Mental Health Terms Flashcards
Antidepressants
drugs are used to alleviate the symptoms of depression and are also sometimes used to treat other psychological disorders, including anxiety disorders, seasonal affective disorder, and some eating disorders.
Affect
A person’s affect is the expression of emotion or feelings displayed to others through facial expressions, hand gestures, voice tone, and other emotional signs such as laughter or tears.
Antisocial personality disorder
also known as psychopathy, sociopathy, dissocial personality disorder, or dyssocial personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder (APD) is a diagnosis applied to persons who routinely behave with little or no regard for the rights, safety, or feelings of others
Anxiety/ Anxiety disorders
are a group of mental disturbances characterized by anxiety as a central or core symptom. Although anxiety is a commonplace experience, not everyone who experiences it has an anxiety disorder.
Apathy
can be defined as an absence or suppression of emotion, feeling, concern or passion. Apathy is an indifference to things generally found to be exciting or moving.
Attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) is a chronic developmental disorder characterized by attention problems, including distractibility,
Autism
is a complex developmental disorder distinguished by difficulties with social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and behavioral problems, including repetitive behaviors and narrow focus of interest.
Behavior therapy/ Behavior modification
is an empirically based psychological treatment approach founded on the principles of operant conditioning. The goal is to replace undesirable behaviors with more desirable ones through positive or negative reinforcement of adaptive behavior.
Biofeedback
or applied psychophysiological feedback is a patient-guided treatment that teaches an individual to control muscle tension, pain, body temperature, brain waves, and other bodily functions and processes through relaxation, visualization, and other cognitive control techniques.
Bipolar disorder
formerly known as manic depression is a psychiatric disorder characterized by severe and unusual changes in energy level, mood, and interactions with others.
Body image
is a mental opinion or description that individuals have of their own physical appearance. It is a subjective concept, based on comparisons to socially constructed standards or ideals.
Cognitive behavioral therapy
(CBT) is an action-oriented form of psychosocial therapy that assumes that maladaptive, or faulty, thinking patterns cause maladaptive behavior and negative emotions. The treatment focuses on changing individuals’ thoughts (cognitive patterns) in order to change their behavior and emotional state.
Delusion/ Delusional disorder
is a psychotic condition characterized by recurrent or persistent non-bizarre delusions, without other obvious symptoms of mental illness. Delusions are false beliefs, based on a mistaken interpretation of reality.
Depression
is the general name for a family of illnesses known as depressive disorders. As an illness, depression can affect not only the personal mood and internal thoughts of a person, but also the outwardly physical functions of affected individuals.
Desensitization
is a treatment method which weakens the learned association between anxiety and feared objects or situations by strengthening another response—in this case, relaxation—that is incompatible with anxiety.