Understanding Key Concepts in Psychology and Mental Health

Posted on Jan 11, 2025 in Psychology and Sociology

Autism Spectrum Disorder

  • Childhood Autism
  • Asperger’s Disorder
  • Rett Disorder

Common Psychological Terms

  • Anhedonia: The incapacity to enjoy an activity.
  • Comorbidity: When a person is diagnosed with more than one disease simultaneously.

Anxiety Disorder

  • Gender Differences: Females are more likely to experience anxiety disorders, except for OCD, which affects both genders equally.

Sleep Stages

  • Stages of Sleep: Wakefulness, light sleep, deep sleep, REM sleep, then the cycle repeats.

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

  • Stages: Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational.
  • Alternative: Vygotsky’s theory emphasizes that learning is socially and culturally taught.

Newborn Capacities

  • Hearing and Vision: By 18 months, infants can distinguish depth perception and see clearly.

Psychological Paradigms

  • Psychoanalysis: Freud
  • Cognitive: Piaget
  • Behaviorism: Skinner
  • Humanistic: Rogers
  • Biological: Ramón y Cajal

Fear and the Four D’s of Abnormality

  • Symptoms of Fear: Sweaty hands, dry mouth.
  • The Four D’s: Deviance, distress, danger, and dysfunction.

Behavioral Psychology

  • Factors: Learning through association, rewards and punishments, aversion therapy.
  • Classical vs. Operant Conditioning: Classical conditioning involves associating an involuntary response with a stimulus, while operant conditioning associates a voluntary behavior with a consequence.

Brain Structure and Function

  • Lobes of the Brain: Frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital.
  • Working Memory and Attention: Attention is a cognitive process that allows us to choose and concentrate on a specific stimulus. Memory has a limited capacity.

Learning Styles

  • Kinesthetic Learning: Learning style through physical activities.

Types of Attention

  • Selective: Focusing on one thing at a time.
  • Divided: Focusing on two events simultaneously.
  • Sustained: Focusing for an extended period.
  • Executive: Focusing on completing steps to achieve a goal.

Characteristics of Autism

  • Not responding to their name
  • Disengaged
  • Repetitive movements

Cell Regeneration

  • Permanent Cells: These cells do not have the capacity to regenerate.

Sound Waves

  • Aspects of Sound Waves: Frequency, wavelength, amplitude, time period.

Memory

  • Stages of Memory: Encoding, storage, and retrieval.
  • Types of Memory: Sensory, short-term, long-term.
  • Phonemes: Correspond with speech sounds.

Brain Hemispheres

  • Left Hemisphere: Language and logical processing.
  • Right Hemisphere: Dominant in spatial perception.

Psychopathology: Antisocial Personality Disorder

  • Traits: Lack of empathy, violence, and impulsiveness.

Anxiety

  • Symptoms: Shakiness, increased heart rate, dry mouth.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

  • Definition: OCD is a disorder characterized by recurring, unwanted thoughts, ideas, or sensations (obsessions) that drive individuals to engage in repetitive behaviors (compulsions).
  • Types: Hoarding, harm, contamination, and incomplete symmetry.

Phobia

  • Definition: An excessive and irrational fear reaction.
  • Treatment: Exposure therapy, which involves facing the fear.

Causes of Autism

  • Environment
  • Increased maternal age
  • Genetic predisposition

Signs of Autism in Children

  • Not responding to their name
  • Avoiding eye contact
  • Not smiling when you smile at them

Schizophrenia

  • Definition: Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder affecting less than 1% of the U.S. population. Symptoms can include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, cognitive difficulties, and lack of motivation.
  • Symptoms: Hallucinations, delusions, and lack of motivation.
  • Causes: The exact causes are unknown, but research suggests a combination of physical, genetic, psychological, and environmental factors.
  • Types: Paranoid, catatonic, undifferentiated, and disorganized.

Bipolar Disorder

  • Treatment: Lithium is a well-known treatment for bipolar disorder.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

  • Symptoms: Feeling sad, feeling angry, and loss of interest.

Stages of Mourning

  • Stages: Denial, anger, depression, acceptance.