Beh Sci Vocabulary

Front 1

abreaction

Back 1

a process by which repressed material, particularly a painful experience or a conflict, is brought back to consciousness. In this process, the person not only recalls, but also relives the repressed material, which is accompanied by the appropriate affective response

Front 2

abulia

Back 2

reduced impulse to act and to think, associated with indifference about consequences of action. Occurs as a result of neurological deficit, depression, and schizophrenia

Front 3

acalculia

Back 3

loss of ability to do calculations, not caused by anxiety or impairment in concentration. Occurs with neurological deficit and learning disorder

Front 4

acataphasia

Back 4

disordered speech in which statements are incorrectly formulated. Patients may express themselves with words that sound like the ones intended, but are not appropriate to the thoughts, or they may use totally inappropriate expressions.

Front 5

acathexis

Back 5

lack of feeling associated with an ordinarily emotionally charged subject. In psychoanalysis, it denotes the patient's detaching or transferring of emotion from thoughts or ideas. Also called decathexis. Occurs in anxiety, dissociative, schizophrenic and bipolar disorders.

Front 6

acenesthesia

Back 6

loss of sensation of physical existence

Front 7

acrophobia

Back 7

fear of high places

Front 8

acting out

Back 8

behavioral response to an unconscious drive or impulse that brings about temporary partial relief of inner tension. Relief is attained by reacting to a present situation as if it were the situation that originally gave rise to the drive or impulse. Common in borderline states.

Front 9

aculalia

Back 9

nonsense speech associated with marked impairment of comprehension. occurs in mania, schizophrenia, and neurological deficit

Front 10

adiadochokinesia

Back 10

inability to perform rapid alternating movements. Occurs with neurological deficit and cerebellar lesions

Front 11

adynamia

Back 11

weakness and fatigability, characteristic of neurasthenia and depression

Front 12

aerophagia

Back 12

excessive swallowing of air. Seen in anxiety disorder

Front 13

affect

Back 13

The subjective and immediate experience of emotion attached to ideas or mental representations of objects. Affect has outawrd manifestations that can be classified as restricted, blunted, flattened, broad, labile, appropriate or inappropriate. See also mood.

Front 14

ageusia

Back 14

lack or impairment of the sens of taste. Seen in depression and neurological deficit.

Front 15

aggression

Back 15

forceful, goal-directed action that can be verbal or physical, the motor counterpart of the affect of rage, anger or hostility. Seen in neurological deficit, temporal lobe disorder, impulse-control disorders, mania and schizophrenia

Front 16

agitation

Back 16

severe anxiety associated with motor restlessness

Front 17

agnosia

Back 17

inability to understand the importance or significance of sensory stimuli. cannot be explained by a defect in sensory pathways or cerebral lesion. The term has also been used to refer to the selective loss or disuse of knowledge of specific objects because of emotional circumstances, as seen in certain schizophrenic, anxious, and depressed patients. Occurs with neurological deficit.

Front 18

agoraphobia

Back 18

morbid fear of open places or leaving the familiar setting of the home. May be present with or without panic attacks.

Front 19

agraphia

Back 19

loss or impairment of a previously possessed ability to write

Front 20

ailurophobia

Back 20

dread of cats

Front 21

akathisia

Back 21

subjective feeling of motor restlessness manifested by a complelling need to be in constant movement. May be seen as an extrapyramidal adverse effect of antipsychotic medication. May be mistaken for psychotic agitation.

Front 22

Akinesia

Back 22

lack of physical movement , as in extreme immobility of catatonic schizophrenia, can also occur as an extrapyramidal effect of antipsychotic agitation

Front 23

akinetic mutism

Back 23

absence of voluntary motor movement or speech in a patient who is apparently alert (as evidenced by eye movements). Seen in psychotic depression adn catatonic states.

Front 24

alexia

Back 24

loss of a previously possessed reading facility, not explained by defective visual acuity.

Front 25

alexithymia

Back 25

inability or difficulty in describing or being aware of one's emotions or moods. Elaboration of fantasies associated with depression, substance abuse, and PTSD.

Front 26

algophobia

Back 26

dread of pain

Front 27

alogia

Back 27

inability to speak because of a mental deficiency or an episode of dementia

Front 28

ambivalence

Back 28

coexistence of two opposing impulses toward the same thing in the same person at the same time. Seen in schizophrenia, borderline states, OCDs.

Front 29

amimia

Back 29

lack of the ability to make gestures or comprehend those made by others

Front 30

amnesia

Back 30

partial or total inability to recall past experiences, may be organic or emotional in origin

Front 31

amnestic aphasia

Back 31

disturbed capacity to name objects, even though they are known to the patient. Also called anomic aphasia

Front 32

anaclitic

Back 32

depending on others, especially as an infant on the mother. Anaclitic depression in children results from an absence of mothering

Front 33

analgesia

Back 33

state in which one feels little or no pain. Can occur under hypnosis and in dissociative disorder

Front 34

anancasm

Back 34

repetitious or stereotyped behavior or thought usually used as a tension relieving device, used as a synonym for obsession and seen in obsessive compulsive personality

Front 35

androgyny

Back 35

combo of culturally determined female and male characteristics in one person

Front 36

anergia

Back 36

lack of energy

Front 37

anhedonia

Back 37

loss of interest in and withdrawal from, all regular and pleasurable activities. Often associated with depression

Front 38

anomia

Back 38

inability to recall the names of objects

Front 39

anorexia

Back 39

loss or decrease in appetits

Front 40

anosognosia

Back 40

inability to recognize a physical deficit in oneself (patient denies a paralyzed limb)

Front 41

anterograde amnesia

Back 41

loss of memory for events subsequent to the onset of the amnesia, common after trauma.

Front 42

anxiety

Back 42

feeling of apprhension caused by anticipation of danger, which may be internal or external

Front 43

apathy

Back 43

dulled emotional tone associated with detachment or indifference, observed in certain types of schizophrenia and depression

Front 44

aphasia

Back 44

any disturbance in the comprehension or expression of language caused by a brain lesion

Front 45

aphonia

Back 45

loss of voice

Front 46

apraxia

Back 46

inability to perform a voluntary purposeful motor activity. Cannot be explained by paralysis or other motor or sensory impairment. In constructional apraxia, a patient cannot draw two or three dimensional forms

Front 47

astasia abasia

Back 47

inability to stand or to walk in a normal manner, even though normal leg movements can be performed in a sitting or lying down position. Seen in conversion disorder.

Front 48

astereognosis

Back 48

inability to identify familiar objects by touch. Seen with neurological deficit

Front 49

asyndesis

Back 49

disorder of language in which the patient combines unconnected ideas and images. Commonly seen in schizophrenia

Front 50

ataxia

Back 50

lack of coordination, physical or mental. In neurology, refers to loss of muscualr coordination. In psychiatry the term intrapsychic ataxia refers to lack of coordination between feelings and thoughts, seen in severe OCD and schizophrenia.

Front 51

atonia

Back 51

lack of muscle tone

Front 52

attention

Back 52

concentration,aspect of consciousness that relates to the amount of effort exerted in focusing on certain aspects of an experience, activity or task. Usually impaired in anxiety and depressive disorders.

Front 53

auditory hallucination

Back 53

false perception of sound, usually voices, but also other noises, such as music. Most common hallucination in psychiatric disorers

Front 54

aura

Back 54

(1) warning sensations, such as automatisms, fullness in stomach, blushing, and changes in respiration; cognitive sensations, and mood states usually experienced before a seizure (2) a sensory prodrome that precedes a classic migraine headache

Front 55

autistic thinking

Back 55

thinking in which the thoughts are largely narcissistic and egocentri, with emphasis on subjectivity rather than objectivity, and without regard for reality; used interchangeably with autism and dereism. Seen in schizophrenia and autistic disorder.

Front 56

bereavement

Back 56

feeling of grief or resolation, especially at the death or loss of a loved one.

Front 57

bizarre delusion

Back 57

false belief that is patently absurd or fantastic. Comon in schizophrenia. In nonbizarre delusion, content is usually within the range of possibility.

Front 58

blacout

Back 58

amnesia experienced by alcoholics about behavior during drinking bouts, usually indicates reversible brain damage

Front 59

blocking

Back 59

abrupt interruption in train of thinking before a thought or idea is finished. After a brief pause, the person indicates no recall of what was being said or was going to be said. Common in schizophrenia and severe anxiety.

Front 60

blunted affect

Back 60

disturbance of affect manifested by a severe reduction in the intensity of externalized feeling tone. One of the fundamental symptoms of shcizophrenia,a s outlined by Eugen Bleuler

Front 61

bradykinesia

Back 61

slowness of motor activity, with a decrease in nromal spontaneous movement

Front 62

abradylalia

Back 62

abnormally slow speech. Common in depression

Front 63

bradylexia

Back 63

inability to read at normal speed

Front 64

bruxism

Back 64

grinding or gnashing of teeth, typically occurring during sleep. Seen in anxiety disorder.

Front 65

carebaria

Back 65

sensation of discomfort or pressure in the head

Front 66

catalepsy

Back 66

condition in which persons maintain the body position into which they are placed, observed in severe cases of catatonic schizophrenia ( this is also called waxy flexibility and cerea flexibilitas)

Front 67

cataplexy

Back 67

temporary sudden loss of muscle tone, causing weakness and immobilization, can be precipitated by a variety of emotional states and is often folloewd by sleep. Commonly seen in narcolepsy.

Front 68

catatonic excitemnet

Back 68

excited uncontrolled motor activity seen in catatonic schizophrenia. Patients in catatonic state may suddenly erupt into an excited state and may be violent

Front 69

catatonic posturing

Back 69

voluntary assumption of an inappropriate or bizarre posture, generally maintained for long periods of time. May switch unexpectedly with catatonic excitement

Front 70

catatonic rigidity

Back 70

fixed and sustained motoric position that is resistant to change