Author: Glossary
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Eye tracking
Various movements of the eyes (also called smooth pursuit eye movements [spem]) that enable the viewer to keep a moving target in focus. Eye-tracking abnormalities, such as jumpy extraneous eye movements that interfere with tracking, have been reported in 70%–80% of patients with schizophrenia and in 45%–50% of their first-degree relatives but in only 6%…
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Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)
A recent approach to the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The technique involves the patient’s imagining a scene from the trauma, focusing on the accompanying cognition and arousal, and tracking the therapist’s rapidly moving finger. This is repeated until Anxiety decreases, at which point the patient is told to think about a positive thought…
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Extraversion
A state in which attention and energies are largely directed outward from the self as opposed to inward toward the self, as in introversion. Also known as extroversion. An energy trait directed toward one’s outer world of objects or other people. A trait that refers to a person’s main energy direction; toward the outer world…
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Extrasensory perception (ESP)
Perception without recourse to the conventional use of any of the five physical senses. Awareness or knowledge obtained by means other than the five senses. A supposed way of perceiving that involves none of the known senses. Clairvoyance is the extrasensory perception of current events; precognition is extrasensory perception of future events; telepathy is extrasensory…
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Extrapyramidal system
The portion of the central nervous system (CNS) responsible for coordinating and integrating various aspects of motor behavior or body movements. This system is usually described in terms of cortical, basal ganglia, and midbrain levels of integration. The portion of the central nervous system responsible for coordinating and integrating various aspects of motor behavior or…
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Extrapyramidal syndrome
A variety of signs and symptoms—including muscular rigidity, tremors, drooling, shuffling gait (parkinsonism), restlessness (akathisia), unusual involuntary postures (dystonia), motor inertia (akinesia), and many other neurological disturbances—resulting from dysfunction of the extrapyramidal system. This syndrome may occur as a reversible side effect of certain conventional antipsychotic drugs, particularly phenothiazines. Any of several degenerative nervous system…
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Extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS)
A set of side effects commonly associated with antipsychotic medications. Extrapyramidal symptoms are usually divided into dyskinesias (movement disorders) and dystonias (muscle tension disorders). “Tardive” symptoms are those that appear during long-term treatment (often after several years). Unlike earlier symptoms, tardive symptoms are more likely to be permanent, remaining even after the medication is stopped.…
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Extinction
The weakening of a reinforced operant response as a result of ceasing reinforcement. In psychology, terminating the reinforcement of a behavior, which results in the behavior eventually being eliminated or stopped. The destruction or stopping of something. The lessening or stopping of a conditioned behavioural response through lack of reinforcement. In psychology, loss of a…
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Externalization
A mental process in which the individual attributes internal phenomena to the external world.
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Expressive psychoanalytic psychotherapy
A form of therapy that relies on the psychoanalytic concepts of transference, counter transference, and unconscious motivation, even though it may not adhere to some conventions of formal psychoanalysis, such as the use of a couch. It seeks to encourage the expression, understanding, and working-through of thoughts and feelings that may have been previously unavailable…