Author: Glossary
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Basal nucleus of meynert
A group of nerve cells in the substantia Innominata of the basal forebrain that has wide projections to the Neocortex and is rich in acetylcholine and choline acetyltransferase. In parkinson’s disease and alzheimer’s disease, the nucleus undergoes degeneration. A decrease in acetylcholine production is seen in alzheimer’s disease, lewy body dementia, and some parkinson’s disease…
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Basal ganglia
Clusters of neurons located deep in the brain; they include the caudate nucleus and the putamen (corpus striatum), the globus pallidus, the subthalamic nucleus, and the substantia nigra. The basal ganglia appear to be involved in higher-order aspects of motor control, such as planning and execution of complex motor activity and the speed of movements.…
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Basal forebrain
The basal forebrain is a group of structures that lie near the bottom of the front of the brain. It includes the nucleus basalis, diagonal band, medial septum, and substantia innominata. It is considered to be the major cholinergic output of the central nervous system (CNS). These structures are important in the production of acetylcholine,…
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Barbiturates
An older class of medications, originally developed to treat seizure disorders, anxiety, and insomnia, that depress the activities of the central nervous system (cns). These medications are seldom used in clinical practice today because of their lethality in overdose and their high likelihood for abuse and dependence. Drugs that depress the activities of the central…
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Balint syndrome
Named after rudolph balint (1874–1929), a neurologist and psychiatrist from hungary, it is characterized by optic ataxia (the inability to move the hand to an object by using vision) and simultanagnosia (inability to comprehend more than one element of a visual scene at the same time or to integrate the parts into a whole). These…
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Bad object
One of the results of splitting of the psychic representations of objects into their pleasurable, exciting, good, supportive, nurturing, and needs-meeting aspects (i.e., the good object) and their unpleasurable, frustrating, undesirable, painful, deprecatory, damaged, critical, hostile, incomplete, and disavowed aspects (i.e., the bad object). Splitting is a normal EGO mechanism during infantile development; in the…
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Baah-ji
A culture-specific syndrome.
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Azilect
Brand name for the antiparkinsonian medication rasagiline.
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Azapirones
A class of psychoactive drugs derived from pierazine that are used as anxiolytics, antidepressants, and antipsychotics. Medications in this class are also commonly used as augmentation to other antidepressants. An example is buspirone (Buspar).
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Avolition
Lack of initiative or goals; one of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. The person may wish to do something, but the desire is without power or energy. A negative symptom in schizophrenia in which the person lacks interest and drive.