Author: Glossary
-
Claustrophobia
The fear of closed spaces or crowded rooms. Abnormal dread of being confined in closed rooms or small spaces; it is more common in women, can often be traced to an earlier traumatic experience, and is treated by psychotherapy and sometimes desensitization therapy. A fear of confined areas or enclosed spaces that can lead to…
-
Clanging
A type of thinking in which the sound of a word, rather than its meaning, gives the direction to subsequent associations. Punning and rhyming may substitute for logic, and language may become increasingly a senseless compulsion to associate and decreasingly a vehicle for communication. For example, in response to the statement “That will probably remain…
-
Citicoline
A naturally occurring endogenous nucleoside widely used in the treatment of loss of consciousness due to head trauma and brain surgery. Citicoline also has been used in the treatment of patients recovering from ischemic stroke, showing improvement in their cognitive function.
-
Citalopram
A selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) antidepressant medication approved to treat depression and also used by clinicians to treat certain anxiety disorders. Marketed under the brand name celexa. An antidepressant drug. Citalopram (Celexa, and others] is one of a group of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) that are thought to work by raising levels of…
-
Cisternography
A radiological study used to evaluate the flow pattern of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by the introduction of a non-diffusible radiopharmaceutical agent into the subarachnoid space. Cisternography is used in the diagnosis of communicating hydrocephalus and CSF leaks and the postoperative evaluation of ventricular shunts. Radiographic evaluation of the basal cisterns of the brain and of…
-
Circumstantiality
A pattern of speech that is indirect and delayed in reaching its goal because of excessive or irrelevant detail or parenthetical remarks. The speaker does not lose the point, as is characteristic of lossening of associations, and clauses remain logically connected, but to the listener it seems that the end will never be reached. Compare…
-
Circadian rhythm sleep disorders
A family of sleep disorders that affects the timing of sleep (among other things). Circadian rhythm sleep disorders may be characterized as either extrinsic or intrinsic. Formerly known as sleep-wake schedule disorder; a dyssomnia consisting of sleep disruption leading to excessive sleepiness or insomnia that is due to a mismatch between the sleep-wake schedule required…
-
Cingulate gyrus
A ridge in the medial part of the brain. The cortical part of the cingulate gyrus is referred to as the cingulate cortex. The cingulate gyrus functions as an integral part of the limbic system, which is involved with emotion formation and processing, learning, and memory. A brain structure with a long, curved convolution on…
-
Cingulate cortex
A part of the brain situated in the medial aspect of the cerebral cortex.
-
Chronobiology
The science or study of temporal factors in life stages and disorders, such as the sleep-wake cycle and biological clocks and rhythms. The study of processes that repeat themselves at regular intervals under control of an internal timing mechanism within the patient. The best known of these is the circadian rhythm, with periods matching the…