Author: Glossary

Clinical assessment, often repeated at specific intervals following discharge from inpatient or outpatient treatment. Its major purposes are to evaluate the need for adjustment of medication dosage, to detect signs of relapse, to measure improvement over time, and to identify (and, when possible, control) significant contributory factors to the maintenance or recurrence of symptoms.  

Brand name for the central nervous system (CNS) stimulant drug dexmethylphenidate.  

Brief psychotherapy that concentrates on a central or core issue or a circumscribed area of conflict as the only or major object of intervention efforts. Focalization refers to the ability of the therapist and patient to agree on a psychodynamic target for the treatment.  

A selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medication approved for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder but also used by clinicians to treat depression, panic disorder, and eating disorders. Marketed under the brand name luvox. An SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) medication employed for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) alongside other related conditions.  

A long-acting benzodiazepine sedative-hypnotic medication frequently used to treat insomnia. Marketed under the brand name dalmane. A nonbarbiturate sedative-hypnotic and a minor tranquilizer prescribed under the brand name of Dalmane. The only benzodiazepine promoted as a hypnotic. Minor tranquilizer used to treat insomnia. Adverse effects include drug hangover (next- day sleepiness), dizziness, and possibly the…

A conventional antipsychotic medication (a phenothiazine of the piperazine class) used to treat schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Now available only as generic but may still be known by the discontinued brand name prolixin. Tranquilizer used to treat psychotic disorders. Adverse effects include hypotension, liver toxicity, and blood abnormalities. A tranquilizer used to relieve anxiety…

A selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant medication used to treat depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and eating disorders. Marketed under the brand name prozac. A drug that increases serotonin in the brain and is used to treat anxiety and depression. An appetite suppressant. A drug used to treat depression, bulimia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Fluoxetine (Prozac) is…

A short-to intermediate-acting benzodiazepine derivative available in some countries for the treatment of severe insomnia under the brand name rohypnol. In the united states, flunitrazepam is considered to be an illegal drug. Although its illicit use has been implicated in cases of “date rape,” flunitrazepam is more often used recreationally (in street slang, it is…

A behavior therapy procedure for phobias and other problems involving maladaptive anxiety, in which the causes of the anxiety are presented in intense forms, either in imagination or in real life. The presentations, which act as desensitizers, are continued until the stimuli no longer produce disabling anxiety. A method of treating a phobia by systematically…

A nearly continuous flow of accelerated speech with abrupt changes from one topic to another, usually based on understandable associations, distracting stimuli, or playing on words. When severe, however, this may lead to disorganized and incoherent speech. Flight of ideas is characteristic of manic episodes, but it also may occur in dementia, schizophrenia, other psychoses,…