Psychology Definitions

Front 1

patient presents: unacceptable feelings and thoughts, expressed through actions.

Tantrums

Back 1

Acting Out

Front 2

patient presents: temporary, drastic change in personality memory,consciousness to avoid emotional stress.

can result in multiple personality disorder.

Back 2

Dissociation

Front 3

patient presents: avoidance of awarenes of some painful reality.

common reaction in newly diagnosed AIDS and cancer patients.

Back 3

Denial

Front 4

patient presents: avoided ideas and feelings are transferred to some neutral person or object vs protection.

mother places blame on her child because she is mad at her husband.

Back 4

Displacement

Front 5

patient presents: partially remaining at a more childish level of development .

men fixating on sports games.

Back 5

Fixation

Front 6

patient presents: modeling behavior after another person who is more powerful though not necessarily admired.

abused child identifies theirselves as an abuser.

Back 6

Identification

Front 7

patient presents: seperation of feelings from ideas and events.

describing murder in graphic detail with no emotional response.

Back 7

Isolation Affect

Front 8

patient presents: unacceptable internal impulse is attributed to an external source.

a man who wants another woman thinks his wife is cheating on him.

Back 8

Projection

Front 9

patient presents: proclaiming logical reasons for actions actually performed for other reasons, usually to avoid self blame.

after getting fired, claiming that the job was not important anyway.

Back 9

Rationalization

Front 10

patient presents: whereby a warded-off idea or feeling is replaced by an unconsciously derived emphasis on its opposite

patient with libidinous thoughts enters a monastery.

Back 10

Reaction Formation

Front 11

patient presents: turning back the maturational clock and going back to earlier modes of dealing with the world.

seen in children under stress
(ex. bedwetting)
and patients on dialysis
(ex. crying)

Back 11

Regression

Front 12

patient presents: involuntarty withholding of an idea or feeling from conscious awareness.

not remembering a conflictual or traumatic experience, pressing bad thoughts into the unconcious.

Back 12

Repression

Front 13

patient presents: belief that people are either all good or all bad at different times due to intolerance of ambiguity. Boderline personality disorder.

patient says that all the nurses are cold and insensitive but that the doctors are warm and friendly.

Back 13

Splitting

Front 14

patient presents: guilty feelings alleviated by unsolicited generosity toward others.

mafia boss makes large donations to charity.

Back 14

Altruism

Front 15

patient presents: apprecitating the amusing nature of an anxiety-provoking or adverse situation.

nervous medical student jokes about the boards.

Back 15

Humor

Front 16

patient presents: process whereby one reaplaces and unacceptable wish with a course of action that is similar to the wish but does not conflict with one's value system.

actress uses experience of abuse to enhance her acting. Chemistry: a substance changing from a solid to gas.

Back 16

Sublimation

Front 17

patient presents: voluntary withholding of an idea or feeling from conscious awareness.

choosing to think about the USMILE until the week of the exam.

Mature women wear a SASH: Sublimation, Altruism, Suppression, Humor.

Back 17

Suppression

Front 18

Freud discribed primal urges, food, sex, and aggression.
Instinct. Entirely subconcious.

- Id
- Ego
- Superego

Back 18

Id

Front 19

Freud described mediator between primal urges and behavior accepted in reality.

- Ego
- Id
- Superego

Back 19

Ego

Front 20

Freud described moral values, conscience; can lead to self-blame and attacks on ego.

-Ego
-Superego
-Id

Back 20

Superego

Front 21

patient presents: limited attention span and poor impulse control. Hyperactivity, motor impairment, emotional liability. Difficulties in school. Frontal lobe volumes.

Back 21

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Front 22

patient presents: repetitive and pervasive behavior violating social norms.
After 18 years of age.

Back 22

Oppositional Defiant Disorder

Front 23

patient presents: sudden, rapid, recurrent, nonrhythmic, stereotyped motor movements or vocalizations (tics) that persist for >1 year. Coprolalia (obscene speech) found.

Back 23

Tourette's Syndrome

Front 24

patient presents: fear of seperation from home or loss of attachment figure.

Back 24

Seperation Anxiety Disorder

Front 25

patient presents: language impairment and poor social interactions. Focus on objects. Repetitive behavior and usually below normal intelligence.

Back 25

Autistic Disorder

Front 26

patient presents: a milder form of autism. all-absorbing interests, repetitive behavior, problems with social relationships.

Back 26

Asperger's Disorder

Front 27

patient presents: x-linked disorder seen almost exclusively in girls. Regression characterized by loss of development, mental retardation, verbal abilities, ataxia, and stereotyped hand wringing.

Back 27

Rhett's Disorder

Front 28

patient presents: marked regression in multiple areas of functioning. At least 2 years of apparently normal development. Significant loss of expressive or receptive language skills, social skills, adaptive behavior, bowel or bladder control, play or motor skills. Onset between 3 and 4 years old.

Back 28

Childhood Disintegrative Disorder

Front 29

Retrograde Amnesia

Back 29

inablility to remember things that occured before a CNS insult.

Front 30

Anterograde Amnesia

Back 30

inability to remember things that occured after a CNS insult

Front 31

Dissociative Amnesia

Back 31

inability to recall important personal information.

Usually subsequent to severe trauma or stress.

Front 32

Hallucinations

Back 32

perceptions in the absence of external stimuli.

Ex. Seeing a light that is not actually present

Front 33

Illusions

Back 33

misinterpretations of actual external stimuli

Ex. seeing a light and thinking that it is the sun.

Front 34

Delusions

Back 34

false beliefs not shared with other members of culture/subculture that are firmly maintained in spite of obvious proof to the contrary

Ex. thinking the CIA is spying on you

Front 35

Loose Associations

Back 35

disorders in the form of thought (the way ideas are tied together)

Front 36

Manic Episode

Back 36

elevated, expansive, or irritable mood lasting at least 1 week.

3 or more of the following:

1. distractibility
2. irresponsibility-seeks pleasure without regard to consequences (hedonistic)
3. Grandiosity-inflated self-esteem
4. flight of ideas-racing thoughts
5. in goal-directed activity/psychomotor agitation
6. need for sleep
7.talkativeness or pressured speech

Front 37

Bipolar Disorder

Back 37

presence of at least 1 manic (bipolar 1) or hypomaniac (bipolar 2) episode. Depressive symptoms always occur eventually. Normal between episodes. Antidepressants can lead to mania. High suicide risk.

Front 38

Depressive Episode

Back 38

at least 5 of the following 9 symptoms for two weeks

1. sleep disturbance
2. loss of interest (anhedonia)
3. guilt or feelings of worthlessness
4. loss of energy
5. loss of concentration
6. appetite/weight changes
7. psychomotor retardation or agitation
8. suicidal ideations
9. depressed mood

Front 39

Major Depressive Disorder
(recurrent)

Back 39

requires 2 or more major depressive episodes with a symptom free interval of 2 months.

Front 40

Dysthymia

Back 40

milder form of depression lasting at least 2 years.

Front 41

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Back 41

associated with winter season; improves in response to full spectrum light exposure.