Author: Glossary
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Panphobia
The fear of everything.
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Panic disorder
Recurrent, unexpected panic attacks, at least one of which is followed by a month or more of persisting concern about having these attacks. Panic disorder is categorized as with or without agoraphobia, depending on whether criteria for that condition are also met. Discrete periods of intense fear or discomfort. Listed in DSM-lIl-R as an anxiety…
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Panic attack
A period of intense fear or discomfort, with the abrupt development of a variety of physical symptoms and fears of dying, going crazy, or losing control that reach a crescendo within 10 minutes. The symptoms may include shortness of breath or smothering sensations; dizziness, faintness, or feelings of unsteadiness; trembling or shaking; sweating; choking; nausea…
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Panic
Sudden, overwhelming anxiety of such intensity that it produces terror and physiological changes. A severe personality disorganization involving intense anxiety and usually paralyzing immobility or blind flight, panic disorder. A feeling of great fear which cannot be stopped and which sometimes results in irrational behaviour. Intense, overwhelming fear, producing terror, physiological changes, and often immobility…
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Pamelor
Brand name for the tricyclic antidepressant drug nortriptyline. A commercial preparation of nortriptyline.
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Pallidotomy
A procedure in which a tiny electrical probe is placed in the Globus pallidus and heated to 80° Celsius in order to destroy a small area of brain cells. Pallidotomy is used to treat dyskinesia’s in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Creating a scar in the Globus pallidus reduces the brain activity in that area, which…
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Paliperidone
An atypical antipsychotic medication indicated for the acute and maintenance treatment of schizophrenia. Marketed under the brand name invega.
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Palinopsia
Perceptual distortion in which an image persists after removal of the stimulus. Abnormal experience of recurrent visual hallucinations. Persistence of a visual image after the object has been removed. It may be associated with a lesion in the occipital lobe of the brain.
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Palilalia
A neurological condition characterized by the repetition of a phrase or word with increasing rapidity. It can be a symptom of tourette’s disorder, asperger’s disorder, or autistic disorder. A speech disorder in which the person repeats words. A rare condition in which a person repeats a phrase over and over with increasing rapidity; it often…
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Pain disorder
One of the somatoform disorders, characterized by pain in one or more sites that causes marked distress or impairs occupational or social functioning. The pain may occur in the absence of any physical finding that might explain it (psychological type), or it may be related to an existing general medical condition. A disorder in which…