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1. GLOSSARY OF PSYCHIATRIC TERMS

2. 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.
3. Agnostic alexia - words can be seen but cannot be read.
4. 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
5. Agraphia - The loss of a pre-existing ability to express one's self through the act of writing.
6. Akinesia - A state of motor inhibition or reduced voluntary movement.
7. Akinesia Loss or impairment of voluntary activity.
8. Akinetic mutism - A state of apparent alertness with following eye movements but no speech or voluntary motor
responses.
9. Alexia - Loss of a previously intact ability to grasp the meaning of written or printed words and sentences.
10. 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.
11. Algophobia - Fear of pain.
12. 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.
13. Ambitendency - series or tentative, incomplete movements carried out when a voluntary action is anticipated.
14. 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.
15. Amentia - Subnormal development of the mind, with particular reference to intellectual
16. Apathy - Lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. Apperception Perception as modified and enhanced by one's own emotions, memories, and biases.
20. Apraxia: Inability to carry out previously learned skilled motor activities despite intact comprehension and motor function;
this may be seen in dementia.
21. Assimilation: A Piagetian term describing a person's ability to comprehend and integrate new experiences.
22. Astereognosis: Inability to recognize familiar objects by touch that cannot be explained by a defect of elementary tactile
sensation.
23. Ataxia: Partial or complete loss of coordination of voluntary muscular movement.
24. 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
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. Automatism: Automatic and apparently undirected non-purposeful behaviour that is not consciously controlled. Seen in
psychomotor epilepsy.
28. thought.
29. Blunted affect - reduction in emotional expression
30. Bruxism Grinding of the teeth, occurs unconsciously while awake or during stage 2 sleep. May be secondary to anxiety,
tension, or dental problems.
31. C
32. Capgras' syndrome - a person who is familiar to the patient is believed to have been replaced by a double
33. Catalepsy Waxy flexibility--rigid maintenance of a body position over an extended period of time.
34. 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.
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35. 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.
36. Cathexis Attachment, conscious or unconscious, of emotional feeling and significance to an idea, an object, or, most
commonly, a person.
37. Causalgia A sensation of intense pain of either organic or psychological origin.
38. Central (syntactical) aphasia - difficult in arranging words in their correct sequence
39. 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.
40. 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.
41. Chronic Schizophrenia (kron-ik skiz-o-fre-ne-ah):
A disorder in which the symptoms of schizophrenia persist long-term.
42. Circumstantiality - slowed thinking incorporating unnecessary trivial details. Eventually the goal of the thought is reached
43. 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.
44. Clanging - speech in which words are chosen because of their sounds rather than their meanings. It includes rhyming and
punning
45. Climacteric - Menopausal period in women. Sometimes used to refer to the corresponding age period in men. Also called
involutional period.
46. Clouding of consciousness - the patient is drowsy and does not react completely to stimuli. there is disturbance of
attention, concentration, memory, orientation and thinking.
47. Coenestopathic state - localized distortion of body awareness
48. Cognitive - Pertaining to thoughts or thinking. Cognitive disorders are disorders of thinking, for example, schizophrenia.
49. 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.
50. Conative Pertains to one's basic strivings as expressed in behaviour and actions
51. Concrete thinking - lack of abstract thinking, normal in childhood, and occurring in adults with organic brain disease and
schizophrenia
52. Coprophagia: Eating of filth or faeces.
53. Cotard's syndrome - nihilistic delusional disorder in which, for example, patients believe that their money, friends or body
parts do not exist
54. Counterphobia Deliberately seeking out and exposing onself to, rather than avoiding, the object or situation that is
consciously or unconsciously feared.
55. Cretinism A type of mental retardation and bodily malformation caused by severe, uncorrected thyroid deficiency in infancy
and early childhood.
56. 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
57. 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.
58. Decompensation The deterioration of existing defenses, leading to an exacerbation of pathological behavior.
59. Déjà pensé - illusion of recognition of a new thought
60. Déjà vu - illusion or recognition of a situation
61. Delirium - disorder of consciousness in which the patient is bewildered, disoriented and restless. There may be associated
fear and hallucinations
62. 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.
63. 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.
64. 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.
65. Delusional perception - new and delusional significance is attached to a familiar real perception without any logical
reason.
66. Delusions of infidelity - (pathological jealousy, delusional jealousy, Othello's syndrome) delusional belief that one's spouse
or lover is being unfaithful.
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67. 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.
68. Dementia - global organic impairment of intellectual functioning without impairment of consciousness.
69. Denial - defense mechanism in which the subject acts as if consciously unaware of a wish or reality.
70. 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).
71. Depressive retardation - lesser form of psychomotor retardation which occurs in depression.
72. 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.
73. signals, while the other person is unable either to comment on the incongruity or to escape from the situation.
74. Drive Basic urge, instinct, motivation; a term used to avoid confusion with the more purely biological concept of instinct.
75. 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.
76. Dyad A two-person relationship, such as the therapeutic relationship between doctor and patient in individual
psychotherapy.
77. Dysarthria Imperfect articulation of speech due to disturbances of muscular control or in coordination.
78. 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.
79. Egomania - pathological preoccupation with oneself.
80. Eidetic image - vivid and detailed reproduction of a previous perception e.g. a photographic memory.
81. Elaboration An unconscious process consisting of expansion and embellishment of detail, especially with reference to a
symbol or representation in a dream.
82. 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."
83. Engram A memory trace; a neurophysiological process that accounts for persistence of memory
84. 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.
85. Ethnology A science that concerns itself with the division of human beings into races and their origin, distribution, relations,
and characteristics.
86. Euphoric mood - exaggerated feeling of well-being. It is pathological.
87. Euthymic Mood in the "normal" range, which implies the absence of depressed or elevated mood.
88. 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.
89. Extracampine hallucination - hallucination occurring outside one's sensory field.
90. 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.
91. 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.
92. Flashback A recurrence of a memory, feeling, or perceptual experience from the past.
93. Flat affect - almost no emotional expression at all -the patient typically has an immobile face and monotonous voice.
94. 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.
95. Folie à deux A shared psychotic disorder between 2 people, usually people who are mutually dependent upon each other.
96. 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.
97. Formication The tactile hallucination or illusion that insects are crawling on the body or under the skin.
98. Free association In psychoanalytic therapy, spontaneous, uncensored verbalization by the patient of whatever comes to
mind.
99. Free-floating anxiety - pervasive and unfocused anxiety.
100. Fregoli's syndrome - patient believes that a familiar person, who is often believed to be the person's persecutor,
has taken on different appearances.
101. Freudian slips (parapraxes) - unconscious thoughts slipping through when one is off guard.
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102. 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.
103. Fugue - the individual wanders away from usual surroundings and has loss of memory.
104. Functional hallucination - the stimulus causing the hallucination is heard in addition to the hallucination. e.g.
someone hears
105. 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.
106. G
107. 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.
108. Gegenhalten "Active" resistance to passive movement of the extremities that does not appear to be under
voluntary control.
109. Gender dysphoria A persistent aversion toward some or all of those physical characteristics or social roles that
connote one's own biological sex.
110. Gender identity A person's inner conviction of being male or female.
111. Global aphasia - both receptive and expressive aphasia present at the same time.
112. Globus hystericus The disturbing sensation of a lump in the throat.
113. Glossolalia Gibberish-like speech or "speaking in tongues."
114. Grandiosity An inflated appraisal of one's worth, power, knowledge, importance, or identity. When extreme,
grandiosity may be of delusional proportions.
115. H
116. Hallucinosis - hallucination (usually auditory ) occurring in clear consciousness. e.g in alcoholism.
117. Hedonism Pleasure-seeking behavior. Contrast with anhedonia.
118. Hemisomatognosis (hemidepersonalization) - limb is felt to be missing.
119. Hyperacusis Inordinate sensitivity to sounds; it may be on an emotional or an organic basis.
120. Hyperaesthesia - sensory distortion in which sensations appear increased.
121. Hyperdopaminergia (hi-per-do-pah-min-er-gee-ah):
Neurochemical condition of excess dopamine neurotransmission. Thought to partly underlie the pathophysiology of
schizophrenia.
122. Hyperkinesis - overactivity, distractibility, excitability and impulsivity e.g in children.
123. Hypertonicity (hi-per-to-nis-ih-te):
Excessive tension of muscles.
124. Hypnagogic hallucination - hallucination occurring whilst falling asleep. Occurs in normal people.
125. Hypnopompic Referring to the state immediately preceding awakening; may include hallucinations that are of no
pathological significance.
126. Hypoaesthesia - sensory distortion in which sensations appear decreased.
127. 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.
128. I
129. ICD-10 - tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases published by the World Health Organization,
Geneva (1992)
130. Id - unconscious part of the mental apparatus which is partly made up of inherited instincts and partly by acquired,
but repressed components.
131. Idealization A mental mechanism in which the person attributes exaggeratedly positive qualities to the self or
others.
132. 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.
133. 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.
134. 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.
135. 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.
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136. 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.
137. Inappropriate Affect:
Reacting in an inappropriate manner, such as laughing when hearing bad news.
138. Incorporation A primitive defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, in which the psychic representation of a
person, or parts of the person, is figuratively ingested.
139. Individuation A process of differentiation, the end result of which is development of the individual personality that
is separate and distinct from all others.
140. 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.
141. Initial insomnia Difficulty in falling asleep.
142. Insomnia A subjective complaint of difficulty falling or staying asleep or poor sleep quality. Types of insomnia
include:
143. 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.
144. J
145. Jamais vu - illusion of failure to recognise a familiar situation
146. Jargon aphasia - incoherent, meaningless, neologistic speech
147. K
148. 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.
149. Klüver Bucy Syndrome - Placidity, hyperorality, hypersexuality, hyperphagia - resulting from bilateral destruction
of the amygdaloid bodies of the limbic system
150. Knight's Move thinking - odd, tangential associations between ideas leading to disruptions in the smooth
continuity of speech
151. Koro A culture specific syndrome of China involving fear of retraction of penis into abdomen with the belief that
this will lead to death.
152. L
153. 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.
154. Labile affect - affect repeatedly and rapidly shifts from one extreme to another e.g. from despair to elation
155. Latah A culture specific syndrome of Southeast Asia involving startle-induced disorganization, hypersuggestibility,
automatic obedience, and echopraxia.
156. 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.
157. Learned helplessness A condition in which a person attempts to establish and maintain contact with another by
adopting a helpless, powerless stance.
158. Learning disability ( mental retardation ) - IQ 70 or less
159. Lethologica Temporary inability to remember a proper noun or name.
160. 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.)
161. 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.
162. 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.
163. Logoclonia - last syllable of the word is repeated
164. Logorrhoea ( volubility ) - fluent and rambling speech using many words
165. Long-term memory The final phase of memory in which information storage may last from hours to a lifetime.
166. M
167. Macropsia The visual perception that objects are larger than they actually are.
168. Made actions ( made acts ) - delusional belief that one's free will has been removed and an external agency is
controlling one's actions
169. Made feelings - delusional belief that one's free will has been removed and an external agency is controlling one's
feelings
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170. 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.
171. 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.
172. 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.
173. Manifest content The remembered content of a dream or fantasy, as contrasted with latent content, which is
concealed and distorted.
174. 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.
175. 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.
176. Mens rea - guilty state of mind at the time of a criminal act
177. Mental apparatus - id, ego and superego in psychodynamic terms
178. 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.
179. Micropsia The visual perception that objects are smaller than they actually are.
180. Middle insomnia Awakening in the middle of the night followed by eventually falling back to sleep, but with
difficulty.
181. Motor Neuron (mo-tor nur-on):
A nerve cell in the spine that causes action in a muscle.
182. Mutism - total loss of speech
183. N
184. Negative Symptoms:
Reflect a diminution or loss of normal functions in individuals with psychosis. Symptoms may include flattening of affect,
apathy, and withdrawal.
185. Negativism - motiveless resistance to commands and attempts to be moved
186. 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.
187. 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.)
188. Neurosis - a disorder in which the individual has insight into the illness and they can distinguish between
subjective experience and external reality
189. 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.
190. Nihilistic delusion - delusional belief that oneself, or others or the world does not exist or is about to cease to
exist
191. Nominal aphasia - difficulty in naming objects
192. 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.
193. O
194. 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.
195. 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.
196. 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.
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197. Olfactory hallucination A hallucination involving the perception of odor, such as of burning rubber or decaying
fish.
198. Ontogenetic Pertaining to the development of the individual.
199. 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.
200. Orientation Awareness of one's self in relation to time, place, and person.
201. Overcompensation A conscious or unconscious process in which a real or imagined physical or psychological
deficit generates exaggerated correction. Concept introduced by Adler.
202. Overdetermination The concept of multiple unconscious causes of an emotional reaction or symptom.
203. Overvalued idea - a sustained preoccupation that is unreasonable given the evidence available, that is held
strongly but not to a delusional degree
204. P
205. Pallilalia - word or phrase is repeated
206. Panic attacks - acute, episodic attacks of extreme anxiety - may occur with or without physiological symptoms
207. Paramnesia - distorted recall leading to falsification of memory e.g. confabulation, déjà vu, déjà pensé, jamais vu,
retrospective falsification
208. 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.
209. Paranoid ideation Ideation, of less than delusional proportions, involving suspiciousness or the belief that one is
being harassed, persecuted, or unfairly treated.
210. 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.
211. Parasomnia Abnormal behavior or physiological events occurring during sleep or sleep-wake transitions.
212. Pareidolia -vivid imagery that occurs whilst looking at a poorly structured background
213. 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.
214. Parkinson's Disease:
A disease mostly affecting middle-aged and elderly people characterized by tremors and rigid, slow movement.
215. 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
216. 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
217. 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.
218. 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
219. 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.
220. 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
221. Piblokto A culture specific syndrome of Eskimos involving attacks of screaming, crying, and running naked
through the snow
222. Positive Symptoms:
Reflect an excess or distortion of normal functions. Includes delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and grossly
disorganized or catatonic behavior.
223. Posturing - inappropriate or bizarre bodily posture adopted continuously over a sustained period
224. Preconscious Thoughts that are not in immediate awareness but that can be recalled by conscious effort.
225. 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.
226. 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.
227. Primary delusion - delusion arriving fully formed without any discernable connection with previous events
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228. Primary gain The relief from emotional conflict and the freedom from anxiety achieved by a defense mechanism.
Contrast with secondary gain.
229. 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.
230. Pseudohallucination - form of imagery arising in the subjective inner space and lack the substantiality usual of
normal perceptions.
231. 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.
232. Psychomotor retardation Visible generalized slowing of movements and speech.
233. Psychotropic medication Medication that affects thought processes or feeling states and used in the treatment of
mental disorders.
234. Pure word deafness - words that are heard cannot be comprehended
235. R
236. 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
237. Retrospective falsification - false details are added to the recollection of an otherwise real memory
238. Rigidity:
An abnormal increase in the general tenseness of muscles that is not caused by anxiety or exercise.
239. Rreinforcement The strengthening of a response by reward or avoidance of punishment. This process is central in
operant conditioning.
240. S
241. 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.
242. Screen memory A consciously tolerable memory that serves as a cover for an associated memory that would be
emotionally painful if recalled.
243. 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.
244. 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.
245. Shaping Reinforcement of responses in the patient's repertoire that increasingly approximate sought-after
behavior.
246. Sick role An identity adopted by an individual as a "patient" that specifies a set of expected behaviors, usually
dependent.
247. Sign An objective manifestation of a pathological condition. Signs are observed by the examiner rather than
reported by the affected individual.
248. Simple phobia - fear of discrete objects or situations
249. Simultanagnosia Inability to comprehend more than one element of a visual scene at the same time or to
integrate the parts into a whole
250. Social adaptation The ability to live and express oneself according to society's restrictions and cultural demands.
251. Social phobia - fear of interactions in public settings
252. Somatic delusion A delusion whose main content pertains to the appearance or functioning of one's body.
253. Somatic passivity - delusional belief that one is a passive recipient of bodily sensations from an external agency
254. Somnolence - state of drowsiness from which one can be woken
255. Spatial agnosia Inability to recognize spatial relations; disordered spatial orientation.
256. 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.
257. Stammering - flow of speech is broken by pauses and the repetition of parts of words
258. 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).
259. Sublimation A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, by which instinctual drives, consciously
unacceptable, are diverted into personally and socially acceptable channels.
260. 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.
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261. 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.
262. Syntaxic mode The mode of perception that forms whole, logical, coherent pictures of reality that can be
validated by others.
263. T
264. 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).
265. Talking past the point (vorbeirden) - point of what is being said is never quite reached
266. Tangentiality Replying to a question in an oblique or irrelevant way. Compare with circumstantiality.
267. 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).
268. Temperament Constitutional predisposition to react in a particular way to stimuli.
269. 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.
270. Thought blocking - sudden interruption in the train of thought, leaving a 'blank'
271. Thought broadcasting The delusion that one's thoughts are being broadcast out loud so that they can be
perceived by others.
272. Thought Disorder:
The inability to carry through a line of thinking in a way that makes sense to other people.
273. Thought insertion The delusion that certain of one's thoughts are not one's own, but rather are inserted into
one's mind.
274. Thought withdrawal - delusional belief that thoughts are being removed
275. Tic An involuntary, sudden, rapid, recurrent, nonrhythmic, stereotyped motor movement or vocalization.
276. 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.
277. 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.)
278. Trailing phenomenon - moving objects are seen as a series of discrete discontinuous images. It is associated with
hallucinogens
279. 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.
280. Ventricles (ven-trih-kals):
In the brain, these are four fluid-filled chambers that form a network with the spinal chord.
281. Verbigeration Stereotyped and seemingly meaningless repetition of words or sentences.
282. Visual asymbolia - words can be transcribed but not read
283. 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.
284. 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.
285. 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
286. Wernicke's aphasia Loss of the ability to comprehend language coupled with production of inappropriate
language.
287. 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.
288. Word salad A mixture of words and phrases that lack comprehensive meaning or logical coherence; commonly
seen in schizophrenic states.
289. Zeitgeist The general intellectual and cultural climate of taste characteristic of an era.
290. Zoophilia One of the paraphilias, characterized by marked distress over, or acting on, urges to indulge in sexual
activity that involves animals.