Psychopathology Terms

• ABC model, Ellis's explanation for how irrational thoughts affect behaviour A = activating event, B = beliefs, C = consequences
• Agoraphobia is the irrational fear of being outside or in a public place
• Avoidance is the act of staying away from something (e.g. the phobic object or situation)
• Basal ganglia is the region of the brain involved in the coordination of movement that has been linked to OCD
• Bipolar depression is the condition where a person has periods of elevated mood (mania) as well as periods of depression
• Catastrophising is a cognitive error where you exaggerate a minor setback and turn it into a major disaster
• CBT is a commonly used therapy which involves challenging and replacing irrational thoughts
• Compulsion is an irresistible urge to behave in a certain way
• Counter-conditioning is learning a new response to the phobic object/situation e.g. replacing fear with relaxation
• Cultural relativism is the idea that cultural norms and values are culture-specific and no-one culture is superior to another
• Deviation from ideal mental health is not meeting the criteria which suggest you are mentally healthy
• Deviation from social norms is a behaviour that deviates from social norms is one that is very different from how we would expect people to behave
• Dopamine, higher levels of this neurotransmitter have been associated with the compulsions shown by OCD patients
• DSM-V is the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition is the standard classification of mental disorders used in the united states
• Failure to function adequately is when a person's behaviour means they are unable to cope with the demands of everyday life
• Fear hierarchy is a list of situations related to the phobic object/situation arranged in order from least to most frightening
• Flooding (in-vitro) is a behavioural treatment for a phobia which involves imagined exposure to the phobic object/situation without being able to escape
• Flooding (in-vivo) is a behavioural treatment for a phobia which involves actual exposure to the phobic object/situation without being able to escape
• ICD 10 is the 10th revision of the international statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, produced by the WHO
• Logical dispute REBT technique where the therapies disputes the logic of a person's thoughts
• Negative self-schemas is negative information we hold about ourselves based on negative past experiences that can lead to cognitive biases
• Negative triad are three types of negative thinking (self, the world and the future) that Beck suggested occur automatically in people who are depressed
• Obsession is an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind
• Orbitofrontal cortex is a region of the brain which converts sensory information into thoughts and actions, higher activity has been found here in OCD patients
• Overgeneralisation is where cognitive error where you make a sweeping conclusion from a single incident
• REBT, Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy is a type of CBT based on Ellis's ABC model
• Selective attention is focusing on one piece of information while ignoring other information viewed as irrelevant
• Serotonin is a neurotransmitter which regulates mood, lower levels are associated with OCD
• SERT gene is a gene which affects the transport of serotonin, causing lower levels of serotonin which is associated with OCD
• Simple or specific phobia is an irrational fear of an object or situations
• Social norm is the rules of behaviour that are considered acceptable in a group or society
• Social phobia is an irrational fear of a social situation
• SSRIs are antidepressant drugs used to treat OCD which work by preventing the re-absorption and breakdown of serotonin
• Statistical infrequency is a behaviour that is statistically infrequent, does not happen very often
• Systematic desensitisation is a behaviour therapy designed to gradually reduce a phobia through the principle of classical conditioning
• Two-process model is a behavioural explanation for phobias which suggests they are acquired through classical conditioning and maintained through operant coniditoning
• Unipolar depression is a major depressive episode that occurs without the manic phase