Author: Glossary

An anticholinergic medication used to treat parkinson’s disease and to control medication-induced extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS). The brand name kemadrin was discontinued by the manufacturer in 2008, and no generics are currently available. Drug used to reduce tremor in Parkinsonism and also to control the side effects of antipsychotic medications. Adverse effects include dry mouth, blurred…

A memory that is not readily available in words or images, is not conscious, and is revealed by behavioral and emotional patterns that are elicited without the subject’s awareness. Contrast with declarative memory. The ability to recall how to perform activities or functions. This type of memory is usually preserved when other memory functions are…

A specific form of intellectual activity used when a person faces a situation that cannot be handled in terms of past learning. Problem-solving strategies are considered crucial in any psychotherapeutic endeavor.  

A simple conceptual framework to expedite and improve medical records. It contains four logically sequenced sections: the database, the problem list, plans, and follow-up. A record of patient care which links patients’ clinical data with their problems, so that all aspects of the care process are focused on resolving those problems.  

Information imparted by a patient or client within the context of a professional relationship with a practitioner (i.e., physician, lawyer) that is immune to disclosure without the patient’s or client’s expressed permission. Freedom from the obligation to report to authorities information concerning legal guilt that is revealed by a client or patient during counseling, essentially…

Brand name for an extended-release formulation of the serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) antidepressant drug desvenlafaxine.  

A small protein particle that can transmit an infectious disease. Prion diseases are often referred to as spongiform encephalopathies because of the postmortem appearance of the brain, with large vacuoles in the cerebral cortex and cerebellum. Most mammalian species can develop these diseases. Creutzfeldt-jakob disease is the most common of the prion diseases. The infective…

The condition established as the primary reason for the admission of the patient to the hospital or for outpatient treatment.  

In psychoanalytic theory, the generally unorganized mental activity characteristic of the unconscious. This activity is marked by the free discharge of energy and excitation without regard to the demands of environment, reality, or logic. Contrast with secondary process. In Freudian theory, impulses of the id that are pleasure seeking and make no sharp distinction between…

The earliest form of identification with an object, which occurs before the infant can distinguish the self from the object.