Mental Health Nursing Vocabulary

Front 1

hallucination

Back 1

the occurrence of a sight, sound, touch, smell or tast without any external stimulus to the sensory organs

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delusions

Back 2

fixed false beliefs that cannot be changed by logical reasoning

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loose associations

Back 3

disconnected thoughts, verbal ideas shift from one topic to another, there is no apparent relationship between thoughts and the person is unaware that topics are unconnected

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concrete thinking

Back 4

refers to thinking characterized by a focus on facts and details and inability to generalize or think abstractly

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tangential speech

Back 5

thoughts veer from main idea and never get back to it

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mood

Back 6

the subjective emotional/feeling state that the client describes

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word salad

Back 7

the use of words indiscriminately and haphazardly without logical structure or meaning

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affect

Back 8

the emotional expression of a person that others may observe

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insight

Back 9

in the mental health status assessment refers to the degree of awareness that one has about their own mental illness

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ideas of reference

Back 10

remarks or actions by someone else that in no way refer to the person but that are interpreted as related to her or him (ie pt believes that news anchor person is reporting on them)

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pressured

Back 11

refers to speech that is loud and emphatic, increased in amount, accelerated, and usually difficult or impossible to interrupt

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clanging

Back 12

refers to speech marked by words grouped by their sound or rhyme and not by their meaning

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circumstantial

Back 13

a disturbance of associative thought and speech processes in which a person digresses into unnecessary, tedious details before communicating the central idea

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confabulation

Back 14

unconsciously filing in memory gaps with imagined material

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ruminations

Back 15

recurring mood-congruent thoughts

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flight of ideas

Back 16

rapid, fragmented thoughts manifested in pressured speech

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thought blocking

Back 17

sudden interruption in train of thought, unable to complete sentence, seems related to strong emotion

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neologism

Back 18

coining a new word, invented word has no real meaning except for the person; may condense several words

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circumlocution

Back 19

round-about expression, substituting a phrase when cannot think of name of object

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perseveration

Back 20

persistent repeating of verbal or motor response, even with varied stimuli

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echolalia

Back 21

imitation, repeats others' words or phrases, often with a mumbling, mocking, or mechanical tone

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phobia

Back 22

strong, persistent, irrational fear of an object or situation; feels driven to avoid it

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hypochondriasis

Back 23

morbid worrying about his or her own health, feels sick with no actual basis for that assumption

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obsession

Back 24

unwanted, persistent thoughts or impulses; logic will not purge them from consciousness; experienced as intrusive and senseless

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compulsion

Back 25

unwanted repetitive, purposeful act; driven to do it; behavior thought to neutralize or prevent discomfort or some dreaded event

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illusion

Back 26

misconception of an actual existing stimulus, by any sense

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labile

Back 27

rapid shift of emotions

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ambivalence

Back 28

the existence of opposing emotions toward an idea, object, person

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depersonalization

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loss of identity, feels estranged, perplexed about own identity and meaning of existence

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anhedonia

Back 30

inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable, e.g. exercise, hobbies, music, sexual activities or social interactions

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euthymic

Back 31

a normal non-depressed, reasonably positive mood

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ingratiating

Back 32

intended to gain someone's favor or approval

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malodorous

Back 33

smelly