Midlands Technical College:

 

PSY 212: Abnormal Psychology

Study Guides

Unit I:

Important Terms:

Somatogenic                         Psychogenic                     Tartanism               Lycanthropy 

Syndrome                            Incidence                         Prevalence             Longitudinal 

Double-blind design            Repression                       Eclectic                  Criterion keying

Manifest content                   Latent content                  Norms                   Standardization                              

 

Important Areas of Focus:

1. Apply the definition of abnormality to various examples

2. Explanations used for psychological abnormalities in each historical period

3. Contributions of each of the major figures in the history of psychology

4. Incidence and prevalence of mental illness

5. Frank’s factors involved in therapy

6. Szasz’s view of abnormality

7. Nature of the id, ego, superego and what principles they operate under

8. Premise, advantage and limitation of each theoretical model of abnormality

9. Neural transmission process

10. Research on treatment effectiveness

11. Differences between different types of prevention

12 Components of community treatment

13. Under what conditions would you use each of the types of psychological tests

14. Differences between structured and unstructured interviews

15. Components of a mental status exam

16. What is covered in each of the DSM-IV axes

17. What are the various types of reliability and validity

18. Distinguish between the various types of psychological tests

19. Differences between the various types of brain imaging techniques

Unit II:

  1. Know the central features of each of the anxiety disorders, identify what symptoms they have in common, as well as what distinguishes one from another.

  2. Identify from examples which anxiety disorder is being described.

  3. Be familiar with the role of the various parts of the nervous system in the stress response.

  4. Know the criteria that distinguish normal anxiety from pathological anxiety.

  5. Be able to distinguish state and trait anxiety.

  6. Be familiar with the sociocultural, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic explanations for the anxiety disorders.

  7. Be familiar with the various neurotransmitters that play a role in each of the anxiety disorders, and the types of medications used to treat each of the disorders.

  8. Be able to identify from examples each theory of GAD.

  9. Be familiar with self-statement modification.

  10. Be able to distinguish agoraphobia from social phobia, and specific phobia.

  11. Be familiar with the role of classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and social modeling in the development of phobias.

  12. Know the various behavioral treatments for phobias, and distinguish the difference between covert and in vivo treatments.

  13. Be familiar with the relationship between agoraphobia and panic disorder.

  14. Be familiar with the cognitive theory of panic disorder.

  15. Know the most common ages of onset for each of the disorders.

  16. Know the relationship between obsessions and compulsions in OCD.

  17. Be familiar with the regions of the brain most associated with the disorders, particularly panic disorder and OCD.

  18. Know the cognitive and psychodynamic theories of OCD.

  19. Be familiar with what treatments are considered the most effective or most common used with each of the anxiety disorders.

  20. Be able to distinguish obsessions from compulsions, as well as the various types of obsessions and compulsions.

  21.  Be familiar with the behavioral and cognitive treatments for OCD.

  22.  Distinguish the various stress disorders from each other.

  23. Distinguish the types of community interventions following traumatic events.

Unit III:

Be familiar with the following terms:

Mania

Anaclitic depression

Adjunctive psychotherapy

 

Be familiar with the following concepts:

1. Distinguish normal and pathological variations in mood

2. Be familiar with the symptom categories for unipolar depression

3. Be familiar with diagnostic requirements for major depression, dysthmia

4. Be familiar with the different types of major depression

5. Know the difference between endogenous and exogenous depression

6. What is the role of genetics in depression?

7. Be familiar with the role of the various neurotransmitters in unipolar and bipolar depression

8. What is the biological theory behind MDD seasonal type?

9. Be familiar with each of the psychological theories of depression.

10. Be familiar with the demographics of major depression.

11. Be able to distinguish the various types of bipolar disorders.

12. Be familiar with the treatment efficacy of the biological and psychotherapeutic treatments for unipolar and bipolar depression.

13. Be able to identify what therapeutic techniques are used by each of the psychotherapeutic treatment approaches.

14. Know the major persons identified with each of the psychotherapeutic approaches to depression.

15. Be familiar with the various types of interpersonal problems that are addressed by IPT.

16. Be familiar with how ECT is done, its success rate, and the side effects.

17. Be familiar with how MAO inhibitors, tricyclics, SSRIs and lithium work, and their most common side effects.

18. Be familiar with which categories specific antidepressants belong in (ex. Prozac is an SSRI).

 

Unit IV:

  1. Be familiar with the diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

  2. Be able to identify the various types of eating disorders from case examples.

  3. Be familiar with the demographics (gender, age, vocations) about anorexia and bulimia.

  4. What kinds of cognitive distortions do anorexic patients experience?

  5. What relationship is there between anorexia, bulimia, and other psychological disorders?

  6. What are typical physical changes that accompany anorexia?

  7. Be familiar with the different types of compensatory behaviors used by bulimic patients.

  8. Be familiar with the various theories to explain anorexia and bulimia.

  9. Be familiar with the family problems that Minuchin related to eating disorders.

  10.  Be familiar with the biological mechanisms that appear to influence the development of eating disorders, including the different parts of the hypothalamus.

  11.  What are the primary treatment goals for current eating disorder treatments?

  12.  What is the difference(s) between traditional medical care for anorexic patients and supportive nursing care?

  13.  Be familiar with the current treatments and outcomes for anorexia and bulimia

  14. Be familiar with the method of action and differences between each major class of substances.

  15. Know the blood alcohol levels associated with impairment.

  16. Be familiar with which neurotransmitter different classes of substances impact.

  17. Know the various symptoms of withdrawal associated with each class of substances.

  18. Be familiar with the various theories of substance abuse.

  19. Be familiar with the genetic evidence for alcoholism.

  20. Be familiar with the behavioral treatment for substance abuse disorders.

  21. Be familiar with the basic principles behind Alcoholics Anonymous.

  22. Be familiar with the difference between substance abuse and substance dependence, and be able to identify each from examples.

 

Unit V:

Important Terms:

Deinstitutionalization          Halfway House          Partial Hospitalization

Alogia                                       Neuroleptic                 Downward Drift

Double Bind                             Social Breakdown Syndrome

 

Important Concepts:

  1. Be familiar with the demographics of schizophrenia.

  2. Be able to distinguish the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

  3. Be able to distinguish between the different types of delusions.

  4. Be able to distinguish between loose associations, clang, neologisms, and perseveration.

  5. Be able to distinguish between different forms of catatonic behavior.

  6. Be able to distinguish between Type I and Type II schizophrenia.

  7. Be able to distinguish between different diagnostic types of schizophrenia.

  8. Be able to distinguish between different phases in the development of schizophrenia.

  9. Be familiar with what disturbances in affect can occur with schizophrenia.

  10.  Be familiar with what conditions predict the best outcome in schizophrenia.

  11.  Be familiar with the diathesis stress model of schizophrenia.

  12.  Be familiar with the difference in schizophrenia concordance rates between  fraternal and identical twins.

  13.  Be familiar with the dopamine hypothesis, how the evidence relates to  Parkinson’s disease and what new developments there are.

  14.  Be familiar with structural differences in schizophrenic’s brains.

  15.  Be familiar with psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, and sociocultural views of schizophrenia.

  16.  Be familiar with historical developments in the treatment of schizophrenia.

  17.  the individuals responsible for the development of the lobotomy, and the different forms of lobotomy.

  18.  Be familiar with the principles of milieu therapy and token economy.

  19.  Be familiar with the symptoms targeted by the different types of antipsychotic medications.

  20.  the side effects of antipsychotic medications.

  21. Be familiar with the differences between traditional antipsychotics and atypical antipsychotics.

  22.  Be familiar with the various types of psychotherapy for schizophrenia.

  23.  Be familiar with the Community Mental Health Act and the various forms of community based treatment.

  24. Be familiar with how mental illness impacts the legal process when a person is accused of a criminal act.

  25.  Be able to distinguish the Durham test, M’Nauhten rule, and the irreversible impulse test.

  26.  Be familiar with the guidelines for civil commitment.

 

Unit VI:

 

Important Terms:

Dissociative disorders                                            Procedural and declarative memory

Retrograde and anterograde amnesia                  Parkinson’s disease                             

Comorbidity

 

Important Concepts:

  1. Be able to identify the various somatoform and factitious disorders based on a case example of characteristic symptoms.

  2. What role did Descartes have in our current understanding of psychogenic disorders?

  3. Be able to categorize the various psychogenic disorders properly into somatoform and factitious disorders.

  4. What are the typical personal characteristics and background of a person suffering from Munchausen syndrome.

  5. Be familiar with the psychodynamic, behavioral, and cognitive views of the psychogenic disorders.

  6. Be familiar with treatment recommendations for hysterical somatoform disorders.

  7. What is the role of treatments like biofeedback and relaxation training in treating psychophysiological disorders.

  8. Be familiar with the different types of amnesia, and be able to distinguish each from examples.

  9. Be familiar with the types of memory impacted in dissociative amnesia and fugue.

  10. Be able to distinguish between the types of relations between subpersonalities in dissociative identity disorder.

  11. Be familiar with the theories and treatments for dissociative disorders.

  12. What distinguishes personality disorders from other psychological disorders?

  13. Identify the central features of each of the personality disorders.

  14. What is the relationship between schizophrenia and the “odd” personality disorders?

  15.  What are the theoretical explanations for each of the personality disorders?

  16.  Be able to distinguish each of the impulse control disorders.