abnormal psych ch 05

The central nervous system’s physiological and emotional response to a serious threat to one’s well-being.

The central nervous system’s physiological and emotional response to a vague sense of threat or danger.

A disorder marked by persistent and excessive feelings of anxiety and worry about numerous events and activities.

The humanistic therapy developed by Carl Rogers in which clinicians try to help clients by being accepting, empathizing accurately, and conveying genuineness. Also known as person-centered therapy.

The inaccurate and inappropriate beliefs held by people with various psychological problems, according to Albert Ellis.

A cognitive therapy developed by Albert Ellis that helps clients identify and change the irrational assumptions and thinking that help cause their psychological disorder.

A research design in which investigators determine how many and which relatives of a person with a disorder have the same disorder.

The most common group of antianxiety drugs, which includes Valium and Xanax.

A neurotransmitter whose low activity in the brain’s fear circuit has been linked to anxiety.

Networks of brain structures that work together, triggering each other into action.

Drugs that calm people at lower doses and help them fall asleep at higher doses.

A persistent and unreasonable fear of a particular object, activity, or situation.

A severe and persistent fear of a specific object or situation.

An anxiety disorder in which a person is afraid to be in public situations from which escape might be difficult or help unavailable if panic-like or embarrassing symptoms were to occur.

A process of learning in which two events that repeatedly occur close together in time become tied together in a person’s mind and so produce the same response.

A process of learning in which a person observes and then imitates others. Also, a therapy approach based on the same principle.

A predisposition to develop certain fears.

Treatment in which persons are exposed to the objects or situations they dread.

An exposure treatment that uses relaxation training and a fear hierarchy to help clients with phobias react calmly to the objects or situations they dread.

An exposure treatment for phobias in which clients are exposed repeatedly and intensively to a feared object and made to see that it is actually harmless.

A severe and persistent fear of social or performance situations in which embarrassment may occur.

A therapy approach that helps people learn or improve social skills and assertiveness through role-playing and rehearsing of desirable behaviors.

Periodic, short bouts of panic that occur suddenly, reach a peak within minutes, and gradually pass.

An anxiety disorder marked by recurrent and unpredictable panic attacks.

A small area of the brain that seems to be active in the regulation of emotions. Many of its neurons use norepinephrine.

A procedure used to produce panic in participants or clients by having them exercise vigorously or perform some other potentially panic-inducing task in the presence of a researcher or therapist.

A tendency to focus on one’s bodily sensations, assess them illogically, and interpret them as harmful.

A persistent thought, idea, impulse, or image that is experienced repeatedly, feels intrusive, and causes anxiety.

A repetitive and rigid behavior or mental act that a person feels driven to perform in order to prevent or reduce anxiety.

A disorder in which a person has recurrent obsessions, compulsions, or both.

A person’s attempt to eliminate unwanted thoughts by thinking or behaving in ways that put matters right internally, making up for the unacceptable thoughts.

A cognitive-behavioral technique used to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder that exposes a client to anxiety-arousing thoughts or situations and then prevents the client from performing compulsive acts. Also called exposure and ritual prevention.

Disorders in which obsessive-like concerns drive people to repeatedly and excessively perform certain abnormal patterns of behavior.

A disorder in which individuals feel compelled to save items and become very distressed if they try to discard them, resulting in an excessive accumulation of items.

A disorder in which people repeatedly pull out hair from their scalp, eyebrows, eyelashes, or other parts of the body. Also called hair-pulling disorder.

A disorder in which people repeatedly pick at their skin, resulting in significant sores or wounds. Also called skin-picking disorder.

A disorder in which individuals become preoccupied with the belief that they have certain defects or flaws in their physical appearance. Such defects or flaws are imagined or greatly exaggerated.