Author: Glossary
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Acamprosate
A medication used in alcohol dependence to help control relapse and maintain abstinence. Acamprosate’s therapeutic effects are thought to be due to actions on GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid) receptors. Marketed under the brand name campral. A medication used in Europe for its effectiveness in decreasing relapse to heavy drinking in abstinent alcoholic patients. It has been…
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Acalculia
Loss of previously possessed facility with arithmetic calculation. Loss of the ability to calculate. Inability to solve mathematical problems. Acalculia, also known as acquired dyscalculia, is the loss of arithmetic skills due to brain injury. The arithmetic difficulties may involve the reading or writing of numbers or arithmetic signs and misaligning or rotating digits or…
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Academic problem
School difficulty that is not due to a mental disorder. Examples are failing grades or significant underachievement in a person with adequate intellectual capacity.
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Abused child
A child or an infant who has suffered repeated injuries, which may include bone fractures, neurological and psychological damage, or sexual abuse at the hands of a parent, parents, or parent surrogate(s). The physical abuse is often precipitated by the child’s normal and age-appropriate mildly irritating behavior. Child abuse also includes child neglect. The abuse…
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Abuse (of psychoactive substances)
Impairment in social and occupational functioning resulting from the pathological and “compulsive” use of a substance. The concept is closely related to the definition of substance dependence, which has similar symptoms of impairment but may also include evidence of physiological tolerance or withdrawal. Typical symptoms of substance abuse include inability to fulfill major role obligations…
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Abuse (child, elder, spouse)
To misuse, attack, or injure. The abuse may be sexual, physical, or emotional. Cruel treatment of a child by an adult, including physical and sexual harm. This traditional term covers the neglect, physical injury, emotional trauma and sexual abuse of a child. Professional staff responsible for the care and well-being of children now refer to…
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Abulia
Lack of will or motivation, often expressed as inability to make decisions or set goals. Lack of will or motivation, often expressed as inability to make decisions; Loss of will power. Impaired ability to make decisions, perform voluntary actions, react emotionally or verbally; commonly associated with bilateral frontal lobe disease. Absence or impairment of will…
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Abstract thinking
A thinking that is removed from the facts of the “here and now,” is characterized by the ability to use facts to develop generalizations. Often it is tested by asking patients to interpret proverbs. The ability to calculate, sort, categorize, conceptualize, draw conclusions, or interpret and condense complex ideas. In clinical medicine, abstract thinking is…
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Abstract attitude (categorical attitude)
A type of cognitive functioning that includes assuming a mental set voluntarily; shifting voluntarily from a specific aspect of a situation to the general; keeping in mind simultaneously various aspects of a situation; grasping the essentials of a whole, breaking it into its parts, and isolating them voluntarily; and/or thinking or performing symbolically. A characteristic…
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Abstinence
Forgoing some kind of gratification, such as not engaging in sex. In the area of alcohol or drug dependence, being without the substance on which the subject had been dependent. Voluntarily denying oneself some kind of gratification; in the area of alcohol or drug dependence, being without the substance on which the subject is dependent.…