Review AP Psychology Unit 5 to understand how stress, psychological disorders, and their treatments connect biological, cognitive, and sociocultural factors. This unit carries 15-25% of the exam weight and draws on concepts from every prior unit.
Use the topic guides, practice questions, FRQ practice, and AP score calculator available for this unit to focus your review.
Unit 5 is the capstone of AP Psychology. It pulls together biological bases of behavior, cognition, development, and social psychology to explain how mental and physical health can break down and how psychologists work to restore it.
Health psychology examines how stress affects the body through pathways like the HPA axis and sympathetic nervous system activation. Selye's general adaptation syndrome (alarm, resistance, exhaustion) explains why the exhaustion phase brings the greatest illness risk. Coping strategies are either problem-focused or emotion-focused.
A behavior becomes a disorder when it involves dysfunction, distress, or deviation from social norms. The DSM-5 and ICD are the two major classification systems. The biopsychosocial model and the diathesis-stress model explain how biological vulnerability and environmental stress interact to produce disorders.
Psychodynamic therapy uses free association and dream interpretation. Cognitive therapy targets the cognitive triad. Applied behavior analysis applies conditioning principles. Biological treatments include psychoactive medications, ECT, TMS, and historically the lobotomy. Deinstitutionalization shifted care to community settings in the late 20th century.
Every major topic in Unit 5 can be analyzed through biological, psychological, and sociocultural dimensions simultaneously. Whether you are explaining why stress causes hypertension, why schizophrenia involves dopamine dysregulation and social stigma, or why CBT works for depression, the biopsychosocial model is the organizing framework the AP exam expects you to apply.
Covers how stress affects physical health through the HPA axis and sympathetic nervous system, the three stages of the general adaptation syndrome, eustress vs. distress, adverse childhood experiences, the tend-and-befriend theory, and problem-focused vs. emotion-focused coping strategies.
Covers the definition and goals of positive psychology, three positive subjective experiences that increase well-being (gratitude, signature strengths, and posttraumatic growth), and the six virtue categories: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.
Covers the three criteria for identifying a disorder (dysfunction, distress, deviation from social norms), the DSM-5 and ICD classification systems, the risks and benefits of diagnosis including stigma and cultural bias, and the biopsychosocial and diathesis-stress interaction models.
Covers symptoms and possible causes for ten disorder categories: neurodevelopmental, schizophrenic spectrum, depressive, bipolar, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive and related, dissociative, trauma and stressor-related, feeding and eating, and personality disorders (Clusters A, B, and C).
Covers psychotherapy effectiveness research, deinstitutionalization, APA ethical principles, psychodynamic and humanistic therapies, cognitive and CBT approaches, applied behavior analysis, group therapy, hypnosis, and biological interventions including medications, ECT, TMS, and psychosurgery.
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Across 49k multiple-choice practice attempts for this unit.
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Across 71 scored free-response attempts for this unit.
Review Selection of Categories of Psychological Disorders with attention to how the concept appears in AP-style source and evidence questions.
Review Introduction to Health Psychology with attention to how the concept appears in AP-style source and evidence questions.
Review Treatment of Psychological Disorders with attention to how the concept appears in AP-style source and evidence questions.
Review Positive Psychology with attention to how the concept appears in AP-style source and evidence questions.
Health psychology studies how behavior and mental processes shape physical health. Stress is a central mechanism: it can suppress the immune system, raise blood pressure, and trigger tension headaches. Selye's general adaptation syndrome describes three stages of the stress response, and the tend-and-befriend theory offers an alternative to the classic fight-flight-freeze model. Coping strategies determine how well a person manages stressors.
| Coping Type | Focus | Example Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Problem-focused | Eliminate or change the stressor | Making a study schedule to reduce exam anxiety |
| Emotion-focused | Manage emotional response to the stressor | Deep breathing or meditation during exam week |
Positive psychology shifts focus from disorder to flourishing. It identifies factors that build well-being, resilience, and positive emotions. Three positive subjective experiences are central to the AP scope: expressing gratitude, using signature strengths, and posttraumatic growth.
Psychologists use three criteria to identify a psychological disorder: dysfunction, distress, and deviation from social norms. The DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association) and ICD (World Health Organization) are the two major classification systems, both updated regularly. Diagnosis carries both benefits and risks, including stigma and diagnostic bias related to race, gender, and culture. Most clinicians take an eclectic approach, drawing on multiple perspectives.
| Model | Core Assumption | Key Variables |
|---|---|---|
| Biopsychosocial | Disorders arise from interacting biological, psychological, and social factors | Genetics, cognition, culture, environment |
| Diathesis-stress | Genetic vulnerability activated by environmental stress | Diathesis (vulnerability) + stressor |
AP Psychology tests a specific set of disorder categories. For each, you need to know the defining symptoms and the possible causes. Causes are almost always multifactorial: biological, genetic, environmental, behavioral, cognitive, social, and cultural sources all appear. Only the disorders named in Topic 5.4 are in scope for the exam.
| Category | Key Symptom Feature | Selected Disorders in Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Neurodevelopmental | Age-inappropriate behaviors | ADHD, ASD |
| Schizophrenic spectrum | Delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech/behavior, negative symptoms | Schizophrenia |
| Depressive | Persistent sad or irritable mood, anhedonia | MDD, persistent depressive disorder |
| Bipolar | Cycling mania and depression | Bipolar I, Bipolar II |
| Anxiety | Excessive fear or anxiety | Specific phobia, agoraphobia, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, GAD |
Treatment approaches fall into psychological therapies and biological interventions. Meta-analytic research supports the general effectiveness of psychotherapy. Deinstitutionalization in the late 20th century moved care from hospitals to community settings, often combining medication with therapy. Ethical principles from the APA, including nonmaleficence, fidelity, integrity, and respect for rights and dignity, govern all clinical practice.
Try AP-style multiple-choice questions and written prompts after you review the notes.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) | Traumatic or stressful experiences during childhood that can have lasting effects on physical and mental health across the lifespan. |
| tend-and-befriend theory | Proposes that some individuals, particularly women, respond to stress by nurturing others and seeking social connection rather than through fight-flight-freeze responses. |
| distress | Stress viewed as debilitating or negative, arising from demands or threats that impair functioning and well-being. |
| subjective well-being | A person's own evaluation of their happiness and life satisfaction, reliably increased by practices such as expressing gratitude. |
| signature strengths | An individual's most prominent character strengths or virtues that, when exercised, contribute to higher levels of happiness and well-being. |
| virtues | Six categories of character strengths in positive psychology: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. |
| evidence-based interventions | Treatment approaches supported by empirical research demonstrating their effectiveness, used by clinicians to develop treatment plans. |
| cognitive triad | In cognitive therapy, the three interconnected negative thought patterns: negative thoughts about oneself, the world, and the future. |
| applied behavior analysis | The application of conditioning principles to address mental disorders and developmental disabilities, including techniques such as systematic desensitization and token economies. |
| biofeedback | A conditioning-based technique that helps clients become aware of and regulate involuntary body systems, such as heart rate, to reduce anxiety or depression. |
| nonmaleficence | An APA ethical principle requiring that psychologists avoid causing harm to clients in clinical or therapeutic situations. |
| posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) | A trauma and stressor-related disorder characterized by hypervigilance, severe anxiety, flashbacks, insomnia, emotional detachment, and hostility following a traumatic event. |
| electroconvulsive therapy | A biological intervention using controlled electrical stimulation to induce seizures, used primarily for severe depression when other treatments have not worked. |
| meta-analytic studies | Research that combines data from multiple individual studies to draw overall conclusions, used to support the general effectiveness of psychotherapy. |
| lobotomy | A form of psychosurgery popular in the mid-20th century involving surgical alteration of brain tissue, now rarely if ever performed. |
Positive symptoms add behaviors that are not normally present, such as hallucinations, delusions, and word salad. Negative symptoms remove behaviors that should be present, such as flat affect and reduced motivation. Students often reverse these labels because the words sound evaluative rather than additive or subtractive.
Bipolar I requires at least one full manic episode; Bipolar II involves hypomanic episodes paired with depressive episodes. Hypomania is less severe than full mania and does not cause the same level of functional impairment.
Problem-focused coping targets the stressor itself; emotion-focused coping targets the emotional response. Deep breathing does not solve the problem, so it is emotion-focused even if it feels productive.
The ICD, published by the World Health Organization, is also a major diagnostic classification system and is used internationally. Both the DSM and ICD are updated regularly to reflect new research.
Biological interventions also include ECT, TMS, and psychosurgery. The lobotomy is a historical example of psychosurgery that is rarely if ever performed today, but it still appears in exam questions about the history of treatment.
AP Psychology frequently presents a brief case description and asks you to apply a specific model or perspective. For Unit 5, practice applying the biopsychosocial model, the diathesis-stress model, and the GAS stages to novel scenarios. You should also be ready to identify which disorder category fits a described set of symptoms and explain the possible causes using multiple perspectives.
A common task pattern asks you to identify which therapy approach a described technique belongs to, or to explain why a therapist would choose a particular method for a specific disorder. Know the technique-to-theory connections: free association belongs to psychodynamic therapy, cognitive restructuring belongs to cognitive therapy, systematic desensitization belongs to applied behavior analysis, and so on.
Unit 5 includes sociocultural and ethical dimensions that appear in both multiple-choice and free-response contexts. Be prepared to explain the positive and negative consequences of diagnosis, describe how stigma and cultural bias affect diagnostic accuracy, and situate deinstitutionalization within the broader history of mental health treatment including the role of psychotropic medications and APA ethical principles.
Open the individual guides for Unit 5 when you want a closer review of one topic.
browse guidesUse AP-style practice after you review the notes so you can check what you understand.
start practicePractice free-response reasoning and compare your answer with scoring guidance.
practice FRQsUse unit cheatsheets for a quick visual review after you work through the notes.
open cheatsheetsEstimate your broader AP score goal after you review the course and exam format.
open calculatorAP Psych Unit 5 covers 5 topics: Introduction to Health Psychology, Positive Psychology, Explaining and Classifying Psychological Disorders, Selection of Categories of Psychological Disorders, and Treatment of Psychological Disorders. The unit ties together stress, mental illness, and how psychology can both harm and help people across cultural contexts. See the full topic breakdown at AP Psych Unit 5.
AP Psych Unit 5 makes up 15-25% of the AP exam, making it one of the heavier-weighted units. It covers mental and physical health, including positive psychology, psychological disorders, and their treatment. That range means you can expect a solid chunk of multiple-choice questions and at least one free-response prompt tied to this material.
The AP Psych Unit 5 progress check includes both MCQ and FRQ parts drawn from all five unit topics: Introduction to Health Psychology, Positive Psychology, Explaining and Classifying Psychological Disorders, Selection of Categories of Psychological Disorders, and Treatment of Psychological Disorders. The MCQ section tests recognition of disorders, diagnostic criteria, and treatment approaches. The FRQ section typically asks you to apply concepts like positive psychology or health psychology to a scenario. For matched practice questions that mirror the progress check format, head to AP Psych Unit 5.
AP Psych Unit 5 FRQs most often draw from positive psychology, psychological disorders, and treatment of psychological disorders, asking you to apply concepts to a real-world scenario or explain a case study. The question format usually gives you a situation and asks you to identify a disorder, explain a treatment method, or connect health psychology principles to behavior. To practice, write out full responses using the define-apply structure: state the concept clearly, then tie it directly to the scenario. You can find Unit 5 FRQ practice at AP Psych Unit 5.
The best place to find AP Psych Unit 5 practice questions, including multiple-choice and practice test sets, is AP Psych Unit 5. That page has MCQ practice covering all five topics, from health psychology and positive psychology to psychological disorders and their treatment. Mixing MCQ drills with timed practice test sets is the most effective way to build the recall speed you need for exam day.
Start with positive psychology and health psychology (Topics 5.1 and 5.2) to build a foundation, then move into psychological disorders and their treatment, which carry the most exam weight. For each disorder category in Topic 5.4, make a quick reference card with the key symptoms and diagnostic criteria. For Topic 5.5, know the major treatment approaches (biological, psychological, sociocultural) and be able to match them to specific disorders. Practice applying concepts to scenarios since Unit 5 FRQs almost always use a case study format. Review the sociocultural context too, including stigma and historical exploitation, because those themes show up in both MCQ and FRQ prompts. Find practice sets and study guides at AP Psych Unit 5.