Chapter 4 Keywords

Front 1

Fear

Back 1

The central nervous system's physiological and emotional response to a serious threat to one's well-being.

Front 2

Anxiety

Back 2

The central nervous system's physiological and emotional response to a vague sense of threat or danger.

Front 3

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Back 3

A disorder marked by persistent and excessive feelings of anxiety and worry about numerous events and activities.

Front 4

Client-Centered Therapy

Back 4

The humanistic therapy developed by Carl Rogers in which clinicians try to help clients by being accepting, empathizing accurately, and conveying genuineness.

Front 5

Basic Irrational Assumptions

Back 5

The inaccurate and inappropriate beliefs held by people with various psychological problems, according to Albert Ellis.

Front 6

Rational-Emotive Therapy

Back 6

A cognitive therapy developed by Albert Ellis that helps clients identify and change the irrational assumptions and thinking that help cause their psychological disorder.

Front 7

Family Pedigree Study

Back 7

A research design in which investigators determine how many and which relatives of a person with a disorder have the same disorder.

Front 8

Benzodiazepines

Back 8

The most common group of anti-anxiety drugs, which includes Valium and Xanax.

Front 9

GABA

Back 9

The neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid, whose low activity has been linked to generalized anxiety disorder.

Front 10

Sedative-Hypnotic Drugs

Back 10

Drugs that calm people at lower doses and help them to fall asleep at higher doses.

Front 11

Relaxation Training

Back 11

A treatment procedure that teaches clients to relax at will so they can calm themselves in stressful situations.

Front 12

Biofeedback

Back 12

A technique in which a client is given information about physiological reactions as they occur and learns to control the reactions voluntarily.

Front 13

Electromyograph (EMG)

Back 13

A device that provides feedback about the level of muscular tension in the body.

Front 14

Phobia

Back 14

A persistent and unreasonable fear of a particular object, activity, or situation.

Front 15

Specific Phobia

Back 15

A severe and persistent fear of a specific object or situation (other than agoraphobia and social phobia).

Front 16

Agoraphobia

Back 16

An anxiety disorder in which a person is afraid to be in public places or situations from which escape might be difficult (or embarrassing) or help unavailable if panic-like symptoms were to occur.

Front 17

Classical Conditioning

Back 17

A process of learning in which two events that repeatedly occur close together in time become tied together in a person's mind and so produce the same response.

Front 18

Modeling

Back 18

A process of learning in which a person observes and then imitates others. Also, a therapy approach based on the same principle.

Front 19

Stimulus Generalization

Back 19

A phenomenon in which responses to one stimulus are also produced by similar stimuli.

Front 20

Preparedness

Back 20

A predisposition to develop certain fears.

Front 21

Exposure Treatments

Back 21

Behavioral treatments in which persons are exposed to the objects or situations they dread.

Front 22

Systematic Desensitization

Back 22

A behavioral treatment that uses relaxation training and a fear hierarchy to help clients with phobias react calmly to the objects or situations they dread.

Front 23

Flooding

Back 23

A treatment for phobias in which clients are exposed repeatedly and intensively to a feared object and made to see that it is actually harmless.

Front 24

Social Anxiety Disorder

Back 24

A severe and persistent fear of social or performance situations in which embarrassment may occur.

Front 25

Social Skills Training

Back 25

A therapy approach that helps people learn or improve social skills and assertiveness through role playing and rehearsing of desirable behaviors.

Front 26

Panic Attacks

Back 26

Periodic, short bouts of panic that occur suddenly, reach a peak within minutes, and gradually pass.

Front 27

Panic Disorder

Back 27

An anxiety disorder marked by recurrent and unpredictable panic attacks.

Front 28

Norepinephrine

Back 28

A neurotransmitter whose abnormal activity is linked to panic disorder and depression.

Front 29

Locus Ceruleus

Back 29

A small area of the brain that seems to be active in the regulation of emotions. Many of its neurons use norepinephrine.

Front 30

Biological Challenge Test

Back 30

A procedure used to produce panic in participants or clients by having them exercise vigorously or perform some other potentially panic-inducing task in the presence of a researcher or therapist.

Front 31

Anxiety Sensitivity

Back 31

A tendency to focus on one's bodily sensations, assess them illogically, and interpret them as harmful.

Front 32

Obsession

Back 32

A persistent thought, urge, or image that is experienced repeatedly, feels intrusive, and causes anxiety.

Front 33

Compulsion

Back 33

A repetitive and rigid behavior or mental act that a person feels driven to perform in order to prevent or reduce anxiety.

Front 34

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Back 34

A disorder in which a person has recurrent and unwanted thoughts, a drive to perform repetitive and rigid actions, or both.

Front 35

Exposure and Response Prevention

Back 35

A behavioral treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder that exposes a client to anxiety-arousing thoughts or situations and then prevents the client from performing his compulsive acts. Also called exposure and ritual prevention.

Front 36

Neutralizing

Back 36

A person's attempt to eliminate unwanted thoughts by thinking or behaving in ways that put matters right internally, making up for the unacceptable thoughts.

Front 37

Serotonin

Back 37

A neurotransmitter whose abnormal activity is linked to depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and eating disorders.

Front 38

Orbitofrontal Cortex

Back 38

A region of the brain in which impulses involving excretion, sexuality, violence, and other primitive activities normally arise.

Front 39

Caudate Nuclei

Back 39

Structures in the brain, within the region known as the basal ganglia, that help convert sensory information into thoughts and actions.

Front 40

Obsessive-Compulsive-Related Disorders

Back 40

A group of disorders in which obsessive-like concerns drive people to repeatedly and obsessively perform specific patterns of behavior that greatly disrupt their lives.

Front 41

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Back 41

A disorder in which individuals become preoccupied with the belief that they have certain defects or flaws in their physical appearance. The perceived defects or flaws are imagined or greatly exaggerated.