Glossary Flashcards
A pattern of observable behaviors that is the expression of a subjectively experienced feeling state (emotion)
- Examples of this include sadness, elation, and anger
- In contrast to mood, which refers to a pervasive and sustained emotional “climate”, this refers to more fluctuating changes in emotional “weather”
- What is considered the normal range of the expression of it varies considerably, both within and among different cultures
- Disturbances in this include:
1. Blunted
• Significant reduction in the intensity of emotional expression
2. Flat
• Absence or near absence of any sign of affective expression
3. Inappropriate
• Discordance between affective expression and the content of speech or ideation
4. Labile
• Abnormal variability in affect with repeated, rapid, and abrupt shifts in effective expression
5. Restricted or constricted
• Mild reduction in the range and intensity of emotional expression
Affect
Loss of ability to recognize objects, persons, sounds, shapes, or smells that occurs in the absence of either impairment of the specific sense or significant memory loss
Agnosia
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 (termed poverty of speech)
- Sometimes the speech is adequate in amount but conveys little information because it is over concrete, over abstract, repetitive, or stereotyped (termed poverty of content)
Alogia
An inability to recall important autobiographical information that is inconsistent with ordinary forgetting
Amnesia
Lack of enjoyment from, engagement in, or energy for life’s experiences; deficits in the capacity to feel pleasure and take interest in things
- Is a facet of the broad personality trait domain detachment
Anhedonia
A condition in which a person with an illness seems unaware of the existence of his or her illness
Anosognosia
Behaviors that put an individual at odds with other people, such as an exaggerated sense of self importance with a concomitant expectation of special treatment, as well as a callous antipathy toward others, encompassing both unawareness of others’ needs and feelings, and a readiness to use others in the service of self enhancement
- One of the five broad personality trait domains defined in Section III “Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders”
Antagonism
A set of symptoms that can occur after abrupt cessation, or marked reduction in dose, of an antidepressant medication that had been taken continuously for at least 1 month
Antidepressant Discontinuation Syndrome
The apprehensive anticipation of future danger or misfortune accompanied by a feeling of worry, distress, and/or somatic symptoms of tension
- The focus of anticipated danger may be internal or external
Anxiety
Feelings of nervousness or tenseness in reaction to diverse situations; frequent worry about the negative effects of past unpleasant experiences and future negative possibilities; feeling fearful and apprehensive about uncertainty; expecting the worst to happen
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain negative affectivity
Anxiousness
The physiological and psychological state of being awake or reactive to stimuli
Arousal
A reduced initiative for interacting with other people
Asociality
The ability to focus in a sustained manner on a particular stimulus or activity
- A disturbance in this may be manifested by easy distractibility or difficulty in finishing tasks or in concentrating on work
Attention
Engaging in behavior designed to attract notice and to make oneself the focus of others’ attention and admiration
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain antagonism
Attention Seeking
Sexual arousal of a natal male associated with the idea or image of being a woman
Autogyenephilia
The act of keeping away from stress related circumstances; a tendency to circumvent cues, activities, and situations that remind the individual of a stressful event experienced
Avoidance
An inability to initiate and persist in goal directed activities
- When severe enough to be considered pathological, this is pervasive and prevents the person from completing many different types of activities (eg; work, intellectual pursuits, self care)
Avolition
The state of having lost through death someone with whom one has had a close relationship
- This state includes a range of grief and mourning responses
Bereavement
Lack of concern for the feelings or problems of others; lack of guilt or remorse about the negative or harmful effects of one’s actions on others
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain antagonism
Callousness
Passive induction of a posture held against gravity
Catalepsy
Episodes of sudden bilateral loss of muscle tone resulting in the individual collapsing, often occurring in association with intense emotions such as laughter, anger, fear, or surprise
Cataplexy
Cyclical variations in physiological and biochemical function, level of sleep wake activity, and emotional state
- These have a cycle of about 24 hours, ultradian rhythms have a cycle that is shorter than 1 day, and infradian rhythms have a cycle that may last weeks or months
Circadian Rhythms
Odd or unusual thought processes and experiences, including depersonalization, de realization, and disassociation; mixed sleep wake state experiences; and thought control experiences
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain psychotics
Cognitive and Perceptual Dysregulation
State of complete loss of consciousness
Coma
Repetitive behaviors (eg; hard washing, ordering, checking) or mental acts (eg; praying, counting, repeating words silently) that the individual feels driven to perform in response to an obsession, or according to rules that must be applied rigidly
- The behaviors or mental acts are aimed at preventing or reducing anxiety or distress, or preventing some dreaded event or situation; however, these behaviors or mental acts are not connected in a realistic way with what they are designed to neutralize or prevent or are clearly excessive
Compulsion
A loss of, or alteration in, voluntary motor or sensory functioning, with or without apparent impairment of consciousness
- The symptom is not fully explained by a neurological or another medical condition or the direct effects of a substance and is not intentionally produced or feigned
Conversion Symptom
Dishonesty and fraudulence; misrepresentation of self; embellishment or fabrication when relating events
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain antagonism
Deceitfulness
Mechanisms that mediate the individuals reaction to emotional conflicts and to external stressors
- Some of these (eg; projection, splitting, acting out) are almost invariably maladaptive
- Others (eg; suppression, denial) may be either maladaptive or adaptive, depending on their severity, their inflexibility, and the context in which they occur
Defense Mechanism
A false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly held despite what almost everyone else believes and despite what constitutes incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary
- The belief is not ordinarily accepted by other members of the person’s culture or subculture (ie; it is not an article of religious faith)
- When a false belief involves a value judgement, it is regarded as this only when the judgement is so extreme as to defy credibility
- Delusional conviction can sometimes be inferred from an overvalued idea (in which case the individual has an unreasonable belief or idea but does not had it as firmly as is the case with this)
- These are subdivided according to their content
- Common types include: bizarre, delusional jealousy, erotomanic, grandiose, and mixed type
Delusion
A delusion that involves a phenomenon that the person’s culture would regard as physically impossible
Bizarre Delusion
A delusion that one’s sexual partner is unfaithful
Delusional Jealousy
A delusion that another person, usually of higher status, is in love with the individual
Erotomanic Delusion
A delusion of inflated worth, power, knowledge, identity, or special relationship to a deity or famous person
Grandiose Delusion
Delusions of more than one type (eg; erotomanic, grandiose, persecutory, somatic) in which no one theme predominates
Mixed Type Delusion
A delusion in which feelings, impulses, thoughts, or actions are experienced as being under the control of some external force rather than being under one’s own control
Of Being Controlled
A delusion in which events, objects, or other persons in one’s immediate environment are seen as having a particular and unusual significance
- These delusions are usually of a negative or pejorative nature but also may be grandiose in content
- This delusion differs from an idea of reference, in which the false belief is not as firmly held nor as fully organized into a true belief
Of Reference
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
Persecutory Delusion
A delusion whose main content pertains to the appearance or functioning of one’s body
Somatic Delusion
A delusion that one’s thoughts are being broadcast out loud so that they can be perceived by others
Thought Broadcasting Delusion
A delusion that certain of one’s thoughts are not one’s own, but rather are inserted into one’s mind
Thought Insertion Delusion
The experience of feeling detached from, and as if one is an outside observer of, one’s mental processes, body, or actions (eg; feeling like one is in a dream; a sense of unreality of self, perceptual alterations; emotional and/or physical numbing; temporal distortions; sense of unreality)
Depersonalization
Feelings of being intensely sad, miserable, and/or hopeless
- Some patients describe an absence of feelings and/or dysphoria; difficulty recovering from such moods; pessimism about the future; pervasive shame and/or guilt; feelings of inferior self worth; and thoughts of suicide and suicidal behavior
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain detachment
Depressivity
The experience of feeling detached from, and as if one is an outside observer of, one’s surroundings (eg; individuals or objects are experienced as unreal, dreamlike, foggy, lifeless, or visually distorted)
Derealization
Avoidance of socioemotional experience, including both withdrawal from interpersonal interactions (ranging from casual, daily interactions to friendships and intimate relationships [ie; intimacy avoidance]) and restricted affectivity, particularly limited hedonic capacity
- This is one of the five pathological personality trait domains defined in section III, “Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders”
Detachment
Orientation toward immediate gratification, leading to impulsive behavior driven by current thoughts, feelings, and external stimuli, without regard for past learning, or consideration for future consequences
- Rigid perfectionism, the opposite pole of this domain, reflects excessive constraint of impulses, risk avoidance, hyperperfectionism, hyperresponsibility, and rigid rule governed behavior
- This is one of the five pathological personality trait domains defined in section III “Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders”
Disinhibition
Condition of significant inborn somatic deviations of the reproductive tract from the norm and/or of discrepancies among the biological indicators of male and female
Disorder of Sex Development
Confusion about the time of day, date, or season (time); where one is (place); or who one is (person)
Disorientation
The splitting off of clusters of mental contents from conscious awareness
- This is a mechanism central to dissociative disorders
- The term is also used to describe the separation of an idea from its emotional significance and affect, as seen in the inappropriate affect in schizophrenia
- Often a result of psychic trauma, this may allow the individual to maintain allegiance to two contradictory truths while remaining unconscious of the contradiction
- An extreme manifestation of this is dissociative identity disorder, in which a person may exhibit several independent personalities, each unaware of the others
Dissociation
Difficulty concentrating and focusing on tasks; attention is easily diverted by extraneous stimuli; difficulty maintaining goal focused behavior, including both planning and completing tasks
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain disinhibition
Distractibility
A disorder of speech sound production due to structural or motor impairment affecting the articulatory apparatus
- Such disorders include cleft palate, muscle disorders, cranial nerve disorders, and cerebral palsy affecting bulbar structures (ie; lower and upper motor neuron disorders)
Dysarthria
Distortion of voluntary movements with involuntary muscle activity
Dyskinesia
A condition in which a person experiences intense feelings of depression, discontent, and in some cases indifference to the world around them
Dysphoria (Dysphoric Mood)
Primary disorders of sleep or wakefulness characterized by insomnia or hypersomnia as the major presenting symptom
- These are disorders of the amount, quality, or timing of sleep
Dyssomnias
Presence, while depressed, of two or more of the following:
1) Poor appetite or overeating
2) Insomnia or hypersomnia
3) Low energy or fatigue
4) Low self esteem
5) Poor concentration or difficulty making decisions
6) Feelings of hopelessness
Dysthymia
Disordered tonicity of muscles
Dystonia
Odd, unusual, or bizarre behavior, appearance, and/or speech having strange and unpredictable thoughts; saying unusual or inappropriate things
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain psychotics
Eccentricity
The pathological, parrotlike, and apparently senseless repetition (echoing) of a word or phrase just spoken by another person
Echolalia
Mimicking the movements of another
Echopraxia
Instability of emotional experiences and mood; emotions that are easily aroused, intense, and/or out of proportion to events and circumstances
- This is a facet of the broad personality domain negative affectivity
Emotional Lability
Comprehension and appreciation of others’ experiences and motivations; tolerance of differing perspectives; understanding the effects of own behavior on others
Empathy
A specified duration of time during which the patient has developed or experienced symptoms that meet the diagnostic criteria for a given mental disorder
- Depending on the type of mental disorder, this may denote a certain number of symptoms or a specified severity or frequency of symptoms
- These may be further differentiated as a single (first) one or a recurrence or relapse of multiple ones if appropriate
Episode (Episodic)
A mental and emotional condition in which a person experiences intense feelings of well being, elation, happiness, excitement, and joy
Euphoria
Tendency to become easily fatigued
Fatigability
A state (also called exhaustion, tiredness, lethargy, languidness, languor, lassitude, and listlessness) usually associated with a weakening or depletion of one’s physical and/or mental resources, ranging from a general state of lethargy to a specific, work induced burning sensation within one’s muscles
- Physical type leads to an inability to continue functioning at one’s normal level of activity
- Although widespread in everyday life, this state usually becomes particularly noticeable during heavy exercise
- Mental type, by contrast, most often manifests as somnolence (sleepiness)
Fatigue
An emotional response to perceived imminent threat or danger associated with urges to flee or fight
Fear
A dissociative state during which aspects of a traumatic event are reexperienced as though they were occurring at that moment
Flashback
A nearly continuous flow of accelerated speech with abrupt changes from topic to topic that are usually based on understandable associations, distracting stimuli, or plays on words
- When the condition is severe, speech may be disorganized and incoherent
Flight of Ideas
The public (and usually legally recognized) lived role as boy or girl, man or woman
- Biological factors are seen as contributing in interaction with social and psychological factors to gender development
Gender
The initial assignment as male or female, which usually occurs at birth and is subsequently referred to as the “natal gender”
Gender Assignment
Distress that accompanies the incongruence between one’s experienced and expressed gender and one’s assigned or natal gender
Gender Dysphoria
The unique and personal ways in which individuals experience their gender in the context of the gender roles provided by their societies
Gender Experience
The specific ways in which individuals enact gender roles provided in their societies
Gender Expression
A category of social identity that refers to an individual’s identification as male, female or, occasionally, some category other than male or female
Gender Identity
A change of gender that can be either medical (hormones, surgery) or legal (government recognition), or both
- In case of medical interventions, often referred to as sex reassignment
Gender Reassignment
Believing that one is superior to others and deserves special treatment; self centeredness; feelings of entitlement; condescension toward others
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain antagonism
Grandiosity
Odd and inappropriate facial expressions unrelated to situation (as seen in individuals with catatonia)
Grimace (grimacing)
A perception like experience with the clarity and impact of a true perception but without the external stimulation of the relevant sensory organ
- These should be distinguished from illusions, in which an actual external stimulus is misperceived or misinterpreted
- The person may or may not have insight into the nonveridical nature of it
- One person doing this may recognize the false sensory experience, whereas another may be convinced that the experience is grounded in reality
- This term is not ordinarily applied to the false perceptions that occur during dreaming, while falling asleep (hynagogic), or upon awakening (hypnopompic)
- Transient hallucinatory experiences may occur without a mental disorder
Hallucination
A hallucination involving the perception of sound, most commonly of voice
Auditory Hallucination
Visual hallucinations involving geometric shapes such as tunnels and funnels, spirals, lattices, or cobwebs
Geometric Hallucination
A hallucination involving the perception of taste (usually unpleasent)
Gustatory Hallucination
A hallucination involving the perception of odor, such as of burning rubber or decaying fish
Olfactory Hallucination
A hallucination involving the perception of physical experience localized within the body (eg; a feeling of electricity)
- This is to be distinguished from physical sensations arising from an as yet undiagnosed general medical condition, from hypochondriacal preoccupation with normal physical sensations,or from a tactile hallucination
Somatic Hallucination
A hallucination involving the perception of being touched or of something being under one’s skin
- The most common ones are the sensation of electric shocks and fornication (the sensation of something creeping or crawling on or under the skin)
Tactile Hallucination
A hallucination involving sight, which may consist of formed images, such as of people, or of unformed images, such as flashes of light
- These should be distinguished from illusions, which are misperceptions of real external stimuli
Visual Hallucination
Persistent or frequent angry feelings; anger or irritability in response to minor slights and insults; mean, nasty, or vengeful behavior
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain antagonism
Hostility
Increased auditory perception
Hyperacusis
A condition in which inappropriate objects are placed in the mouth
Hyperorality
A stronger than usual urge to have sexual activity
Hypersexuality
Excessive sleepiness, as evidenced by prolonged nocturnal sleep, difficulty maintaining an alert awake state during the day, or undesired daytime sleep episodes
Hypersomnia
An enhanced state of sensory sensitivity accompanied by an exaggerated intensity of behaviors whose purpose is to detect threats
- This is also accompanied by a state of increased anxiety which can cause exhaustion
- Other symptoms include abnormally increased arousal, a high responsiveness to stimuli, and a continual scanning of the environment to search for sights, sounds, people, behaviors, smells, or anything else that is reminiscent of threat or trauma
- The individual is placed on high alert in order to be certain danger is not near
- This can lead to a variety of obsessive behavior patterns, as well as producing difficulties with social interaction and relationships
Hypervigilance
An abnormality of mood resembling mania but of lesser intensity
Hypomania
Episodes of overly shallow breathing or an abnormally low respiratory rate
Hypopnea
The feeling that causal incidents and external events have a particular and unusual meaning that is specific to the person
- This is distinguished from a delusion of reference, in which there is a belief that is held with delusional conviction
Ideas of Reference
Experience of oneself as unique, with clear boundaries between self and others; stability of self esteem and accuracy of self appraisal; capacity for, and ability to regulate, a range of emotional experience
Identity
A misperception or misinterpretation of a real external stimulus, such as hearing the rustling of leaves as the sound of voices
Illusion
Acting on the spur of the moment in response to immediate stimuli; acting on a momentary basis without a plan or consideration of outcomes; difficulty establishing and following plans; a sense of urgency and self harming behavior under emotional distress
- It is a facet of the broad personality trait domain disinhibition
Impulsivity
Speech or thinking that is essentially incomprehensible to others because word 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 a “word salad to convey the degree of linguistic disorganization
- Mildly ungrammatical constructions or idiomatic usages characteristic of a particular regional or cultural backgrounds, lack of education, or low intelligence should not be considered this
- The term is generally not applied when there is evidence that the disturbance in speech is due to an aphasia
Incoherence
A subjective complaint of difficulty falling or staying asleep or poor sleep quality
Insomnia
A condition in which individuals have conflicting or ambiguous biological indicators of sex
Intersex Condition
Depth and duration of connection with others; desire and capacity for closeness; mutuality of regard reflected in interpersonal behavior
Intimacy
Avoidance of close or romantic relationships, interpersonal attachments, and intimate sexual relationships
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain detachment
Intimacy Avoidance
Disregard for - and failure to honor - financial and other obligations or commitments; lack of respect for - and lack of follow through on - agreements and promises; carelessness with others’ property
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain disinhibition
Irresponsibility
The understanding and use of language in a given context
- For example, the warning “watch your hands” when issued to a child who is dirty is intended not only to prompt the child to look at his or her hands but also to communicate the admonition “don’t get anything dirty”
Language Pragmatics
A state of decreased mental activity, characterized by sluggishness, drowsiness, inactivity, and reduced alertness
Lethargy
The visual perception that objects are larger than they actually are
Macropsia
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
- This may be a part of normal child development
Magical Thinking
A mental state of elevated, expansive, or irritable mood and persistently increased level of activity or energy
Mania
Use of subterfuge to influence or control others; use of seduction, charm, glibness, or ingratiation to achieve one’s ends
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain antagonism
Manipulativeness
A peculiar and characteristic individual style of movement, action, thought, or speech
Mannerism
A mental state characterized by very severe depression
Melancholia
The visual perception that objects are smaller than they actually are
Micropsia
The specifier “with mixed features” is applied to mood episodes during which subthreshold symptoms from the opposing pole are present
- Whereas these concurrent “mixed” symptoms are relatively simultaneous, they may also occur closely juxtaposed in time as a waxing and waning of individual symptoms of the opposite pole (ie; depressive symptoms during hypomanic or manic episodes, and vice versa)
Mixed Symptoms
A pervasive and sustained emotion that colors the perception of the world
- Common examples of this include depression, elation, anger, and anxiety
- In contrast to affect, which refers to more fluctuating changes in emotional “weather,” this refers to a pervasive and sustained emotional “climate”
- There are several types
Mood
An unpleasant mood, such as sadness, anxiety, or irritability
Dysphoric Mood
An exaggerated feeling of well being, or euphoria, or elation
- A person with this may describe feeling “high,” “ecstatic,” “on top of the world,” or “up in the clouds”
Elevated Mood
Mood in the “normal” range, which implies the absence of depressed or elevated mood
Euthymic Mood
Lack of restraint in expressing one’s feelings, frequently with an overvaluation of one’s significance or importance
Expansive Mood
Easily annoyed and provoked to anger
Irritable Mood
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 Congruent 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, minilism, or deserved punishment
- In the case of mania, the delusions or hallucinations would not involve themes of inflated self worth, power, knowledge, or identity, or a special relationship to a deity or famous person
Mood Incongruent Psychotic Features
Polysomnographic assessment of the sleep onset period, with several short sleep wake cycles assessed during a single session
- The test repeatedly measures the time to daytime sleep onset (“sleep latency”) and occurrence of and time to onset of the rapid eye movement sleep phase
Multiple Sleep Latency Test
No, or very little, verbal response (in the absence of known aphasia)
Mutism
Sleep disorder characterized by periods of extreme drowsiness and frequent daytime lapses into sleep (sleep attacks)
- These must have been occurring at least three times per week over the last three months (in the absence of treatment)
Narcolepsy
Frequent and intense experiences of high levels of a wide range of negative emotions (eg; anxiety, depression, guilt/shame, worry, anger), and their behavioral (eg; self harm) and interpersonal (eg; dependency) manifestations
- This is one of the five pathological personality trait domains defined in section III “Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders”
Negative Affectivity
Opposition to suggestion or advice; behavior opposite to that appropriate to a specific situation or against the wishes of others, including direct resistance to efforts to be moved
Negativism
Recurrent episodes of night eating, as manifested by eating after awakening from sleep or excessive food consumption after the evening meal
- There is awareness and recall of the eating
- It is not better accounted for by external influences such as changes in the individual’s sleep wake cycle or by local social norms
Night Eating Syndrome
Repeated occurrences of extended, extremely dysphoric, and well remembered dreams that usually involve efforts to avoid threats to survival, security or physical integrity and that generally occur during the second half of the major sleep episode
- On awakening from the dysphoric dreams, the individual rapidly becomes oriented and alert
Nightmare Disorder
Behavioral disorder (also called behavioral addiction) not related to any substance of abuse that shares some features with substance induced addiction
Nonsubstance Addiction(s)
Recurrent and persistent thoughts, urges, or images that are experienced, at some time during the disturbance, as intrusive and unwanted and that in most individuals cause marked anxiety or distress
- The individual attempts to ignore or suppress such thoughts, urges, or images, or to neutralize then with some other thought or action (ie; by performing a compulsion)
Obsession
Eating too much food too quickly
Overeating
An unreasonable and sustained belief that is maintained with less than delusional intensity (ie; the person is able to acknowledge the possibility that the belief may not be true)
- The belief is not one that is ordinarily accepted by other members of the person’s culture or subculture
Overvalued Idea
Discrete periods of sudden onset of intense fear or terror, often associated with feelings of impending doom
- During these attacks there are symptoms such as shortness of breath or smothering sensations; palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate; chest pain or discomfort; choking; and fear of going crazy or losing control
- These may be unexpected, in which the onset of the attack is not associated with an obvious trigger and instead occurs “out of the blue,” or expected, in which the attack is associated with an obvious trigger, either internal or external
Panic Attacks
Ideation, of less than delusional proportions, involving suspiciousness or the belief that one is being harassed, persecuted, or unfairly treated
Paranoid Ideation
Disorders of sleep involving abnormal behaviors or physiological events occurring during sleep or sleep wake transitions
Parasomnias
Persistence at tasks or in particular way of doing things long after the behavior has ceased to be functional or effective; continuance of the same behavior despite repeated failures or clear reasons for stopping
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain negative affectivity
Perseveration
Enduring patterns of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and oneself
- These traits are prominent aspects of this that are exhibited in relatively consistent ways across time and across situations
- These traits influence self and interpersonal functioning
- Depending on their severity, impairments in this functioning and this trait expression may reflect the presence of this type of disorder
Personality
In section III “Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders,” a proposed diagnostic category for use when a personality disorder is considered present but the criteria for a specific disorder are not met
- This is defined by significant impairment in personality functioning, as measured by the level of personality functioning scale and one or more pathological personality trait domains or personality trait facets
- PD-TS is proposed in DSM-5 section III for further study as a possible future replacement for other specified personality disorder and unspecified personality disorder
Personality Disorder - Trait Specified
Cognitive models of self and others that shape patterns of emotional and affiliative engagement
Personality Functioning
A tendency to behave, feel, perceive, and think in relatively consistent ways across time and across situations in which the trait may be manifest
Personality Trait
Specific personality components that make up the five broad personality trait domains in the dimensional taxonomy of section III “Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders”
- For example, the broad domain antagonism has the following component facets: manipulativeness, deceitfulness, grandiosity, attention seeking, callousness, and hostility
Personality Trait Facets
In the dimensional taxonomy of section III “Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders,” personality traits are organized into five broad domains: negative affectivity, detachment, antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism
- Within these five broad trait domains are 25 specific personality trait facets (eg; impulsivity, rigid perfectionism)
Personality Trait Domains
A persistent fear of a specific object, activity, or situation (ie; the phobic stimulus) out of proportion to the actual danger posed by the specific object or situation that results in a compelling desire to avoid it
- If it cannot be avoided, the phobic stimulus is endured with marked stress
Phobia
Persistent eating of nonnutritive nonfood substances over a period of at least 1 month
- The eating of nonutritive nonfood substances is inappropriate to the developmental level of the individual (a minimum age of 2 years is suggested for diagnosis)
Pica
This is also known as a sleep study, and is a multiparametric test used in the study of sleep and as a diagnostic tool in sleep medicine
- The test result is called a polysomonogram, also abbreviated PSG
- This monitors many body functions, including brain (electroencephalography), eye movements (electro-oculography), muscle activity or skeletal muscle activation (electromyography), and heart rhythm (electrocardiography)
Polysomnography
Spontaneous and active maintenance of a posture against gravity (as seen in catatonia)
- Abnormal versions may also be a sign of certain injuries to the brain or spinal cord
- This includes many types
- An affected person may alternate between different postures as the condition changes
Posturing
The arms and legs are out straight and rigid, the toes point downward, and the head is arched backward
Decerebrate Posture
The body is rigid, the arms are stiff and bent, the fists are tight, and the legs are straight out
Decorticate Posture
The back is rigid and arching, and the head is thrown backward
Opisthotonus
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
Pressured Speech
An early or premonitory sign or symptom of a disorder
Prodrome
A false belief of being pregnant that is associated with objective signs and reported symptoms of pregnancy
Pseudocyesis
A range of symptoms and experiences of a person’s internal life that are commonly held to be troubling, confusing, or out of the ordinary
Psychological Distress
Standardized measurements such as scales, questionnaires, tests, and assessments that are designed to measure human knowledge, abilities, attitudes, or personality traits
Psychometric Measures
Excessive motor activity associated with a feeling of inner tension
- The activity is usually nonproductive and repetitious and consists of behaviors such as pacing, fidgeting, wringing of the hands, pulling of clothes, and inability to sit still
Psychomotor Agitation
Visible generalized slowing of movement and speech
Psychomotor Retardation
Features characterized by delusions, hallucinations, and formal thought disorder
Psychotic Features
Exhibiting a wide range of culturally incongruent odd, eccentric, or unusual behaviors and cognitions, including both process (eg; perception, dissociation) and content (eg; beliefs)
- This is one of the five broad personality trait domains defined in section III “Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders”
Psychoticism
Eating disorder characterized by recurrent purging behavior to influence weight or shape, such as self induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or other medications, in the absence of binge eating
Purging Disorder
A state in which the mind uncontrollably brings up random thoughts and memories and switches between them very quickly
- Sometimes the thoughts are related, with one thought leading to another; other times they are completely random
- A person experiencing an episode of this has no control over them and is unable to focus on a single topic or to sleep
Racing Thoughts
Term referring to bipolar disorder characterized by the presence of at least four mood episodes in the previous 12 months that meet the criteria for a manic, hypomanic, or major depressive episode
- Episodes are demarcated either by partial or full remissions of at least a months or by a switch to an episode of the opposite polarity (eg; major depressive episode to manic episode)
- This specifier can be applied to bipolar I or bipolar II disorder
Rapid Cycling
A behavioral sign of the phase of sleep during which the sleeper is likely to be experiencing dreamlike mental activity
Rapid Eye Movement (REM)
Morphologically heterogeneous iterations of speech
Repetitive Speech
Period after an episode of schizophrenia that has partly or completed remitted but in which some symptoms may remain, and symptoms such as listlessness, problems with concentrating, and withdrawal from social activities may predominate
Residual Phase
An urge to move the legs, usually accompanied or caused by uncomfortable and unpleasant sensations in the legs (for pediatric type, the description of these symptoms should be in the child’s own words)
- The symptoms begin or worsen during periods of rest or inactivity
- Symptoms are partially or totally relieved by movement
- Symptoms are worse in the evening or at night than during the day or occur only in the night/evening
Restless Legs Syndrome
Little reaction to emotionally arousing situations; constricted emotional experience and expression; indifference and aloofness in normatively engaging situations
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain detachment
Restricted Affectivity
Rigid insistence on everything being flawless, perfect, and without errors or faults, including one’s own and others’ performance; sacrificing of timeliness to ensure correctness in every detail; believing that there is only one right way to do things; difficulty changing ideas and/or viewpoint; preoccupation with details, organization, and order
- Lack of this is a facet of the broad personality trait domain disinhibition
Rigid Perfectionism
Engagement in dangerous, risky, and potentially self damaging activities, unnecessarily and without regard to consequences; lack of concern for one’s limitations and denial of the reality of personal danger; reckless pursuit of goals regardless of the level of risk involved
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain disinhibition
Risk Taking
Repeated regurgitation of food over a period of at least 1 month
- Regurgitated food may be re-chewed, re-swallowed, or spit out
- In these disorders, there is no evidence that an associated gastrointestinal or another medical condition (eg; gastroesophaseal reflux) is sufficient to account for the repeated regurgitation
Rumination
A pattern of the occurrence of a specific mental disorder in selected seasons of the year
Seasonal Pattern
Pursuit of coherent and meaningful short term and life goals; utilization of constructive and prosocial internal standards of behavior; ability to self reflect productively
Self Directedness
Fears of being alone due to rejection by and/or separation from significant others, based in a lack of confidence in one’s ability to care for oneself, both physically and emotionally
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain negative affectivity
Separation Insecurity
Biological indication of male and female (understood in the context of reproductive capacity), such as sex chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, and nonambiguous internal and external genitalia
Sex
An objective manifestation of a pathological condition
- These are observed by the examiner rather than reported by the affected individual
Sign
Occurrence of the rapid eye movement (REM) phase of sleep within minutes after falling asleep
- Usually assessed by a polysomnographic multiple sleep latency test
Sleep Onset REM
Recurrent episodes of abrupt terror arousals from sleep, usually occurring during the first third of the major sleep episode and beginning with a panicky scream
- There is intense fear and signs of autonomic arousal, such as mydriasis, tachycardia, rapid breathing, and sweating, during each episode
Sleep Terrors
Repeated episodes of rising from bed during sleep and walking about, usually occurring during the first third of the major sleep episode
- While doing this, the person has a blank, staring face, is relatively unresponsive to the efforts of others to communicate with him or her, and can be awakened only with great difficulty
Sleepwalking
A state of near sleep, a strong desire for sleep, or sleeping for unusually long periods
- It has two distinct meanings, referring both to the usual state preceding falling asleep and to the chronic condition that involves being in that state independent of a circadian rhythm
Somnolence (“Drowsiness”)
Irresistible desire for special types of food
Specific Food Cravings
An involuntary (reflexive) reaction to a sudden unexpected stimulus, such as a loud noise or sharp movement
Startle Response
Repetitive, abnormally frequent, non-goal directed movements, seemingly driven, and nonfunctional motor behavior (eg; hand shaking or waving, body rocking, head banging, self biting)
Stereotypies
The pattern of specific and nonspecific responses a person makes to stimulus events that disturb his or her equilibrium and tax or exceed his or her ability to cope
Stress
Any emotional, physical, social, economic, or other factor that disrupts the normal physiological, cognitive, emotional, or behavioral balance of an individual
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
Psychological Stressor
Lack of psychomotor activity, which may range from not actively relating to the environment to complete immobility
Stupor
Adaptation of one’s behavior to the actual or perceived interests and desires of others even when doing so is antithetical to one’s own interests, needs, or desires
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain negative affectivity
Submissiveness
Below a specified level or threshold required to qualify for a particular condition
- These conditions (formes frustes) are medical conditions that do not meet full criteria for a diagnosis - for example, because the symptoms are fewer or less severe than a defined syndrome - but that nevertheless can be identified and related to the “full blown” syndrome
Subsyndromal
Thoughts about self harm, with deliberate consideration or planning of possible techniques of causing one’s own death
Suicidal Ideation
The act of intentionally causing one’s own death
Suicide
An attempt to end one’s own life, which may lead to one’s death
Suicide Attempt
Expectations of - and sensitivity to - signs of interpersonal ill intent or harm; doubts about loyalty and fidelity of others; feelings of being mistreated, used, and/or persecuted by others
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait domain detachment
Suspiciousness
A subjective manifestation of a pathological condition
- These are reported by the affected individual rather than observed by the examiner
Symptom
A grouping of signs and symptoms, based on their frequent co-occurrence that may suggest a cannon underlying pathogenesis, course, familial pattern, or treatment selection
Syndrome
A condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a secondary sensory or cognitive pathway
Synthesias
An emotional outburst (also called a “tantrum”), usually associated with children or those in emotional distress, and typically characterized by stubbornness, crying, screaming, defiance, angry ranting, a resistance to attempts at pacification, and in some cases hitting
- Physical control may be lost, the person may be unable to remain still, and even if the “goal” of the person is met, he or she may not be calmed
Temper Outburst
The tendency to treat thoughts and actions as equivalent
Thought Action Fusion
An involuntary, sudden, rapid, recurrent, nonrhythmic motor movement or vocalization
Tic
A situation that occurs with continued use of a drug in which an individual requires greater dosages to achieve the same effect
Tolerance
The broad spectrum of individuals who transiently or permanently identify with a gender different from their natal gender
Transgender
An individual who seeks, or has undergone, a social transition from male to female or female to male, which in many, but not all cases may also involve a somatic transition by cross sex hormone treatment and genital surgery (“sex reassignment surgery”)
Transsexual
Any event (or events) that may cause or threaten death, serious injury, or sexual violence to an individual, a close family member, or a close friend
Traumatic Stressor
Belief that one has unusual abilities, such as mind reading, telekinesis, or thought action fusion; unusual experiences of reality, including hallucinatory experiences
- In general, these are not held at the same level of conviction as delusions
- These are a facet of the personality trait domain psychoticism
Unusual Beliefs and Experiences
Slight, even resistance to positioning by examiner
Waxy Flexibility
Preference for being alone to being with others; reticence in social situations; avoidance of social contacts and activity; lack of initiation of social contact
- This is a facet of the broad personality trait detachment
Social Withdrawal
Unpleasant or uncomfortable thoughts that cannot be consciously controlled by trying to turn the attention to other subjects
- This is often persistent, repetitive, and out of proportion to the topic worried about (it can even be about a triviality)
Worry
