Author: Glossary

A culture-specific syndrome, unique to japan and not listed in dsm-iv-tr, in which the parent kills the child before committing suicide. The parent kills the child because that is considered preferable to leaving the child to make its way in the world without a family.  

An anticonvulsant medication used in neurology as an adjunctive treatment or as monotherapy for partial seizures in adults and children with epilepsy and used in psychiatry to treat bipolar disorder that has not responded to standard treatments. Marketed under the brand name trileptal.  

A benzodiazepine anxiolytic medication most commonly used to treat various anxiety disorders, alcohol withdrawal symptoms, and sometimes (together with an antidepressant) anxiety associated with depression. Now available only as generic but may still be known by the discontinued brand name serax. A benzodiazepine sedative. Serax is the brand name. Minor tranquilizer used to treat anxiety.…

Excitation that exceeds the subject’s or the system’s ability to master it or to discharge it. In accordance with the economic viewpoint, the psyche has a finite capacity for tension. When that capacity is exceeded, the psyche feels pain (anxiety), and the excessive stimulation constitutes a trauma. Eventually, anxiety becomes a signal that danger is…

The concept of multiple unconscious causes of an emotional reaction or symptom. The idea in psychoanalysis that every symptom and dream may have several meanings, being determined by more than a single association.  

A conscious or an unconscious process in which a real or an imagined physical or psychological deficit generates exaggerated correction. Concept introduced by the austrian psychiatrist alfred adler (1870–1937). A marked exaggeration of compensatory behavior in an effort to cover up weakness or inferiority, compensation. An attempt by a person to remove the bad effects…

An anxiety disorder of childhood and adolescence, sometimes considered equivalent to the adult diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Symptoms include multiple unrealistic anxieties concerning the quality of one’s performance in school and in sports, hobbies, money matters, punctuality, health, appearance, or other issues. The patient is tense and unable to relax and has recurrent…

A patient who is receiving ambulatory care at a hospital or other health facility without being admitted to the facility. A person who is treated at a facility without residing there, inpatient. A patient who is receiving ambulatory care at a hospital or other health facility without being admitted to the facility. Usually does not…

An approach that involves the collaborative efforts of psychiatry, psychology, psychiatric social work, and other behavioral, medical, and social sciences in the study and treatment of human behavior in the clinical setting. Emphasis is placed on preventive techniques to promote healthy emotional growth and development, particularly of children. The area of psychiatry that is primarily…

Drugs that the pharmaceutical companies do not wish to develop either because they cannot be patented, because they are used only in rare conditions by very few people, or because of a variety of economic reasons. In such cases, the federal government may work with the companies to make the drugs available to those persons…