Author: Glossary

The co-occurrence within one’s lifetime of a psychiatric disorder and a substance use disorder. Comorbidity is the preferred term. The occurrence of both mental illness and alcohol or drug dependence in the same person. Some authorities estimate that as many as one of every two people with serious mental health problems is also dependent on…

Coexisting substance abuse and mental illness.  

A syndrome resembling parkinson’s disease, resulting from the dopamine-blocking action of antipsychotics, particularly the conventional antipsychotic medications. The symptoms include akinesia (reduced voluntary motor movements), masklike facies, and a coarse, pill-rolling tremor. The tremor is less common in this syndrome than in the naturally occurring disorder.  

Discontinuance of a therapeutic drug for a limited time. Sometimes a drug holiday is used as a method of evaluating baseline behavior or as a means of controlling or reducing the dosage of psychoactive drugs and side effects. A period of several days to several weeks in which medications are withdrawn from the patient to…

Habituation to, abuse of, and/or addiction to a chemical substance. Largely because of psychological craving, the life of the drug-dependent person revolves around the need for the specific effect of one or more chemical agents on mood or state of consciousness. The term thus includes not only the addiction (which emphasizes the physiological dependence) but…

A court given responsibility to handle cases involving substance-abusing offenders through comprehensive supervision, drug testing, treatment services, and immediate sanctions and incentives. Drug court offers individuals facing criminal charges for drug use and possession an opportunity to enter a substance abuse recovery program in lieu of serving straight jail time. The first drug court in…

A tricyclic antidepressant medication used in the treatment of depression. Now available only as generic but may still be known by the discontinued brand names adapin and sinequan. A heterocyclic antidepressant. A drug used as a sedative and antidepressant. Tricyclic antidepressant used to treat depression. Adverse effects include sedation, dry mouth, and gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and…

Interaction in which one person demands a response to a message containing mutually contradictory signals, while the other person is unable either to comment on the incongruity or to escape from the situation. Referring to a study design in which several treatments, usually one or more drugs and a placebo, are compared in such a…

Brand name for the benzodiazepine sedative-hypnotic drug quazepam.  

Sites located on the surface membranes of neurons in the central nervous system (CNS) and in cells outside the CNS (e.g., kidneys) to which the neurotransmitter dopamine binds, activating dopamine signaling and cellular response. Dopamine receptors (of which there are five known subtypes: D1–D5) are involved in many neurological processes, including motivation, pleasure, cognition, memory,…