Category: W
-
World psychiatric association (WPA)
A nongovernmental organization composed of about 120 member societies worldwide. Its headquarters are based in the home country of its secretariat.
-
Working through
Exploration of a problem by patient and therapist until a satisfactory solution has been found or until a symptom has been traced to its unconscious sources. This process aims at transforming intellectual understanding into emotional knowledge, resolving unconscious conflicts and thus leading to an increase in adaptive functioning and a decrease in symptoms. Confronting and…
-
Word salad
A mixture of words and phrases that lack comprehensive meaning or logical coherence. It may be seen in patients with schizophrenia, especially the disorganized type. Word hash. Words combined in a way that has no meaning, as in the speech of some persons with schizophrenia. Speech that includes a jumble of seemingly unrelated words; often…
-
Wool-hwa-byung
A culture-specific syndrome.
-
Withdrawal symptoms
The constellation of symptoms and signs that develops within a short period (usually hours) after cessation or significant reduction of use of a substance in a person with a pattern of heavy or prolonged use of that substance. The withdrawal symptoms tend to be specific for each substance. Physical and mental effects of withdrawing addictive…
-
Withdrawal (from psychoactive substances)
The cessation or significant reduction of use of a chemical substance in a person with a pattern of heavy or prolonged use of that substance, often accompanied by withdrawal symptoms.
-
Windigo
An idiom of distress often associated with the idea of the mystery and great concerns over a lost person. It is often cited in the literature as referring to the idea of cannibal compulsion among Algonkian Indians. A delusion of having been transformed into a windigo, a mythical monster that eats human flesh. It is…
-
Wilson’s disease
A autosomal recessive genetic disorder that causes excessive copper accumulation in the liver or brain. Patients may develop a range of psychiatric symptoms, including homicidal or suicidal behavior, depression, and aggression. A hereditary disease where copper deposits accumulate in the liver and the brain, causing cirthosis. Abnormal accumulation of copper in tissues due to an…
-
Williams syndrome
An autosomal dominant disorder associated with a deletion on chromosome 7. Individuals with this syndrome have an “elfin” facial appearance, mild to moderate intellectual disability, delayed acquisition of motor milestones, and persistent gross and fine motor clumsiness. In contrast, they often possess extraordinary talents in music and verbal fluency. Williams syndrome (WS) is characterized by…
-
Wernicke’s encephalopathy
A disease due to a nutritional deficiency of vitamin B1 (thiamine), which provokes acute mental confusion, ataxia, and ophthalmoplegia (paralysis of some or all the muscles of the eye). A condition caused by lack of Vitamin B, which often affects alcoholics and in which the person is delirious, moves the eyes about rapidly, walks unsteadily…