Schizophrenia & Eating Disorders
People with this disorder regularly binge eat and then engage in unhealthy behaviors to prevent weight gain, such as forced vomiting or the use of laxatives.
What is Bulimia Nervosa?
Sarah, 35, was recently promoted to a demanding new role. While most would be excited, she feels a deep, unshakable sense of despair and guilt, believing she is inadequate for the position. Internally, Sarah feels a profound sense of worthlessness and hopelessness about the future, believing her situation is unchangeable and will last forever.
What is Major Depression?
This is behavior that is deviant, maladaptive, or personally distressing over a long period of time.
What is Abnormal Behavior?
Kathy worries when her boyfriend George does not reply to a text immediately; this triggers hours of rumination over potential offenses or a fear of having driven him away by something she has said or done.
What is Generalized Anxiety Disorder?
Repeated, persistent, and unwanted thoughts, urges, or images that cause significant anxiety and distress.
What are Obsessions?
Gloria wears very provocative clothes, flirts with everyone to get her way, and constantly interrupts or steers the conversation so it is about her, her experiences, or her problems.
What is Histrionic Personality Disorder?
In using a therapy technique known as free association, a client is asked to speak freely without judgment. If the therapist says "rain," the client might respond with a chain of thoughts such as "Ash, water, Hawaii, palm, tree, ocean, rug, dance, dog, zoo" in this type of therapy.
What is Psychoanalysis?
People with this disorder are fixated on their body size and shape, and do not consume enough nutrients to maintain their weight. The health complications associated with this disorder can potentially affect every organ in the body, which may, in some circumstances, lead to death.
What is Anorexia?
An individual involved in a severe car accident might have no memory of the crash itself or the hours immediately following it, even though they were conscious. This memory loss is contained within a specific timeframe around the trauma.
What is Dissociative Amnesia?
This manual provides a common language and standardized criteria for the classification and diagnosis of mental disorders.
What is the DSM IV?
Sarah is at the grocery store and starts to experience a racing heart, dizziness, and a feeling that she can't breathe. Her hands are clammy, and she's convinced she's having a heart attack or is about to faint. Overwhelmed with fear, she drops her groceries and runs out of the store to escape the perceived danger.
What is Panic Disorder?
Repetitive behaviors or mental acts that a person feels compelled to perform in response to an obsession, to reduce anxiety, or to prevent a feared event.
What are Compulsions?
TRIPLE THE POINTS?
Christy considered Erica "perfect" and "the best friend ever". However, Erica has become friends with Sally and spends less time with Christy, who perceives this as a rejection. So she tells Erica she doesn’t want to be friends, calling her selfish, mean, and shallow, to protect herself from eventually being dropped as a friend by Erica. She deals with this rejection by cutting herself so she does not have to deal with the pain.
What is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)?
The core concept behind systematic desensitization in this type of therapy is that by consistently pairing the feared stimulus with a state of relaxation, the client gradually weakens the learned fear response and replaces it with a calm or neutral response.
What is Behavioral?
DOUBLE THE POINTS?
A person believes their family is putting drugs in their food to make them confused, or that neighbors are conspiring to harm them. This person is experiencing these types of symptoms.
What are Delusions?
TRIPLE THE POINTS?
While historical diagnoses are speculative, Vincent van Gogh, the artist, is widely believed to have experienced this disorder and created some of his most famous works during manic episodes.
What is Bipolar Disorder?
Taylor, who washes her hands three or four times an hour and takes seven showers a day, is exhibiting this type of abnormal behavior.
What is Deviance?
Jasper feels overwhelmed in large, open parking lots or crowded stores, leading him to avoid these places entirely. He only shops at small, local stores during off-peak hours or orders online and has his groceries delivered to his home.
What is Agrophobia?
Allen has a rigid set of personal rules, such as eating dinner at exactly 6:30 PM every night, and becomes visibly upset if his schedule is disrupted.
What is Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder?
When Heather’s husband, Tom, tells her he is hurt, she responds with comments like "You're too sensitive" or "You're overreacting," effectively dismissing his emotions and making him feel wrong for being upset.
What is Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)?
DOUBLE THE POINTS?
A client who grew up with an emotionally distant parent may see their therapist as the "all-good," unconditionally loving and nurturing caregiver they never had. They might seek excessive approval, shower the therapist with compliments, or believe the therapist is the only one who truly understands them, ignoring any boundaries or flaws.
What is Transference?
The distraction and distress caused by these make it challenging to complete everyday tasks, and can be particularly disruptive and dangerous, sometimes compelling individuals to harm themselves or others.
What are Hallucinations?
Individuals frequently experience significant gaps in their memory for personal information, past events, or even everyday activities. They may also find items they don't remember buying or find themselves in an unfamiliar place without knowing how they got there.
What is Dissociative Identity Disorder?
Karen feels intense fear, shame, guilt, and despair after she secretly makes herself vomit after every "fattening" meal because she is trying to maintain her weight. Karen is exhibiting this type of abnormal behavior.
What is Personally Distressing?
TRIPLE THE POINTS?
Angie has worked at Crane & Poole Law Firm for the past five years as an assistant paralegal. She was just offered a promotion to be the “lead” paralegal at the firm. She is most likely going to turn down the promotion because her office would be on the 40th floor. She currently works on the 5th floor and walks up five flights of stairs every day because she cannot ride the elevator; forty flights a day would be impossible.
What is a Specific Phobia?
This type of therapy for OCD primarily works through a specialized technique called Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) that helps individuals change their relationship with problematic thoughts and behaviors by systematically confronting feared situations and resisting the urge to perform compulsive rituals.
What is Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy?
Al Capone was one of America's most infamous mob bosses during the Prohibition era, leading a vast criminal empire in Chicago. Capone was known for a "Robin Hood" public façade, setting up soup kitchens, but privately operated a brutal criminal enterprise involving murder and racketeering with an apparent lack of remorse for his actions. Capone would be diagnosed with this disorder.
What is Antisocial Personality Disorder?
DOUBLE THE POINTS?
A therapist might help a client with a phobia of dogs by having them look at a well-behaved dog from a distance while offering a treat, such as ice cream.
What is Counterconditioning?
Increased dopamine levels in the nervous system are strongly associated with positive symptoms like hallucinations and delusions in this disorder.
What is Schizophrenia?
This neurotransmitter is often called the "feel-good" chemical; it helps regulate mood, sleep, and appetite. Reduced transmission of these neurotransmitters is a significant focus in depression research, and it is a target for many antidepressants.
What is Serotonin?
TRIPLE THE POINTS?
John believes that he can endanger other people through his breathing and may go to great lengths, like isolating himself to avoid people, so he will not harm anyone. John is exhibiting this type of abnormal behavior.
What is Maladaptive behavior?
When Sylvia sees pictures or hears anyone talking about Hurricane Harvey, it brings back feelings of fear and distress, as she was stranded in her car by water until a good Samaritan rescued her.
What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
TRIPLE THE POINTS
OCD is linked to imbalances in several neurotransmitters, most notably glutamate, and this neurotransmitter that plays a significant role in anxiety.
What is GABA?
Jack lives alone and works as a night security guard. He enjoys reading, computer games, and movies. He has no close friends other than his brother, sister, and cousin, and reports feeling content with this arrangement, explaining that he has little desire for a romantic relationship.
What is Schizoid Personality Disorder?
The core principle of this type of therapy for weight management is that thoughts influence feelings, which, in turn, drive behavior. A therapist using this type of therapy helps an individual recognize unhelpful thought patterns that sabotage weight loss efforts.
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?