TEST 1 Flashcards
Affective instability or lability
relatively abrupt changes in affect (outward expression of one’s mood at the moment); being labile in mood or affect; applies especially when the affective change is excessive to the circumstances that provoke it
Blunted affect
—affect is muted; emotions are evident but at a subdued level, or expressed only fleetingly
Constricted affect—the range of one’s affect is reduced; e.g. the person evidences sadness or happiness but not other emotions
Dysphoria—
a pervasive negative mood or feeling that is not otherwise identifiable, or does not fit the description of any particular feeling; e.g. “I don’t know what’s wrong; I’m not really sad or depressed or angry, but I just feel bad somehow, like everything is wrong…I can’t put my feeling on it, it just hurts to feel this way”
Elevated
—mood that is “too good for the situation”
Euthymic
—“normal” mood state, appropriate to one’s circumstances and lacking in abnormality
Expansive
an increased range of emotional expressiveness; overly emotive; a mood that seems contagious or that is promoted among others
Flattened affect
he absence of affect; a blank expression
Inappropriate—affect that is inconsistent with, or contrary to, one’s circumstances or expressed mood; e.g. laughing while talking of missing one’s mother since her death
Labile
(excessive or rapid change in expressed emotions)
Asociality
—being disinterested in social events or interaction with others; can lead to social withdrawal
Avolition
—a reduction in of absence of spontaneous movement or activity; being avoidant of, or disinterested in, activities;
Catatonia
—an abnormality of the rate of behavior; e.g. sitting in the same position without moving for extended periods; being in constant motion
Compulsive behavior—
acting on irresistible urges or impulses to behave in a particular fashion or take particular actions; the actions/behavior are usually repetitive and unproductive; e.g. drinking every available liquid regardless of whether one is thirsty, due to an un unexplainable urge to drink that is difficult for the person to resist; or counting every window in every building one passes, feeling that this has to be done before one can pass by.
Echopraxia
—choosing your actions based on the actions of others around you; e.g. crossing your legs when the person next to you does; getting up and leaving when others leave the area.
Grimacing
facial expression suggestive of discomfort or distress; facial distortions
Posturing
—assuming and maintaining a posture that does not fit the circumstances, and that often appears uncomfortable or illogical; e.g. a person stands with one hand raised in the air for 10 minutes; akin perhaps to grimacing but involving the body rather than just the face
Psychomotor restlessness—
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a restlessness that is psychological in origin and manifested in one’s behavior, e.g. pacing about the unit as one experiences racing thoughts
Stereotypy
behavior that is repetitive and illogical for the circumstances; initiating a motion or phrase repeatedly in the same manner
Tangentiality
going off on tangents; one starts off on-topic, but increasingly drifts onto side issues that, over time, result in the person being off-topic; “Where am I going? Well, I’m on my way down this hall…you know, this is an ugly hallway…Why don’t they have some nice colors here? My room at home has nice colors…I wish I was at home”. The thoughts are connected to each other, but diverge off track.
Alogia—
an absence or reduction in the amount of speech; synonym: poverty of speech
Clanging—
choosing words based on sound qualities rather than their meaning: “I’m Betty, Betty Boop, boopity bop, bop a clock, clocks and clues, pay my dues”
Echolalia—
repeating what others are saying rather than generating your own statements
Neologisms—
words created by the person and having a meaning to that person: “Bill is always bugging me, he’s just a digitus, always making no sense to anyone”
Pressured speech—
speech which is at a fast rate, coming out rapidly as if under pressure from within, like water bursting out of a fire hose
Word salad—
conversation so disorganized as to seem like the words were randomly selected and thrown together, like a tossed salad might be made of whatever vegetables happened to be available
Bizarre—
notably odd, highly unlikely, outside the bounds of what most people would think
Erotomanic—beliefs pertaining to love or sex; e.g. “George wants to be with me, not that thing who claims she’s his wife…we’d be together now except she keeps us apart”
Grandiose—
involving exaggerated beliefs about one’s status, wealth, abilities or worth; e.g. “I am president of this hospital…I know the meds are wrong for me because I am a doctor, the main doctor…I invented these meds”
Nihilistic—
regarding death, destruction; e.g. “I’m dead…everything is dying, the world is dying for man’s sins”
Paranoid—
involving fear, suspicion, mistrust; e.g. “I have to carry a knife; people are trying to kill me…they follow me…I see them in the shadows, I know they want me to die”
Reference—
believes that external events relate to or are connected to oneself; e.g. “The radio plays those songs for me to cheer me up”
Religious—
focus on religious or spiritual themes, e.g. “God wants me to protect the Christ Child…I will know the Child when I see him”
Somatic—
pertaining to one’s body or physical sensation; e.g. “My heart has stopped…there’s no point in trying to hear it, it isn’t there”
Thought broadcasting—
believing that others are able to perceive your thoughts, or are somehow aware of what you are thinking, or that you can put thoughts into other peoples’ minds
Thought insertion—
believing that others are somehow causing your thoughts, putting their thoughts or foreign thoughts into your head, that your thoughts are not your own
Attentional impairment—
being distracted, having difficulty maintaining one’s focus or paying attention
Circumstantiality—
including excessive circumstantial or inconsequential elements in one’s conversation, e.g. Nurse: “How was breakfast?” Pt: “ It was fine. I ate a lot: potatoes, bacon, eggs…the
eggs were dry, I don’t know why they make them dry…It came on a cart, a yellow cart, with wheels, like they have in the stores. I used to work in a store, but that was years ago.”.
Flight of ideas (FOI)—
thoughts which are moving rapidly, often making them difficult to understand or communicate meaningfully to others, and sometimes crossing over into LOA
Impaired Reality Testing—
decreased ability to determine what is likely to be real and what is not; often contributes to hallucinations and delusions
Looseness of associations (LOA)—
topics are poorly related or unrelated to those that preceded them e.g. “I want to go home…where is my car?…that man is crazy…what are you looking at me for” (in this case the question about the car may be somewhat related to the comment about going home, but poorly so—someone listening might not recognize the connection; the other comments seem altogether unrelated to each other)Looseness of associations—thoughts that are disconnected or illogically connected
Magical thinking—
believing that thinking something will make it come true, or that something unlikely will in fact happen because of some unrelated action or thought the person has: “I know my mother will visit because last night I was very quiet just like staff wanted”.
Overvalued idea—
being preoccupied with or excessively valuing a particular concern or issue; e.g. being certain one is about to fail based on uncertain, unlikely, or limited information
Thought blocking—
a person’s train of thought is interrupted, often by internal stimuli or hallucinations; often presents as an unexplained interruption in the person’s conversation, which they may or may not subsequently resume
- Agitation—
uncomfortable and unproductive increase in speed and/or intensity of behavior activity and/or thought processes
- Anhedonia—
being unable to experience pleasure as one normally would; e.g. “I used to enjoy eating and would go out to dinner all the time if I could…but now I rarely eat…I have no interest in it, nothing seems to taste good any more…I eat, but I get no pleasure from it”
- Anosognosia—
an inability to realize that one has an illness or disorder, especially when the illness itself prevents its own recognition
- Anxiety—
vague sense of distress, that something is amiss, akin to fear but usually without a clear source or cause; ranges from mild and constructive (e.g. focuses attention) to severe and disabling (e.g. distortion, decreased problem solving, and panic)
- Apathy—
disinterest in one’s environment, usual activities, or other expectations or aspects of one’s life; e.g. a person lacks interest in showering or going on a field trip
- Confusion—
inability to focus thoughts and correctly assess own surroundings or circumstances
- Conversion—
the unconscious conversion of an emotional issue or need into a physical symptom
- Delirium—
fluctuating levels of consciousness, mental functioning, and basic physiologic functioning (e.g. vital signs); often due to an injury or illness; may be life-threatening
