In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is safety behaviour. Safety is supposed to be a good thing, isn’t it? Maybe, but sometimes, the mind will start shouting at you to do things that don’t actually keep you safe and instead just make you anxious, […]
What Is… a Safety Behaviour in CBT Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week, we’re looking at ultra rapid and ultradian cycling in bipolar disorder. Before we get into that, let’s take it down a notch and consider rapid cycling, which describes the frequency of switching between mania/hypomania and depression in bipolar disorder.
What Is… Ultra Rapid & Ultradian Cycling in Bipolar Disorder Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is exposure and response prevention. Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is a type of cognitive behavioural therapy used to treat obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). It’s similar to prolonged exposure therapy, which is used in anxiety disorders and PTSD,
What Is… Exposure and Response Prevention Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week, we’ll look at the difference between a personality trait and a disorder. Personality traits Wikipedia defines personality traits as “habitual patterns of behaviour, thought, and emotion” that are mostly stable across time and context. Some traits fall on a continuum,
What Is… a Personality Trait vs. Disorder Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is Stockholm syndrome. Stockholm syndrome is a type of psychological bond that forms between a captor and a hostage. The hostage develops positive feelings toward the captor and their cause, and negative feelings toward law enforcement. While it
What Is… Stockholm syndrome Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is diathesis-stress model. This week’s term may sound a bit obscure, but bear with me, because it’s actually quite relevant. A diathesis-stress model, also known as stress-vulnerability model, is used to explain the course of a mental disorder
What Is… a Diathesis-Stress Model of Mental Illness Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is insanity. Wikipedia is always the first place I turn for this series, but I think this particular Wikipedia page could use some work. It opens with: “Insanity, madness, and craziness are terms that describe a spectrum of
What Is… Insanity in the Criminal Justice System Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for chronic pain. While initially, the idea of a psychological form of treatment for a physical problem may sound a bit odd at first, it makes more sense when you consider how inextricably connected
What Is… CBT for Chronic Pain Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is psychodynamic psychotherapy. Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a type of talk therapy that does a deep dive into the past to help uncover what’s going on in the unconscious mind in order to figure out problems in the person’s life. It’s
What Is… Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is anosognosia. I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t heard this term before, so let’s break it down. Agnosia is an inability to recognize people or things. Nosology is the classification of diseases. Throw the two together, and you get
What Is… Anosognosia (Lack of Insight) Read More »
