Author: Glossary

Computer-enhanced analysis and display of electroencephalographic and evoked response studies. In evoked response studies, a stimulus (e.g., flashing light) is presented to the individual, and the responses are recorded electrically from scalp electrodes. Computers translate the information into a topographic, colored display of electrical activity over the surface of the brain. It is useful in…

The part of the nervous system contained in the skull; it includes the cerebrum, midbrain, cerebellum, pons, and medulla oblongata. Mechanisms and neurochemicals in the brain (their signals, neurons, and connections) are studied through psychology (mind and behavior), neurogenetics (DNA and anatomy), neuroimaging (linking areas of the brain to function, like the hippocampus to memory…

A neurological condition characterized by a generalized slowness of motor activity. It is seen especially in parkinson’s disease and in lewy body dementia. Extreme slowness of movement. A condition in which the someone walks slowly and makes slow movements because of disease. Abnormal slowness of voluntary movement and speech. Bradykinesia may occur as a side…

A relatively common birth defect syndrome with multiple malformations and intellectual disability of unknown origin. Symptoms exhibited by affected individuals also include hyperactivity, self-injurious behavior, aggression, sleep disturbance, and “autistic-like” behaviors (e.g., diminished social relatedness, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors).  

A culture-specific syndrome observed in West Africa and haiti. This french term refers to a sudden outburst of agitated and aggressive behavior, marked confusion, and psychomotor excitement. It may sometimes be accompanied by visual and auditory hallucinations or paranoid ideation. These episodes may resemble an episode of brief psychotic disorder.  

As conceptualized by otto kernberg (1928–), a primitive character structure represented by a fluid and labile sense of identity; desperate fear of isolation and aloneness, along with chaotic intimate relationships in which the other is both intensely needed and experienced as toxic and rejecting; and the use of archaic defenses of splitting and projective identification.…

In dsm-iv-tr, an additional condition that may be a focus of clinical attention, especially when it coexists with a disorder such as schizophrenia. The intelligence quotient (iq) is in the 71–84 range.  

The expression of feelings or thoughts transmitted by one’s motions, posture, or facial expressions that have meaning within the context in which they appear. A form of communicating by the posturing of the body and/or its parts. The expression on your face, or the way you hold your body, interpreted by other people as unconsciously…

One’s sense of the self and one’s body; a multidimensional construct that encompasses perceptions, thoughts, and feelings about the body. The way a person perceives his or her own body. The mental image which a person has of their own body. An awareness of one’s body as being separate from the environment, of its parts…

One of the somatoform disorders, characterized by preoccupation with some imagined or slight defect in appearance that causes clinically significant distress or impairs social or occupational functioning. Preoccupation with minor defects in the appearance of the body, particularly the face, with the demand for frequent plastic surgery. A preoccupation with one or more imagined defects…