Mental disorders
59 flashcards covering Mental disorders for the MCAT Chem / Phys / Psych / Soc section.
Mental disorders are health conditions that affect how people think, feel, and behave, often leading to significant distress or difficulty in daily life. These include issues like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder, which can stem from a combination of genetic, environmental, and psychological factors. Understanding them is crucial because they impact millions worldwide and highlight the interplay between biology and behavior, making them a key part of studying human health and psychology.
On the MCAT, mental disorders appear in the Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations section, typically through questions that ask about symptoms, causes, diagnostic criteria, or treatments. You'll encounter multiple-choice items that test your ability to differentiate between disorders, apply biopsychosocial models, or analyze case studies, with common traps like confusing similar conditions or overlooking cultural influences. Focus on memorizing core features from the DSM-5 and integrating them with neuroscience and sociology to answer effectively.
For better recall, practice linking disorders to real-world scenarios.
Terms (59)
- 01
Major Depressive Disorder
A mood disorder characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, loss of interest in activities, and symptoms like fatigue, changes in appetite, or suicidal thoughts, lasting at least two weeks and interfering with daily functioning.
- 02
Bipolar Disorder
A mood disorder involving alternating periods of mania, which includes elevated mood and increased energy, and depression, with episodes lasting days to weeks and potentially requiring mood-stabilizing medications.
- 03
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
An anxiety disorder marked by excessive worry about various aspects of life, such as work or health, occurring most days for at least six months and accompanied by symptoms like restlessness or muscle tension.
- 04
Panic Disorder
An anxiety disorder featuring recurrent unexpected panic attacks, which are sudden surges of intense fear with physical symptoms like heart palpitations, often leading to persistent concern about future attacks.
- 05
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
An anxiety disorder involving intrusive thoughts (obsessions) that cause distress and repetitive behaviors (compulsions) performed to alleviate that distress, such as excessive washing or checking.
- 06
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
An anxiety disorder that develops after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event, featuring symptoms like flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance of reminders, and heightened arousal lasting more than a month.
- 07
Schizophrenia
A psychotic disorder characterized by distorted thoughts, hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized behavior, typically emerging in early adulthood and often treated with antipsychotic medications.
- 08
Antisocial Personality Disorder
A personality disorder involving a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of others' rights, evident by age 15 through behaviors like lying, impulsivity, and lack of empathy.
- 09
Borderline Personality Disorder
A personality disorder marked by instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image, and emotions, often including impulsive actions and intense fear of abandonment.
- 10
Autism Spectrum Disorder
A neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and interaction, along with restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities.
- 11
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
A neurodevelopmental disorder involving persistent patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that interfere with functioning or development, often diagnosed in childhood.
- 12
Anorexia Nervosa
An eating disorder characterized by restriction of food intake leading to significantly low body weight, intense fear of gaining weight, and a distorted body image, which can result in serious health complications.
- 13
Bulimia Nervosa
An eating disorder involving recurrent episodes of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors like vomiting or excessive exercise, often accompanied by a sense of lack of control during binges.
- 14
Dissociative Identity Disorder
A dissociative disorder featuring two or more distinct personality states that recurrently take control of behavior, often resulting from severe trauma and involving memory gaps.
- 15
Somatic Symptom Disorder
A disorder in which physical symptoms cause significant distress and lead to excessive thoughts, feelings, or behaviors related to health concerns, even if no medical cause is found.
- 16
Insomnia Disorder
A sleep-wake disorder characterized by difficulty falling or staying asleep, leading to daytime impairment, and persisting for at least three nights per week for three months.
- 17
Alzheimer's Disease
A neurocognitive disorder involving progressive memory loss, cognitive decline, and behavioral changes due to brain atrophy, typically affecting older adults and linked to amyloid plaques.
- 18
Delirium
An acute neurocognitive disorder characterized by sudden confusion, disorientation, and changes in attention, often caused by medical conditions, medications, or substance withdrawal.
- 19
Substance Use Disorder
A disorder involving a pattern of substance use that leads to significant impairment or distress, including cravings, tolerance, withdrawal, and failure to fulfill major role obligations.
- 20
Specific Phobia
An anxiety disorder featuring an irrational fear of a specific object or situation, such as heights or animals, leading to avoidance behaviors that cause significant distress or interference.
- 21
Social Anxiety Disorder
An anxiety disorder marked by intense fear of social situations where one might be scrutinized, leading to avoidance of such settings and physical symptoms like blushing or sweating.
- 22
Adjustment Disorder
A condition involving emotional or behavioral symptoms in response to a stressor, such as a life change, that occur within three months and resolve within six months after the stressor ends.
- 23
Persistent Depressive Disorder
A mood disorder characterized by a depressed mood for most of the day, for more days than not, lasting at least two years in adults, with symptoms similar to but less severe than major depression.
- 24
Cyclothymic Disorder
A mood disorder involving numerous periods of hypomanic symptoms and depressive symptoms that do not meet full criteria for bipolar disorder or major depression, lasting at least two years.
- 25
Manic Episode
A distinct period of abnormally elevated, expansive, or irritable mood and increased energy, lasting at least one week, often including risky behaviors and requiring intervention.
- 26
Depressive Episode
A period of at least two weeks with symptoms like depressed mood, loss of interest, changes in sleep or appetite, and fatigue, which are key features of mood disorders like major depression.
- 27
Hallucinations
Perceptions of sights, sounds, or other sensations that are not based in reality, commonly auditory in psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, and can occur in various mental health conditions.
- 28
Delusions
Fixed false beliefs that are not based in reality and are not altered by rational argument, such as persecutory or grandiose delusions often seen in schizophrenia.
- 29
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
A psychotherapy approach that helps individuals identify and change distorted thinking patterns and behaviors associated with mental disorders, effective for conditions like depression and anxiety.
- 30
Antidepressants
Medications that increase neurotransmitters like serotonin to alleviate symptoms of mood disorders, such as major depression, and are prescribed based on the specific disorder and patient needs.
- 31
Antipsychotics
Medications that block dopamine receptors to reduce symptoms of psychotic disorders like schizophrenia, helping manage hallucinations and delusions but potentially causing side effects.
- 32
Electroconvulsive Therapy
A treatment involving controlled electrical currents to the brain to alleviate severe symptoms of mood disorders, such as treatment-resistant depression, by inducing a brief seizure.
- 33
Biological Basis of Mental Disorders
The understanding that mental disorders often stem from genetic, neurochemical, or brain structure abnormalities, such as imbalances in neurotransmitters like dopamine in schizophrenia.
- 34
Stress and Coping
The process by which individuals respond to stressors that can trigger or exacerbate mental disorders, involving appraisal of the threat and use of strategies like problem-solving or emotion regulation.
- 35
Resilience
The ability to adapt and recover from adversity or trauma without developing mental disorders, influenced by factors like social support and personal traits, and a key concept in psychology.
- 36
Comorbidity
The presence of two or more disorders in the same individual, such as anxiety and depression occurring together, which can complicate diagnosis and treatment on the MCAT.
- 37
Etiology of Schizophrenia
The causes of schizophrenia, including genetic predisposition, environmental factors like prenatal infections, and neurotransmitter imbalances, leading to its development in susceptible individuals.
- 38
Symptoms of PTSD
Core symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, including intrusion symptoms like flashbacks, avoidance of trauma reminders, negative alterations in cognition and mood, and arousal changes like hypervigilance.
- 39
Defense Mechanisms
Unconscious strategies, such as repression or denial, that individuals use to cope with anxiety from conflicts, as described in psychoanalytic theory and relevant to understanding personality disorders.
- 40
Classical Conditioning in Phobias
A learning process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a feared one, as in Pavlov's dogs, leading to phobias like fear of dogs after a bite, explaining anxiety disorder origins.
- 41
Operant Conditioning in Behavior Therapy
A therapy technique using rewards and punishments to shape behavior, such as reinforcing non-anxious responses in exposure therapy for phobias, to treat mental disorders effectively.
- 42
Serotonin in Depression
A neurotransmitter whose low levels are associated with major depressive disorder, influencing mood regulation, and targeted by medications like SSRIs to alleviate symptoms.
- 43
Genetic Factors in Bipolar Disorder
Hereditary influences, such as mutations in genes related to neurotransmitter function, that increase the risk of bipolar disorder, often seen in family histories.
- 44
Environmental Triggers for Anxiety
External factors like stressful life events or trauma that can precipitate anxiety disorders, interacting with biological vulnerabilities to cause symptoms.
- 45
Diagnostic Criteria for OCD
The DSM-5 requirements for obsessive-compulsive disorder, including presence of obsessions and/or compulsions that are time-consuming and cause significant distress or impairment.
- 46
Treatment for Eating Disorders
Interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy and nutritional counseling for eating disorders, aimed at addressing distorted body image and behaviors to promote recovery.
- 47
Narcissistic Personality Disorder
A personality disorder characterized by a grandiose sense of self-importance, need for admiration, and lack of empathy, leading to interpersonal difficulties.
- 48
Avoidant Personality Disorder
A personality disorder involving a pattern of social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation, resulting in avoidance of social interactions.
- 49
Histrionic Personality Disorder
A personality disorder marked by excessive emotionality and attention-seeking behavior, such as dramatic expressions, which can strain relationships.
- 50
Dependent Personality Disorder
A personality disorder featuring a pervasive need to be taken care of, leading to submissive behavior and fear of separation, often resulting in clingy relationships.
- 51
Paranoid Personality Disorder
A personality disorder characterized by distrust and suspicion of others' motives, interpreting actions as malevolent without sufficient basis, leading to social isolation.
- 52
Narcolepsy
A sleep-wake disorder involving excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden attacks of sleep, often with cataplexy, caused by disruptions in the sleep-wake cycle regulation.
- 53
Conversion Disorder
A somatic symptom disorder where psychological stress manifests as neurological symptoms, such as paralysis or blindness, without a medical explanation.
- 54
Factitious Disorder
A disorder in which an individual feigns physical or psychological symptoms for the purpose of assuming a sick role, without external rewards like financial gain.
- 55
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
An obsessive-compulsive related disorder involving preoccupation with perceived flaws in physical appearance, leading to repetitive behaviors and significant distress.
- 56
Delusional Disorder
A psychotic disorder featuring one or more delusions, such as being followed, lasting at least one month, without other schizophrenia symptoms like hallucinations.
- 57
Agoraphobia
An anxiety disorder characterized by fear of situations where escape might be difficult, such as crowds or public transport, often leading to avoidance and panic attacks.
- 58
Intermittent Explosive Disorder
An impulse-control disorder involving recurrent behavioral outbursts of verbal or physical aggression, disproportionate to the provocation, causing distress or impairment.
- 59
Common Trap in Diagnosing Anxiety
Mistaking normal worry for generalized anxiety disorder, which requires excessive, uncontrollable worry occurring more days than not for at least six months, to avoid overdiagnosis.