đź“š General Psychiatric Terms
- Psychiatry: Branch of medicine dealing with mental health disorders.
- Mental Health: State of well-being in which an individual realizes their potential, can cope with stresses, work productively, and contribute to the community.
- Mental Illness: A disorder affecting mood, thinking, behavior, and functioning.
🧠Common Symptoms & Behavioral Terms
- Affect: Observable emotional expression (e.g., flat affect – lack of emotional expression).
- Mood: Sustained emotional state (e.g., depressed, euphoric).
- Anxiety: Excessive worry or fear without a clear cause.
- Phobia: Irrational and excessive fear of a specific object or situation.
- Delusion: False, fixed belief not based on reality (e.g., grandiose delusion).
- Hallucination: False sensory perception without external stimuli (e.g., auditory hallucination).
- Illusion: Misinterpretation of real external stimuli.
- Obsessions: Intrusive, unwanted thoughts.
- Compulsions: Repetitive behaviors performed to relieve anxiety from obsessions.
- Confabulation: Fabricated, distorted memories without intent to deceive, often seen in dementia.
🧩 Disorders and Conditions
- Schizophrenia: Chronic psychiatric disorder characterized by hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech.
- Bipolar Disorder: Mood disorder with episodes of mania and depression.
- Major Depressive Disorder: Persistent low mood with loss of interest and enjoyment.
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Presence of obsessions and/or compulsions.
- Panic Disorder: Recurrent unexpected panic attacks.
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Excessive worry about various aspects of life for at least 6 months.
- PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder): Mental health condition triggered by experiencing or witnessing traumatic events.
- Personality Disorders: Maladaptive personality patterns (e.g., borderline, antisocial).
- Somatoform Disorders: Physical symptoms without organic cause.
- Conversion Disorder: Neurological symptoms (e.g., paralysis) without physical cause.
🧩 Cognitive and Memory-Related Terms
- Amnesia: Loss of memory.
- Agnosia: Inability to recognize objects despite intact sensory function.
- Apraxia: Inability to carry out purposeful movements despite physical ability.
- Aphasia: Inability to communicate effectively (speech or writing).
- Dementia: Chronic, progressive decline in cognitive function.
đź’Š Treatment-Related Terms
- Psychotherapy: Treatment through psychological methods (e.g., CBT – Cognitive Behavioral Therapy).
- Psychoanalysis: Freudian therapy focusing on unconscious conflicts.
- Behavior Therapy: Focuses on modifying harmful behaviors through reinforcement.
- Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT): Electrical stimulation to treat severe depression or psychosis.
- Pharmacotherapy: Treatment using medications (e.g., antipsychotics, antidepressants).
đź“ť Legal and Ethical Terms
- Informed Consent: Patient’s agreement to treatment after understanding risks and benefits.
- Confidentiality: Protecting patient’s private information.
- Mental Health Act: Legal framework governing mental health care (varies by country).
🧠Thought Process and Speech Disturbances
- Flight of Ideas: Rapid shifting from one topic to another, common in mania.
- Loosening of Associations: Disorganized thinking where ideas jump without logical connection.
- Neologism: Creation of new, meaningless words by the patient.
- Circumstantiality: Including excessive, unnecessary details but eventually reaching the point.
- Tangentiality: Talking off-topic without ever reaching the point.
- Perseveration: Repeating the same response to different questions.
- Word Salad: Incoherent mixture of words and phrases.
- Mutism: Complete lack of verbal response.
- Echolalia: Repeating words spoken by others.
- Clang Association: Speech driven by rhyme rather than meaning (e.g., “The train brain rain”).
đź“š Memory and Consciousness Disturbances
- Delirium: Acute, fluctuating disturbance in consciousness and cognition.
- Depersonalization: Feeling detached from oneself.
- Derealization: Feeling the environment is unreal or distorted.
- Hypervigilance: Excessive alertness to environmental stimuli.
- Labile Affect: Rapid and extreme mood swings.
🧩 Defense Mechanisms
- Denial: Refusing to accept reality.
- Projection: Attributing one’s own unacceptable thoughts to others.
- Displacement: Redirecting emotions from a dangerous object to a safer one.
- Sublimation: Channeling unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable activities.
- Repression: Unconscious exclusion of painful thoughts.
- Regression: Reverting to earlier developmental behaviors.
- Rationalization: Justifying behaviors with logical reasons even if inappropriate.
đź’Š Medication-Related Terms
- Antipsychotics: Drugs used to manage psychosis (e.g., schizophrenia).
- Mood Stabilizers: Medications like Lithium used in bipolar disorder.
- Anxiolytics: Drugs used to reduce anxiety (e.g., benzodiazepines).
- Antidepressants: Drugs treating depression (e.g., SSRIs, SNRIs).
- Extrapyramidal Symptoms (EPS): Drug-induced movement disorders (e.g., tremors, rigidity).
- Tardive Dyskinesia: Involuntary repetitive movements, often from long-term antipsychotic use.
đź“– Important Psychological Tests
- MMSE (Mini-Mental State Examination): Test for assessing cognitive function.
- Rorschach Test: Inkblot test for analyzing personality structure.
- Beck’s Depression Inventory: Self-report scale for depression.
- Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale: Measures severity of anxiety.
- IQ Tests (Intelligence Quotient): Assess cognitive abilities.
âš– Legal and Ethical Psychiatry Terms
- Competency: Legal determination if a person can make decisions for themselves.
- Insanity Defense: Legal defense stating the individual was not responsible for their actions due to mental illness.
- Involuntary Admission: Hospitalization of a mentally ill person without their consent under legal provisions.
🧠Advanced Disorders and Syndromes
- Catatonia: State of psycho-motor immobility and behavioral abnormality.
- Waxy Flexibility: Feature of catatonia where limbs remain in the position they are placed.
- Anhedonia: Inability to experience pleasure from activities normally found enjoyable.
- Akathisia: Subjective feeling of restlessness, often a side effect of antipsychotics.
- Dystonia: Sustained muscle contractions causing abnormal postures.
- Psychomotor Retardation: Slowing down of thought and physical movement, common in severe depression.
- Paranoid Ideation: Persistent, suspicious thoughts without a basis in reality.
- Magical Thinking: Belief that one’s thoughts or actions can influence external events in impossible ways.
- Thought Insertion: Belief that thoughts are being placed into one’s mind by an external force.
- Thought Broadcasting: Belief that others can hear one’s thoughts.
đź“š Substance-Related Terms
- Dependence: Physiological or psychological need for a substance.
- Tolerance: Need for increasing amounts of a substance to achieve the same effect.
- Withdrawal: Physical and mental symptoms that occur after stopping a substance.
- Delirium Tremens (DTs): Severe alcohol withdrawal symptom characterized by confusion, tremors, hallucinations.
đź’Š Medication Side Effects Terms
- Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS): Life-threatening reaction to antipsychotics with hyperthermia, muscle rigidity, and altered consciousness.
- Serotonin Syndrome: Excess serotonin causing agitation, confusion, hyperreflexia, and tremors.
- EPS (Extrapyramidal Symptoms): Group of side effects including tremors, rigidity, bradykinesia, and akathisia.
🧩 Cognitive Distortion Terms
- All-or-Nothing Thinking: Viewing situations in black-or-white terms.
- Catastrophizing: Expecting the worst possible outcome.
- Overgeneralization: Making broad conclusions based on a single event.
- Personalization: Believing that everything others do is a direct reaction to oneself.
đź“– Important Psychotherapies
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns and behaviors.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Used primarily for borderline personality disorder; focuses on emotional regulation.
- Family Therapy: Therapy involving family members to improve communication and resolve conflicts.
- Group Therapy: Therapy conducted with groups rather than individuals.
- Aversion Therapy: Using negative stimuli to reduce unwanted behaviors (commonly used in addiction).
âš– Psychiatric Assessment Terms
- Insight: Patient’s awareness and understanding of their illness.
- Judgment: Ability to make reasonable decisions.
- Cognitive Function: Mental processes such as attention, memory, language, and problem-solving.
- Orientation: Awareness of time, place, and person (tested using MMSE).
🧠Psychiatric Disorders & Syndromes
- Munchausen Syndrome: A disorder where a person repeatedly fakes illness or induces symptoms to gain medical attention.
- Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy: Caregiver induces illness in someone under their care, usually a child, for attention.
- Ganser Syndrome: Giving approximate answers to simple questions, often seen in malingering or factitious disorders.
- Korsakoff’s Syndrome: Chronic memory disorder caused by severe thiamine (Vitamin B1) deficiency, usually related to alcoholism.
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Neurodevelopmental disorder with deficits in social interaction, communication, and restricted, repetitive behaviors.
- Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.
- Separation Anxiety Disorder: Extreme anxiety when separated from home or attachment figures.
🧩 Impulse Control and Sexual Disorders
- Kleptomania: Recurrent inability to resist stealing objects not needed for personal use.
- Pyromania: Impulsive urge to set fires deliberately.
- Trichotillomania: Compulsive hair-pulling behavior.
- Nymphomania: Excessive and uncontrollable sexual desire in females.
- Satyriasis: Excessive and uncontrollable sexual desire in males.
- Exhibitionism: Exposure of one’s genitals to unsuspecting strangers.
- Voyeurism: Gaining sexual pleasure from watching others who are naked or engaging in sexual activity.
đź“š Defense Mechanism Terms (Advanced)
- Compensation: Covering up real or perceived weaknesses by emphasizing desirable traits.
- Reaction Formation: Behaving in a way opposite to one’s unacceptable thoughts or feelings.
- Introjection: Incorporating qualities or values of another person into one’s own personality.
- Undoing: Attempting to “undo” a wrong or thought by performing a good act.
đź’Š Medication-Related Specialized Terms
- Depot Antipsychotics: Long-acting injectable antipsychotic medications.
- Lithium Toxicity: Toxic levels of lithium, leading to tremors, confusion, and seizures.
- Discontinuation Syndrome: Symptoms that occur after abrupt withdrawal of psychiatric medications, especially antidepressants.
đź“– Behavioral and Cognitive Terms
- Learned Helplessness: Condition where a person feels powerless to change a situation due to repeated failures.
- Negative Reinforcement: Increasing a behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus.
- Positive Reinforcement: Increasing a behavior by giving a rewarding stimulus.
đź“ť Legal and Ethical Terms (Advanced)
- Advance Directive in Psychiatry: Legal document specifying treatment preferences if the individual becomes unable to make decisions.
- Restraints: Physical or chemical methods used to restrict a patient’s movement; must follow ethical and legal protocols.
- Tarasoff Duty: Duty of mental health professionals to warn identifiable victims if a patient makes a credible threat.