Addiction

An organism's psychological or physical dependence on a drug, characterised by

tolerance and withdrawal.
Adjustment disorder
A pathological psychological reaction to trauma, loss or severe stress. Usually these
last less than six months, but may be prolonged if the stressor e.g. pain or scarring is
enduring.
Affect
A person's affect is their immediate emotional state which the person can recognise
subjectively and which can also be recognised objectively by others. A person's mood
is their predominant current affect.
Agnosia
An inability to organise sensory information so as to recognise objects (e.g. visual
agnosia) or sometimes even parts of the body, (e.g. hemisomatoagnosia).
Agoraphobia
Fear of the marketplace literally; taken now to be a fear of public of public places
associated with panic disorder.
Akathisia
An inner feeling of excessive restlessness which provokes the sufferer to fidget in
their seat or pace about.
Amnesia
A partial of complete loss of memory. Anterograde amnesia is a loss of memory
subsequent to any cause e.g. brain trauma. Retrograde amnesia is a loss of memory
for a period of time prior to any cause.
Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterised by excess control - a morbid fear
of obesity leads the sufferer to try and limit or reduce their weight by excessive
dieting, exercising, vomiting, purging and use of diuretics. Sufferers are typically
more than 15% below the average weight for their height/sex/age. Typically they
have amenorrhoea (if female) or low libido (if male). 1-2% of female teenagers are
anorexic.
Anxiety
Anxiety is provoked by fear or apprehension and also results from a tension caused
by conflicting ideas or motivations. Anxiety manifests through mental and somatic
symptoms such as palpitations, dizziness, hyperventilation, and faintness.
Asthenia
Asthenia is a weakness or debility of some form, hence neurasthenia, a term for an
illness seen by dctors around the turn of the century, a probable precursor to chronic
fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).
Bulimia nervosa
Described by Russell in 1979, bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterised by
lack of control. Abnormal eating behaviour including dieting, vomiting, purging and
particularly bingeing may be associated with normal weight or obesity. The
syndrome is associated with guilt, depressed mood, low self-esteem and sometimes
with childhood sexual abuse, alcoholism and promiscuity. May be asociated with
oesophageal ulceration and parotid swelling (Green's chubby chops sign).
Compulsion
The behavioural component of an obsession. The individual feels compelled to repeat
a behaviour which has no immediate benefit beyond reducing the anxiety associated
with the obsessional idea. For instance for a person obsessed by the idea that they are
dirty, repeated ritual handwashing may serve to reduce anxiety.
Confabulation
Changing, loosely held and false memories created to fill in organically-derived
amnesia
Cyclothymia
A variability of mood over days or weeks, cycling from positive to negative mood
states. The variability is not as severe in amplitude or duration as to be classified as a
major affective disorder.
Dejà vu
Haven't you been here before?
An abnormal experience where an individual feels that a particular or unique event
has happened before in exactly the same way.
Delirium
An acute organic brain syndrome secondary to physical causes in which
consciousness is affected and disorientation results often associated with illusions,
visual hallucinations and persecutory ideation.
Delusion
An incorrect belief which is out of keeping with the person's cultural context,
intelligence and social background and which is held with unshakeable conviction.
Delusional mood
Also known as wahnstimmung, a feeling that something unusual is about to happen of
special significance for that person.
Delusional perception
A normal perception which has become highly invested with significance and which
has become incorporated into a delusional system, e.g. 'when I saw the traffic lights
turn red I knew that the dog I was walking was a Nazi and a lesbian Nazi at that'.
Dementia
An chronic organic mental illness which produces a global deterioration in cognitive
abilities and which usually runs a deteriorating course.
Depersonalisation
An experience where the self is felt to be unreal, detached from reality or different in
some way. Depersonalisation can be triggered by tiredness, dissociative episodes or
partial epileptic seizures.
Depression
An affective disorder characterised by a profound and persistent sadness.
Derealisation
An experience where the person perceives the world around them to be unreal. The
experience is linked to depersonalisation.
Dyskinesia
Abnormal movements as in tardive dyskinesia a late onset onet of abnormal
involuntary movements. Tardive dyskinesia is conventionally thought a late side
effect of first generation antipsychotics, but some abnormal movements were seen in
schizophrenia before the introduction of antipsychotics.
Dyspraxia
A dyspraxia is a difficulty with a previously learnt or acquired movement or skill. An
example might be a dressing dyspraxia or a constructional dyspraxia. Dyspraxias tend
to indicate cortical damage, particularly in the parietal lobe region.
Echolalia
A speech disorder in which the person inappropriately and automatically repeats the
last words he or she has heard. Palilalia is a form of echolalia in which the last
syllable heard is repeated endlessly.
Echopraxia
A movement disorder in which the person automatically and inappropriately imitates
or mirrors the movements of another.
First rank symptoms
Schneider classified the most characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia as first-rank
features of schizophrenia. These included third person auditory hallucinations,
thought echo, thought interference (insertion, withdrawal, and broadcasting),
delusional perception and passivity phenomena.
Flight of ideas
In mania and hypomania thoughts become pressured and ideas may race from topic to
topic, guided sometimes only by rhymes or puns. Ideas are associated though, unlike
thought disorder.
Frontal lobe syndrome
This follows frontal lobe damage or may be consequent upon a lesion such as a
tumour of infarction. There is a lack judgement, a coarsening of personality,
disinhibition, pressure of speech, lack of planning ability, and sometimes apathy.
Perseveration and a return of the grasp reflex may occur.
Hallucination
An abnormal sensory experience that arises in the absence of a direct external
stimulus, and which has the qualities of a normal percept and is experienced as real
and usually in external space. Hallucinations may occur in any sensory modality.
Hypomania
An affective disorder characterised by elation, overactivity, an insomnia.
Illusion
An abnormal perception caused by a sensory misinterpretation of and actual stimulus,
sometimes precipitated by strong emotion, e.g. fear provoking a person to imagine
they have seen an intruder in the shadows.
Insight
In psychotic mental disorders and organic brain syndromes a patient's insight into
whether or not they are ill and therefore requiring treatment may be affected. In
depression a person may lack insight into their best qualities and in mania a person
may overestimate their wealth and abilities.
Jamais vu
An abnormal experience where an individual feels that a routine or familiar event has
never happened before. (See Dejà vu).
Korsakoff's Syndrome
A syndrome of amnesia and confabulation following chronic alcoholism. Short-term
memory is particularly affected.Named after the Russian psychiatrist Korsakoff.
Made experiences
See 'Passivity phenomena'.
Mania
An affective disorder characterised by intense euphoria, overactivity and loss of
insight.
Neologism
A novel word often invented and used in schizophrenic thought disorder.
Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome
A syndrome ascribed to neuroleptics. The syndrome includes hyperpyrexia
(temperature over 39 degrees Celsius), autonomic instability and muscular rigidity.
The syndrom is not dose related and appears to be related to a very wide variety of
substances including antidepressants, antipsychotics and lithium. There is a
significant risk of mortality. Whether the syndrome is a variant of the lethal catatonia
syndrome (described before the advent of modern neuroleptics) is a debated point.
Obsession
An unpleasant or nonsensical thought which intrudes into a person's mind, despite a
degree of resistance by the person who recognises the thought as pointless or
senseless, but nevertheless a product of their own mind. Obsessions may be
accompanied by compulsive behaviours which serve to reduce the associated anxiety.
Parietal Lobe signs
Parietal lobe signs include various agnosias (such as visual agnosias, sensory neglect,
and tactile agnosias), dyspraxias (such as dressing dyspraxia), body image
disturbance, and hemipareses or hemiplegias.
Passivity phenomena
In these phenomena the individual feels that some aspect of themselves is under the
external control of another or others. These may therefore include 'made acts and
impulses' where the individual feels they are being made to do something by another,
'made movements' where their arms or legs feel as if they are moving under another's
control, 'made emotions' where they are experiencing someone else's emotions, and
'made thoughts' which are categorised elsewhere as thought insertion and withdrawal.
Perseveration
Describes an inappropriate repetition of some behaviour or thought or speech.
Echolalia is an example of perseverative speech. Talking exclusively on one subject
might be described as perseveration on a theme. Perseveration of thought indicates an
inability to switch ideas, so that in an interview a patient may continue to give the
same responses to later questions as he did to earlier ones. Perseveration is sometimes
a feature of frontal lobe lesions.
Schizophasia
A severe form of thought disorder.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
A form of depressive illness only occurring during winter months, associated with
overeating and sleepiness. Responsive to antidepressants and phototherapy. Little
researched and scientifically controversial.
Tardive dyskinesia
An abnormal involuntary movement disorder which may manifest as lipsmacking
bucco-lingual movements or grimacing, truncal movements or athetoid limb
movements.
Thought blocking
The unpleasant experience of having one's train of thought curtailed absolutely, often
more a sign than a symptom.
Thought broadcasting
The experience that one's thoughts are being transmitted from one's mind and
broadcast to everyone.
Thought disorder
A disorder of the form of thought, where associations between ideas are lost or
loosened.
Thought echo
Where thoughts are heard as if spoken aloud, when there is some delay these are
known as echo de la pensée and when heard simultaneously, Gedankenlautwerden.
Thought insertion
The experience of alien thoughts being inserted into the mind.
Thought withdrawal
The experience of thoughts being removed or extracted from one's mind.
Word salad
A severe form of thought disorder.

Glossary of Psychiatric Terms (Courtesy of the NSGC)

Affect: The observed expression or experience of subjective feeling states including
emotions, feelings and moods
Affective dysregulation: Inability to regulate expression of moods, feelings and
emotions.
Agitation: Restlessness and/or extreme motor discharge usually associated with tension.
Agitated depression: A mood disorder that consists of extreme restlessness,
apprehension, self depreciation and despair.
Anhedonia: Lack of ability to feel pleasure.
Anticipatory anxiety: Awareness that a situation will cause anxiety or a sense that the
experience of anxiety is impending.
Anxiety: Anticipation of danger or misfortune accompanied by intense worry, somatic
symptoms, tension and dysphoria.
Appetitive drives: That aspect within the brain that enables the experience of pleasure
and the anticipation of future pleasure.
Catatonia: Reaction of lack of motor activity or extremes of motor activity including
negativism.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): Therapy which focuses on distortions of thinking
by replacing the distortions with more salient or realistic thoughts.
Comorbidity: Two or more illnesses present at the same time. They may be related to
the same causal agent or just coexist.
Compulsion: Repetitive, ritualistic behaviors that are driven to be repeated even if there
is an awareness of their excessive or inappropriate nature.
Cyclomania: A mild form of bipolar disorder which includes hypomania and mild
depression.
Delusion (persecutory, grandiose, somatic, etc.): A false belief based on an incorrect
view of reality. There are different types of delusions which are categorized according to
the content.
Depersonalization: A detachment of oneself from the present experience, as if one is the
observer instead of participant.
DSM: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders produced by the American
Psychiatric Association and updated periodically. Defines and standardizes diagnostic
categories. The categories used in the DSM are accepted by most official organizations
including hospitals, insurance companies and other institutions.
Echolalia: Repetitive repeating of words or phrases just spoken by someone else.
ECT (electroconvulsive therapy): A form of somatic therapy where weak electric
currents are administered to the brain under very controlled situations to produce
controlled brain seizures.
Ego: A concept used to describe certain mental processes including perception, memory,
defenses and sometimes thought of as the rational, cognitive functions of the self.
Extrapyramidal Symptoms (EPS): Physical symptoms including tremors, slurred
speech, dystonia, and anxiety that are side effects to neuroleptic drugs caused by effects
on the basal ganglia and associated structures within the brain.
Externalization: The process of putting internal experiences, thoughts or feelings outside
oneself and thus putting the responsibility for these experiences, thoughts or feelings on
someone else.
Executive function: A collection of various cognitive capacities which are responsible for
motivation, planning and coordination of action.
Flashbacks: A repeat or re-experience of a memory, perceptual experience or feeling
from the past.
Flight of ideas: A continuous flow of ideas which goes uninterrupted with changes of
topic. Often the associations can be followed but in some instances the ideas may
become incoherent and disorganized.
Hallucination: A false perception or experience that is experienced as real. There are
different types of experiences of hallucination including visual and auditory.
Homeostasis: A state of constancy or equilibrium.
Hypomania: A mild state of mania where there usually is energy, excitement, productivity
and sometimes restlessness. There is often a sense of wellbeing.
Ideas of reference: An incorrect notion that events or ideas have direct reference or
meaning to oneself.
Illusions: A misconception or misinterpretation of external stimuli and giving them one’s
own idiosyncratic meaning.
Interpersonal Therapy (ITP): Therapy which focuses on interpersonal relationships and
communication skills. Patient is taught new adaptive skills to improve communication and
interpersonal skills thus bolstering self concept.
Irritability: Often associated with mania or an equivalent of mania in which there is
increased reactivity and agitation.
Loosening of Associations: A disturbance of thinking which is manifest by ideas which
shift from one topic to another without connection or coherence. The speaker is not aware
of the disorganization or incoherence of his thoughts.
Mania: An affective state marked by prominent symptoms of elevated and expansive or
irritable mood. May have associated with it symptoms of decreased need for sleep,
increased goal directed activities, and racing thoughts among others.
Melancholia: A severe depressive state.
Mental Status: A combination of a patient’s appearance, behavior, attitude, mood and
affect, thought process, thought content, speech, cognition, level of alertness and
orientation.
Mixed states: Having a combination of signs and symptoms consistent with both mania
and depression occurring at the same time in an individual.
Mood: A persistent and overriding emotion that is present. (e.g., depressed, euphoric,
anxious)
Mood stabilizer: A class of medications that are most commonly used to treat bipolar
disorder or affective dysregulation due to other conditions, and often include anti-seizure
medications (e.g., valproic acid, carbamazepine, lamotrigine, gabapentin), and lithium.
Negative symptoms: Symptoms of schizophrenia that include social withdrawal and
blunted affect.
Neurosis: Classically a Freudian term referring to the conflict created within an individual
between the primitive instinctual drives and external reality.
“Nervous breakdown”: A general term frequently used by patients, which does not
correspond to any specific diagnosis.
Obsessions: A persistent thought, idea or feeling that intrudes on conscious awareness,
and which are acknowledged as intrusive.
Paranoia: A state of guarded emotion and suspiciousness.
Personality traits: Enduring patterns of behavior.
Personality Disorder: When personality traits are inflexible or maladaptive enough to
cause distress or impairment of functioning.
Perseveration: A disturbance of thought form, where responses are seen to focus on the
previous thought or response, despite the introduction of a new stimulus.
Pharmacogenomics: The field of science that studies how genetic inheritance affects the
way that the body responds to medications.
Pharmacotherapy: The treatment of psychiatric symptoms through the use of
medications.
Positive symptoms: Symptoms of schizophrenia that include hallucinations and
delusions among others.
Premorbid: Occurring before the onset of illness.
Pressured speech: Rapid speech that is often difficult to interrupt, and increased in
amount.
Prodromal: Subtle symptoms or changes that may occur prior to the onset of the full
symptom spectrum of a disorder.
Projection: The unconscious perception that one’s own unacceptable thoughts and
feelings are external to oneself (i.e., believing them to be part of someone else).
Psychosocial stressors: A variety of life events (e.g., moving, change of job, divorce,
loss of loved one) that may contribute to a psychiatric presentation.
Psychotropic: Any medication used to treat psychiatric signs or symptoms.
Psychodynamic therapy: A type of therapy where the understanding of past conflicts is
used to promote current change. It attempts to understand the role of the unconscious.
Major theorists associated with this type of therapy include Freud and Kohut.
Psychosis: Inability to distinguish reality from nonreality.
Rapid cycling: In bipolar disorder, having four or more mood episodes over a 12-month
period.
Sign: Something that is able to be observed objectively by a clinician (e.g., restlessness).
Somatic symptoms: Symptoms that are experience as a physical feeling or sensation.
Suicidal Ideation: Having thoughts of taking one’s own life.
Supportive therapy: A type of therapy that is focused on providing structure and support
for present day issues. Does not focus on the interpretation of the unconscious.
Symptom: Something that is reported subjectively (e.g., a feeling of low energy).
Syndrome: A grouping of signs and symptoms into a recognizable pattern.
Tardive dyskinesia: A side effect of long-term antipsychotic use that manifests as an
abnormal movement disorder, most often involving facial muscles. May look like
grimacing or tongue thrusting.
Thought blocking: A disruption of thought process that occurs with psychosis. May
appear as though the affected patient has difficulty verbalizing, with little speech or long
pauses while speaking.
This list was updated in April 2004. We thank the National Society of Genetic Counselors
(www.nsgc.org) for allowing us to include materials from the 2003 Short Course on Psychiatric
Genetics.