| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Abnormal Behavior | Behavior characterized as atypical, socially unacceptable, distressing to the individual or others, maladaptive, and/or the result of distorted cognitions |
| Model: | an analogy or a perspective that uses a structure from one field to help scientists describe data in another field |
| Abnormal psychology | The field of psychology concerned with the assessment, treatment, and prevention of maladaptive behavior. |
| Prevalence | the percentage of a population displaying a disorder during any specified period. |
| Case study | a descriptive study that includes an intensive study of one person and allows an intensive examination of a single case, usually chosen for its interesting or unique characteristics |
| Anxiety | a generalized feeling of fear and apprehension that may be related to a particular situation or object and is often accompanied by increased physiological arousal. |
| Generalized anxiety disorder | An anxiety disorder characterized by persistent anxiety occurring on more days than not for at least 6 months, sometimes with increased activity of the autonomic nervous system, apprehension, excessive muscle tension, and difficulty in concentrating |
| Phobic disorders | Anxiety disorders characterized by excessive and irrational fear of, and consequent attempted avoidance of, specific objects or situations. |
| Agoraphobia | anxiety disorder characterized by marked fear and avoidance of being alone in a place from which escape might be difficult or embarrassing |
| Panic Attack | Anxiety disorders characterized as acute anxiety, accompanied by sharp increases in autonomic nervous system arousal, that is not triggered by a specific event. |
| Social phobia | Anxiety disorder characterized by fear of, and desire to avoid, situations in which the person might be exposed to scrutiny by others and might behave in an embarrassing or humiliating way. |
| Specific phobia | Anxiety disorder characterized by irrational and persistent fear of a particular object or situation, along with a compelling desire to avoid it. |
| Obsessive-compulsive disorder | Anxiety disorder characterized by persistent and uncontrollable thoughts and irrational beliefs that cause the performance of compulsive rituals that interfere with daily life. |
| Depressive disorders | general category of mood disorders in which people show extreme and persistent sadness, despair, and loss of interest in life's usual activities. |
| Major depressive disorder | Depressive disorder characterized by loss of interest in almost all of life's usual activities; a sad, hopeless, or discourage mood, sleep disturbance; loss of appetite; loss of energy; and feelings of unworthiness and guilt. |
| Delusions | False beliefs that are inconsistent with reality but are held in spite of evidence that disproves them. |
| Learned helplessness | the behavior of giving up or not responding, exhibited by people and animals exposed to negative consequences or punishment over which they feel they have no control. |
| Vulnerability | A person's diminished ability to deal with demanding life events. |
| Dissociative disorders | psychological disorders characterized by a sudden but temporary alteration in consciousness, identity, sensorimotor behavior, or memory |
| Dissociative amnesia | Dissociative disorder characterized by the sudden and extensive inability to recall important personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature. |
| Dissociative identity disorder | dissociative disorder characterized by the existence within an individual of two or more distinct personalities, each of which is dominant at different times and directs the individual's behavior at those times; commonly known as multiple personality disorder. |
| Schizophrenic disorders | a group of psychological disorders characterized by a lack of reality testing and by deterioration of social and intellectual functioning and personality beginning before age 45 and lasting at least 6 months |
| Psychotic | suffering from a gross impairment in reality testing that interferes with the ability to meet the ordinary demands of life. |
| Paranoid type of schizophrenia | type of schizophrenia characterized by hallucinations and delusions of persecution or grandeur (or both), and sometimes irrational jealousy. |
| Catatonic type of schizophrenia | Type of schizophrenia characterized either by displays of excited or violent motor activity or by stupor. |
| Disorganized type of schizophrenia | type of schizophrenia characterized by severely disturbed thought processes, frequent incoherence, disorganized behavior, and inappropriate affect. |
| Residual type of schizophrenia | a schizophrenic disorder in which the person exhibits inappropriate affect, illogical thinking, and/or eccentric behavior but seems generally in touch with reality. |
| Undifferentiated type of schizophrenia | a schizophrenic disorder that is characterized by a mixture of symptoms and does not meet the diagnostic criteria of any one type. |
| Concordance rate | The degree to which a condition or traits shared two or more individuals or groups |
| Double bind | a situation in which an individual is given two different and inconsistent messages. |
| Bipolar disorder | mood disorder originally know as manic-depressive disorder because it is characterized by behavior that vacillates between two extremes; mania and depression. |
| Personality disorders | psychological disorders characterized by inflexible and longstanding maladaptive behaviors that typically cause stress and/or social or occupational problems. |
| Antisocial personality disorder | Personality disorder characterized by egocentricity, and behavior that is irresponsible and that violates the rights of other people, a lack of guilt feelings, an inability to understand other people and a lack of fear of punishment. |
| Child abuse | physical, emotional, or sexual mistreatment of a child. |
| Rape | Forcible sexual assault on an unwilling partner. |
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