Glossary of psychiatry
Encyclopedia
In this glossary of psychiatric terms, mostly Greek
, secondly French
and German
and some English
terms, as used in psychiatric
literature, were defined. We have included many other terms with the passage of time and aim to broaden this article to include most of the psychopathological
terms in use.
There are many psychiatric terms that are of foreign-language, mostly Greek, origin; and are thus not easily understood by many English speakers. Most of these terms refer to expressions dating from the early days of psychiatry in Europe. This glossary
aims to make the meaning of these terms clearer.
.
or Abulia, in neurology, refers to a lack of will or initiative. The patient is unable to act or make decisions independently. It may range from subtle to overwhelming in severity.
. People with akathisia
have a desire to keep moving and are unable to keep still even though their movements are voluntary (as opposed to other movement disorders such as tardive dyskinesia which is involuntary). It most often affects the legs. When mild it is usually worse at night.
subjects perceive objects (including animals and other humans, or parts of humans, animals, or objects) as appearing substantially smaller than in reality. Generally, the object appears far away or extremely close at the same time. Alternate term for this is somaesthetic aura. Also see #Lilliputian hallucinations
is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in neighbouring words. For example, "When I struck and slapped my humble horse, he began to run rapidly."
refers to a state of mind in which the subject finds no pleasure in anything. This is seen in severe depressive
states and schizoid personality disorder
.
is a phenomenon in which a patient usually suffering from stroke is unaware and indifferent towards his disability. #Hemiasomatognosia is a subtype of anosognosia in which the person suffering from hemiplegia neglects one half of his body.
Anton syndrome is caused by damaging the occipital lobes bilaterally or from disrupting the pathway from the primary visual cortex into the visual association cortex.
first rank symptoms and is defined as a true perception, to which a patient attributes a false meaning. For example, a person may see written "No Trespassing" on a board and may infer from this that intelligence agencies are spying on him.
around 3rd ventricle
of brain.
states.
is a form of psychogenic gait disturbance in which gait becomes impaired in the absence of any neurological or physical pathology. The person usually walks in a bizarre manner. He staggers and appears as if going to fall but always manages to catch hold of something in time. Sometimes these people cannot even stand but on the other hand they are well able to move their legs while lying down or sitting. Often associated with conversion disorder or somatization disorder.
See also #Entgleisen term introduced by (Cameron).
defined this as a delusion
arising without apparent cause. For example, suddenly, without apparent cause, having the delusional belief that you are an alien.
robotically obeying a command. It is usually a sign of catatonia
.
-like) or complex, and are usually natural-looking but purposeless; for example, repeatedly going through the motions of buttering a piece of bread when there is no bread there. Automatic behaviour is not usually recalled afterwards.
.
term used in the past for acute and transient psychotic disorders (F23 in ICD-10
). In DSM-IV, it is described as "Brief Psychotic Disorder" (298.8). The symptoms usually have an acute onset and reach their peak within two weeks. The symptoms start resolving in a few weeks and complete recovery usually occurs within 2–3 months.
is an example of a culture-bound syndrome. Once a common term for mental exhaustion, it is now encountered almost exclusively in West Africa. Seen predominantly in male students, it generally manifests as vague somatic symptoms, depression, and difficulty concentrating. Read the article
for details.
(This is not to be confused with "brain fart" which is a neurological back-firing of sorts which causes a temporary lapse of cognition.)
.
It is named after Joseph Capgras
(1873-1950), a French psychiatrist who first described the disorder in a paper by Capgras and Reboul-Lachaux1,2 in 1923. They used the term l'illusion des sosies (the illusion of doubles) to describe the case of a French woman who complained that various doubles had taken the place of people she knew. However, the term illusion has a subtly different meaning from delusion in psychiatry so Capgras delusion
is used as a more suitable name.
is the term for catatonic
rigidity of the limbs which often results in abnormal posturing for long intervals.
is an attack of muscular flaccidity especially in response to extreme emotional stimuli. It has to be differentiated from syncope where consciousness is lost and heart rate goes slow.
. This occurs in catatonic schizophrenia, and a person suffering from this condition can have his limbs placed in fixed positions as if the person were in fact made from wax.
is manifest by abnormal involuntary movements. The term comes from Greek word choreia
, since large groups of muscles are usually involved which leads to writhing dancing movement.
it is manifest by disorientation in time, place and person, memory difficulties caused by failure to register and recall, aphasia
, dyspraxia
, and agnosia
. Impaired perception
functioning leads to illusions and hallucinations often in the visual sensory modality. This then causes agitation and distress and secondary delusions. The term 'confusion state' is sometimes used to mean clouding of consciousness, but should be avoided if at all possible because it is ambiguous.
is the confusion of imagination with memory, and/or the confusion of true memories with false memories.
is the hysterical
production of neurological symptoms.
is the involuntary utterance of socially inappropriate phrases. It is a phonic tic associated with Tourette syndrome
, although less than 15% of persons with Tourette's have coprolalia.
is a nihilistic delusional syndrome
in which, for example, patient believes that he denies his own existence or existence of his body parts and belongings etc. and has a firm conviction about that. This can be seen usually in schizophrenia and severe depressive states especially in context of a bipolar disorder.
was the first to draw a distinction between what he termed dementia praecox
("premature dementia") and other psychotic illnesses. In 1911, dementia praecox was renamed schizophrenia
by psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler
, who found Kraepelin's term to be misleading, as the disorder is not a form of dementia
, premature or otherwise.
, also called "chronic traumatic encephalopathy", "pugilistic Parkinson's syndrome", "boxer's syndrome", and "punch-drunk syndrome", is a neurological
disorder which affects career boxers and others who receive multiple dazing blows to the head. The condition develops over a period of years, with the average time of onset being about 16 years after the start of a career in boxing.
.
there is a complaint of premature ejaculation or impotence and a belief that semen is being passed in the urine.
is a phenomenon in which the person feels that his exact “double” is present alongside him every time and goes with him wherever he goes.
. Alternate term used for derailment of thought
(a morbid form of loosening of association or asyndesis). A Schneiderian
term by origin. In this form of thought the patient jumps from one topic to another during conversation and both topics have literally no connection with each other. This is in contrast with flight of ideas where connection is present between one topic and another.
, Schizophrenia
, and ADHD.
is a delusional disorder shared by two or more people who are closely related emotionally. One has real psychosis while the symptoms of psychosis are induced in the other or others due to close attachment to the one with psychosis. Separation usually results in symptomatic improvement in the one who is not psychotic.
Folie communiquée, folie imposée, folie induite, and folie simultanée are the four subtypes of folie à deux.
Folie communiquée
Folie communiquée, or subtype C of folie à deux, occurs when a normal person suffers a contagion of his ideas after resisting them for a long time. Once he acquires these beliefs he maintains them despite separation.
Folie imposée
Folie imposée, or subtype A of folie a deux, is the most common form in which the dominant person imposes a delusion
into a person who was not previously mentally ill. Separation of the two results in improvement of the non-dominant person.
Folie induite
In folie induite, or subtype D of folie a deux, a person who is already psychotic adds the delusions of a closely associated person to his own.
Folie simultanée
In folie simultanée, or subtype B of folie a deux, a delusional system emerges simultaneously and independently in two closely related persons, and the separation of the two would not be beneficial in the resolution of psychopathology.
phenomenon in which the subject opposes all passive movements with the same degree of force as applied by the examiner. It is slightly different from negativism in which the subject does exactly the opposite to what is asked in addition to showing resistance.
and Aschemazia by the absence of it. These disorders can have many varied causes such as physical injuries, mental disorders, or mental or physical states. These include transection of the spinal cord
, parietal lobe
lesions (e.g. right middle cerebral artery thrombosis), anxiety
, depersonalization, epileptic auras, migraine
s, sensory deprivation, and vertigo
(i.e. "floating on air").
, a patient will display placidity, hyperorality, hypersexuality
, and hyperphagia. This condition results from bilateral destruction of the amygdaloid bodies of the limbic system
.
s in the game of chess
.
is a culture-specific syndrome usually seen in Chinese
people. It involves a morbid fear of retraction of the penis
into the abdomen with the belief that this will lead to death.
(also known as laughing sickness due to the outbursts of laughter that mark its second phase) was first noted in New Guinea in the early 1900s. Kuru is now known to be a prion
disease, one of several known transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
.
or dissociative disorders
; common symptom in conversion disorder.
and involves startle-induced disorganization, hypersuggestibility, automatic obedience, and echopraxia
(a tendency to mimic examiner’s or other person’s actions). It is usually associated with women.
There is controversy over whether Latah is a real psychiatric condition, or merely a display of exhibitionism that would otherwise not be socially acceptable.
.
", is characterized by a patient's fluent and rambling speech using numerous words.
.
. It may progress to (catatonic) rigidity. It is slightly different from gegenhalten in which the patient resists movement but does not perform the opposite movement.
, Ω ) in the forehead above the root of the nose produced by the excessive action of the corrugator muscle
. It is sometimes seen in depression
.
as described by Ladislas J. Meduna
.
is characterized by the repetition of a word or phrase; i.e., the subject continues to repeat a word or phrase after once having said. It is a perseveratory phenomenon.
a visual image persists after the stimulus has gone (similar to an afterimage
seen after looking into a bright light).
, or parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory or physical action that is believed to be caused by the unconscious mind.
and mescalin, epileptic auras, and sometimes migraines.
a vague or random stimulus is mistakenly perceived as recognizable. A common example is perceiving the image of a face in clouds. Pareidolia is a type of illusion and hence called pareidolic illusion.
, Pibloktoq or Arctic hysteria is a condition exclusively appearing in Inuit societies living within the Arctic Circle. Appearing most prevalently in winter, it is considered to be a form of a culture-specific disorder.
Symptoms can include intense "hysteria
" (screaming, uncontrolled wild behavior), depression, coprophagia
, insensitivity to extreme cold and more. This condition is most often seen in dogs and Eskimo
women.
and Munchausen syndrome
.
is a term which refers to either the study of mental illness or mental distress or to
the manifestation of behaviours and experiences which may be indicative of mental illness or psychological impairment.
, heautoscopy
and out-of-body experiences.
is a delusional misidentification syndrome
in which the patient's surroundings are believed to exist in more than one physical location.
(subjective "inner" restlessness) and Psychomotor agitation
(an excess of motor activity).
In Children: These limitations will cause a child to learn and develop more slowly than a typical child. Children with mental retardation may take longer to learn to speak, walk, and take care of their personal needs such as dressing or eating. They are likely to have trouble learning in school. They will learn, but it will take them longer. There may be some things they cannot learn.
.
in which syllable durations are equalized. It is characteristic of the dysarthria
of multiple sclerosis
. Together with nystagmus and intention tremor
it forms Charcot's triad 1.
, depression
, delusional disorder F22.0 and in schizophrenia
where they are often present up to a delusional extent.
is a psychological
response sometimes seen in a hostage, in which the hostage exhibits loyalty to the hostage-taker, in spite of the danger (or at least risk) in which the hostage has been placed. Stockholm syndrome is also sometimes discussed in reference to other situations with similar tensions, such as battered person syndrome
, child abuse cases
, and bride kidnapping
.
conjunctions
and articles
are missed out; meaning is retained and few words are used.
in psychopathology
is usually taken to mean profound inactivity not caused by reduction in consciousness
.
This condition occurs in Ganser syndrome
and has been observed in prison
ers awaiting trial
. Vorbeigehen (giving approximate answers) was the original term used by Ganser but Vorbeireden (talking past the point) is the term generally in use (Goldin 1955). This behaviour is also seen in people trying to feign psychiatric disorders (hence association with prisoners)
, Windago, Windiga, Witiko, and numerous other variants) is a culture-bound disorder which involves an intense craving for human flesh and the fear that one will turn into a cannibal. This once occurred frequently among Algonquian Indian cultures, though has declined with the Native American urbanization.
is a tendency to tell inappropriate jokes and creating excessive facetiousness and inappropriate or pointless humor. It is seen in Frontal lobe disorders usually along with #Moria. Recent research has shown that it may also be seen in frontotemporal dementia
.
Wortsalat) is characterized by confused, and often repetitious, language with no apparent meaning or relationship attached to them. It is often symptomatic of various mental illnesses, such as psychoses, including schizophrenia.
's novel, Dracula
. Renfield, the mentally insane character who is diagnosed with the illness, is said to collect small animals at first, such as flies. Then, the flies attract spiders, and the spiders attract sparrows (the pattern is in a food chain, and each of the next largest animal eats the last of the smallest). In theory, it appears that Renfield desires to get the largest animal possible (perhaps even a human) so that he may eat it himself and collect all of the "life force" that the animal had consumed before him. After Dr. Seward's observations, he gives the proper title "zoofagus" to Renfield. Dr. Seward explains that this term that he created literally means "life eater".
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, secondly French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and some English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
terms, as used in psychiatric
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
literature, were defined. We have included many other terms with the passage of time and aim to broaden this article to include most of the psychopathological
Psychopathology
Psychopathology is the study of mental illness, mental distress, and abnormal/maladaptive behavior. The term is most commonly used within psychiatry where pathology refers to disease processes...
terms in use.
There are many psychiatric terms that are of foreign-language, mostly Greek, origin; and are thus not easily understood by many English speakers. Most of these terms refer to expressions dating from the early days of psychiatry in Europe. This glossary
Glossary
A glossary, also known as an idioticon, vocabulary, or clavis, is an alphabetical list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms...
aims to make the meaning of these terms clearer.
Abreaction
Abreaction is an emotional release or discharge following recall of a painful experience. Used sometimes by police, forensics after administering amobarbitalAmobarbital
Amobarbital is a drug that is a barbiturate derivative. It has sedative-hypnotic and analgesic properties. It is a white crystalline powder with no odor and a slightly bitter taste. It was first synthesized in Germany in 1923...
.
Abulia
AbouliaAboulia
Aboulia or Abulia , in neurology, refers to a lack of will or initiative and is one of the Disorders of Diminished Motivation or DDM. Aboulia falls in the middle of the spectrum of diminished motivation, with apathy being less extreme and akinetic mutism being more extreme than aboulia...
or Abulia, in neurology, refers to a lack of will or initiative. The patient is unable to act or make decisions independently. It may range from subtle to overwhelming in severity.
Affect illusion
Illusions (Misperceptions) associated with and/or based on changes with mood; for example, at midnight a person may take a shadow as a ghost, but in the early part of night this may not be the case.Akataphasia
Akataphasia (Kraepelin 1896) refers to disorder of thought expression in speech and results due to dissolution of logical ordering of trains of thought..Akathisia
Is a feeling of 'inner restlessness' often brought on as a side effect of anti-psychotic medicationAntipsychotic
An antipsychotic is a tranquilizing psychiatric medication primarily used to manage psychosis , particularly in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A first generation of antipsychotics, known as typical antipsychotics, was discovered in the 1950s...
. People with akathisia
Akathisia
Akathisia, or acathisia, is a syndrome characterized by unpleasant sensations of inner restlessness that manifests itself with an inability to sit still or remain motionless...
have a desire to keep moving and are unable to keep still even though their movements are voluntary (as opposed to other movement disorders such as tardive dyskinesia which is involuntary). It most often affects the legs. When mild it is usually worse at night.
Alexithymia
The term was coined by Dr Peter Sifneos to describe a condition where the person is unable to put into words the emotions he feels.Alice in Wonderland experience
In Alice in Wonderland experienceAlice in Wonderland syndrome
Alice-in-Wonderland syndrome , also known as Todd's syndrome, is a disorienting neurological condition that affects human perception. Sufferers may experience micropsia, macropsia, or size distortion of other sensory modalities...
subjects perceive objects (including animals and other humans, or parts of humans, animals, or objects) as appearing substantially smaller than in reality. Generally, the object appears far away or extremely close at the same time. Alternate term for this is somaesthetic aura. Also see #Lilliputian hallucinations
Alliteration
AlliterationAlliteration
In language, alliteration refers to the repetition of a particular sound in the first syllables of Three or more words or phrases. Alliteration has historically developed largely through poetry, in which it more narrowly refers to the repetition of a consonant in any syllables that, according to...
is the repetition of initial consonant sounds in neighbouring words. For example, "When I struck and slapped my humble horse, he began to run rapidly."
Alogia
Literally, this term means "not having words". This refers to poverty of speech generally seen in chronic psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. This may be seen in advanced dementia too.Amok
Amok, or mata galap: The term comes from Malaysia in its origin. The phrase "running amok" also comes from this syndrome. This is a rare culture bound syndrome in which the subject (known as a pengamok) suddenly withdraws from his peers and family and gets violent towards people around him and may also use whatever weapon available to him. He is very difficult to be stopped at that stage. Ultimately he falls into a sleep or stupor and then wakes up having little knowledge of his violent behaviour.Anhedonia
AnhedoniaAnhedonia
In psychology and psychiatry, anhedonia is defined as the inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable, e.g. hobbies, exercise, social interaction or sexual activity....
refers to a state of mind in which the subject finds no pleasure in anything. This is seen in severe depressive
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
states and schizoid personality disorder
Schizoid personality disorder
Schizoid personality disorder is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency towards a solitary lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness, and sometimes apathy, with a simultaneous rich, elaborate, and exclusively internal fantasy world...
.
Anosognosia
AnosognosiaAnosognosia
Anosognosia /æˌnɒsɒgˈnəʊsɪə/ is a condition in which a person who suffers disability seems unaware of the existence of his or her disability. Unlike denial, which is a defense mechanism, anosognosia is rooted in physiology...
is a phenomenon in which a patient usually suffering from stroke is unaware and indifferent towards his disability. #Hemiasomatognosia is a subtype of anosognosia in which the person suffering from hemiplegia neglects one half of his body.
Anton's syndrome
Anton syndrome, occasionally known as Anton-Babinski syndrome, is a form of cortical blindness in which the patient denies the visual impairment. The patient may attempt to walk, bumping into objects and injuring himself.Anton syndrome is caused by damaging the occipital lobes bilaterally or from disrupting the pathway from the primary visual cortex into the visual association cortex.
Anwesenheit
Anwesenheit refers to the feeling of presence of something or some person. It can be seen in normal grief reaction, schizophrenia and some emotionally arousing situations.Apophanous perception
This is an alternate term for delusional perception. It is one of the SchneiderianKurt Schneider
Kurt Schneider was a German psychiatrist known largely for his writing on the diagnosis and understanding of schizophrenia.-Biography:...
first rank symptoms and is defined as a true perception, to which a patient attributes a false meaning. For example, a person may see written "No Trespassing" on a board and may infer from this that intelligence agencies are spying on him.
Aphemia
Aphemia is the alternate term for mutism. Mutism is absence of speech with apparently normal level of consciousness. Mutism can be dissociative (hysterical) in which an individual (commonly a child or adolescent) stops speaking at once without involvement of any neurological or physical contributing factor; or it can be elective (selective) in which a child does not speak at all in certain situations (such as in school) but speaks well in other conditions (like at home or at play). A rare cause of mutism is akinetic mutism which results due to a lesionLesion
A lesion is any abnormality in the tissue of an organism , usually caused by disease or trauma. Lesion is derived from the Latin word laesio which means injury.- Types :...
around 3rd ventricle
Ventricular system
The ventricular system is a set of structures containing cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. It is continuous with the central canal of the spinal cord.-Components:The system comprises four ventricles:* right and left lateral ventricles* third ventricle...
of brain.
Apperception
Apperception is a normal phenomenon and refers to the ability to understand sensory inputs in their context, to interpret them and to incorporate them into experience. Failure of apperception is seen in deliriousDelirium
Delirium or acute confusional state is a common and severe neuropsychiatric syndrome with core features of acute onset and fluctuating course, attentional deficits and generalized severe disorganization of behavior...
states.
Astasia-abasia
Astasia abasiaAstasia abasia
Astasia-abasia refers to the inability to either stand or walk in a normal manner. Patients exhibit an unusual and dramatic gait disturbance, lurching wildly in various directions and falling only when a nearby physician, family member, or soft object will catch them.Astasia refers to the...
is a form of psychogenic gait disturbance in which gait becomes impaired in the absence of any neurological or physical pathology. The person usually walks in a bizarre manner. He staggers and appears as if going to fall but always manages to catch hold of something in time. Sometimes these people cannot even stand but on the other hand they are well able to move their legs while lying down or sitting. Often associated with conversion disorder or somatization disorder.
Asyndesis
Alternate term for Loosening of association. A milder form of derailment of thought, in which a person goes on jumping from one topic to another and there is little connection among the topics. This is in contrast to flight of ideas where a person jumps from one topic to another and there is a connection among the topics.See also #Entgleisen term introduced by (Cameron).
Autistic thinking
Autistic thinking is a term used to refer to thinking not in accordance with consensus reality and emphasizes preoccupation with inner experience. See also #Dereistic thinking.Autochthonous delusion
JaspersKarl Jaspers
Karl Theodor Jaspers was a German psychiatrist and philosopher who had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry and philosophy. After being trained in and practicing psychiatry, Jaspers turned to philosophical inquiry and attempted to discover an innovative philosophical system...
defined this as a delusion
Delusion
A delusion is a false belief held with absolute conviction despite superior evidence. Unlike hallucinations, delusions are always pathological...
arising without apparent cause. For example, suddenly, without apparent cause, having the delusional belief that you are an alien.
Autokabalesis
An uncommonly used term used for suicide committed by jumping from a very high place.Automatic obedience
Automatic obedience is an exaggerated co-operation with an examiner's request, as if the patient were an 'automaton'Autonomous robot
Autonomous robots are robots that can perform desired tasks in unstructured environments without continuous human guidance. Many kinds of robots have some degree of autonomy. Different robots can be autonomous in different ways...
robotically obeying a command. It is usually a sign of catatonia
Catatonia
Catatonia is a state of neurogenic motor immobility, and behavioral abnormality manifested by stupor. It was first described in 1874: Die Katatonie oder das Spannungsirresein ....
.
Automatism
Automatisms are sequences of activity that occur without conscious control. They may be simple and repetitive (ticTic
A tic is a sudden, repetitive, nonrhythmic, stereotyped motor movement or vocalization involving discrete muscle groups. Tics can be invisible to the observer, such as abdominal tensing or toe crunching. Common motor and phonic tics are, respectively, eye blinking and throat clearing...
-like) or complex, and are usually natural-looking but purposeless; for example, repeatedly going through the motions of buttering a piece of bread when there is no bread there. Automatic behaviour is not usually recalled afterwards.
Autoscopy
Autoscopy is the reduplicative hallucination of "seeing one's own body at a distance" and the person sees it from the place where he or she is located. Autoscopy is sometimes used synonymously with out-of-body experienceOut-of-body experience
An out-of-body experience is an experience that typically involves a sensation of floating outside of one's body and, in some cases, perceiving one's physical body from a place outside one's body ....
.
Avolition
Avolition is a psychological state characterized by general lack of drive, or motivation to pursue meaningful goals.Belle Indifference ('La belle indifférence')
Belle Indifference or #La belle indifférence is characterized by a lack of concern and/or feeling of indifference about a disability or symptom and is seen in hysteria or dissociative disorder; common symptom of conversion disorder.Bouffée délirante
Bouffée délirante is a FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
term used in the past for acute and transient psychotic disorders (F23 in ICD-10
ICD
The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems is a medical classification that provides codes to classify diseases and a wide variety of signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or disease...
). In DSM-IV, it is described as "Brief Psychotic Disorder" (298.8). The symptoms usually have an acute onset and reach their peak within two weeks. The symptoms start resolving in a few weeks and complete recovery usually occurs within 2–3 months.
Brain Fog
Brain FogBrain fog
Cognitive dysfunction is defined as unusually poor mental function, associated with confusion, forgetfulness and difficulty concentrating...
is an example of a culture-bound syndrome. Once a common term for mental exhaustion, it is now encountered almost exclusively in West Africa. Seen predominantly in male students, it generally manifests as vague somatic symptoms, depression, and difficulty concentrating. Read the article
Brain fag
Brain fag is an example of a culture-bound syndrome. Once a common term for mental exhaustion, it is now encountered almost exclusively in West Africa. Seen predominantly in male students, it generally manifests as vague somatic symptoms, depression, and difficulty concentrating...
for details.
(This is not to be confused with "brain fart" which is a neurological back-firing of sorts which causes a temporary lapse of cognition.)
Capgras' syndrome or Illusion des sosies
In Capgras syndrome, the patient feels that a person familiar to him, usually a family member has been replaced by a double i.e. an identical looking imposter. Capgras Syndrome and Fregoli syndrome along with some other conditions are classified as delusional misidentification syndromeDelusional misidentification syndrome
Delusional misidentification syndrome is an umbrella term, introduced by Christodoulou for a group of delusional disorders that occur in the context of mental or neurological illness. They all involve a belief that the identity of a person, object or place has somehow changed or has been altered...
.
It is named after Joseph Capgras
Joseph Capgras
Jean Marie Joseph Capgras was a French psychiatrist who is best known for the Capgras delusion, a disorder named after him....
(1873-1950), a French psychiatrist who first described the disorder in a paper by Capgras and Reboul-Lachaux1,2 in 1923. They used the term l'illusion des sosies (the illusion of doubles) to describe the case of a French woman who complained that various doubles had taken the place of people she knew. However, the term illusion has a subtly different meaning from delusion in psychiatry so Capgras delusion
Capgras delusion
The Capgras delusion theory is a disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent, or other close family member has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor...
is used as a more suitable name.
Catalepsy
CatalepsyCatalepsy
Catalepsy is also a term used by hypnotists to refer to the state of making a hypnotised subject's arm, leg or back rigid. "Arm catalepsy" is often a pre-hypnotic test performed prior to an induction into a full trance.-Causes:...
is the term for catatonic
Catatonia
Catatonia is a state of neurogenic motor immobility, and behavioral abnormality manifested by stupor. It was first described in 1874: Die Katatonie oder das Spannungsirresein ....
rigidity of the limbs which often results in abnormal posturing for long intervals.
Cataplexy
CataplexyCataplexy
Cataplexy is a sudden and transient episode of loss of muscle tone, often triggered by emotions. It is a rare disease , but affects roughly 70% of people who have narcolepsy...
is an attack of muscular flaccidity especially in response to extreme emotional stimuli. It has to be differentiated from syncope where consciousness is lost and heart rate goes slow.
Cerea flexibilitas
Cerea flexibilitas, meaning "waxy flexibility", is characterized by a patient's movements having the feeling of a plastic resistance, as if the person were made of waxWax
thumb|right|[[Cetyl palmitate]], a typical wax ester.Wax refers to a class of chemical compounds that are plastic near ambient temperatures. Characteristically, they melt above 45 °C to give a low viscosity liquid. Waxes are insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents...
. This occurs in catatonic schizophrenia, and a person suffering from this condition can have his limbs placed in fixed positions as if the person were in fact made from wax.
Chorea
ChoreaChorea (disease)
Choreia is an abnormal involuntary movement disorder, one of a group of neurological disorders called dyskinesias. The term choreia is derived from the Greek word χορεία , see choreia , as the quick movements of the feet or hands are vaguely comparable to dancing or piano playing.The term...
is manifest by abnormal involuntary movements. The term comes from Greek word choreia
Chorea (dance)
Choreia is a circle dance accompanied by singing , in ancient Greece. Homer refers to this dance in his epic poem, the Iliad....
, since large groups of muscles are usually involved which leads to writhing dancing movement.
Circumstantiality
Refers to a thought disorder wherein thinking takes a roundabout manner to get to an answer. Differentiable from tangentiality by the speaker eventually getting back to the point. For example: "My mother's job? She used to sit around the house doing nothing but drinking, she'd just sit there and stew, making noises, chugging her drinks. She threw my dad out of the house. I'll never forget that, the way she did it. Anyways, my mom was a waitress."Clang association
Thought disorder wherein words are chosen or repeated based on similar sounds, instead of semantic meaning. "The train rain brained me. He ate the skate, inflated yesterdays gate toward the cheese grater."Claparede's paradox
This refers to retention of non-verbal and implicit memory in sufferers of Korsakov's syndrome. 11Clouding of consciousness
Clouding of consciousness is a global impairment in higher central nervous functioning. All aspects of cognitive functioning are affected. On mental status examinationMental status examination
The mental status examination in the USA or mental state examination in the rest of the world, abbreviated MSE, is an important part of the clinical assessment process in psychiatric practice...
it is manifest by disorientation in time, place and person, memory difficulties caused by failure to register and recall, aphasia
Aphasia
Aphasia is an impairment of language ability. This class of language disorder ranges from having difficulty remembering words to being completely unable to speak, read, or write....
, dyspraxia
Dyspraxia
Developmental dyspraxia is a motor learning difficulty that can affect planning of movements and co-ordination as a result of brain messages not being accurately transmitted to the body...
, and agnosia
Agnosia
Agnosia is a loss of ability to recognize objects, persons, sounds, shapes, or smells while the specific sense is not defective nor is there any significant memory loss...
. Impaired perception
Perception
Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...
functioning leads to illusions and hallucinations often in the visual sensory modality. This then causes agitation and distress and secondary delusions. The term 'confusion state' is sometimes used to mean clouding of consciousness, but should be avoided if at all possible because it is ambiguous.
Coenestopathic state
A patient in a coenestopathic state has a localized distortion of body awareness.Confabulation
ConfabulationConfabulation
Confabulation is the process in which a memory is remembered falsely. Confabulations are indicative of a complicated and intricate process that can be led astray at any given point during encoding, storage, or recall of a memory. Two distinct types of confabulation are often distinguished...
is the confusion of imagination with memory, and/or the confusion of true memories with false memories.
Conversion
ConversionConversion disorder
Conversion disorder is a condition in which patients present with neurological symptoms such as numbness, blindness, paralysis, or fits without a neurological cause. It is thought that these problems arise in response to difficulties in the patient's life, and conversion is considered a psychiatric...
is the hysterical
Hysteria
Hysteria, in its colloquial use, describes unmanageable emotional excesses. People who are "hysterical" often lose self-control due to an overwhelming fear that may be caused by multiple events in one's past that involved some sort of severe conflict; the fear can be centered on a body part, or,...
production of neurological symptoms.
Coprolalia
CoprolaliaCoprolalia
Coprolalia is involuntary swearing or the involuntary utterance of obscene words or socially inappropriate and derogatory remarks. Coprolalia comes from the Greek κόπρος meaning "feces" and λαλιά from lalein, "to talk"...
is the involuntary utterance of socially inappropriate phrases. It is a phonic tic associated with Tourette syndrome
Tourette syndrome
Tourette syndrome is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by multiple physical tics and at least one vocal tic; these tics characteristically wax and wane...
, although less than 15% of persons with Tourette's have coprolalia.
Cotard's syndrome
Cotard's syndromeCotard delusion
The Cotard delusion or Cotard's syndrome or Walking Corpse Syndrome is a rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which people hold a delusional belief that they are dead , do not exist, are putrefying, or have lost their blood or internal organs...
is a nihilistic delusional syndrome
Syndrome
In medicine and psychology, a syndrome is the association of several clinically recognizable features, signs , symptoms , phenomena or characteristics that often occur together, so that the presence of one or more features alerts the physician to the possible presence of the others...
in which, for example, patient believes that he denies his own existence or existence of his body parts and belongings etc. and has a firm conviction about that. This can be seen usually in schizophrenia and severe depressive states especially in context of a bipolar disorder.
Defenestration
Literally jumping out of window. Usually used in context of attempted or completed suicide. Also see #Autokabalesis. 11Déjà vu
In Déjà vu, a person feels undue familiarity to an event or a person. For example, he feels that the same thing has happened before or he or she has met this person before, etc.Déjà pensé
In Déjà pensé, a completely new thought sounds familiar to the person and he feels as he has thought the same thing before at some time.Dementia praecox
Psychiatrist Emil KraepelinEmil Kraepelin
Emil Kraepelin was a German psychiatrist. H.J. Eysenck's Encyclopedia of Psychology identifies him as the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, as well as of psychopharmacology and psychiatric genetics. Kraepelin believed the chief origin of psychiatric disease to be biological and genetic...
was the first to draw a distinction between what he termed dementia praecox
Dementia praecox
Dementia praecox refers to a chronic, deteriorating psychotic disorder characterized by rapid cognitive disintegration, usually beginning in the late teens or early adulthood. It is a term first used in 1891 in this Latin form by Arnold Pick , a professor of psychiatry at the German branch of...
("premature dementia") and other psychotic illnesses. In 1911, dementia praecox was renamed schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
by psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler
Eugen Bleuler
Paul Eugen Bleuler was a Swiss psychiatrist most notable for his contributions to the understanding of mental illness and for coining the term "schizophrenia."-Biography:...
, who found Kraepelin's term to be misleading, as the disorder is not a form of dementia
Dementia
Dementia is a serious loss of cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond what might be expected from normal aging...
, premature or otherwise.
Dementia pugilistica
Dementia pugilisticaDementia pugilistica
Dementia pugilistica is a type of neurodegenerative disease or dementia, which may affect amateur or professional boxers as well as athletes in other sports who suffer concussions...
, also called "chronic traumatic encephalopathy", "pugilistic Parkinson's syndrome", "boxer's syndrome", and "punch-drunk syndrome", is a neurological
Neurology
Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
disorder which affects career boxers and others who receive multiple dazing blows to the head. The condition develops over a period of years, with the average time of onset being about 16 years after the start of a career in boxing.
Dereistic thinking
Dereistic thinking is an old descriptive term used to refer to thinking not in accordance with the facts of reality and experience and following illogical, idiosyncratic reasoning. This term is also used interchangeably with autistic thinking though not an exact synonym.: dereitic emphasizes disconnection from reality and autistic emphasizes preoccupation with inner experience.Dermatozoenwahn
Alternate term for Organic hallucinosis. This state cannot be diagnosed if the hallucinatory state is under effect of alcohol or substance misuse or if the patient fulfills the criterion for deliriumDelirium
Delirium or acute confusional state is a common and severe neuropsychiatric syndrome with core features of acute onset and fluctuating course, attentional deficits and generalized severe disorganization of behavior...
.
Dhat
In Dhat syndromeDhat syndrome
Dhat syndrome is a condition found in the cultures of the Indian subcontinent in which male patients report that they suffer from premature ejaculation or impotence, and believe that they are passing semen in their urine....
there is a complaint of premature ejaculation or impotence and a belief that semen is being passed in the urine.
Doppelgänger
The DoppelgängerDoppelgänger
In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...
is a phenomenon in which the person feels that his exact “double” is present alongside him every time and goes with him wherever he goes.
Écho de la pensée
In écho de la pensée, meaning "thought echo" in French, thoughts seem to be spoken aloud just after being produced. The patient hears the 'echo' of his thoughts in the form of a voice after he has made the thought. See also #Gedankenlautwerden and #Thought Sonorization.Entgleisen
Literally means jumping off the railsRail tracks
The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...
. Alternate term used for derailment of thought
Derailment (thought disorder)
In psychiatry, derailment refers to a pattern of discourse that is a sequence of unrelated or only remotely related ideas. The frame of reference often changes from one sentence to the next...
(a morbid form of loosening of association or asyndesis). A Schneiderian
Carl Schneider
Carl Schneider , professor at Heidelberg University, chairman of its department of Psychiatry, director of its clinic, was a senior researcher for the Action T4 Euthanasia program....
term by origin. In this form of thought the patient jumps from one topic to another during conversation and both topics have literally no connection with each other. This is in contrast with flight of ideas where connection is present between one topic and another.
Extracampine
Extracampine hallucinations are hallucinations beyond the possible sensory field, e.g., 'seeing' somebody standing behind you is a visual extracampine hallucination experience.Fatuous affect
The moods of a patient with fatuous affect resemble the moods of a child. This condition is seen in hebephrenic schizophrenia.Flight of ideas
A form of talking where a person continues to switch from subject to subject while talking, making it difficult for others to follow the train of thought. This can range from incoherent babbling that does not make sense to the listener, to a person that just has mild trouble staying on topic during a conversation. This is most commonly found in Bipolar DisorderBipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, historically known as manic–depressive disorder, is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated energy levels, cognition, and mood with or without one or...
, Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
, and ADHD.
Folie à deux
Also called induced psychosis, folie à deuxFolie à deux
-Further reading:*Halgin, R. & Whitbourne, S. Abnormal Psychology: Clinical Perspectives on Psychological Disorders. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0072817216...
is a delusional disorder shared by two or more people who are closely related emotionally. One has real psychosis while the symptoms of psychosis are induced in the other or others due to close attachment to the one with psychosis. Separation usually results in symptomatic improvement in the one who is not psychotic.
Folie communiquée, folie imposée, folie induite, and folie simultanée are the four subtypes of folie à deux.
Folie communiquée
Folie communiquée, or subtype C of folie à deux, occurs when a normal person suffers a contagion of his ideas after resisting them for a long time. Once he acquires these beliefs he maintains them despite separation.
Folie imposée
Folie imposée, or subtype A of folie a deux, is the most common form in which the dominant person imposes a delusion
Delusion
A delusion is a false belief held with absolute conviction despite superior evidence. Unlike hallucinations, delusions are always pathological...
into a person who was not previously mentally ill. Separation of the two results in improvement of the non-dominant person.
Folie induite
In folie induite, or subtype D of folie a deux, a person who is already psychotic adds the delusions of a closely associated person to his own.
Folie simultanée
In folie simultanée, or subtype B of folie a deux, a delusional system emerges simultaneously and independently in two closely related persons, and the separation of the two would not be beneficial in the resolution of psychopathology.
Fregoli's syndrome
In Fregoli syndrome, the person has a delusional belief that different people are in fact a single person who changes appearance or is in disguise. The delusional person often believes that he or she is being persecuted by the person he or she believes to be in disguise.Gedankenlautwerden
In Gedankenlautwerden, a patient hears thoughts spoken aloud. Thoughts are heard in the form of a voice at the same time as they are thought, not afterwards. See also Écho de la pensée and Thought SonorizationGegenhalten
Gegenhalten is a catatonicCatatonia
Catatonia is a state of neurogenic motor immobility, and behavioral abnormality manifested by stupor. It was first described in 1874: Die Katatonie oder das Spannungsirresein ....
phenomenon in which the subject opposes all passive movements with the same degree of force as applied by the examiner. It is slightly different from negativism in which the subject does exactly the opposite to what is asked in addition to showing resistance.
Hemiasomatognosia
Hemiasomatognosia is a subtype of #Anosognosia in which the person suffering from hemiplegia neglects one half of his body.Hyposchemazia; Aschemazia
Hyposchemazia is characterized by the reduced awareness of a patient's body imageBody image
Body image refers to a person's perception of the aesthetics and sexual attractiveness of their own body. The phrase body image was first coined by the Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst Paul Schilder in his masterpiece The Image and Appearance of the Human Body...
and Aschemazia by the absence of it. These disorders can have many varied causes such as physical injuries, mental disorders, or mental or physical states. These include transection of the spinal cord
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...
, parietal lobe
Parietal lobe
The parietal lobe is a part of the Brain positioned above the occipital lobe and behind the frontal lobe.The parietal lobe integrates sensory information from different modalities, particularly determining spatial sense and navigation. For example, it comprises somatosensory cortex and the...
lesions (e.g. right middle cerebral artery thrombosis), anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...
, depersonalization, epileptic auras, migraine
Migraine
Migraine is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by moderate to severe headaches, and nausea...
s, sensory deprivation, and vertigo
Vertigo (medical)
Vertigo is a type of dizziness, where there is a feeling of motion when one is stationary. The symptoms are due to a dysfunction of the vestibular system in the inner ear...
(i.e. "floating on air").
Idée fixe
Idée fixe is an alternate term for an overvalued idea. In this condition, a belief that might seem reasonable both to the patient and to other people comes to dominate completely the patient's thinking and life.Ideas of influence
Thoughts that one's own action is caused by someone else's will or some other external cause.Ideas of reference
Delusional ideas wherein seemingly random stimuli is thought to be referring to the individual. For example, if a car beeps outside, the individual feels it was directed toward him or herself.Jargon aphasia
Jargon aphasia, is characterized by incoherent, meaningless, speech with neologisms (newly invented words). These are unconscious thoughts that find expression when one is off one's guard and must be consciously repressed.Klüver Bucy syndrome
In Kluver-Bucy syndromeKlüver-Bucy syndrome
Klüver-Bucy syndrome is a behavioral disorder that occurs when both the right and left medial temporal lobes of the brain malfunction. The amygdala has been a particularly implicated brain region in the pathogenesis of this syndrome. The syndrome is named for Heinrich Klüver and Paul...
, a patient will display placidity, hyperorality, hypersexuality
Hypersexuality
Hypersexuality is extremely frequent or suddenly increased sexual urges or sexual activity. Hypersexuality is typically associated with lowered sexual inhibitions. Although hypersexuality can be caused by some medical conditions or medications, in most cases the cause is unknown...
, and hyperphagia. This condition results from bilateral destruction of the amygdaloid bodies of the limbic system
Limbic system
The limbic system is a set of brain structures including the hippocampus, amygdala, anterior thalamic nuclei, septum, limbic cortex and fornix, which seemingly support a variety of functions including emotion, behavior, long term memory, and olfaction. The term "limbic" comes from the Latin...
.
Knight's Move thinking
Knight's move thinking a phenomenon similar to derailment of thought or loosening of associations, is characterized by odd, tangential associations between ideas that lead to disruptions in the smooth continuity of speech. The name for this disorder likely derives from the odd movement pattern of knightKnight (chess)
The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...
s in the game of chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
.
Koro
KoroPenis panic
Koro is a culture-specific syndrome from Southeast Asia in which the patient has an overpowering belief that his penis is shrinking and will shortly disappear. Also known as shrinking penis, the syndrome is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders...
is a culture-specific syndrome usually seen in Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
people. It involves a morbid fear of retraction of the penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
into the abdomen with the belief that this will lead to death.
Kuru
KuruKuru (disease)
Kuru is an incurable degenerative neurological disorder that is a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, caused by a prion found in humans...
(also known as laughing sickness due to the outbursts of laughter that mark its second phase) was first noted in New Guinea in the early 1900s. Kuru is now known to be a prion
Prion
A prion is an infectious agent composed of protein in a misfolded form. This is in contrast to all other known infectious agents which must contain nucleic acids . The word prion, coined in 1982 by Stanley B. Prusiner, is a portmanteau derived from the words protein and infection...
disease, one of several known transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies , also known as prion diseases, are a group of progressive conditions that affect the brain and nervous system of many animals, including humans. According to the most widespread hypothesis they are transmitted by prions, though some other data suggest an...
.
La belle indifférence
La belle indifférence is characterized by a lack of concern and an indifference about a disability and is seen in hysteriaHysteria
Hysteria, in its colloquial use, describes unmanageable emotional excesses. People who are "hysterical" often lose self-control due to an overwhelming fear that may be caused by multiple events in one's past that involved some sort of severe conflict; the fear can be centered on a body part, or,...
or dissociative disorders
Dissociative disorders
Dissociative disorders are defined as conditions that involve disruptions or breakdowns of memory, awareness, identity and/or perception. See also dissociation. People with dissociative disorders are able to escape from reality involuntarily...
; common symptom in conversion disorder.
Latah
Latah is a culture-specific syndrome usually seen in Southeast AsiaSoutheast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
and involves startle-induced disorganization, hypersuggestibility, automatic obedience, and echopraxia
Echopraxia
Echopraxia is the involuntary repetition or imitation of the observed movements of another. It is closely related to echolalia, the involuntary repetition of another's speech. The etymology of the term is from Ancient Greek: "ἠχώ from ἠχή " and "πρᾶξις "...
(a tendency to mimic examiner’s or other person’s actions). It is usually associated with women.
There is controversy over whether Latah is a real psychiatric condition, or merely a display of exhibitionism that would otherwise not be socially acceptable.
L'homme qui rit
In l'homme qui rit, meaning "The man who laughs" in French, a patient displays inappropriate laughter accompanied by release phenomena of the frontal subdominant lobe.Lilliputian hallucinations
Lilliputian hallucinations are characterized by abnormal perception of objects as being shrunken in size but normal in detail. Usually seen in Delirium TremensDelirium tremens
Delirium tremens is an acute episode of delirium that is usually caused by withdrawal from alcohol, first described in 1813...
.
Logoclonia
In logoclonia, the patient often repeats the last syllable of a word. Symptom of Parkinson's Disease.Logorrhoea
Logorrhoea, also known as "volubilityVerbosity
Verbosity in language refers to speech or writing which is deemed to use an excess of words. Adjectival forms are verbose, wordy, prolix and garrulous.-History:...
", is characterized by a patient's fluent and rambling speech using numerous words.
Mania a potu
Mania a potu is an alcohol intoxication state with violent and markedly disinhibited behavior. This condition is different from violent behavior in otherwise normal individuals who are intoxicated.Mitgehen
Mitgehen is an extreme form of mitmachen in which very slight pressure leads to movement in any direction, also called the "anglepoise" effect or "anglepoise lamp sign". This is done despite instructions that the patient resist the pressure, as the patient often views the slight pressure as forcibly grasping and moving the patient.Mitmachen
In mitmachen, the patient's body can be put into any posture, despite instructions given that the patient resist.Moria
Moria is the condition characterized by euphoric behavior, such as frivolity and the inability to act seriously. In addition there is a lack of foresight and a general indifference. It is found in frontal lobe lesions, often along with #Witzelsücht particularly when the orbital surface is damaged. Recent research has shown its presence in frontotemporal dementiaFrontotemporal dementia
Frontotemporal dementia is a clinical syndrome caused by degeneration of the frontal lobe of the brain and may extend back to the temporal lobe...
.
Negativism
Negativism is found if, on examination, a patient resists attempts to move him and does opposite to what is asked. It is usually a sign of catatoniaCatatonia
Catatonia is a state of neurogenic motor immobility, and behavioral abnormality manifested by stupor. It was first described in 1874: Die Katatonie oder das Spannungsirresein ....
. It may progress to (catatonic) rigidity. It is slightly different from gegenhalten in which the patient resists movement but does not perform the opposite movement.
Omega sign
The omega sign is the occurrence of a fold (like the Greek letter omegaOmega
Omega is the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system, it has a value of 800. The word literally means "great O" , as opposed to omicron, which means "little O"...
, Ω ) in the forehead above the root of the nose produced by the excessive action of the corrugator muscle
Corrugator supercilii muscle
The Corrugator supercilii is a small, narrow, pyramidal muscle, placed at the medial end of the eyebrow, beneath the Frontalis and just above Orbicularis oculi....
. It is sometimes seen in depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
.
Oneiroid state
From Greek oneiros, meaning dream. In the Oneiroid state one feels and behaves as though in a dream. Also known as OneirophreniaOneirophrenia
Oneirophrenia is a hallucinatory, dream-like state caused by several conditions such as prolonged sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, or drugs . From the Greek words "ὄνειρο" and "φρενός"...
as described by Ladislas J. Meduna
Ladislas J. Meduna
Ladislas J. Meduna was a Hungarian neurologist and neuropathologist noted for his development of shock treatment for persons suffering from schizophrenia.Meduna was born to a well-to-do family in Budapest, Hungary, in 1896...
.
Palilalia
PalilaliaPalilalia
Palilalia is the repetition or echoing of one's own spoken words. It can be a complex tic, like echolalia and coprolalia and may sound like stuttering; all can be symptoms of Tourette syndrome, obsessive–compulsive disorder, or autism...
is characterized by the repetition of a word or phrase; i.e., the subject continues to repeat a word or phrase after once having said. It is a perseveratory phenomenon.
Palinacousis
Palinacousis refers to a phenomenon in which the subject continues to listen to a word, a syllable or any sound, even after the withdrawal of stimulus. It is a type of #Perseveration.Palinopsia
In palinopsiaPalinopsia
Palinopsia is a visual disturbance that causes images to persist to some extent even after their corresponding stimulus has left. These images are known as afterimages and occur in persons with normal vision...
a visual image persists after the stimulus has gone (similar to an afterimage
Afterimage
An afterimage or ghost image or image burn-in is an optical illusion that refers to an image continuing to appear in one's vision after the exposure to the original image has ceased...
seen after looking into a bright light).
Parapraxis
A Freudian slipFreudian slip
A Freudian slip, also called parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that is interpreted as occurring due to the interference of some unconscious , subdued, wish, conflict, or train of thought...
, or parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory or physical action that is believed to be caused by the unconscious mind.
Paraschemazia
Paraschemazia is characterized by a distortion of a patient's body image. It can be caused by hallucinogenic drugs such as LSDLSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
and mescalin, epileptic auras, and sometimes migraines.
Pareidolia
In pareidoliaPareidolia
Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse...
a vague or random stimulus is mistakenly perceived as recognizable. A common example is perceiving the image of a face in clouds. Pareidolia is a type of illusion and hence called pareidolic illusion.
Perseveration
This term refers to uncontrollable repetition of a particular response, such as a word, phrase, or gesture, despite the absence or cessation of the original stimulus. Usually it is seen in organic disorders of brain, head injury, delirium or dementia, however can be seen in schizophrenia as well.Pfropfschizophrenie
This refers to schizophrenia in people with mild learning disability15.Piblokto
PibloktoPiblokto
Piblokto, Pibloktoq or Arctic hysteria is a condition exclusively appearing in Inughuit societies living within the Arctic Circle. Appearing most prevalently in winter, it is considered to be a form of a culture-bound syndrome, although more recent studies question whether it exists at...
, Pibloktoq or Arctic hysteria is a condition exclusively appearing in Inuit societies living within the Arctic Circle. Appearing most prevalently in winter, it is considered to be a form of a culture-specific disorder.
Symptoms can include intense "hysteria
Hysteria
Hysteria, in its colloquial use, describes unmanageable emotional excesses. People who are "hysterical" often lose self-control due to an overwhelming fear that may be caused by multiple events in one's past that involved some sort of severe conflict; the fear can be centered on a body part, or,...
" (screaming, uncontrolled wild behavior), depression, coprophagia
Coprophagia
Coprophagia or coprophagy is the consumption of feces, from the Greek κόπρος copros and φαγεῖν phagein . Many animal species practice coprophagia as a matter of course; other species do not normally consume feces but may do so under unusual conditions...
, insensitivity to extreme cold and more. This condition is most often seen in dogs and Eskimo
Eskimo
Eskimos or Inuit–Yupik peoples are indigenous peoples who have traditionally inhabited the circumpolar region from eastern Siberia , across Alaska , Canada, and Greenland....
women.
Pseudologia fantastica
Pseudologia fantastica is a condition in which a person grossly exaggerates his symptoms or even tells a lie about his symptoms in order to get medical attention . Seen in malingeringMalingering
Malingering is a medical term that refers to fabricating or exaggerating the symptoms of mental or physical disorders for a variety of "secondary gain" motives, which may include financial compensation ; avoiding school, work or military service; obtaining drugs; getting lighter criminal sentences;...
and Munchausen syndrome
Munchausen syndrome
Münchausen syndrome is a psychiatric factitious disorder wherein those affected feign disease, illness, or psychological trauma to draw attention or sympathy to themselves. It is also sometimes known as hospital addiction syndrome or hospital hopper syndrome...
.
Psychological pillow
Where the individual holds his/her head a few centimetres above the bed. No explanation is offered for this. It is a symptom of catatonia and can last for many hours.Psychopathology
PsychopathologyPsychopathology
Psychopathology is the study of mental illness, mental distress, and abnormal/maladaptive behavior. The term is most commonly used within psychiatry where pathology refers to disease processes...
is a term which refers to either the study of mental illness or mental distress or to
the manifestation of behaviours and experiences which may be indicative of mental illness or psychological impairment.
Rabbit syndrome
This syndrome is characterized by rapid rhythmic movements of lips so that it resembles a rabbit chewing. 11 It is a dystonic reaction.Reduplicative hallucination
In reduplicative hallucinations there is the perception of seeing a double. Particular kinds of reduplicative hallucination include autoscopyAutoscopy
Autoscopy is the experience in which the individual while believing himself to be awake sees his or her body position outside of his body. Autoscopy comes from the ancient Greek αὐτός and σκοπός ....
, heautoscopy
Heautoscopy
Heautoscopy is a term used in psychiatry and neurology for the reduplicative hallucination of "seeing one's own body at a distance" . It can occur as a symptom in schizophrenia and epilepsy. Heautoscopy is considered as one possible explanation for the doppelgänger phenomena....
and out-of-body experiences.
Reduplicative paramnesia
Reduplicative paramnesiaReduplicative paramnesia
Reduplicative paramnesia is the delusional belief that a place or location has been duplicated, existing in two or more places simultaneously, or that it has been 'relocated' to another site...
is a delusional misidentification syndrome
Delusional misidentification syndrome
Delusional misidentification syndrome is an umbrella term, introduced by Christodoulou for a group of delusional disorders that occur in the context of mental or neurological illness. They all involve a belief that the identity of a person, object or place has somehow changed or has been altered...
in which the patient's surroundings are believed to exist in more than one physical location.
Reflex hallucination
Is when a veridical perception in one modality produces a hallucination in another, e.g. seeing a doctor writing (visual) and then feeling him writing across one’s stomach (tactile).Restlessness
Restlessness has two components: akathisiaAkathisia
Akathisia, or acathisia, is a syndrome characterized by unpleasant sensations of inner restlessness that manifests itself with an inability to sit still or remain motionless...
(subjective "inner" restlessness) and Psychomotor agitation
Psychomotor agitation
Psychomotor agitation is a series of unintentional and purposeless motions that stem from mental tension and anxiety of an individual. This includes pacing around a room, wringing one's hands, pulling off clothing and putting it back on and other similar actions...
(an excess of motor activity).
Retardation
Mental retardation is a term used when a person has certain limitations in mental functioning and in skills such as communicating, taking care of him or herself, and social skills.In Children: These limitations will cause a child to learn and develop more slowly than a typical child. Children with mental retardation may take longer to learn to speak, walk, and take care of their personal needs such as dressing or eating. They are likely to have trouble learning in school. They will learn, but it will take them longer. There may be some things they cannot learn.
Left-Right disorientation
Left-Right disorientation is one of the four cardinal signs of Gerstmann's syndromeGerstmann syndrome
Gerstmann syndrome is a neurological disorder that is characterized by a constellation of symptoms that suggests the presence of a lesion in a particular area of the brain...
.
Scanning speech
Scanning speech is an ataxic dysarthriaDysarthria
Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder resulting from neurological injury of the motor component of the motor-speech system and is characterized by poor articulation of phonemes...
in which syllable durations are equalized. It is characteristic of the dysarthria
Dysarthria
Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder resulting from neurological injury of the motor component of the motor-speech system and is characterized by poor articulation of phonemes...
of multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
. Together with nystagmus and intention tremor
Intention tremor
Intention tremor, also known as cerebellar tremor, is a dyskinetic disorder characterized by a broad, course, and low frequency tremor. The amplitude of an intention tremor increases as an extremity approaches the endpoint of deliberate and visually guided movement...
it forms Charcot's triad 1.
Schizophasia
Schizophasia, or colloquially "word salad", is characterized by a patient's speech being an incoherent and incomprehensible mix of words and phrases. This occurs in patients suffering from schizophrenia.Schnauzkrampf
A schnauzkrampf is a grimace resembling pouting sometimes observed in catatonic patients.Sensitiver beziehungswahn
Sensitiver beziehungswahn, is an alternate term for ideas of reference. In this the person thinks as people are talking about him or observing him or a talk is going on about him on television or radio. Seen in social phobiaSocial anxiety disorder
Social anxiety disorder , also known as social phobia, is an anxiety disorder characterized by intense fear in social situations causing considerable distress and impaired ability to function in at least some parts of daily life...
, depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
, delusional disorder F22.0 and in schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
where they are often present up to a delusional extent.
Stockholm syndrome
The Stockholm syndromeStockholm syndrome
In psychology, Stockholm Syndrome is an apparently paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them...
is a psychological
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
response sometimes seen in a hostage, in which the hostage exhibits loyalty to the hostage-taker, in spite of the danger (or at least risk) in which the hostage has been placed. Stockholm syndrome is also sometimes discussed in reference to other situations with similar tensions, such as battered person syndrome
Battered person syndrome
Battered person syndrome is a physical and psychological condition that is classified as ICD-9 code "Battered person syndrome" NEC. The condition is the basis for the battered woman defense that has been used in cases of physically and psychologically abused women who have killed their abusers...
, child abuse cases
Parental alienation syndrome
Parental alienation syndrome is term coined by Richard A. Gardner in the early 1980s to refer to what he describes as a disorder in which a child, on an ongoing basis, belittles and insults one parent without justification, due to a combination of factors, including indoctrination by the other...
, and bride kidnapping
Bride kidnapping
Bride kidnapping, also known as marriage by abduction or marriage by capture, is a practice throughout history and around the world in which a man abducts the woman he wishes to marry...
.
Synaesthesiae
(also spelled synæsthesia, synaesthesia, or synesthesia—plural synesthesiae) -- from the Greek syn- meaning union and aesthesis meaning sensation—is a neurological condition in which two or more bodily senses are coupled. For instance, a person may hear colors.Telegrammatic or telegraphic speech
In telegraphic speechTelegraphic speech
Telegraphic speech, according to linguistics and psychology, is speech during the two-word stage of language acquisition in children, which is laconic and efficient....
conjunctions
Grammatical conjunction
In grammar, a conjunction is a part of speech that connects two words, sentences, phrases or clauses together. A discourse connective is a conjunction joining sentences. This definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech, so what constitutes a "conjunction" must be defined for each...
and articles
Article (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
are missed out; meaning is retained and few words are used.
Torpor
TorporTorpor
Torpor, sometimes called temporary hibernation is a state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually characterized by a reduced body temperature and rate of metabolism. Animals that go through torpor include birds and some mammals such as mice and bats...
in psychopathology
Psychopathology
Psychopathology is the study of mental illness, mental distress, and abnormal/maladaptive behavior. The term is most commonly used within psychiatry where pathology refers to disease processes...
is usually taken to mean profound inactivity not caused by reduction in consciousness
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
.
Verbigeration
Meaningless repetition of words or phrases, not necessarily requiring external stimulus to elicit (as opposed to perseveration, which is an inappropriately persistent response to a stimulus). ref. Kaplan & Sadock (2003) Synopsis of Psychiatry, 9th Ed., Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.Verstimmung
It refers to an ill humoured mood state often accompanied by low mood and depressive symptoms. The people surrounding the patient often feel upset by this.Vorbeigehen; Vorbeireden
In vorbeigehen or vorbeireden, a patient will answer a question in such a way that one can tell the patient understood the question, although the answer itself may be very obviously wrong. For example "how many legs does a dog have?" - "six".This condition occurs in Ganser syndrome
Ganser syndrome
Ganser syndrome is a rare dissociative disorder previously classified as a factitious disorder. It is characterized by nonsensical or wrong answers to questions or doing things incorrectly, other dissociative symptoms such as fugue, amnesia or conversion disorder, often with visual...
and has been observed in prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
ers awaiting trial
Trial (law)
In law, a trial is when parties to a dispute come together to present information in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court...
. Vorbeigehen (giving approximate answers) was the original term used by Ganser but Vorbeireden (talking past the point) is the term generally in use (Goldin 1955). This behaviour is also seen in people trying to feign psychiatric disorders (hence association with prisoners)
Wahneinfall
Wahneinfall is alternate term for autochthonous delusions. This is one of the types of primary delusions in which a firm belief comes into the patient's mind 'out of the blue' or as an intuition, hence called delusional intuition. Other types of primary delusions include delusional mood (or atmosphere), delusional (apophanous perception) and delusional memories.Waxy flexibility
Waxy flexibility, aka #Cerea flexibilitas, meaning is characterized by a patient's movements having the feeling of a plastic resistance, as if the person were made of wax. This occurs in catatonic schizophrenia, and a person suffering from this condition can have his limbs placed in fixed positions as if the person were in fact made from wax.Windigo
The Windigo (also WendigoWendigo
The Wendigo is a mythical creature appearing in the mythology of the Algonquian people. It is a malevolent cannibalistic spirit into which humans could transform, or which could possess humans...
, Windago, Windiga, Witiko, and numerous other variants) is a culture-bound disorder which involves an intense craving for human flesh and the fear that one will turn into a cannibal. This once occurred frequently among Algonquian Indian cultures, though has declined with the Native American urbanization.
Witzelsucht
WitzelsuchtWitzelsucht
Witzelsucht, from the German witzeln, meaning to joke or wisecrack, and sucht meaning addiction or yearning, is a set of rare neurological symptoms characterized by the patient's uncontrollable tendency to make puns, tell inappropriate jokes and pointless or irrelevant stories at inconvenient moments...
is a tendency to tell inappropriate jokes and creating excessive facetiousness and inappropriate or pointless humor. It is seen in Frontal lobe disorders usually along with #Moria. Recent research has shown that it may also be seen in frontotemporal dementia
Frontotemporal dementia
Frontotemporal dementia is a clinical syndrome caused by degeneration of the frontal lobe of the brain and may extend back to the temporal lobe...
.
Word-salad
Word Salad (derived from the GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
Wortsalat) is characterized by confused, and often repetitious, language with no apparent meaning or relationship attached to them. It is often symptomatic of various mental illnesses, such as psychoses, including schizophrenia.
Wurgstimme
Wurgstimme refers to speaking in an odd muffled or strangled voice. It is mainly seen in schizophrenia. Click here to listen to an example.Zoofagus
Zoofagus is a fictitious condition that was diagnosed by Dr. John Seward in Bram StokerBram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
's novel, Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
. Renfield, the mentally insane character who is diagnosed with the illness, is said to collect small animals at first, such as flies. Then, the flies attract spiders, and the spiders attract sparrows (the pattern is in a food chain, and each of the next largest animal eats the last of the smallest). In theory, it appears that Renfield desires to get the largest animal possible (perhaps even a human) so that he may eat it himself and collect all of the "life force" that the animal had consumed before him. After Dr. Seward's observations, he gives the proper title "zoofagus" to Renfield. Dr. Seward explains that this term that he created literally means "life eater".