PHASE 1

• Psychological Disorder


  Psychological dysfunction within an individual associated with distress or impairment in functioning and a response that is not typical or culturally expected
• Psychological Dysfunction


  Refers to a breakdown in cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning
• Distress or Impairment


  Individual is extremely upset and cannot function properly
• Atypical or Not Culturally Expected


  Deviates from the average or the norm of the culture
• Psychopathology


  Scientific study of psychological disorders
• Clinical/Counseling Psychologist


  • Received Ph.D. and follow a course of graduate-level study lasting approx. 5 years
• Psy.D.


  • Focus on clinical training and de-emphasize or eliminates research training
• Ph.D.


  • Integrate clinical and research training
• Psychiatrists


  • First earn an M.D. in med school, then specialize in Psychiatry
• Psychiatric Social Workers


  • Earns master's in social work as they develop expertise in collecting information relevant to the social and family situation of the individual
• Scientist-Practitioners


  • They may keep up with the latest scientific developments in their field and utilize the knowledge in their practice
  • Evaluate their own assessments and treatment procedures to see whether they are effective
  • Conduct research that produces new information about disorders or their treatments, thus becoming immune to the fads that plague our field, often at the expense of patients and their families
• Presenting Problem or Present

  Traditional shorthand way of indicating why the person came to the clinic
• Clinical Description


  • Represents the unique combination of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings that make up a specific disorder
  • To specify what makes the disorder different from normal behavior
• Prevalence


  How many people in the population as a who have/had the disorder
• Incidence


  How many new cases occurring during a given period
• Course


  • Individual pattern of symptoms
  • Chronic - last a long time
  • Episodic - likely to recover a few months only to suffer re-occurrence
  • Time-Limited - disorder will improve without treatment in a relatively short period with little or no risk or recurrence
• Onset


  • Beginning of the disorder
  • Acute - sudden
  • Insidious - gradually over an extended period of time
• Prognosis


  Anticipated course of the disorder
• Etiology


  Study of origins, why the disorder begins
• Ego-Syntonic


  Behaviors are aligned with your personal values and self-image
• Ego-Dystonic


  Actions that are inconsistent with your ego
• Genes - long molecules of DNA at various locations on chromosomes, within cell nucleus
• 46 Chromosomes, 23 Pairs, 22 Pairs of Autosomes, 1 pair Sex Chromosomes
• XX - female, XY - male
• Adverse life events can overwhelm the influence of genes
• Erik Kandel


  Speculated that the process of learning affects more than behavior; environment may occasionally turn on certain genes
• Diathesis-Stress Model


  • Individuals inherit tendencies to express certain traits or behaviors, which may then be activated under conditions of stress
  • Diathesis - a condition that makes someone susceptible to developing disorder (vulnerability)
  • The higher vulnerability, the lesser life stress needed to trigger the disorder
• Shaping


  Process of reinforcing successive approximations to a final behavior or set of behaviors
• Genes


  • Long molecules of DNA at various locations on chromosomes, within cell nucleus
  • 46 Chromosomes, 23 Pairs, 22 Pairs of Autosomes, 1 pair Sex Chromosomes
  • XX - female, XY - male
  • Dominant and Recessive
• Adverse life events


  Can overwhelm the influence of genes
• Diathesis


  A condition that makes someone susceptible to developing disorder (vulnerability)
• The higher vulnerability


  The lesser life stress needed to trigger traits
• Gene-Environment Correlation Model


  People might have genetically determined tendency to create the environment risk factors that trigger a genetic vulnerability
• Epigenetics


  Study how your behavior and environment can cause changes that affect your genes work
• Neuroscience


  • How the nervous system and the brain works towards understanding our behavior, emotions, and cognitive processes
• Central Nervous System


  • Processes all information received from our sense organs and reacts as necessary
• Neurons


  • Nerve cells that transmit information throughout the NS
  • Dendrites - receive messages from other nerve cells
  • Axon - transmit impulses to other neurons
  • Synapses - connections to other neurons
  • Action Potentials - electric impulses where information is transmitted
  • Terminal button - end of axon
  • Synaptic Cleft - space between terminal button of one neuron and the dendrite of another
• Neurotransmitters


  • Biochemicals that are released from the axon of one neuron and transmit the impulse to the dendrite receptors of another neuron
  • Excitatory - increase the likelihood that the connecting neuron will fire
  • Inhibitory - decrease the likelihood that the connecting neurons will fire
• Glial Cells


  • Modulate neurotransmitter activity
• Brain Stem


  • Lower and more ancient part of the brain; essential for autonomic functioning such as breathing, heartbeat, etc.
  • Hindbrain - contains the medulla, pons, and cerebellum; regulates many autonomic activities such as breathing, heartbeat, and digestion
  • Cerebellum - controls motor coordination abnormalities associated with autism
  • Midbrain - coordinates movements with sensory input and contains parts of reticular activating system (contributes to sleep, arousal and tension)
  • Thalamus and Hypothalamus - involves in regulating behavior, emotions, and hormones