Psych Glossary Flashcards
abuse
maladaptive pattern of substance use manifested by recurrent and significant adverse consequences related to the repeated use of the substance
abstraction
ability to formulate concepts and to generalize
Acting out
and sort of maladaptive behavior; unrecognized repetition of earlier behavior; an attempt to escape awareness of the inner life; an attempt to undermine the therapuetic process
addiction
strong dependence, both physiologic and emtional, on alcohol or some other drug
adjustment disorder
imprecise term for a variety of symptoms (depressed mood, anxiety, disturbance of conduct, physical complaints, withdrawal, or work or academic problems) that develop in response to an identifiable stessor (duration < 6 months typically)
affect
behavior that expressed a subjectively experienced feeling state; responsive to emotional states. (anger, euphoria, sadness
blunted affect
sever reduction in the intensity of affective expression
flat affect
absence of any affective expression, such a monotonous voice or an immobile face
labile affect
abnormal variability, with rapid, repeated, and abrupt shifts in affective expression
restricted affect
reduction in the expressive rand and intensity of affects
alogia
speechlessness usually due to intellectual deficiency or confusion. lack of spontaneity and flow of conversation characteristic of a person with schizophrenia
anhedonia
inabilty to experience pleasure from activites that usually produce pleasurable feelings
closure
conclusion, resolution, ending; the process of reaching a decision or having an issue end or the end of a debate
commitment
depriving a person of his liberty by putting him under the gaurdianship of another. 1+ doctors explain to court why a pt necessitate forfeiture of freedom.
concrete thinking
thinking characterized by immediate experience, rather than abstraction
delusion
false belief based on an incorrect inference about external reality and firmly sustained despite clear evidence to the contrary. Belief not part of a cultural tradition
delusions of grandeur
exaggerated belief of one’s importance, power, knowledge, or identity
persecutory delusions
conviction that one is being harassed, attacked, persecuted, or conspired against
somatic delusion
false belief that involves the functioning of one’s body (postmenopausal woman believes she is pregnant)
systematized delusion
single false belief with multiple elaborations or a group of false beliefs that the person relates to a single event or theme
empathy
form of cognition that enables one to comprehend another person’s subjective experiences from his own unique perspective
flight of ideas
near continous flow of speech that is not disjointed or bizarre, but jumps rapidly from one topic to another, topics being more or less obviously related to the previous
hallucination
preceptions that are experienced without an external stimulus
idea of reference
incorrect interpretation of casual incidents and external events having a direct reference to oneself
loosening of associations
disturbance of thinking shown by speech in which ideas shift from one subject to another that is unrelated to the first with no awareness of the disconnect
mood
sustained emotional states that color the whole personality and psychic life; the pervasive and prevailing emotion at any specific time
Negative symptoms
group of symptoms that include a loss of fluency and spontaneity of speech, impaired ability to experience pleasure, to form emotional attachments to others and blunted affect
orientation
awareness of one’s physical relationship to reality as measured by the parameters of person, place, and time
personality
characteristic and to some extent predictable, behavior response patterns that each person evolves, both consciously and unconsciously, as his style of life
positive symptoms
group of symptoms seen in the acute phase of psychosis such hallucinations, ideas of reference, paranoid delusions, and disturbances in thinking such as thought insertion and thought broadcasting
psychosomatic
group of disorders whose etiology at least in part is believed to be related to emotional factors
psychotherapy
treatment by communication; any form of treatment for mental illnesses, behavioral adaptations, and/or other problems that are assummed to be of an emotional nature, in which a trained professional deliberately establishes a professional relationship with a patient for the purpose of removing and/or modifying existing symptoms
stereotypy
repeated movement that does appear to be goal directed, such as incessant rubbing of some part of the body, more complex than a tic
thought blocking
sudden cessation in the train of thought or in the midst of a sentence. unable to explain reason for stoppage. instead of continuing the thought, new ideas crop up which neither the patient or observer can bring into connection with the previous stream of thought
thought broadcasting
belief that a patient’s private thoughts are known to others without the patient verbally relaying those thoughts
thought insertion
experience that the patient’s thoughts belong to others and have been forced into the patient’s mind by some other agent
tic
brief, sudden, rapid, recurrent nonrhythmic irresistable movement or vocalization
