Psychological Disorders

MCAT Basics (from MedSchoolCoach)

MedSchoolCoach

Science

4.6 • 612 Ratings

🗓️ 10 June 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, we dive into psychological disorders, a crucial topic for the Psych/Soc section of the MCAT. We’ll start by defining what a psychological disorder is, highlighting key concepts like significant stress and deviant behavior, and discussing how they’re classified using the DSM-5.

You'll learn about various categories of disorders, including anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, trauma and stressor-related disorders, and more. We’ll explore the biopsychosocial and biomedical approaches to understanding these conditions, providing insight into the biological, psychological, and social factors that contribute to mental health issues.

By the end of this episode, you'll have a comprehensive understanding of the different types of psychological disorders and how they are categorized and treated, helping you tackle related questions on the MCAT.

Visit MedSchoolCoach.com for more help with the MCAT.

Jump into the conversation:

(00:00) Intro: Med School Coach promotion and podcast introduction

(01:03) Overview of Psychological Disorders: Episode topics and structure

(02:13) Defining Psychological Disorders: Significant stress and deviant behavior

(05:29) Biopsychosocial vs. Biomedical Approaches: Holistic vs. traditional perspectives

(09:18) DSM-5 Classification of Psychological Disorders: Overview of main categories

(10:37) Anxiety Disorders: Fear and anxiety beyond normal levels

(16:43) Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Obsessions and compulsions explained

(18:20) Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders: PTSD and related disorders

(19:19) Somatic Symptom Disorders: Physical symptoms causing mental distress

(22:01) Bipolar and Related Disorders: Mood swings and differentiating Bipolar I and II

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to MCAT Basics, your ultimate guide to the essential topics you need to master
0:06.4	for the MCAT, brought to you by the physicians at Med School Coach.
0:11.0	Every week, Sam Smith breaks down high-yield MCAT topics, ensuring you're primed for success
0:15.9	on test day.
0:17.3	Join Sam as we explore the most crucial subjects outlined by the AAMC, pulled from official practice materials and third-party resources.
0:24.9	Get ready to elevate your MCAT game with topics tailored to maximize your score potential.
0:30.1	Hello, I'm Sam Smith.
0:32.1	This episode covers psychological disorders.
0:35.9	I'm first going to talk about what a psychological disorder even is, and then I'll talk a little
0:40.7	bit about how they're classified.
0:42.8	And then I'll get into the different types of psychological disorders to know.
0:47.6	This includes anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, trauma, and stressor-related
0:53.6	disorders, somatic symptom disorders,
0:56.2	bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, disassociative disorders, and finally personality disorders.
1:03.8	After that, I'll talk about the biological bases of several different nervous system disorders.
1:09.8	That will include schizophrenia, depression,
1:12.4	Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's. With that said, let's dive into it, and I hope you find this podcast
1:18.1	helpful. So I want to start by talking about what exactly a psychological disorder is.
1:30.0	And this episode, by the way, was pretty interesting for me to do research on because it's not always been very clear to me what is considered a psychological disorder and what's not considered one.
1:40.4	You know, to me it's always been this blurry line where on one side you have a psychological
1:44.3	disorder and on the other side you have the everyday human experience where you experience
1:50.4	anxiety, doubt, sadness, just all of these things that are human.
	...

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