Abnormal Psychology

• Psychological disorder


  psychological dysfunction associated with distress or impairment in functioning that is not a typical or culturally typical response
• phobia


  characterized by marked and persistent fear of an object or situation
• abnormal behavior


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


  scientific study of psychological disorders
• scientist-practitioner


  mental health professionals who are expected to apply scientific methods to their work. they must keep current in the latest research on diagnosis and treatment, they must evaluate their own methods for effectiveness and they may generate their own research to discover new knowledge of disorders and their treatment
• presenting problem


  original complaint reported by the client to the therapist. The actual treated problem may sometimes be a modification derived from the presenting problem
• clinical description


  details of the combination of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings of an individual that make up a particular disorder
• prevalence


  number of people displaying a disorder in the total population at any given time (compare with incidence)
• incidence


  Number of new cases of a disorder appearing during a specific period (compare with prevalence)
• course


  pattern of development and change of a disorder over time
• prognosis


  predicted future development of a disorder over time
• etiology


  cause or source of a disorder
• exorcism


  religious ritual that attributes disordered behavior to possession by demons and seeks to treat the individual by deriving the demons from the body
• psychosocial treatment


  treatment practices that focus on social and cultural factors (such as family experience), as well as psychological influences. These approaches include cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal methods
• moral therapy


  psychosocial approach in the 19th century that involved treating patients as normally as possible in normal environments
• mental hygiene movement

  Mid-19th-century effort to improve care of the mentally disordered by informing the public of their mistreatment
• psychoanalysis


  psychoanalytic assessment and therapy, which emphasizes exploration of, and insight into, unconscious processes and conflicts, pioneered by Sigmund Freud
• behaviorism


  explanation of human behavior, including dysfunction based on principles of learning and adaptation derived from experimental psychology
• unconscious


  part of the psychic makeup that is outside the awareness of the person
• catharsis


  rapid or sudden release of emotional tension thought to be an important factor in psychoanalytic therapy
• psychoanalytic model


  Complex and comprehensive theory originally advances by Sigmund Freud that seeks to account for the development and structure of personality as well as the origin of abnormal behavior based primarily on inferred inner entities and forces
• id

  In psychoanalysis the unconscious psychical entity present at birth representing basic sexual and aggressive drives
• ego psychoanalysis


  the psychical entity responsible for finding realistic and practical ways to satisfy id drives
• superego


  in psychoanalysis the psychical entity representing the internalized moral principles of parents and society
• intrapsychic conflicts


  in psychoanalysis the struggles among the id, ego, superego
• defense mechanisms


  common patterns of behavior, often adaptive coping styles when they occur in moderation, observed in resins to particular situations. In psychoanalysis, there are thought to be unconscious processes originating in the ego
• psychosexual stages of development


  In psychoanalysis the sequence of phases a person passes through during development. Each stage is named for the location on the body where id gratification is maximal at that time
• castration anxiety


  the fear in young boys that they will be mutilated genitally because of their lust for their mothers
• neurosis (neuroses)


  obsolete psychodynamic term for psychological disorder thought to result from unconscious conflicts and the anxiety they cause
• ego psychology


  derived from psychoanalysis, this theory emphasizes the role of the ego in development and attributes psychological disorders to failure of the ego to manage impulses and internal conflicts. Also known as self-psychology.
• object relations


  modern development in modern psychodynamic theory involving the study of how children incorporate the memories and values of people who are close and important to them
• collective unconscious


  accumulated wisdom of a culture collected and remembers across generations, a psychodynamic concept introduced by carl jung
• free association


  psychoanalytic therapy technique intended to explore threatening material repressed into the unconscious. The patient is instructed to say whatever comes to mind without censoring
• dream analysis


  psychoanalytic therapy method in which dream contents are examined as symbolic of id impulses and intrapsychic conflicts
• transference


  psychoanalytic concept suggesting that clients may seek to relate to the therapist as they do important authority figures, particularly their parents
• psychodynamic psychotherapy


  contemporary version of psychoanalysis that still emphasizes unconscious process and conflicts but is briefer and more focused on specific problems
• psychotherapy


  the generic name given to formal psychological treatment
• self-actualizing


  process emphasized in humanistic psychology in which people strive to achieve their highest potential against difficult life experiences
• person-centered therapy


  Therapy method in which the client, rather than the counselor, primarily directs the course of discussion, seeking self-discovery and self-responsibility
• unconditional positive regard


  acceptance by the counselor of the clients feelings and actions without judgement or condemnation