Glossary of Psychological Terms

    Abstract Thinking:  The ability to separate a concrete object from its 

    function and to abstract qualities about it.   The ability to generalize from

    a specific situation.

 

     Affect:  The way in which emotions are manifested in the body, typically

     observed as facial expression.

 

     Agitation:  Anxiety accompanied by severe restlessness.

 

     Agoraphobia:  Morbid fear of open spaces.  Also a fear of being in a

     situation from which escape is difficult or where help would be

     unavailable if a panic attack occurred.

 

     Akathisia:  Restlessness and nervousness as side effects of neuroleptic

     medication.

 

     Amnesia:  Partial or complete loss of memory.

 

     Anhedonia:  Inability to express pleasure--a symptom of depression.

 

     Aphasia:  Disturbances of language due to brain pathology.

 

     Bibliotherapy:  Therapy utilizing the reading of appropriate literature.

 

     Biofeedback:  The amplified, audiovisual information about the

     functioning of an internal organ or muscle group that is fed back to the

     patient so that the individual can modify his/her functioning.

 

     Blackout:  Temporary loss of memory or consciousness.

 

    Catatonic:  Typically a state of stupor, usually characterized by

     muscular rigidity and resistance to efforts made to move the person,

     or they will do the opposite of what is asked.  Occasionally, catatonic

     excitement occurs, which is excited, uncontrollable motor activity.

 

     Catharsis:  Release of emotional tensions when a repressed conflict

     surfaces to the conscious level.

 

     Certification; Commitment:  The process of  compulsory/involuntary

     detention of a patient suffering from mental  illness to the degree that

     they are a danger to self or others, or gravely disabled.

 

     Claustrophobia:  Fear of closed spaces.

 

     Cluttering:  Rapid, confused, awkward speech; mixing words and

     phrases.

 

     Cognition:  Perceiving, reasoning, knowing.

 

     Compulsion:  Uncontrollable impulse to perform an act repetitively in a

     ritualistic manner.

 

     Coping Skills:  Ways of dealing with stress.

 

     Delirium:  Acute brain syndrome manifested by altered sensorium,

     confusion, disorientation, illusion, fear, and restlessness.

     Delusion:  False belief that is firmly held, despite objective and obvious

     proof or evidence to the contrary.

 

     Dementia:  Chronic, irreversible brain syndrome characterized by

     deterioration of mental faculties and personality.

 

     Denial:  Psychological defense in which a part of external reality is

     rejected.

 

     Depersonalization:  Feeling that oneself is unreal and strange.

     Derealization:  The environment appears unfamiliar and strange.

 

     Desensitization:  A behavior technique of gradually exposing the

     subject to the phobic situation under therapeutic conditions until the

     person becomes tolerant to the phobic situation.

 

      Disorganized:  Characterized by wild or silly behavior or mannerisms,

     inappropriate affect (display of emotions), frequent hypochondriacal

     complaints, and delusions and hallucinations that are transient and

     unorganized.

 

     Disorientation:  Inability to locate onself in regard to place, person,

     and/or time.

 

     Dissociation:  An idea, affect, or part of the personality is split from the

     main personality and thrives as a separate entity.

 

     Echolalia:  Mechanically repeating the words uttered by another

     person.

 

     Echopraxia:  Imitating the movement of another person.

 

     Ego:  Psychoanalytic concept of a partly conscious, intrapsychic force

     that aims at self-preservation and mediates between the primitive id

     and the censuring super ego.

 

     Egocentric:  Self-centered.

 

     Empathy:  Ability to put oneself in another person's place in order to

     feel and understand him/her objectively.

 

     Euphoria:  Feeling of well-being, ecstasy, a degree higher than elation.

 

     Exhibitionism:  Inappropriate sexual behavior in which pleasure is

     derived from exposing one's genitalia.

 

     Extinction:  Reducing or eliminating a conditioned behavior through the

     absence of reinforcement.

 

     Extrapyramidal Symptoms:  Side effects of neuroleptics medications,

     including rigidity, tremor, shuffling gait among others.

 

     Extraversion:  Showing interest and involvement in one's surroundings

     and other people.

 

     Fetishism:  Sexual deviation concerning the possession and use of

     certain articles such as shoes, underwear, etc., for sexual gratification.

 

     Flashback:  Sudden vivid memory of the past.

 

     Flat Affect:  General lack of expressed emotion.

 

     Flight of Ideas:  Rapid succession of thoughts without logical

     sequence.

 

     Flooding:  Sudden exposure to an anxiety-producing situation during

     a therapeutically controlled situation.

 

     Fragmented Thinking:  No apparent connection between thoughts, or

     between thoughts and speech.

 

     Fugue:  Wandering in a state of amnesia.

 

     Hallucination: False sensory perception, such as seeing things or

     hearing voices that are not actually there.

 

     Hypochondria:  Exaggerated concern over bodily symptoms and health

     without actual evidence of physical illness.

 

     Id:  Psychoanalytical concept of an inborn primitive aggressive, sexual,

     psychic force.

 

     Idealization:  A love object is overvalued and idealized.

 

     Illusion:  False perception in response to a sensory stimulus.

 

     Imagery:  Vivid mental images of certain perceptions.

 

     Incoherence:  Communication that is illogical, disconnected, and

     incomprehensible.

 

     Incongruity:  Inappropriateness between environmental input and

     expression of speech, behavior, and affect.

 

     Insight:  Knowledge of and feelings about one's mental health issues;

     awareness of the impact of one's issues on others.

 

     Judgment:  Ability to critically evaluate ideas, weigh pros and cons, and

     then come to a correct conclusion.

 

     Kleptomania:  The compulsion to steal or shoplift not primarily for gain.

 

     Lability:  Emotional instability.

 

     Malingering:  Intentional simulation of symptoms with an intent of

     deceiving and deriving benefit.

 

     Mania:  Affective disorder characterized by elated mood, increased

     psychomotor activity, grandiose delusions, flight of ideas, and poor

     sleep.

 

     Meditation:  Practice of concentration, relaxation, and rhythmic

     breathing that may be undertaken to relieve stress.

 

     Melancholia:  Classical type of severe depression.

 

     Mental Retardation:  Mental deficiency resulting form poor

     development of or organic damage to the brain.

 

     Narcissism:  A regressive "all powerful" self-love.

 

     Narcolepsy:  Sudden recurrent sleep accompanied by loss of muscle

     tone.

 

     Neurosis:  Psychogenic disorders manifesting as anxiety state,

     depressive state, depersonalization, phobia, hysteria, and obsessive-

     compulsive state.  Not a term used often in today's psychological

     language.

 

     Nightmare:  Frightening dream occurring during sleep, typically

     recalled upon awakening.

 

     Night Terror:  The terror experienced by a child during sleep that is not

     remembered.

 

     Nihilism:  Delusional ideas of nonexistence and impoverishment.

 

     Obsession:  A persistent, anxiety-generating idea, affect, or impulse,

     which intrudes into the conscious state, despite often meeting with

     resistance.

 

     Orientation:  Awareness of time, place, and person.

 

     Panic:  An attack of overwhelming anxiety and apprehension of

     impending disaster.

 

     Paranoid:  Characterized by unwarranted suspicion and thinking that

     others have evil motives, and/or an exaggerated sense of self-importance

     (delusions of grandeur).

 

     Perception:  Meaningful interpretation of sensations.

 

     Perseveration:  Persistent, unnecessary repetition or continuation of a

     response in spite of the cessation of the original stimulus.

 

     Personality:  The overall psychological make-up of an individual, which

     makes him/her behave in a characteristic way.

 

     Phobia:  Excessive fear of a common object, person, or situation.

 

     Placebo:  An inert substance without any pharmacological effect, which

     may satisfy the subject through suggestion.

 

     Projection:  Unconscious process by which a person's negative ideas,

     beliefs, and impulses are externalized and fixed on others.

 

     Psychoanalysis:  A classical therapeutic technique of delving deep into

     the intrapsychic conflicts and defenses, and eventually instilling insight

     through tranference.  A type of therapy almost never practiced today.

 

     Psychodrama:  A theatrical enactment of a therapy client depicting

     personally psychologically significant events.

 

     Psychosis:  Syndromes characterized by severe disturbance in thinking,

     feeling, and behavior, and at times deterioration of the personality.

 

     Rapport:  A harmonious relationship.  Often used in regard to the client/

     therapist relationship.

 

     Rationalization:  Reasons offered to justify one's irrational or antisocial

     behavior.

 

     Recidivism:  Repetition of a behavior; generally in regard to delinquent

     or criminal behavior, addictive behavior, or return of impaired

     psychological functioning.

 

     Regression:  Returning to some earlier level of adaptation.

 

     Repression:  Defense strategy of banishing from consciousness ideas

     and impulses that are charged with strong affect.

 

      Residual:  No longer psychotic but does still have some symptoms of

     the disorder.

 

     Rumination:  Brooding, musing, and pondering in depression.

 

     Scapegoat:  A person or object vicimized or blamed for the misdeeds of

     another.

 

     Sociopath:  Antisocial-type personality, pleasure-seeking, remorseless,

     and not bound by law, code, trust, or friendship.

 

     Somatization:  Psychic conflict expressed through bodily symptoms.

 

     Stupor:  State of decreased awareness, unresponsive to most stimuli.

 

     Superego:  Psychoanalytic concept of a censuring, strict, law-enforcing,

     intrapsychic force that protects the ego from the onslaughts of the

     primitive id, and hones the ego to attain its goals.

 

     Suppression:  Conscious attempt to forget an idea, affect, or impulse.

 

     Syndrome:  A collection of signs and symptoms.

 

     Tangential:  Digression from the mainstream of thinking due to

     disturbed cognition.

 

     Temperament:  Constitutional tendency to react to one's environment

     in a characteristic way.

 

     Tic:  Brief, recurrent, inappropriate, involuntary movement of a small

     group of muscles.

 

     Transference:  The projection of a client's feelings, thoughts, or wishes

     onto the therapist.

 

      Undifferentiated:  Psychotic symptoms are prominent but do not fall

     into any other subtype.

 

     Wernicke-Korsakoff's Syndrome:  Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency

     syndrome usually noticed in chronic alcoholics manifesting as

     disorientation, confabulation, visual disturbance, and ataxic gait.

 

      Word Salad:  Incoherent, essentially incomprehensible mixture of words

     and phrases commonly seen in far-advanced cases of schizophrenia.

 

   

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