Author: Glossary

Major depressive episode with delusions or hallucinations whose content may be consistent with the depressive themes of inadequacy, guilt, disease, or death. Features such as persecutory delusions, thought insertion, thought broadcasting, and delusions of control may be present.  

One of the dissociative disorders, characterized by persistent or recurrent feelings of being detached from one’s body or mental processes. The affected person often describes a sense of being an automaton or an outside observer of him- or herself. DSM-III-R term for depersonalization neurosis. A dissociative disorder in which the person feels unreal and estranged…

Feelings of unreality or strangeness concerning the environment, the self, or both. This state is characteristic of depersonalization disorder but also may occur in schizotypal personality disorder, in schizophrenia, and in persons experiencing overwhelming anxiety, stress, or fatigue. The loss of the sense of personal identity, often with a feeling of being something or someone…

Vital needs for mothering, love, affection, shelter, protection, security, food, and warmth. May be a manifestation of regression when they reappear excessively in adults.  

Chemical dependence; sometimes defined in terms of physiological dependence, as evidenced by tolerance or withdrawal; at other times, defined in terms of impairment in social and occupational functioning resulting from the pathological and repeated use of a substance. In the latter definition, tolerance and withdrawal symptoms may be present but are not essential. The behaviors…

A federal department established in 1953 as the u.s. Department of health, education and welfare (DHW) to supervise and coordinate the following agencies: agency for healthcare research and quality (AHRQ); agency for toxic substances and disease registry (ATSDR); u.s. Food and drug administration (FDA); substance abuse and mental health services administration (SAMHSA); national institutes of…

Brand name for the anticonvulsant drug divalproex sodium.  

Brand name for the anticonvulsant drug valproic acid.  

Brand name (now discontinued) for the opioid antagonist drug naltrexone.  

An anticonvulsant medication used in the treatment of complex partial seizures and as a mood stabilizer to treat bipolar disorder. The brand name for valproate.