AB Psych

• Diathesis


  An inherited tendency or condition that makes a person susceptible to developing a disorder
• Diathesis-stress model


  Psychopathology is the result of the interaction of an inherited tendency and events in a person's life
• Anorexia


  • The influences of culture and gender on psychopathology are most clearly evident in this disorder
• ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)


  • Children with ASD have difficulty with recognizing facial expressions
  • Examples of restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior include unusual interest in sensory aspects of environment
  • The deficits of ASD become increasingly noticeable around 2 years of age
  • The two strongest predictors of adult outcomes are intellectual ability and language development
• Learning disabilities


  Not as easy to detect as physical disabilities in childhood
• Learning disabilities


  Learning problems associated with daily routines, work, and family life may qualify as "learning disabilities"
• Language development


  One of the best predictors of school performance and overall intelligence
• Speech sound disorder


  A developmental language problem involving articulation or sound production rather than word knowledge
• Language functions


  Housed primarily in the left temporal lobe
• Stuttering


  A combination of genetic and environmental factors seem to cause the abnormal development
• Writing disorder


  Child has the most difficulty with gross-motor skills
• Learning disorders


  The cause is genetically based neurological problems
• ADHD


  • The core attentional deficit is believed to be sustained attention/vigilance
  • Diagnostic criteria includes difficulty organizing tasks and activities
  • They are consistently rejected by peers
  • The most common comorbid disorders are conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder
  • Many adults have ADHD but has never been diagnosed in childhood
• Child and adolescent problems

  Can be best described as the failure to demonstrate expected developmental progress
• Interventions for children and adolescents

  Are often intended to eliminate distress and promote further development
• Abnormality in children


  Is often defined in terms of stage of development
• Etiology


  Refers to the possible root causes of childhood disorders
• Cerebral cortex


  Gives us the distinct qualities that make us human and allows us to think about the future, to be playful, and to be creative
• Child's age


  Has the most implications for judgments about deviancy and for selecting appropriate assessment and treatment methods
• Diagnosis


  Analyzing information and drawing conclusions about the nature or cause of a problem to arrive at a classification
• A diagnosis summarizes the child's unique behaviors, thoughts, and feelings that together make up the features of a given psychological disorder.
• Prognosis


  Generating predictions concerning future behavior under specified conditions
• Observing the child in real-life settings


  Involves gathering information about a child's behavior for analysis
• Anxiety


  Characterized by apprehension because of future unpredictability
• Fear


  Characterized by strong escapist tendencies
• Person most likely to develop GAD


  • Ces, a 40-year old woman living in Manila
• Panic disorder


  Most individuals with panic disorder will also avoid internal sensations that produce physiological arousal
• A teenage girl had recently been having panic attacks while shopping at the mall. She was sitting in her room feeling very depressed. To cheer her up, a friend suggested that they both go to an exercise class. Shortly after the warm-up started, however, she had another panic attack.


  The physical sensations experienced during exercise had become an internal cue for panic to occur.
• Panic control treatment therapy

  The purpose of creating mini panic attacks is to allow the patient to develop alternative attitudes about the feared situation.
• Exposure-based exercises for specific phobias

  Actually change brain functioning.
• Person most likely to develop PTSD

  • A man who is very angry and blaming about a traumatic experience.
• People with OCD attempt to neutralize or suppress disturbing, intrusive thoughts

  The frequency of obsessive thoughts increases.
• Body dysmorphic disorder


  Closely related to obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Trichotillomania


  A person with this condition might regularly wear hats, even in situations where it is not appropriate to do so, in order to hide unusual bald spots on their head.
• Addiction


  In terms of substance-related disorders, the word "addiction" is most closely associated with drug dependence
• Ann's situation


  She is dependent but not drug abusive
• Alcohol


  Can initially appear to cause stimulation because it depresses inhibitory centers in the brain
• Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome


  Raizza's behavior of confusion, loss of muscle coordination, and unintelligible speech is probably the result of this
• Dopamine neurons in the "pleasure pathway"


  Stimulation of these probably causes the "high" associated with cocaine use
• Withdrawal symptoms from stopping smoking

  Include irritability