Clinical Psychology: every key term you need (+ practice quiz)

More AP Psychology guides

• Scientific Foundations of Psychology
• Biological Bases of Behavior
• Sensation and Perception
• Learning
• Cognitive Psychology

Psychological Disorder

A pattern of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that is deviant, distressful, and dysfunctional.

DSM-5

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual that classifies disorders with standardized diagnostic criteria.

Medical Model

View that disorders have physical causes that can be diagnosed and treated, often medically.

Biopsychosocial Model

Holds that disorders arise from interacting biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors.

Diathesis-Stress Model

Disorders emerge when a predisposition (diathesis) is triggered by environmental stress.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Persistent, uncontrollable, free-floating anxiety without a specific cause.

Panic Disorder

Recurrent, unexpected episodes of intense dread with physical symptoms like chest pain and dizziness.

Phobia

A persistent, irrational fear of a specific object or situation that disrupts functioning.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Unwanted repetitive thoughts (obsessions) and actions (compulsions) done to reduce anxiety.

PTSD

Lingering distress, flashbacks, and hypervigilance following a traumatic experience.

Major Depressive Disorder

Two or more weeks of deep sadness, hopelessness, and loss of interest impairing daily life.

Bipolar Disorder

Alternating episodes of depression and mania (overexcited, hyperactive, impulsive states).

Schizophrenia

A psychotic disorder with disorganized thinking, delusions, hallucinations, and impaired emotion.

Positive vs Negative Symptoms

Positive symptoms add behaviors (hallucinations); negative symptoms subtract them (flat affect, withdrawal).

Personality Disorders

Inflexible, enduring behavior patterns that impair social functioning, such as antisocial or borderline.

Antisocial Personality Disorder

Lack of conscience, disregard for others' rights, and manipulative, often impulsive behavior.

Psychoanalytic Therapy

Freud's approach aiming to reveal unconscious conflicts through free association and interpretation.

Behavior Therapy

Applies conditioning principles to change maladaptive behaviors, as in systematic desensitization.

Systematic Desensitization

Pairs relaxation with a gradual hierarchy of feared stimuli to treat phobias.

Cognitive Therapy

Teaches people to identify and change negative thought patterns that cause distress.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Combines cognitive and behavioral techniques to change both thoughts and actions.

Humanistic Therapy

Rogers's client-centered approach using empathy and unconditional positive regard to foster growth.

Biomedical Therapy

Treats disorders physiologically through drugs, electroconvulsive therapy, or other medical means.

Psychotropic Medications

Drugs that alter brain chemistry, including antidepressants, antianxiety, and antipsychotic drugs.

Rosenhan Study

'Sane' pseudopatients admitted with faked hallucinations were kept and labeled schizophrenic; illustrates the power and stickiness of diagnostic labels.

Comorbidity

Presence of two or more disorders in the same person (e.g., depression with anxiety); common and complicates treatment.

Agoraphobia

Fear or avoidance of situations where escape might be difficult (crowds, public transit), often developing after panic attacks.

Social Anxiety Disorder

Intense fear of being scrutinized or negatively evaluated in social situations, leading to avoidance.

Rumination

Repetitive, passive focus on distress and its causes; a cognitive pattern that maintains depression.

Depressive Explanatory Style

Attributing bad events to stable, global, internal causes ('I always fail at everything because I'm stupid') predicts depression.

Dopamine Hypothesis

Excess dopamine activity contributes to positive symptoms of schizophrenia; antipsychotics block D2 receptors.

Delusions vs Hallucinations

Delusions are false beliefs (persecution, grandeur); hallucinations are false sensory perceptions, most often auditory in schizophrenia.

Dissociative Identity Disorder

Two or more distinct identities alternately control behavior, often with memory gaps; controversial, and often linked to severe childhood trauma.

Anorexia vs Bulimia

Anorexia: significant restriction and low weight with distorted body image; bulimia: binge-purge cycles at or above normal weight.

Borderline Personality Disorder

Instability in relationships, self-image, and emotions, with impulsivity and fear of abandonment; dialectical behavior therapy is a leading treatment.

Exposure Therapies

Systematic desensitization, virtual-reality exposure, and flooding treat anxiety by confronting feared stimuli until fear extinguishes.

Aversive Conditioning

Pairs an unwanted behavior (drinking) with an unpleasant stimulus (nausea drug) to create a negative association.

Token Economy

Operant technique in which desired behaviors earn tokens exchangeable for rewards; used in institutions and classrooms.

Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy

Ellis's confrontational cognitive therapy that challenges irrational, self-defeating beliefs.

Beck's Cognitive Therapy

Gentle questioning to reveal and test negative automatic thoughts and cognitive distortions (catastrophizing, overgeneralization) in depression.

Client-Centered Therapy

Rogers's humanistic approach using active listening, unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and empathy in a nondirective setting.

ECT & rTMS

Electroconvulsive therapy induces a brief seizure and treats severe, drug-resistant depression; repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation is a milder magnetic alternative.

Tardive Dyskinesia

Involuntary movements of the face and limbs, a side effect of long-term first-generation antipsychotic use.

Deinstitutionalization

1950s-onward release of patients from mental hospitals due to antipsychotic drugs; contributed to homelessness when community care lagged.