GLOSSARY OF PSYCHIATRIC TERMS

Abreaction - An emotional release or discharge after recalling a painful experience that has been repressed because it was not consciously tolerable. Often the release is surprising to the individual experiencing it because of it's intensity and the circumstances surrounding its onset.  A therapeutic effect sometimes occurs through partial or repeated discharge of the painful affect.

Abulia -  A lack of will or motivation which is often expressed as inability to make decisions or set goals. Often, the reduction in impulse to action and thought is coupled with an indifference or lack of concern about the consequences of action.

 

Acalculia - The loss of a previously possessed ability to engage in arithmetic calculation.

 

Acculturation difficulty - A problem stemming from an inability to appropriately adapt to a different culture or environment. The problem is not based on any coexisting mental disorder.

Acetylcholine - A neurotransmitter in the brain, which helps to regulate memory, and in the peripheral nervous system, where it affects the actions of skeletal and smooth muscle.

Acting out -  This is the process of expressing unconscious emotional conflicts or feelings via actions rather than words. The person is not consciously aware of the meaning or etiology of such acts. Acting out may be harmful or, in controlled situations, therapeutic (e.g., children's play therapy).

Actualization -  The realization of one's full potential - intellectual, psychological, physical

Acute Schizophrenia (a-cute skiz-o-fre-ne-ah):
The height of symptoms of schizophrenia.

Adiadochokinesia -   The inability to perform rapid alternating movements of one or more of the extremities.  This task is sometimes requested by physicians of patients during physical examinations to determine if there exists neurological problems.

Affect - pattern of observable behaviours which is the expression of a subjectively experienced feeling state (emotion) and is variable over time in response to changing emotional states

Affective Disorder (ah-feck-tiv dis-or-der):
A mental disorder in which the main symptom is an abnormal mood; usually depression or mania.

Affective disorders -  A mental disorder which refers to disorders of mood.  Examples would include Major Depressive Disorder, Dysthymia, Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder...

Affective Flattening:
Limited range and intensity of emotional expression. A "negative" symptom of schizophrenia.

Age-associated memory impairment (AAMI) -  The mild disturbance in memory function that occurs normally with aging; benign senescent forgetfulness.  Such lapses in memory are lately humorously referred to as representing "a senior moment".

Agitation -  Excessive motor activity that accompanies and is associated with a feeling of inner tension. The activity is usually non-productive and repetitious and consists of such behavior as pacing, fidgeting, wringing of the hands, pulling of clothes, and inability to sit still.

Agnosia -  Failure to recognize or identify objects despite intact sensory function; This may be seen in dementia of various types.  An example would be the failure of someone to recognize a paper clip placed in their hand while keeping their eyes closed.

Agnostic alexia - words can be seen but cannot be read.

Agonist medication -  A chemical entity that is not naturally occuring within the body which acts upon a receptor and is capable of producing the maximal effect that can be produced by stimulating that receptor. A partial agonist is capable only of producing less than the maximal effect even when given in a concentration sufficient to bind with all available receptors.

Agoraphobia - literally a fear of the market place. Generally high levels of anxiety and phobic symptoms. May include a fear of crowds, open and closed spaces and travelling by public transport

Agranulocytosis (ah-gran-yu-lo-si-to-sis):
A serious condition in which white blood cells decrease in number or disappear altogether. This can be a side-effect of an antipsychotic medication called clozapine (brand name Clozaril^®).

Agraphia -  The loss of a pre-existing ability to express one's self through the act of writing.

Akathisia - The medical word for extreme restlessness, one complaints of restlessness accompanied by movements such as fidgeting of the legs, rocking from foot to foot, pacing, or inability to sit or stand. Symptoms can develop within a few weeks of starting or raising the dose of traditional neuroleptic medications or of reducing the dose of medication used to treat extra pyramidal symptoms. Akathisia is a state of motor restlessness ranging from a feeling of inner disquiet to inability to sit still or lie quietly.

Akinesia - A state of motor inhibition or reduced voluntary movement.

Akinesia  Loss or impairment of voluntary activity.

Akinetic mutism -  A state of apparent alertness with following eye movements but no speech or voluntary motor responses.

Alexia -  Loss of a previously intact ability to grasp the meaning of written or printed words and sentences.

Alexithymia -  A disturbance in affective and cognitive function that can be present in an assortment of diagnostic entities. The chief manifestations are difficulty in describing or recognizing one's own emotions, a limited fantasy life, and general constriction in affective life.

Algophobia -  Fear of pain.

Alienation -  The estrangement felt in a setting one views as foreign, unpredictable, or unacceptable. For example, in depersonalization phenomena, feelings of unreality or strangeness produce a sense of alienation from one's self or environment.

Alogia -  An impoverishment in thinking that is inferred from observing speech and language behavior. There may be brief and concrete replies to questions and restriction in the amount of spontaneous speech (poverty of speech). Sometimes the speech is adequate in amount but conveys little information because it is overconcrete, overabstract, repetitive, or stereotyped (poverty of content). This is a “negative” symptom of schizophrenia.

Ambitendency - series or tentative, incomplete movements carried out when a voluntary action is anticipated.

Ambivalence -  The coexistence of contradictory emotions, attitudes, ideas, or desires with respect to a particular person, object, or situation. Ordinarily, the ambivalence is not fully conscious and suggests psychopathology only when present in an extreme form.

Amenorrhea (a-men-o-re-ah):
Absence of menstrual periods. This can be a side-effect of antipsychotic medications.

Amentia -  Subnormal development of the mind, with particular reference to intellectual capacities; a type of severe mental retardation.

Amimia -  A disorder of language characterized by an inability to make gestures or to understand the significance of gestures.

Amnesia -  Loss of memory. Types of amnesia include: anterograde Loss of memory of events that occur after the onset of the etiological condition or agent. retrograde Loss of memory of events that occurred before the onset of the etiological condition or agent.

Amnestic aphasia - Loss of the ability to name objects.

Amok - seen in South-East Asia. Outburst of aggressive behaviour in which the patient runs 'amok' during a depressive episode

Anaclitic -  In psychoanalytic terminology, dependence of the infant on the mother or mother substitute for a sense of well-being. This is considered normal behavior in childhood, but pathologic in later years.

Anal stage -  The period of pregenital psychosexual development, usually from 1 to 3 years, in which the child has particular interest and concern with the process of defecation and the sensations connected with the anus. The pleasurable part of the experience is termed anal eroticism. 

Anamnesis -  The developmental history of a patient and of his or her illness, especially recollections.

Anankastic personality -  Synonym for obsessive-compulsive personality.

Anhedonia -  Inability to experience pleasure from activities that usually produce pleasurable feelings. Contrast with hedonism.

Anima -  In Jungian psychology, a person's inner being as opposed to the character or persona presented to the world. Further, the anima may be the more feminine "soul" or inner self of a man, and the animus the more masculine soul of a woman.

Anomie -  Apathy, alienation, and personal distress resulting from the loss of goals previously valued. Emile Durkheim popularized this term when he listed it as a principal reason for suicide.

Anosognosia - lack of awareness of a disease

Antagonist:
Medication, hormone, or neurotransmitter that binds to a receptor and prevents a response.

Anticholinergic:
Blocking the action of acetylcholine, one of the chemicals the body makes to help nerve cells communicate with each other. This describes a group of the most common side-effects of psychotropic medications, including dry mouth, blurry vision, palpitations, and constipation.

Antidepressant:
Medication used to treat depression.

Antipsychotic:
Medication used to treat psychosis. (See psychosis.)

Anxiety: The apprehensive anticipation of future danger or misfortune accompanied by a feeling of dysphoria or somatic symptoms of tension. The focus of anticipated danger may be internal or external.  Anxiety is often distinguished from fear in that fear is a more appropriate word to use when there exists threat or danger in the real world.  Anxiety is reflective more of a threat that is not apparent or imminent in the real world, at least not to the experienced degree.

Anxiolytics:
Medications used to reduce serious anxiety, tension, and agitation. They used to be known as minor tranquilizers.

Apathy -  Lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern.

Aphasia An impairment in the understanding or transmission of ideas by language in any of its forms--reading, writing, or speaking--that is due to injury or disease of the brain centers involved in language.

Aphonia An inability to produce speech sounds that require the use of the larynx that is not due to a lesion in the central nervous system.

Apperception Perception as modified and enhanced by one's own emotions, memories, and biases.

Apraxia: Inability to carry out previously learned skilled motor activities despite intact comprehension and motor function; this may be seen in dementia.

Assimilation: A Piagetian term describing a person's ability to comprehend and integrate new experiences.

Astereognosis: Inability to recognize familiar objects by touch that cannot be explained by a defect of elementary tactile sensation.

Ataxia: Partial or complete loss of coordination of voluntary muscular movement.

Attention: The ability to focus in a sustained manner on a particular stimulus or activity. A disturbance in attention may be manifested by easy distractibility or difficulty in finishing tasks or in concentrating on work

Auditory hallucination: A hallucination involving the perception of sound, most commonly of voices. Some clinicians and investigators would not include those experiences perceived as coming from inside the head and would instead limit the concept of true auditory hallucinations to those sounds whose source is perceived as being external.

Aura: A premonitory, subjective brief sensation (e.g., a flash of light) that warns of an impending headache or convulsion. The nature of the sensation depends on the brain area in which the attack begins. Seen in migraine and epilepsy.

Autoeroticism: Sensual self-gratification. Characteristic of, but not limited to, an early stage of emotional development. Includes satisfactions derived from genital play, masturbation, fantasy, and oral, anal, and visual sources.

Automatism: Automatic and apparently undirected non-purposeful behaviour that is not consciously controlled. Seen in psychomotor epilepsy.

Autoscopy: phantom mirror image - hallucination in which one sees and recognizes oneself

Autotopagnosia: Inability to localize and name the parts of one's own body. finger agnosia would be autotopagnosia restricted to the fingers.

Avolition: An inability to initiate and persist in goal-directed activities. When severe enough to be considered pathological, avolition is pervasive and prevents the person from completing many different types of activities (e.g., work, intellectual pursuits, and self-care). A "negative" symptom of schizophrenia.

B

 

Beta-blocker - An agent that inhibits the action of beta-adrenergic receptors, which modulate cardiac functions, respiratory functions, and the dilation of blood vessels. Beta-blockers are of value in the treatment of hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, and migraine. In psychiatry, they have been used in the treatment of aggression and violence, anxiety-related tremors and lithium-induced tremors, neuroleptic-induced akathisia, social phobias, panic states, and alcohol withdrawal.

Bizarre delusion - A delusion that involves a phenomenon that the person's culture would regard as totally implausible.

Blocking - A sudden obstruction or interruption in spontaneous flow of thinking or speaking, perceived as an absence or deprivation of thought.

Blunted affect - reduction in emotional expression

Body image - One's sense of the self and one's body.

Bipolar Disorder:
An affective disorder characterized by extreme changes in mood ranging from mania to depression. This mood disturbance is also known as manic depression.

Bradykinesia - Neurologic condition characterized by a generalized slowness of motor activity.

Broca's aphasia Loss of the ability to comprehend language coupled with production of inappropriate language.

Bruxism Grinding of the teeth, occurs unconsciously while awake or during stage 2 sleep. May be secondary to anxiety, tension, or dental problems.

C

Capgras' syndrome - a person who is familiar to the patient is believed to have been replaced by a double

Catalepsy Waxy flexibility--rigid maintenance of a body position over an extended period of time.

Cataplexy Episodes of sudden bilateral loss of muscle tone resulting in the individual collapsing, often in association with intense emotions such as laughter, anger, fear, or surprise.

Catatonic behaviour Marked motor abnormalities including motor immobility (i.e., catalepsy or stupor), certain types of excessive motor activity (apparently purposeless agitation not influenced by external stimuli), extreme negativism (apparent motiveless resistance to instructions or attempts to be moved) or mutism, posturing or stereotyped movements, and echolalia or echopraxia

Catatonic Schizophrenia (kat-a-ton-ik skiz-o-fre-ne-ah):
Schizophrenia characterized by marked disturbance which may involve stupor, negativism, rigidity, excitement, or posturing.

Catharsis The healthful (therapeutic) release of ideas through "talking out" conscious material accompanied by an appropriate emotional reaction. Also, the release into awareness of repressed ("forgotten") material from the unconscious. See also repression.

Cathexis Attachment, conscious or unconscious, of emotional feeling and significance to an idea, an object, or, most commonly, a person.

Causalgia A sensation of intense pain of either organic or psychological origin.

Central (syntactical) aphasia - difficult in arranging words in their correct sequence

Central Nervous System (CNS):
The brain and spinal cord. The CNS is responsible for coordinating the activities of all parts of the brain and spinal cord.

Cerea flexibilitas The "waxy flexibility" often present in catatonic schizophrenia in which the patient's arm or leg remains in the position in which it is placed.

Chronic Schizophrenia (kron-ik skiz-o-fre-ne-ah):
A disorder in which the symptoms of schizophrenia persist long-term.

Circumstantiality - slowed thinking incorporating unnecessary trivial details. Eventually the goal of the thought is reached

CT Scanning (Computerized Tomography) (to-mog-raf-ee):
A technique using x-rays or ultrasound waves to produce an image of interior parts of the body. For example, within the skull it can be used to view parts of the brain as an aid to diagnosis.

Clanging - speech in which words are chosen because of their sounds rather than their meanings. It includes rhyming and punning

Climacteric - Menopausal period in women. Sometimes used to refer to the corresponding age period in men. Also called involutional period.

Clouding of consciousness - the patient is drowsy and does not react completely to stimuli. there is disturbance of attention, concentration, memory, orientation and thinking.

Coenestopathic state - localized distortion of body awareness

Cognitive - Pertaining to thoughts or thinking. Cognitive disorders are disorders of thinking, for example, schizophrenia.

Comorbidity The simultaneous appearance of two or more illnesses, such as the co-occurrence of schizophrenia and substance abuse or of alcohol dependence and depression. The association may reflect a causal relationship between one disorder and another or an underlying vulnerability to both disorders. Also, the appearance of the illnesses may be unrelated to any common etiology or vulnerability.

Compensation A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, by which one attempts to make up for real or fancied deficiencies. Also a conscious process in which one strives to make up for real or imagined defects of physique, performance skills, or psychological attributes. The two types frequently merge. See also overcompensation.

Compulsion Repetitive ritualistic behavior such as hand washing or ordering or a mental act such as praying or repeating words silently that aims to prevent or reduce distress or prevent some dreaded event or situation. The person feels driven to perform such actions in response to an obsession or according to rules that must be applied rigidly, even though the behaviors are recognized to be excessive or unreasonable.

Conative Pertains to one's basic strivings as expressed in behaviour and actions

Concrete thinking - lack of abstract thinking, normal in childhood, and occurring in adults with organic brain disease and schizophrenia

Condensation A psychological process, often present in dreams, in which two or more concepts are fused so that a single symbol represents the multiple components.

Confabulation - gaps in memory are unconsciously filled with false memories

Confrontation A communication that deliberately pressures or invites another to self-examine some aspect of behaviour in which there is a discrepancy between self-reported and observed behaviour.

Constricted affect Affect type that represents mild reduction in the range and intensity of emotional expression.

Constructional apraxia An acquired difficulty in drawing two-dimensional objects or forms, or in producing or copying three-dimensional arrangements of forms or shapes.

Contingency reinforcement In operant or instrumental conditioning, ensuring that desired behavior is followed by positive consequences and that undesired behavior is not rewarded.

Conversion A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, by which intrapsychic conflicts that would otherwise give rise to anxiety are instead given symbolic external expression. The repressed ideas or impulses, and the psychological defenses against them, are converted into a variety of somatic symptoms. These may include such symptoms as paralysis, pain, or loss of sensory function.

Coping mechanisms Ways of adjusting to environmental stress without altering one's goals or purposes; includes both conscious and unconscious mechanisms.

Coprophagia: Eating of filth or faeces.

Cotard's syndrome - nihilistic delusional disorder in which, for example, patients believe that their money, friends or body parts do not exist

Counterphobia Deliberately seeking out and exposing onself to, rather than avoiding, the object or situation that is consciously or unconsciously feared.

Countertransference The therapist's emotional reactions to the patient that are based on the therapist's unconscious needs and conflicts, as distinguished from his or her conscious responses to the patient's behavior. Countertransference may interfere with the therapist's ability to understand the patient and may adversely affect the therapeutic technique. Currently, there is emphasis on the positive aspects of countertransference and its use as a guide to a more empathic understanding of the patient.

Cretinism A type of mental retardation and bodily malformation caused by severe, uncorrected thyroid deficiency in infancy and early childhood.

Cri du chat A type of mental retardation. The name is derived from a catlike cry emitted by children with this disorder, which is caused by partial deletion of chromosome 5.

Culture-specific syndromes Forms of disturbed behavior specific to certain cultural systems that do not conform to western nosologic entities. Some commonly cited syndromes are the following: amok; koro; latah; piblokto, and windigo.

D

Da Costa's syndrome Neurocirculatory asthenia; "soldier's heart"; a functional disorder of the circulatory system that is usually a part of an anxiety state or secondary to hyperventilation.

Decompensation The deterioration of existing defenses, leading to an exacerbation of pathological behavior.

Defense mechanism Automatic psychological process that protects the individual against anxiety and from awareness of internal or external stressors or dangers. Defense mechanisms mediate the individual's reaction to emotional conflicts and to external stressors. Some defense mechanisms (e.g., projection, splitting, and acting out) are almost invariably maladaptive. Others, such as suppression and denial, may be either maladaptive or adaptive, depending on their severity, their inflexibility, and the context in which they occur.

Déjà pensé - illusion of recognition of a new thought

Déjà vu - illusion or recognition of a situation

Delirium - disorder of consciousness in which the patient is bewildered, disoriented and restless. There may be associated fear and hallucinations

Delusion - false personal belief based on incorrect inference about external reality and firmly held despite evidence to the contrary. Not explicable on the grounds of the patients cultural or social background.

Delusion (illusion) of doubles ( l'illusion de soises)  - delusional belief that a person known to an individual has been replaced by a double. It is seen in Capgras' syndrome.

Delusional jealousy The delusion that one's sexual partner is unfaithful. erotomanic A delusion that another person, usually of higher status, is in love with the individual.

Delusional perception - new and delusional significance is attached to a familiar  real perception without any logical reason.

Delusions of infidelity - (pathological jealousy, delusional jealousy, Othello's syndrome) delusional belief that one's spouse or lover is being unfaithful.

Delusions of reference - the behaviour of others or objects and event (e.g. television broadcasts) believed to refer to oneself in particular. When similar thoughts are held with less than delusional intensity they are called ideas of reference.

Dementia - global organic impairment of intellectual functioning without impairment of consciousness.

Denial - defense mechanism in which the subject acts as if consciously unaware of a wish or reality.

Depersonalization An alteration in the perception or experience of the self so that one feels detached from, and as if one is an outside observer of, one's mental processes or body (e.g., feeling like one is in a dream).

Depressive retardation - lesser form of psychomotor retardation which occurs in depression.

Derailment ("loosening of associations") A pattern of speech in which a person's ideas slip off one track onto another that is completely unrelated or only obliquely related. In moving from one sentence or clause to another, the person shifts the topic idiosyncratically from one frame of reference to another and things may be said in juxtaposition that lack a meaningful relationship. This disturbance occurs between clauses, in contrast to incoherence, in which the disturbance is within clauses. An occasional change of topic without warning or obvious connection does not constitute derailment.

Derealization An alteration in the perception or experience of the external world so that it seems strange or unreal (e.g., people may seem unfamiliar or mechanical).

Dereistic Mental activity that is not in accordance with reality, logic, or experience.

Detachment A behavior pattern characterized by general aloofness in interpersonal contact; may include intellectualization, denial, and superficiality.

Diplopia Double vision due to paralysis of the ocular muscles; seen in inhalant intoxication and other conditions affecting the oculomotor nerve.

Disconnection syndrome Term coined by Norman Geschwind (1926-1984) to describe the interruption of information transferred from one brain region to another.

Disinhibition Freedom to act according to one's inner drives or feelings, with less regard for restraints imposed by cultural norms or one's superego; removal of an inhibitory, constraining, or limiting influence, as in the escape from higher cortical control in neurologic injury, or in uncontrolled firing of impulses, as when a drug interferes with the usual limiting or inhibiting action of GABA within the central nervous system.

Disorientation Confusion about the time of day, date, or season (time), where one is (place), or who one is (person).

Displacement A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, in which emotions, ideas, or wishes are transferred from their original object to a more acceptable substitute; often used to allay anxiety.

Dissociative disorder - disorder in which there is a disturbance in the normal integration or awareness of identity, consciousness, memory and control of body movements.

Distractibility The inability to maintain attention, that is, the shifting from one area or topic to another with minimal provocation, or attention being drawn too frequently to unimportant or irrelevant external stimuli.

Double bind Interaction in which one person demands a response to a message containing mutually contradictory signals, while the other person is unable either to comment on the incongruity or to escape from the situation.

Drive Basic urge, instinct, motivation; a term used to avoid confusion with the more purely biological concept of instinct.

DSM-IV - fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical  Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, Washington DC (1994). Multiaxial classification with 5 axes.

Dyad A two-person relationship, such as the therapeutic relationship between doctor and patient in individual psychotherapy.

Dysarthria Imperfect articulation of speech due to disturbances of muscular control or in coordination.

Dysgeusia Perversion of the sense of taste.

Dyskinesia Distortion of voluntary movements with involuntary muscular activity.

Dyslexia Inability or difficulty in reading, including word-blindness and a tendency to reverse letters and words in reading and writing.

Dysphoric mood An unpleasant mood, such as sadness, anxiety, or irritability.

Dyssomnia Primary disorders of sleep or wakefulness characterized by insomnia or hypersomnia as the major presenting symptom. Dyssomnias are disorders of the amount, quality, or timing of sleep.

Dystonia Disordered tonicity of muscles.

E

 

Echolalia - automatic imitation of another's speech.

Echopraxia Repetition by imitation of the movements of another. The action is not a willed or voluntary one and has a semiautomatic and uncontrollable quality.

Ecstasy - feeling of intense rapture.

Ego - part of the mental apparatus that is present at the interface of the perceptual and internal demand systems. It controls voluntary thoughts and actions, and, at an unconscious level, defense mechanisms.

Ego ideal The part of the personality that comprises the aims and goals for the self; usually refers to the conscious or unconscious emulation of significant figures with whom one has identified. The ego ideal emphasizes what one should be or do in contrast to what one should not be or not do.

Ego-dystonic Referring to aspects of a person's behavior, thoughts, and attitudes that are viewed by the self as repugnant or inconsistent with the total personality.

Egomania - pathological preoccupation with oneself.

Eidetic image - vivid and detailed reproduction of a previous perception e.g. a photographic memory.

Elaboration An unconscious process consisting of expansion and embellishment of detail, especially with reference to a symbol or representation in a dream.

Elevated mood An exaggerated feeling of well-being, or euphoria or elation. A person with elevated mood may describe feeling "high," "ecstatic," "on top of the world," or "up in the clouds."

Engram A memory trace; a neurophysiological process that accounts for persistence of memory

Erotomania  (de Clérambault's syndrome) - patient holds the delusional belief that someone else, usually of a higher social or professional status, is in love with them.

Ethnology A science that concerns itself with the division of human beings into races and their origin, distribution, relations, and characteristics.

Euphoric mood - exaggerated feeling of well-being. It is pathological.

Euthymic Mood in the "normal" range, which implies the absence of depressed or elevated mood.

Expansive mood Lack of restraint in expressing one's feelings, frequently with an overvaluation of one's significance or importance. irritable Easily annoyed and provoked to anger.

Expressive (motor) aphasia - difficulty in expressing thoughts in words whilst comprehension remains.

Extinction The weakening of a reinforced operant response as a result of ceasing reinforcement. See also operant conditioning. Also, the elimination of a conditioned response by repeated presentations of a conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus. See also respondent conditioning.

Extracampine hallucination - hallucination occurring outside one's sensory field.

Extraversion A state in which attention and energies are largely directed outward from the self as opposed to inward toward the self, as in introversion.

F

Fantasy An imagined sequence of events or mental images (e.g., daydreams) that serves to express unconscious conflicts, to gratify unconscious wishes, or to prepare for anticipated future events.

Flashback A recurrence of a memory, feeling, or perceptual experience from the past.

Flat affect - almost no emotional expression at all -the patient typically has an immobile face and  monotonous voice.

Flight of ideas - speech consists of a stream of accelerated thoughts with abrupt changes from topic to topic and no central direction. the connections between the thoughts may be based on chance relationships, verbal associations (e.g. alliteration and assonance), clang associations and distracting stimuli.

Flooding (implosion) A behavior therapy procedure for phobias and other problems involving maladaptive anxiety, in which anxiety producers are presented in intense forms, either in imagination or in real life. The presentations, which act as desensitizers, are continued until the stimuli no longer produce disabling anxiety.

Folie à deux A shared psychotic disorder between 2 people, usually people who are mutually dependent upon each other.

Formal thought disorder An inexact term referring to a disturbance in the form of thinking rather than to abnormality of content. See blocking; loosening of associations; poverty of speech.

Formication The tactile hallucination or illusion that insects are crawling on the body or under the skin.

Fragmentation Separation into different parts, or preventing their integration, or detaching one or more parts from the rest. A fear of fragmentation of the personality, also known as disintegration anxiety, is often observed in patients whenever they are exposed to repetitions of earlier experiences that interfered with development of the self. This fear may be expressed as feelings of falling apart, as a loss of identity, or as a fear of impending loss of one's vitality and of psychological depletion.

Free association In psychoanalytic therapy, spontaneous, uncensored verbalization by the patient of whatever comes to mind.

Free-floating anxiety - pervasive and unfocused anxiety.

Fregoli's syndrome - patient believes that a familiar person, who is often believed to be the person's persecutor, has taken on different appearances.

Freudian slips (parapraxes) - unconscious thoughts slipping through when one is off guard.

Frotteurism One of the paraphilias, consisting of recurrent, intense sexual urges involving touching and rubbing against a nonconsenting person; common sites in which such activities take place are crowded trains, buses, and elevators. Fondling the victim may be part of the condition and is called toucherism.

Fugue - the individual wanders away from usual surroundings and has loss of memory.

Functional hallucination - the stimulus causing the hallucination is heard in addition to the hallucination. e.g. someone hears 

Fusion The union and integration of the instincts and drives so that they complement each other and help the organism to deal effectively with both internal needs and external demands.

G

Galactorrhea (ga-lak-to-re-ah):
An excessive flow of breast milk in men or women. This is sometimes a side-effect of antipsychotic medications.

Gegenhalten "Active" resistance to passive movement of the extremities that does not appear to be under voluntary control.

Gender dysphoria A persistent aversion toward some or all of those physical characteristics or social roles that connote one's own biological sex.

Gender identity A person's inner conviction of being male or female.

Gender role Attitudes, patterns of behavior, and personality attributes defined by the culture in which the person lives as stereotypically "masculine" or "feminine" social roles.

Global aphasia - both receptive and expressive aphasia present at the same time.

Globus hystericus The disturbing sensation of a lump in the throat.

Glossolalia Gibberish-like speech or "speaking in tongues."

Gradual-Onset Schizophrenia:
Symptoms develop so slowly that it often takes a long period of time before the illness is obvious to the individual, his/her family, or his/her friends.

Grandiosity An inflated appraisal of one's worth, power, knowledge, importance, or identity. When extreme, grandiosity may be of delusional proportions.

Grossly Disorganized Behavior:
Unusual behavior in which the individual acts any number of ways from silly and childlike to angry and aggressive. A "positive" symptom of schizophrenia.

Gustatory hallucination A hallucination involving the perception of taste (usually unpleasant).

H

Hallucination - false sensory perception in the absence of a real external stimulus. It is perceived as being located in objective space and as having the same realistic qualities as normal perceptions. It is not subject to conscious manipulation and only indicates a psychotic disturbance when there is also impaired reality testing. Hallucinations may be seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled by the ill individual. The term hallucination is not ordinarily applied to the false perceptions that occur during dreaming, while falling asleep (hypnagogic), or when awakening (hypnopompic). Transient hallucinatory experiences may occur in people without a mental disorder.

Hallucinosis - hallucination (usually auditory ) occurring in clear consciousness. e.g in alcoholism.

Hedonism Pleasure-seeking behavior. Contrast with anhedonia.

Hemisomatognosis (hemidepersonalization) - limb is felt to be missing.

Hyperacusis Inordinate sensitivity to sounds; it may be on an emotional or an organic basis.

Hyperaesthesia - sensory distortion in which sensations appear increased.

Hyperdopaminergia (hi-per-do-pah-min-er-gee-ah):
Neurochemical condition of excess dopamine neurotransmission. Thought to partly underlie the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.

Hyperkinesis - overactivity, distractibility, excitability and impulsivity  e.g in children.

Hypersomnia Excessive sleepiness, as evidenced by prolonged nocturnal sleep, difficulty maintaining an alert awake state during the day, or undesired daytime sleep episodes. ideas of reference The feeling that casual incidents and external events have a particular and unusual meaning that is specific to the person. This is to be distinguished from a delusion of reference, in which there is a belief that is held with delusional conviction

Hypertonicity (hi-per-to-nis-ih-te):
Excessive tension of muscles.

Hypnagogic hallucination - hallucination occurring whilst falling asleep. Occurs in normal people.

Hypnopompic Referring to the state immediately preceding awakening; may include hallucinations that are of no pathological significance.

Hypoaesthesia - sensory distortion in which sensations appear decreased.

Hypochondriasis - preoccupation, not based on a real organic pathology, with a fear of having a serious physical illness. Physical sensations are unrealistically interpreted as being abnormal.

I

ICD-10 - tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases published by the World Health Organization, Geneva (1992)

Id - unconscious part of the mental apparatus which is partly made up of inherited instincts and partly by acquired, but repressed components.

Idealization A mental mechanism in which the person attributes exaggeratedly positive qualities to the self or others.

Ideas of Reference:
The unfounded belief that objects, events, or people are of personal significance. For example, a person may think that a television program he is watching is all about him. May reach sufficient intensity to constitute delusions.

Identification A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, by which one patterns oneself after some other person. Identification plays a major role in the development of one's personality and specifically of the superego. To be differentiated from imitation or role modeling, which is a conscious process.

Idiot savant A person with gross mental retardation who nonetheless is capable of performing certain remarkable feats in sharply circumscribed intellectual areas, such as calendar calculation or puzzle solving.

Illusion A misperception or misinterpretation of a real external stimulus, such as hearing the rustling of leaves as the sound of voices. See also hallucination.

Imprinting A term in ethology referring to a process similar to rapid learning or behavioral patterning that occurs at critical points in very early stages of animal development. The extent to which imprinting occurs in human development has not been established.

Inappropriate Affect:
Reacting in an inappropriate manner, such as laughing when hearing bad news.

Incoherence Speech or thinking that is essentially incomprehensible to others because words or phrases are joined together without a logical or meaningful connection. This disturbance occurs within clauses, in contrast to derailment, in which the disturbance is between clauses. This has sometimes been referred to as "word salad" to convey the degree of linguistic disorganization. Mildly ungrammatical constructions or idiomatic usages characteristic of particular regional or cultural backgrounds, lack of education, or low intelligence should not be considered incoherence. The term is generally not applied when there is evidence that the disturbance in speech is due to an aphasia.

Incorporation A primitive defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, in which the psychic representation of a person, or parts of the person, is figuratively ingested.

Individuation A process of differentiation, the end result of which is development of the individual personality that is separate and distinct from all others.

Induced psychosis/ folie à deux - delusional disorder shared by two or more people who are closely related emotionally. One has a real psychosis whilst symptoms are induced in the other. Separation results in symptomatic improvement in the one who is not psychotic.

Initial insomnia Difficulty in falling asleep.

Insomnia A subjective complaint of difficulty falling or staying asleep or poor sleep quality. Types of insomnia include:

Instinct An inborn drive. The primary human instincts include self-preservation, sexuality, and according to some proponents the death instinct, of which aggression is one manifestation.

Integration The useful organization and incorporation of both new and old data, experience, and emotional capacities into the personality. Also refers to the organization and amalgamation of functions at various levels of psychosexual development.

Intellectualization A mental mechanism in which the person engages in excessive abstract thinking to avoid confrontation with conflicts or disturbing feelings.

Intersex condition A condition in which an individual shows intermingling, in various degrees, of the characteristics of each sex, including physical form, reproductive organs, and sexual behavior.

Introjection and identification - ego defence mechanisms in which the attitudes and behaviour of another are internalised to help the person to cope with separation

Introspection Self-observation; examination of one's feelings, often as a result of psychotherapy.

Introversion Preoccupation with oneself and accompanying reduction of interest in the outside world. Contrast to extraversion.

Isolation A defense mechanism operating unconsciously central to obsessive-compulsive phenomena in which the affect is detached from an idea and rendered unconscious, leaving the conscious idea colourless and emotionally neutral.

J

Jamais vu - illusion of failure to recognise a familiar situation

Jargon aphasia - incoherent, meaningless, neologistic speech

K

Klinefelter's syndrome Chromosomal defect in males in which there is an extra X chromosome; manifestations may include underdeveloped testes, physical feminization, sterility, and mental retardation.

Klüver Bucy Syndrome - Placidity, hyperorality, hypersexuality, hyperphagia - resulting from bilateral destruction of the amygdaloid bodies of the limbic system

Knight's Move thinking - odd, tangential associations between ideas leading to disruptions in the smooth continuity of speech

Koro  A culture specific syndrome of China involving fear of retraction of penis into abdomen with the belief that this will lead to death.

L

La belle indifférence Literally, "beautiful indifference." Seen in certain patients with conversion disorders who show an inappropriate lack of concern about their disabilities. labile Rapidly shifting (as applied to emotions); unstable.

Labile affect - affect repeatedly and rapidly shifts from one extreme to another e.g. from despair to elation

Latah A culture specific syndrome of Southeast Asia involving startle-induced disorganization, hypersuggestibility, automatic obedience, and echopraxia.

Latent content The hidden (i.e., unconscious) meaning of thoughts or actions, especially in dreams or fantasies. In dreams, it is expressed in distorted, disguised, condensed, and symbolic form.

Learned helplessness A condition in which a person attempts to establish and maintain contact with another by adopting a helpless, powerless stance.

Learning disability ( mental retardation ) - IQ 70 or less

Lethologica Temporary inability to remember a proper noun or name.

Libido The psychic drive or energy usually associated with the sexual instinct. (Sexual is used here in the broad sense to include pleasure and love-object seeking.)

Limbic System
Group of brain structures composed of the hippocampus and amygdala. Associated with memory storage, the coordination of autonomic functions, and the control of mood and emotion.

Lobotomy
A surgical operation on a part of the brain to treat pain or an emotional disorder. Surgery is generally limited to cases where medications and other treatment methods have not been effective.

Logoclonia - last syllable of the word is repeated

Logorrhoea ( volubility ) - fluent and rambling speech using many words

Long-term memory The final phase of memory in which information storage may last from hours to a lifetime.

Loosening of associations A disturbance of thinking shown by speech in which ideas shift from one subject to another that is unrelated or minimally related to the first. Statements that lack a meaningful relationship may be juxtaposed, or speech may shift suddenly from one frame of reference to another. The speaker gives no indication of being aware of the disconnectedness, contradictions, or illogicality of speech.

M

Macropsia The visual perception that objects are larger than they actually are.

Made actions ( made acts ) - delusional belief that one's free will has been removed and an external agency is controlling one's actions

Made feelings - delusional belief that one's free will has been removed and an external agency is controlling one's feelings

Magical thinking The erroneous belief that one's thoughts, words, or actions will cause or prevent a specific outcome in some way that defies commonly understood laws of cause and effect. Magical thinking may be a part of normal child development.

Major Depressive Disorder:
A severe mental illness characterized by feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and worthlessness; often accompanied by suicidal thoughts and feeling of an inability to move.

Mania (mane-e-ah):
An emotional disorder characterized by euphoria or irritability, rapid speech, fleeting thoughts, insomnia, poor attention span, grandiosity, and poor judgment; usually occurs in bipolar disorder. Positive symptoms of psychosis may also be present.

Manifest content The remembered content of a dream or fantasy, as contrasted with latent content, which is concealed and distorted.

Masochism Pleasure derived from physical or psychological pain inflicted on oneself either by oneself or by others. It is called sexual masochism and classified as a paraphilia when it is consciously sought as a part of the sexual act or as a prerequisite to sexual gratification. It is the converse of sadism, although the two tend to coexist in the same person.

Memory consolidation The physical and psychological changes that take place as the brain organizes and restructures information that may become a permanent part of memory.

Mens rea - guilty state of mind at the time of a criminal act

Mental apparatus - id, ego and superego in psychodynamic terms

Mental Illness:
A substantial disorder of thought or mood that significantly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to cope with the ordinary demands of life. It may be due to changes in the brain caused by genetic, toxic, infectious, psychosocial, or traumatic influences.

Micropsia The visual perception that objects are smaller than they actually are.

Middle insomnia Awakening in the middle of the night followed by eventually falling back to sleep, but with difficulty.

Mirroring 1) The empathic responsiveness of the parent to the developing child's grandiose-exhibitionistic needs. Parental expressions of delight in the child's activities signal that the child's wishes and experiences are accepted as legitimate. This teaches the child which of his or her potential qualities are most highly esteemed and valued. Mirroring validates the child as to who he or she is and affirms his or her worth. The process transforms archaic aims to realizable aims, and it determines in part the content of the self-assessing, self-monitoring functions and their relationships to the rest of the personality. The content of the superego is the residue of the mirroring experience. 2) A technique in psychodrama in which another person in the group plays the role of the patient, who watches the enactment as if gazing into a mirror. The first person may exaggerate one or more aspects of the patient's behavior. Following the portrayal, the patient is usually encouraged to comment on what he or she has observed.

Monomania - pathological preoccupation with a single object

Mood A pervasive and sustained emotion that colors the perception of the world. Common examples of mood include depression, elation, anger, and anxiety. In contrast to affect, which refers to more fluctuating changes in emotional "weather," mood refers to a more pervasive and sustained emotional "climate." 

Mood-congruent psychotic features Delusions or hallucinations whose content is entirely consistent with the typical themes of a depressed or manic mood. If the mood is depressed, the content of the delusions or hallucinations would involve themes of personal inadequacy, guilt, disease, death, nihilism, or deserved punishment. The content of the delusion may include themes of persecution if these are based on self-derogatory~ concepts such as deserved punishment. If the mood is manic, the content of the delusions or hallucinations would involve themes of inflated worth, power, knowledge, or identity, or a special relationship to a deity or a famous person. The content of the delusion may include themes of persecution if these are based on concepts such as inflated worth or deserved punishment.

mood-incongruent psychotic features Delusions or hallucinations whose content is not consistent with the typical themes of a depressed or manic mood. In the case of depression, the delusions or hallucinations would not involve themes of personal inadequacy, guilt, disease, death, nihilism, or deserved punishment. In the case of mania, the delusions or hallucinations would not involve themes of inflated worth, power, knowledge, or identity, or a special relationship to a deity or a famous person. Examples of mood-incongruent psychotic features include persecutory delusions (without self-derogatory~ or grandiose content), thought insertion, thought broadcasting, and delusions of being controlled whose content has no apparent relationship to any of the themes listed above.

Motor Neuron (mo-tor nur-on):
A nerve cell in the spine that causes action in a muscle.

Mutism - total loss of speech

N

Negative symptoms Most commonly refers to a group of symptoms characteristic of schizophrenia that include loss of fluency and spontaneity of verbal expression, impaired ability to focus or sustain attention on a particular task, difficulty in initiating or following through on tasks, impaired ability to experience pleasure to form emotional attachment to others, and blunted affect.

Negative Symptoms:
Reflect a diminution or loss of normal functions in individuals with psychosis. Symptoms may include flattening of affect, apathy, and withdrawal.

Negativism - motiveless resistance to commands and attempts to be moved

Neologism In psychiatry, a new word or condensed combination of several words coined by a person to express a highly complex idea not readily understood by others; seen in schizophrenia and organic mental disorders.

Neuroleptics (nur-o-lep-tiks):
Medications with an antipsychotic effect that are used in the treatment of schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses. (Also known as antipsychotics.)

Neurosis - a disorder in which the individual has insight into the illness and they can distinguish between subjective experience and external reality

Neurotransmitter (nur-o-trans-mit-er):
Molecules that carry chemical messages between nerve cells. Neurotransmitters are released from neurons, diffuse across the minute space between cells (synaptic cleft), and bind to receptors located on post-synaptic neuronal surfaces.

Nihilistic delusion - delusional belief that oneself, or others or the world does not exist or is about to cease to exist

Nominal aphasia - difficulty in naming objects

Nystagmus Involuntary rhythmic movements of the eyes that consist of small-amplitude~ rapid tremors in one direction and a larger, slower, recurrent sweep in the opposite direction. Nystagmus may be horizontal, vertical, or rotary.

O

Object relations The emotional bonds between one person and another, as contrasted with interest in and love for the self; usually described in terms of capacity for loving and reacting appropriately to others. Melanie Klein is generally credited with founding the British object-relations school.

obsession Recurrent and persistent thought, impulse, or image experienced as intrusive and distressing. Recognized as being excessive and unreasonable even though it is the product of one's mind. This thought, impulse, or image cannot be expunged by logic or reasoning.

Oedipus complex Attachment of the child to the parent of the opposite sex, accompanied by envious and aggressive feelings toward the parent of the same sex. These feelings are largely repressed (i.e., made unconscious) because of the fear of displeasure or punishment by the parent of the same sex. In its original use, the term applied only to the boy or man.

Olfactory hallucination A hallucination involving the perception of odor, such as of burning rubber or decaying fish.

Ontogenetic Pertaining to the development of the individual.

Operant conditioning (instrumental conditioning) A process by which the results of the person's behavior determine whether the behavior is more or less likely to occur in the future.

Oral stage The earliest of the stages of infantile psychosexual development, lasting from birth to 12 months or longer. Usually subdivided into two stages: the oral erotic, relating to the pleasurable experience of sucking; and the oral sadistic, associated with aggressive biting. Both oral eroticism and sadism continue into adult life in disguised and sublimated forms, such as the character traits of demandingness or pessimism. Oral conflict, as a general and pervasive influence, might underlie the psychological determinants of addictive disorders, depression, and some functional psychotic disorders.

Orientation Awareness of one's self in relation to time, place, and person.

Overcompensation A conscious or unconscious process in which a real or imagined physical or psychological deficit generates exaggerated correction. Concept introduced by Adler.

Overdetermination The concept of multiple unconscious causes of an emotional reaction or symptom.

Overvalued idea - a sustained preoccupation that is unreasonable given the evidence available, that is held strongly but not to a delusional degree

P

Pallilalia - word or phrase is repeated

Panic attacks - acute, episodic attacks of extreme anxiety - may occur with or without physiological symptoms

Paramnesia - distorted recall leading to falsification of memory e.g. confabulation, déjà vu,  déjà pensé, jamais vu, retrospective falsification

Paranoia (par-a-noy-a):
A mental state that includes unreasonable suspicions of people and situations. A person who is paranoid may be suspicious, hostile, feel very important, or may become extremely sensitive to rejection by others.

Paranoid ideation Ideation, of less than delusional proportions, involving suspiciousness or the belief that one is being harassed, persecuted, or unfairly treated.

Paranoid Type Schizophrenia:
Presence of prominent delusions and auditory hallucinations in an individual, where disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, or flat/inappropriate affect may not be prominent.

Parasomnia Abnormal behavior or physiological events occurring during sleep or sleep-wake transitions.

Pareidolia -vivid imagery that occurs whilst looking at a poorly structured background

Parkinsonism (par-kin-son-izm):
A group of symptoms including loss of movement, a lack of facial expression, stiff gait when walking, tremor, or stooped posture. These symptoms are sometimes side-effects of older typical antipsychotic medications.

Parkinson's Disease:
A disease mostly affecting middle-aged and elderly people characterized by tremors and rigid, slow movement.

Passing by the point (vorbeigehen) answers to questions, though obviously wrong indicate that the person has understood the question. e.g  how many legs has a table? - 3. Occurs in Ganser's Syndrome - described in prisoners awaiting trial

Passivity phenomena -delusional belief that an external agency is controlling the aspects of oneself that are usually under one's own control - e.g. though alienation, made feelings, made impulses, made actions and somatic passivity

Persecutory delusion  A delusion in which the central theme is that one (or someone to whom one is close) is being attacked, harassed, cheated, persecuted, or conspired against.

Perseveration (of speech and movement) - mental operations carry on past the point that they serve a function e.g. what day is it? Monday, what time is it? Monday. Seen in organic disorders

Personality Disorder:
A deeply ingrained and maladjusted pattern of behavior that persists for many years. It is usually well established in later adolescence or early adulthood. The abnormality of behavior is serious enough to cause suffering either to the person involved or to other people.

Personality Enduring patterns of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and oneself. Personality traits are prominent aspects of personality that are exhibited in a wide range of important social and personal contexts. Only when personality traits are inflexible and maladaptive and cause either significant functional impairment or subjective distress do they constitute a Personality Disorder.

Phallic stage The period, from about 21/2 to 6 years, during which sexual interest, curiosity, and pleasurable experience in boys center on the penis, and in girls, to a lesser extent, the clitoris.

Phobia - persistent irrational fear of an activity or object. This leads to avoidance. The fear is out of proportion of the reality of the threat

Piblokto  A culture specific syndrome of Eskimos involving attacks of screaming, crying, and running naked through the snow

Positive Symptoms:
Reflect an excess or distortion of normal functions. Includes delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) (poz-ih-tron e-mish-en toe-mog-ra-fe):
A technique used to evaluate the activity of brain tissues. PET scanning is used as a research tool in schizophrenia, cerebral palsy, and similar types of brain damage.

Postural Hypotension (pos-cher-al hi-po-ten-shun):
Also known as orthostatic hypotension, it is characterized by low blood pressure which can cause dizziness and fainting after standing or sitting up quickly. Sometimes an early side-effect when starting some psychotropic medicines.

Posturing - inappropriate or bizarre bodily posture adopted continuously over a sustained period

Poverty of speech - reduced speech -

Poverty of Speech:
Tends to occur in severe depressive states The inability to start or take part in a conversation, particularly "small talk." This is a very common symptom in schizophrenia and prevents people with this condition from taking part in many social activities.

Preconscious Thoughts that are not in immediate awareness but that can be recalled by conscious effort.

Pregenital In psychoanalysis, refers to the period of early childhood before the genitals have begun to exert the predominant influence in the organization or patterning of sexual behavior. Oral and anal influences predominate during this period.

Pressured speech Speech that is increased in amount, accelerated, and difficult or impossible to interrupt. Usually it is also loud and emphatic. Frequently the person talks without any social stimulation and may continue to talk even though no one is listening.

Primary delusion - delusion arriving fully formed without any discernable connection with previous events

Primary gain The relief from emotional conflict and the freedom from anxiety achieved by a defense mechanism. Contrast with secondary gain.

Primary process In psychoanalytic theory, the generally unorganized mental activity characteristic of the unconscious. This activity is marked by the free discharge of energy and excitation without regard to the demands of environment, reality, or logic.

Prodrome An early or premonitory sign or symptom of a disorder

Projection A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, in which what is emotionally unacceptable in the self is unconsciously rejected and attributed (projected) to others.

Projective identification A term introduced by Melanie Klein to refer to the unconscious process of projection of one or more parts of the self or of the internal object into another person (such as the mother). What is projected may be an intolerable, painful, or dangerous part of the self or object (the bad object). It may also be a valued aspect of the self or object (the good object) that is projected into the other person for safekeeping. The other person is changed by the projection and is dealt with as though he or she is in fact characterized by the aspects of the self that have been projected.

Projective tests Psychological diagnostic tests in which the test material is unstructured so that any response will reflect a projection of some aspect of the subject's underlying personality and psychopathology

Prolactin:
Hormone produced by the pituitary gland in the brain. Stimulates lactation and ovarian function. Excess prolactin release can cause side-effects common to many older antipsychotic agents, including abnormal menstrual cycles, abnormal breast milk production, gynecomastia (excessive development of the male mammary glands), and sexual dysfunction.

Prosopagnosia Inability to recognize familiar faces that is not explained by defective visual acuity or reduced consciousness or alertness.

Pseudocyesis Included in DSM-IV as one of the somatoform disorders. It is characterized by a false belief of being pregnant and by the occurrence of signs of being pregnant, such as abdominal enlargement, breast engorgement, and labor pains.

Pseudodementia A syndrome in which dementia is mimicked or caricatured by a functional psychiatric illness. Symptoms and response of mental status examination questions are similar to those found in  dementia.

Pseudohallucination - form of imagery arising in the subjective inner space and lack the substantiality usual of normal perceptions. 

Psychomotor agitation Excessive motor activity associated with a feeling of inner tension. When severe, agitation may involve shouting and loud complaining. The activity is usually nonproductive and repetitious, and consists of such behaviour as pacing, wringing of hands, and inability to sit still.

Psychomotor retardation Visible generalized slowing of movements and speech.

Psychosis
Any major mental disorder that involves change of personality and loss of contact with reality. This usually includes delusions and/or hallucinations.

Psychotherapy
Therapy involving psychological instead of medical treatment of mental disorders. It can include supportive dialogue, counseling, and cognitive behavioral approaches to achieve a thinking-feeling reorganization.

Psychotropic medication Medication that affects thought processes or feeling states and used in the treatment of mental disorders.

Pure word deafness - words that are heard cannot be comprehended

R

Rationalization -defense mechanism in which an attempt is made to explain in a logical way affects, ideas or wishes that may otherwise be unpalatable or unacceptable

Reaction formation A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, in which a person adopts affects, ideas, and behaviours that are the opposites of impulses harboured either consciously or unconsciously. For example, excessive moral zeal may be a reaction to strong but repressed asocial impulses.

Reality principle In psychoanalytic theory, the concept that the pleasure principle, which represents the claims of instinctual wishes, is normally modified by the demands and requirements of the external world. In fact, the reality principle may still work on behalf of the pleasure principle but reflects compromises and allows for the postponement of gratification to a more appropriate time. The reality principle usually becomes more prominent in the course of development but may be weak in certain psychiatric illnesses and undergo strengthening during treatment. reality testing The ability to evaluate the external world objectively and to differentiate adequately between it and the internal world. Falsification of reality, as with massive denial or projection, indicates a severe disturbance of ego functioning and/or of the perceptual and memory processes upon which it is partly based.

Receptive aphasia (sensory) - difficulty in comprehending word meanings or received speech or language

Receptor:
A protein molecule that resides on the surface or in the nucleus of a cell. Receptors recognize and bind specific molecules of appropriate size, shape, and charge.

Reciprocal inhibition In behavior therapy, the hypothesis that if anxiety-provoking stimuli occur simultaneously with the inhibition of anxiety (e.g., relaxation), the bond between those stimuli and the anxiety will be weakened.

Reduplication phenomena - part or all of the body is felt to be reduplicated

Reflex hallucination - stimulus in one sensory field leads to a hallucination in another sensory field

Repetition compulsion In psychoanalytic theory, the impulse to reenact earlier emotional experiences. Considered by Freud to be more fundamental than the pleasure principle. Defined by Jones in the following way: "The blind impulse to repeat earlier experiences and situations quite irrespective of any advantage that doing so might bring from a pleasure-pain point of view."

Repression - defense mechanism in which unacceptable affects, ideas or wishes are pushed away so that they remain in the unconscious

Residual Schizophrenia:
Blunted or inappropriate affect, social withdrawal, eccentric behavior, loose associations without prominent psychotic symptoms.

Respondent conditioning (classical conditioning, Pavlovian conditioning) Elicitation of a response by a stimulus that normally does not elicit that response. The response is one that is mediated primarily by the autonomic nervous system (such as salivation or a change in heart rate). A previously neutral stimulus is repeatedly presented just before an unconditioned stimulus that normally elicits that response. When the response subsequently occurs in the presence of the previously neutral stimulus, it is called a conditioned response, and the previously neutral stimulus, a conditioned stimulus.

Retrospective falsification - false details are added to the recollection of an otherwise real memory

Rigidity:
An abnormal increase in the general tenseness of muscles that is not caused by anxiety or exercise.

Rreinforcement The strengthening of a response by reward or avoidance of punishment. This process is central in operant conditioning.

S

Schizoaffective Disorder (skiz-o-a-feck-tiv):
A condition that includes symptoms of both schizophrenia and affective (mood) disorder.

Schizoid (skiz-oyd):
Socially isolated, withdrawn, having few friends and social relationships, resembling the personality features of schizophrenia, but in a less severe form; no loss of touch with reality.

Schizophrenia (skiz-o-fre-ne-ah):
A common type of psychosis characterized by hallucinations and/or delusions, personality changes, withdrawal, and serious thought and speech disturbances.

Screen memory A consciously tolerable memory that serves as a cover for an associated memory that would be emotionally painful if recalled.

Secondary gain The external gain derived from any illness, such as personal attention and service, monetary gains, disability benefits, and release from unpleasant responsibilities. See also primary gain.

Secondary process In psychoanalytic theory, mental activity and thinking characteristic of the ego and influenced by the demands of the environment. Characterized by organization, systematization, intellectualization, and similar processes leading to logical thought and action in adult life. See also primary process; reality principle.

Sensory extinction Failure to report sensory stimuli from one region if another region is stimulated simultaneously, even though when the region in question is stimulated by itself, the stimulus is correctly reported.

Separation anxiety disorder A disorder with onset before the age of 18 consisting of inappropriate anxiety concerning separation from home or from persons to whom the child is attached. Among the symptoms that may be seen are unrealistic concern about harm befalling or loss of major attachment figures; refusal to go to school (school phobia) in order to stay at home and maintain contact with this figure; refusal to go to sleep unless close to this person; clinging; nightmares about the theme of separation; and development of physical symptoms or mood changes (apathy, depression) when separation occurs or is anticipated.

Serotonin (ser-o-to-nin):
Neurotransmitter that relays impulses between nerve cells (neurons) in the central nervous system. Functions thought to be regulated by nerve cells that utilize serotonin include mood and behavior, physical coordination, appetite, body temperature, and sleep.

Serotonin-Dopamine Antagonists (SDAs) (ser-o-to-nin do-pah-meen an-tag-o-nists):
Also known as "atypical" antipsychotics. Unlike their predecessors, this newer class of medications treats both the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses with fewer side-effects. Examples include SEROQUEL^® (quetiapine fumarate) Tablets, Clozaril^® (clozapine), Zyprexa^® (olanzapine), Risperdal^®(risperidone) Tablets and Geodon^TM (Ziprasidone).

Shaping Reinforcement of responses in the patient's repertoire that increasingly approximate sought-after behavior.

Sick role An identity adopted by an individual as a "patient" that specifies a set of expected behaviors, usually dependent.

Sign An objective manifestation of a pathological condition. Signs are observed by the examiner rather than reported by the affected individual.

Signal anxiety An ego mechanism that results in activation of defensive operations to protect the ego from being overwhelmed by an excess of excitement. The anxiety reaction that was originally experienced in a traumatic situation is reproduced in an attenuated form, allowing defenses to be mobilized before the current threat does, in fact, become overwhelming.

Simple phobia - fear of discrete objects or situations

Simultanagnosia Inability to comprehend more than one element of a visual scene at the same time or to integrate the parts into a whole

Sleep terror disorder One of the parasomnias, characterized by panic and confusion when abruptly awakening from sleep. This usually begins with a scream and is accompanied by intense anxiety. The person is often confused and disoriented after awakening. No detailed dream is recalled, and there is amnesia for the episode. Sleep terrors typically occur during the first third of the major sleep episode.

Social adaptation The ability to live and express oneself according to society's restrictions and cultural demands.

Social phobia - fear of interactions in public settings

Somatic delusion  A delusion whose main content pertains to the appearance or functioning of one's body.

Somatic hallucination A hallucination involving the perception of a physical experience localized within the body (such as a feeling of electricity). A somatic hallucination is to be distinguished from physical sensations arising from an as-yet undiagnosed general medical condition, from hypochondriacal preoccupation with normal physical sensations, and from a tactile hallucination.

Somatic passivity - delusional belief that one is a passive recipient of bodily sensations from an external agency

Somnolence - state of drowsiness from which one can be woken

Spatial agnosia Inability to recognize spatial relations; disordered spatial orientation.

Splitting A mental mechanism in which the self or others are reviewed as all good or all bad, with failure to integrate the positive and negative qualities of self and others into cohesive images. Often the person alternately idealizes and devalues the same person.

Stammering - flow of speech is broken by pauses and the repetition of parts of words

Stereotyped movements Repetitive, seemingly driven, and nonfunctional motor behavior (e.g., hand shaking or waving, body rocking, head banging, mouthing of objects, self-biting, picking at skin or body orifices, hitting one's own body).

Stereotypy - repeated, regular fixed pattern of movement or speech that is goal directed

Stressor Any life event or life change that may be associated temporally (and perhaps causally) with the onset, occurrence, or exacerbation of a mental disorder.

Structural theory Freud's model of the mental apparatus composed of id, ego, and superego.

Stupor (stoo-per):
A condition where a person is immobile, mute, and unresponsive, but appears to be fully conscious because the eyes are open and follow the movement of external objects.

Sublimation A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, by which instinctual drives, consciously unacceptable, are diverted into personally and socially acceptable channels.

Substitution A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, by which an unattainable or unacceptable goal, emotion, or object is replaced by one that is more attainable or acceptable.

Suggestibility Uncritical compliance or acceptance of an idea, belief, or attribute.

Suggestion The process of influencing a patient to accept an idea, belief, or attitude suggested by the therapist.

Superego In psychoanalytic theory, that part of the personality structure associated with ethics, standards, and self-criticism. It is formed by identification with important and esteemed persons in early life, particularly parents. The supposed or actual wishes of these significant persons are taken over as part of the child's own standards to help form the conscience.

Suppression The conscious effort to control and conceal unacceptable impulses, thoughts, feelings, or acts.

Symbiosis A mutually reinforcing relationship between two persons who are dependent on each other; a normal characteristic of the relationship between the mother and infant child. See separation-individuation

Symbolization A general mechanism in all human thinking by which some mental representation comes to stand for some other thing, class of things, or attribute of something. This mechanism underlies dream formation and some symptoms, such as conversion reactions, obsessions, and compulsions. The link between the latent meaning of the symptom and the symbol is usually

Symptom A subjective manifestation of a pathological condition. Symptoms are reported by the affected individual rather than observed by the examiner.

Synaesthesia - stimulus in one sensory field leads to a hallucination in another sensory field for example, a sound produces the sensation of a particular colour.

Syndrome A grouping of signs and symptoms, based on their frequent co-occurrence, that may suggest a common underlying pathogenesis, course, familial pattern, or treatment selection.

Syntaxic mode The mode of perception that forms whole, logical, coherent pictures of reality that can be validated by others.

Systematic desensitization A behavior therapy procedure widely used to modify behaviors associated with phobias. The procedure involves the construction of a hierarchy of anxiety-producing stimuli by the subject, and gradual presentation of the stimuli until they no longer produce anxiety.

T

Tactile hallucination A hallucination involving the perception of being touched or of something being under one's skin. The most common tactile hallucinations are the sensation of electric shocks and formication (the sensation of something creeping or crawling on or under the skin).

Talking past the point (vorbeirden) - point of what is being said is never quite reached

Tangentiality Replying to a question in an oblique or irrelevant way. Compare with circumstantiality.

Tardive Dyskinesia (tar-div dis-ki-ne-se-ah):
A syndrome of potentially irreversible, involuntary, movements that may develop in patients treated with antipsychotic drugs. Characterized by abnormal, spasmodic, involuntary movements of the tongue, jaw, trunk, or limbs (e.g. tics).

Temperament Constitutional predisposition to react in a particular way to stimuli.

Terminal insomnia Awakening before one's usual waking time and being unable to return to sleep.

Termination The act of ending or concluding. In psychotherapy, termination refers to the mutual agreement between patient and therapist to bring therapy to an end. The idea of termination often occurs to both, but usually it is the therapist who introduces the subject into the session as a possibility to be considered. In psychoanalytic treatment, the patient's reactions are worked through to completion before the treatment ends. The early termination that is characteristic of focal psychotherapy and other forms of brief psychotherapy often requires more extensive work with the feelings of loss and separation.

Therapeutic community A term of British origin, now widely used, for a specially structured mental hospital milieu that encourages patients to function within the range of social norms.

Therapeutic window A well-defined range of blood levels associated with optimal clinical response to antidepressant drugs, such as nortriptyline. Levels above or below that range are associated with a poor response.

Thought Alienation (a-le-in-a-shun):
The belief that thoughts have been stolen from one's mind. This is also known as thought withdrawal.

Thought blocking - sudden interruption in the train of thought, leaving a 'blank'

Thought broadcasting The delusion that one's thoughts are being broadcast out loud so that they can be perceived by others.

Thought Disorder:
The inability to carry through a line of thinking in a way that makes sense to other people.

Thought insertion The delusion that certain of one's thoughts are not one's own, but rather are inserted into one's mind.

Thought withdrawal - delusional belief that thoughts are being removed

Tic An involuntary, sudden, rapid, recurrent, nonrhythmic, stereotyped motor movement or vocalization.

Token economy A system involving the application of the principles and procedures of operant conditioning to the management of a social setting such as a ward, classroom, or halfway house. Tokens are given contingent on completion of specified activities and are exchangeable for goods or privileges desired by the patient.

Tolerance A characteristic of substance dependence that may be shown by the need for markedly increased amounts of the substance to achieve intoxication or the desired effect, by markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of the substance, or by adequate functioning despite doses or blood levels of the substance that would be expected to produce significant impairment in a casual user.

Torticollis (tor-ti-kol-is):
A contraction of one or more of the neck muscles on one side, resulting in an abnormal position of the head. Also called wry neck. (See dystonia.)

Trailing phenomenon - moving objects are seen as a series of discrete discontinuous images. It is associated with hallucinogens

Tranquilizer (tran-kwih-li-zer):
A medicine that produces a calming effect. The so-called major tranquilizers are used to treat serious mental disorders; the minor tranquilizers are often used to treat anxiety.

Transference - unconscious process in which emotions and attitudes experienced in childhood are transferred to the therapist

Transitional object An object, other than the mother, selected by an infant between 4 and 18 months of age for self-soothing and anxiety-reduction. Examples are a "security blanket" or a toy that helps the infant go to sleep. The transitional object provides an opportunity to master external objects and promotes the differentiation of self from outer world.

Transsexualism Severe gender dysphoria, coupled with a persistent desire for the physical characteristics and social roles that connote the opposite biological sex.

Transvestism Sexual pleasure derived from dressing or masquerading in the clothing of the opposite sex, with the strong wish to appear as a member of the opposite sex. The sexual origins of transvestism may be unconscious.

Tremors:
A repetitive involuntary movement of the muscles.

Trichotillomania The pulling out of one's own hair to the point that it is noticeable and causing significant distress or impairment.

Typical Antipsychotics:
Older, first-generation medications used to treat serious mental illness. Different from the atypical antipsychotics in that they seldom have an effect upon the "negative" symptoms and often result in greater incidences of EPS in patients. The most notable example includes haloperidol and chlorpromazine.

U

Unconscious That part of the mind or mental functioning of which the content is only rarely subject to awareness. It is a repository for data that have never been conscious (primary repression) or that may have been conscious and are later repressed (secondary repression).

Undifferentiated Type Schizophrenia: Symptoms of schizophrenia are present, but the individual does not meet criteria for specific schizophrenia types such as paranoid, disorganized, or catatonic.

Undoing A mental mechanism consisting of behavior that symbolically atones for, makes amends for, or reverses previous thoughts, feelings, or actions.

Urophilia One of the paraphilias, characterized by marked distress over, or acting on, sexual urges that involve urine.

V

Ventricles (ven-trih-kals):
In the brain, these are four fluid-filled chambers that form a network with the spinal chord.

Verbigeration Stereotyped and seemingly meaningless repetition of words or sentences.

Visual asymbolia - words can be transcribed but not read

Visual hallucination A hallucination involving sight, which may consist of formed images, such as of people, or of unformed images, such as flashes of light. Visual hallucinations should be distinguished from illusions, which are misperceptions of real external stimuli.

Voyeurism Peeping; one of the paraphilias, characterized by marked distress over, or acting on, urges to observe unsuspecting people, usually strangers, who are naked or in the process of disrobing, or who are engaging in sexual activity.

Waxy flexibility (cerea flexibilitas) a patient's movements have the feeling of a plastic resistance, as if the person was made of wax. Occurs in catatonic schizophrenia. The persons limbs can be placed in fixed positions

Wernicke's aphasia Loss of the ability to comprehend language coupled with production of inappropriate language.

Windigo A culture specific syndrome of Canadians involving delusions of being possessed by a cannibal-istic monster (windigo), attacks of agitated depression, oral sadistic fears and impulses.

Word salad A mixture of words and phrases that lack comprehensive meaning or logical coherence; commonly seen in schizophrenic states.

Zeitgeist The general intellectual and cultural climate of taste characteristic of an era.

Zoophilia One of the paraphilias, characterized by marked distress over, or acting on, urges to indulge in sexual activity that involves animals.