
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Definition
| An anxiety disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jumpy anxiety, and/or insomnia that lingers for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience. |
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Definition
| Disorders in which conscious awareness becomes separated (dissociated)from previous memories, thoughts, and feelings. |
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Term
| Dissociative identity disorder (DID) |
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Definition
| A rare dissociative disorder in which a person exhibits two or more distinct and alternating personalities. Also called multiple personality disorder. |
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Definition
| Psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning. |
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| Antisocial personality disorder |
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Definition
| A personality disorder in which the 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. |
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Definition
| Physiological disorders caused by emotional extremes. |
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Term
| Major depressive disorder |
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Definition
| A mood disorder in which a person experiences, in the abscene of drugs or a medical condition, two or more weeks of significantly depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness, and diminished interest or pleasure inmost activities. |
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Definition
| A mood disorder marked by a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state. |
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Definition
| A mood disorder in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania. |
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Definition
| A group of severe disorders characterized by disorganized and delusional thinking, disturbed perceptions, and inappropriate emotions and actions. |
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Definition
| False beliefs, often of persecutions or grandeur, that may accompany psychotic disorders. |
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Definition
| An emotionally charged, confiding interaction between a trained therapist and someone who suffers from psychological difficulties. |
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Definition
| An approach to psychotherapy that, depending on the client's problems, uses techniques from various forms of therapy. |
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Term
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Definition
| Sigmund Freud's therapeutic technique. Freud believed the patient's free associations, resistances, dreams, and transference's-and the therapist's interpretations of them-released previously repressed feelings, allowing the patient to gain self-insight. |
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Definition
| In psychoanalysis, the blocking from consciousness of anxiety-laden material. |
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Definition
| In psychoanalysis, the analyst's noting supposed dream meanings, resistances, and other significant behaviors and events in order to promote insight. |
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Definition
| In psychoanalysis, the patient's transfer to the analyst of emotions linked with other relationships (such as love or hatred for a parent) |
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Definition
| A humanistic therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, in which the therapist uses techniques such as active listening within a genuine, accepting, empathetic environment to facilitate clients' growth. (Also called person-centered therapy) |
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Definition
| Empathetic listening in which the listener echoes, restates, and clarifies. A feature of Rogers' client centered therapy. |
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Definition
| Therapy that applies learning principles to the elimination of unwanted behaviors. |
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Definition
| A behavior therapy procedure that conditions new responses to stimuli that trigger unwanted behaviors; based on classical conditioning. Includes exposure therapy and aversive conditioning. |
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Definition
| Behavioral techniques, such as systematic desensitization, that treat anxieties by exposing people (in imagination or actuality) to the things they fear and avoid. |
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Term
| Systematic desensitization |
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Definition
| A type of counter-conditioning that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat phobias. |
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| Virtual reality exposure therapy |
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Definition
| An anxiety treatment that progressively exposes people to simulations of their greatest fears, such as airplane flying, spiders, or public speaking. |
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Definition
| A type of counter-conditioning that associates an unpleasant state (such as nausea) with an unwanted behavior (such as drinking alcohol) |
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Definition
| An 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Cognitive-behavior therapy |
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Definition
| A popular integrated therapy that combines cognitive therapy ( changing self-defeating thinking) with behavior therapy (changing behavior). |
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Definition
| Therapy that treats the family as a system. Views as an individual's unwanted behaviors as influenced by or directed at other family members; attempts to guide family members toward positive relationships and improved communication. |
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Definition
| An emotionally charged, confiding interaction between a trained therapist and someone who suffers from psychological difficulties. |
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Term
| Regression toward the mean |
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Definition
| The tendency for extremes of unusual scores to fall back toward their average. |
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Definition
| A procedure for statistically combining the results of many different research studies. |
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Definition
| Prescribed medications or medical procedures that act directly on the patient's nervous system. |
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Definition
| The study of the effects of drugs on mind and behavior. |
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Definition
| Involuntary movements of the facial muscles, tongue, and limbs; a possible neurotic side effect of long-term use of antipsychotic drugs that target D2 dopamine receptors. |
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