Unit 3 Flashcards

Question

Neuropsychological testing

Answer 1

 Determine relations between behaviour and brain function ○ Receptive and expressive language, memory, concentration, attention, motor skills, and more  Conducted by Neuropsychologists ○ Clinical Psychologists (PhD) ○ Typically requires additional specialized training  First conduct a screening test to determine if neurological impairments may be present  Can predict development of certain cognitive disorders ○ E.g., Alzheimer’s disease

Answer 2

○ Oldest screening test ○ Copy designs onto another card, and then draw them from memory ○ Score designs based on overall quality ○ Produces false negatives

Answer 3

Neuropsychological Battery ○ Rhythm Test – compare rhythmic beats ○ Strength of Grip Test – compare grip of right and left hands ○ Tactile Performance Test – place wooden blocks while blindfolded

Answer 4

 Review of developmental and medical history  Administer comprehensive tests: ○ Cognitive functioning ○ Executive functioning ○ Attention/concentration ○ Memory ○ Motivation ○ Language ○ Visual functioning ○ Motor functioning ○ Academic achievement ○ Personality/emotional functioning

Answer 5

Brain Structure * CT Scan * MRI Brain Function * PET * fMRI

Answer 6

Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT) or CT Scan ▪ X-rays projected through head, rotate around head 180 degrees ▪ Images are combined to produce a detailed 2D image/cross-section of the brain ▪ Look at structural abnormalities or changes in structural abnormalities before and after treatment

Answer 7

▪ Patient’s head placed in high strength magnetic field through which radio frequency signals are transmitted ▪ Radio signals “excite” brain tissue, altering protons in hydrogen atoms ▪ Alteration is measured, as well as time it takes for protons to ”relax” ▪ Lesions/damage – signal is lighter or darker

Answer 8

Combination of CT and radioisotope imaging ▪ Inject radioisotopes which gives off radiation and is detected by the PET equipment ▪ Can measure biological activities (function) as it occurs in the brain ▪ E.g., can label glucose allowing metabolic activity to be measured in the brain ▪ Abnormal patterns of metabolic activity in people with seizures, tumours, ASD, stroke, OCD, etc

Answer 9

Functional MRI – provides a dynamic view of metabolic changes occurring in an active brain  Can look at connections between different brain regions ○ Schizophrenia associated with reduced connectivity between medial prefrontal cortex and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex ○ Psychopathy is associated with weakened input from limbic structures (emotional experiences)

Answer 10

* Assess changes in nervous system that reflect emotional or psychological events * Electroencephalogram (EEG) * Electrodes placed on various parts of scalp * EEG amplifies and records activity in many parts of the brain * Can detect seizure disorders, brain lesions, tumours

Answer 11

▪ Primary diagnostic tool for seizure disorders ▪ Used to assess sexual dysfunctions and disorders ▪ Basis for biofeedback – treatment to help patients regulate their physiological responses

Answer 12

People project personality and unconscious fears onto ambiguous stimuli, and reveal these thoughts to the therapist

Answer 13

Pros: -Not ”fakeable” (more valid?) Not limited by structure of objective tests -good way to start with client -harder to fake answers -less bias Cons: -Lack of objectivity Scoring is often not systematic -cant measure the consious -no way to tell if its correct -Little evidence for validity and reliability

Answer 14

a projective psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation, complex algorithms, or both -inkblots are shown and person has to tell you what they see -do they use the whole picture, some, none, etc -very little vadility but can measure psychosis

Answer 15

a projective test that focuses on the subconscious dynamics of a person's personality -photos shown and person comes up with a story for it -low reliablity

Answer 16

 Important to compare individual with others who had similar problems or psychological profiles ○ Can establish prognosis  Effort to construct groups or categories and assign people to these categories based on shared attributes or relations  Typically we use the DSM-5-TR ○ ICD-11 is used worldwide

Answer 17

 Classifying human behaviour as abnormal is controversial  Distinctions between normal (typical) and abnormal (atypical) unclear within psychopathology ○ Placing behaviours in a category versus a continuum

Answer 18

 Originates in work of Emil Kraepelin and biological tradition  Disorders have distinct causes, and fundamentally different from others  Criteria for depression: (need to have all 3 to be diagnosed) ○ Presence of depressed mood ○ Significant weight gain or weight loss ○ Diminished ability to think or concentrate  Need all three symptoms to be diagnosed with depression

Answer 19

1.Organization of clinical information 2.Shorthand communication 3.Prediction of natural development 4.Treatment recommendations 5.Heuristic Value 6.Guidelines for financial support

Answer 20

 Quantify the variety of cognitions, moods, and behaviours on a scale ○ Anxiety (1-10) ○ Depressed (1-10) ○ Manic (1-10)

Answer 21

▪ Identifies certain essential characteristics, but also allows for variations ▪ Blurring happens at boundaries of categories ▪ Some symptoms apply to more than one disorder

Answer 22

▪ Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) ▪ Classification system describing symptoms used to diagnose mental disorders and indicates how disorder can be distinguished from other similar problems or disorders ▪ First DSM published in 1952 ▪ Currently on the DSM-5-TR (2022)

Answer 23

-theoretically driven -prose description of 106 disorders in DMS-I -neuroses -based on psycholitic description of disorders -very vague and not reliable -does not contain tone of objective criteria

Answer 24

-Placed greater emphasis on empirical research to improve reliability ▪ Atheoretical – more precise behavioural descriptions ▪ Operationally defined number of symptoms required, and how long the symptoms should have lasted to meet criteria ▪ DSM-III-R was polythetic and multiaxial (based on axis system) (doesnt have to meet all the criteria -what does the research tell us

Answer 25

▪ Rely on scientific data ▪ Eliminate distinction between organically based disorders and psychologically based disorders ▪ Multiaxial system (same as DSM-III) ▪ Axis I: Clinical Disorder (despression) ▪ Axis II: Personality Disorder (boarderline) ▪ Axis III: Medical Conditions (diabetes, cancer) ▪ Axis IV: Psychosocial and environmental factors (stressors) ▪ Axis V: Global assessment of functioning (0-100) (rate global functioning of individual) -traumatic brain injury -all disorders have biological cause

Answer 26

▪ Updated to include new empirical evidence about mental disorders ▪ More than 300 different mental disorders in 22 categories -no more axailsystem

Answer 27

▪ Based on updates to scientific literature ▪ Text revision: changes to text that accompanies description of disorder ▪ Revised text for all disorders; updated information on prevalence, development and course, risk factors, etc. ▪ Addition of prolonged grief disorder ▪ Consideration of impact of racism and discrimination on mental disorders integrated into text -more social factors added

Answer 28

▪ Includes a plan for integrating important social and cultural influences on diagnosis: ▪ Cultural formulation ▪ What is the cultural reference group of the patient? ▪ Does the patient use terms and descriptions from their country or culture of origin to describe the disorder? ▪ What does it mean to have a disability in their culture?

Answer 29

▪ Polythetics - a given diagnosis can contain various combinations of symptoms; it is rare to have a necessary and sufficient criterion ▪ Comorbidity – the presence of more than one disorder in the same individual (Markon, 2015) ▪ Categories are fuzzy, making diagnostic decisions difficult

Answer 30

1. System strongly emphasizes reliability at the expense of validity 2. Rely on definitions handed down from the past, even though they may be fundamentally flawed 3. Gender bias in the DSM 4. Cultural bias in the DSM

Unit 3 Flashcards

(54 cards)