Notes
Health psychology and stress
- Stress is the response to events seen as threatening or challenging. Eustress is positive stress; distress is harmful.
- General adaptation syndrome (Selye): alarm, resistance, exhaustion. Long-term stress weakens the immune system.
- Coping: problem-focused (change the situation) vs emotion-focused (manage the feelings).
- Positive psychology studies strengths and well-being, like resilience, gratitude, and posttraumatic growth.
Understanding psychological disorders
- A disorder involves significant disturbance in thoughts, feelings or behavior that is dysfunctional or distressing.
- The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) lists criteria for diagnosis.
- The biopsychosocial model says biology, psychology and social-cultural factors interact. The diathesis-stress model says a predisposition plus stress can trigger a disorder.
Major categories
| Category | Examples and key features |
|---|---|
| Anxiety | Generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, specific phobias, social anxiety |
| Obsessive-compulsive and related | OCD: intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and repeated behaviors (compulsions) |
| Trauma- and stressor-related | PTSD: flashbacks, avoidance, hypervigilance after trauma |
| Depressive | Major depressive disorder; persistent depressive disorder |
| Bipolar | Episodes of mania alternating with depression |
| Schizophrenia spectrum | Positive symptoms (hallucinations, delusions) and negative symptoms (flat affect, withdrawal) |
| Dissociative | Dissociative identity disorder, dissociative amnesia |
| Neurodevelopmental | ADHD, autism spectrum disorder |
| Feeding and eating | Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder |
| Personality | Persistent patterns, like borderline or antisocial personality disorder |
Treatment
- Psychodynamic therapy: explores unconscious conflicts.
- Humanistic (client-centered) therapy: unconditional positive regard, active listening.
- Behavioral therapy: exposure therapy and systematic desensitization (for phobias), aversive conditioning, token economies.
- Cognitive therapy and CBT: identify and change distorted thinking patterns and behaviors. Effective for anxiety and depression.
- Biomedical: SSRIs (antidepressants that increase serotonin), anti-anxiety drugs, lithium (bipolar), antipsychotics (often block dopamine), and electroconvulsive therapy for severe depression.
- Group and family therapy, and the therapeutic alliance (trust between client and therapist), matter across approaches.
Practice
The body mobilizes, adapts, then wears down under long stress.
It addresses the cause of the stress directly.
Positive symptoms add experiences, like hallucinations.
Obsessive thoughts lead to compulsive behaviors.
Vulnerability plus a trigger.
It pairs relaxation with steps up a fear hierarchy.
CBT targets thinking patterns and actions.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors block reuptake.
Free response
Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.
Free-response question
Maya has an intense fear of dogs that keeps her from visiting friends who have pets.
(a) Explain how classical conditioning could explain how Maya's fear started.
Show the answer and scoring guide
If a dog once bit or frightened her (UCS causing fear, the UCR), dogs (once neutral) became a conditioned stimulus that now causes fear (CR).
Check off the points you earned:
(b) Describe how a behavioral therapist would use exposure therapy to help Maya.
Show the answer and scoring guide
The therapist would expose Maya to dogs gradually and safely, starting with pictures and working up to real dogs, until the fear response fades (extinction).
Check off the points you earned:
(c) Explain how a cognitive therapist's approach would differ.
Show the answer and scoring guide
A cognitive therapist would focus on Maya's thoughts, like "every dog will attack me," and help her challenge and replace those distorted beliefs.
Check off the points you earned: