Author: Glossary

Fluctuation of a person’s emotional tone between periods of elation and periods of depression.  

A group of medications that includes lithium carbonate, certain anticonvulsants, and the atypical antipsychotics. Mood stabilizers are believed to function at the receptor or intracellular level to prevent the onset of mania or depression in bipolar disorder and are effective in treating the symptoms of mania. Any agent or therapy that prevents or relieves wide…

In dsm-iv-tr, this category includes depressive disorders, bipolar disorders, mood disorder due to a general medical condition, and substance-induced (intoxication or withdrawal) mood disorder. A DSM-III-R term for major affective disorders. A general classification of mental disorders that involve prolonged disturbance of mood, coloring the person’s outlook, such as depression and bipolar disorders (popularly called…

Secondary mood disorder; prominent and persistent depression (with depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure) or mania (elevated, expansive, or irritable mood), or both, associated with a medical condition classified outside the ICD-10 list of mental disorders.  

Pervasive and sustained emotion. A pervasive and sustained emotion that, in the extreme, markedly colors one’s perception of the world. Common examples of mood include depression, elation, and anger. Moderate changes in emotions. A person’s mental state at a particular time. The pervasive, long-lasting emotional state that shapes how a person sees his or her…

Use of a single medication or therapy to treat a disease or disorder. Contrast with combination treatment. Treatment with a single drug, for example, a single antihypertensive agent.  

An assumption that an individual’s cultural way of doing things is the only correct way and all other ways have no value.  

A group of antidepressant medications that exert their antidepressant and anxiolytic effects through inhibition of the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO) in the brain, resulting in elevated levels of neurotransmitters. Maois are infrequently prescribed because of the risk of hypertensive crisis if dietary restrictions are not followed and because of the potential for dangerous drug-drug interactions.…

An enzyme found in the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral organs, including the brain, gastrointestinal tract, and liver, that breaks down biogenic amines (neurotransmitters) and other monoamines (e.g., tyramine), rendering them inactive. Inhibition of this enzyme (for which there are two forms, mao-a and mao-b) by certain antidepressant drugs (monoamine oxidase inhibitors [maois]) may…