Study guides › P/S › Psychology
Psychological Disorders & Treatment
This chapter covers how disorders are classified, the major diagnostic categories, and how each is treated. You will learn to match symptoms to diagnoses using duration and pattern, and to match treatments to the underlying model.
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What this chapter covers
- Classifying Disorders & Explanatory Models. Before memorizing diagnoses, know how disorders are defined and which causal model an answer choice is using.
- Anxiety, OCD, Trauma & Dissociative Disorders. These categories look alike, so the MCAT tests you on the details: duration, trigger, and whether the fear is specific or free-floating.
- Mood & Psychotic Disorders. Duration and symptom type separate the mood and psychotic diagnoses, and each links to a neurotransmitter hypothesis.
- Personality, Neurodevelopmental, Eating & Substance Disorders. These categories are tested mostly through cluster membership and symptom pattern, so compare their features side by side.
- Treatment: Psychotherapy & Biomedical Approaches. Every therapy maps to a model, so match the technique to the perspective and the drug to its neurotransmitter target.
Key points to know
- Disorder = atypical, distressing, dysfunctional, sometimes dangerous
- DSM-5 is from the APA; ICD is from the WHO
- GAD: 6+ months of diffuse worry; panic disorder: recurrent attacks plus worry about more
- Compulsions reduce the anxiety produced by obsessions
- MDD: 2+ weeks; persistent depressive disorder: 2+ years
- Bipolar I: mania; bipolar II: hypomania plus depression
- Personality disorders: Cluster A odd, B dramatic, C anxious
- ADHD symptoms begin before age 12
Try a practice question
The DSM-5 is published by which organization?
- World Health Organization
- National Institute of Mental Health
- American Psychiatric Association
- American Medical Association
Show the answer
C. The American Psychiatric Association publishes the DSM. The WHO publishes the ICD, which is the usual confusion.
Common questions
What does this chapter cover?
Psychological Disorders & Treatment covers Classifying Disorders & Explanatory Models, Anxiety, OCD, Trauma & Dissociative Disorders, Mood & Psychotic Disorders, Personality, Neurodevelopmental, Eating & Substance Disorders, Treatment: Psychotherapy & Biomedical Approaches.
What should I know first?
Disorder = atypical, distressing, dysfunctional, sometimes dangerous DSM-5 is from the APA; ICD is from the WHO GAD: 6+ months of diffuse worry; panic disorder: recurrent attacks plus worry about more
24 original practice questions accompany this chapter in the app. Spaced review brings missed ideas back at the right time; it helps memory but cannot promise you will not miss an idea again.