Mental and Physical Health
What you must know
This domain covers psychological disorders, treatment, stress, and health. Use the DSM framework: disorders are defined by patterns of symptoms causing distress or impairment, not by a single symptom. Know major categories: anxiety disorders (generalized anxiety, panic disorder, phobias, OCD), mood disorders (major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder), schizophrenia (positive symptoms like hallucinations/delusions; negative symptoms like flat affect), and personality disorders (e.g., antisocial, borderline). Distinguish hallucinations (perception without stimulus) from delusions (false beliefs).
Treatment: psychotherapy (psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic) vs. biomedical (antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiolytics). CBT targets maladaptive thoughts and behaviors. Know the biopsychosocial model and the diathesis-stress idea (vulnerability plus stress).
Stress and health: know general adaptation syndrome (alarm, resistance, exhaustion), approach-avoidance conflict, and the link between chronic stress and immune suppression. Understand coping (problem-focused vs. emotion-focused) and social support as protective.
Traps
Questions confuse hallucination (perception) with delusion (belief). They label sadness alone as depression, ignoring duration and impairment. They mix positive (added) and negative (absent) symptoms of schizophrenia. They assume one treatment fits all disorders. They treat stress as always harmful, ignoring short-term adaptive arousal.
Worked example
A client believes the government is broadcasting thoughts into their head. That is a delusion (a false belief). If they hear voices with no source, that is a hallucination (false perception). Belief vs. perception is the deciding test.
Rule of thumb
Diagnosis requires distress or impairment plus a pattern of symptoms-not one symptom in isolation.