PSYC 102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Agoraphobia, Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid, Antisocial Personality Disorder
Document Summary
Conceptualizing: medical model, abnormal psychological experiences are conceptualized as illnesses that have biological and environmental causes, defined symptoms and possible cures, first tries to determine nature of disorder by assessing signs and symptoms. Disorder: common set of signs and symptoms. Diathesis-stress model: person may be predisposed for disorder that is unexpressed until stress triggers it. Initiative that aims to guide classification/understanding of mental disorders by revealing basic processes that rise to them: uses biological/cognitive/behavioural factors for abnormal functioning causes. Anxiety disorders: mental disorder where anxiety is predominant feature. Phobic: marked, persistent and excessive fear and avoidance of specific objects, activities and situations. Irrational fear of particular object/situation that interferes with ability to function: animal, natural environments, situations, blood injections/injuries, others. Social: fear of being publicly humiliated or embarrassed. Preparedness theory: people are instinctively predisposed toward certain fears. Panic: sudden occurrence of psychological/physiological symptoms that contribute to feeling stark terror.