Psych: From 1 Different Sources
(psycho-) combining form denoting 1. the mind; psyche. 2. psychology.
The mind or soul of an individual and his or her mental – in contrast to the physical – functioning.... psyche
The branch of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental and emotional disorders. Those who specialize in care of older adults are called geriatric psychiatrists, old-age psychiatrists, psychogeriatricians or geropsychiatrists.... psychiatry
Profession dealing with peoples’ behaviour and cognition and their effects.... psychology
Psychological (as opposed to physical) methods of treatment for mental disorders and psychological problems.... psychotherapy
One of a group of mental disorders in which the affected person loses contact with reality. Thought processes are so disturbed that the person does not always realise that he or she is ill. Symptoms include DELUSIONS, HALLUCINATIONS, loss of emotion, MANIA, DEPRESSION, poverty of thought and seriously abnormal behaviour. Psychoses include SCHIZOPHRENIA, MANIC DEPRESSION and organically based mental disorders. (See also MENTAL ILLNESS.)... psychosis
A term that describes physical disorders that seem to have been caused, or made worse, by psychological factors. Common examples of conditions that may be psychosomatic are headache, breathlessness, nausea, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, peptic ulcer, and types of eczema. (See also somatization disorder.)... psychosomatic
The branch of PSYCHIATRY that investigates, diagnoses and treats the mental-health problems of old people. Psychogeriatricians work in close co-operation with physicians for the care of the elderly, and with other health professionals and social workers in this branch of medicine.... psychogeriatrics
Psychologists have a graduate degree in PSYCHOLOGY, followed by an accredited postgraduate training leading to chartered status. There are a number of di?erent branches related to the various applications psychology has to di?erent ?elds of work.... psychologist
The use of standardised psychological tests to measure di?erences in functions – for example, intelligence and personality – in individuals.... psychometrics
A general term applied to various functional disorders of the nervous system. (See NEUROSIS.)... psychoneurosis
Any disease of the mind... psychopathy
A?ecting the mind. Psychotropic drugs include HALLUCINOGENS, HYPNOTICS or sleeping drugs, sedatives, TRANQUILLISERS and NEUROLEPTICS (antipsychotic drugs).... psychotropic
A term for a symptom or disorder that is caused by psychological or emotional problems.... psychogenic
The study of abnormal mental processes. There are 2 main approaches: the descriptive, which aims to record symptoms that make up a diagnosis of mental illness; and the psychoanalytic, which is concerned with the unconscious feelings and motives of the individual.... psychopathology
The study of drugs that affect mental states, such as antipsychotic drugs, antidepressant drugs, and anti-anxiety drugs.... psychopharmacology
Drugs, such as CANNABIS and LYSERGIC ACID DIETHYLAMIDE (LSD), that expand consciousness and perception. (See DEPENDENCE.)... psychedelic drugs
Institutions which provide a domestic setting for confused, older people who require 24-hour care, but whose behaviour makes them unsuitable for accommodation in a general purpose facility.... psychogeriatric facility
Relating to the relationships between the behavioural, emotional, mental and physiological characteristics of sex or sexual development.... psychosexual
Any previously existing mental-health problems may worsen under the stress of pregnancy and childbirth, and a woman’s socio-economic circumstances may be an in?uential factor. Mood swings are common in pregnant women and mothers of new babies; sympathetic support from sta? and relations will usually remedy the situation. If postnatal depression lasts for more than a week or two the use of mild ANTIDEPRESSANT DRUGS may be justi?ed. If depression persists, referral to a psychiatrist may be advisable. Rarely, severe psychiatric problems – puerperal psychosis – may develop during or after pregnancy and referral to an appropriate psychiatric unit is then essential. If the mother’s social circumstances are unsatisfactory, advice should be sought from social services departments. Mothers may also need advice on bene?ts to which they are entitled and how to claim them. Bene?ts Agency o?ces or Citizens’ Advice Bureaux as well as antenatal clinics are useful sources of information.... psychological and social problems
Adjective describing PSYCHOSIS or noun referring to someone with a psychosis.... psychotic
is aimed at stabilising and strengthening the psychological defence mechanisms of those patients who are confronted by a crisis which threatens to overwhelm their ability to cope, or who are struggling with the aftermath of major life events.... short-term supportive psychotherapy
See psychoanalysis.... analysis, psychological
See Wernicke– Korsakoff syndrome.... korsakoff’s psychosis
The measurement of psychological functions using intelligence tests, personality tests, and tests for specific aptitudes, such as memory, logic, concentration, and speed of response.... psychometry
A range of disorders that are related to sexual function. Psychosexual disorders include transsexualism, psychosexual dysfunction, and sexual deviation.... psychosexual disorders
Taken at face value, the term ‘psychosomatic’ simply means the interaction of psyche (mind) and soma (body). As such it is a noncontroversial concept that points out the many ways in which psychological factors affect the expression of physical disorder and vice-versa. Few doubt that stress makes many physical illnesses worse, at least as far as symptoms are concerned. There are also few physical illnesses in which the outcome is not made worse by psychological factors: depression after a heart attack, for example, has a worse e?ect on prognosis than even smoking. A little more problematic is the very popular belief that stress causes relapses of physical disorders, such as cancer; some studies have found this to be the case, others not.
However, calling a condition psychosomatic implies something more – the primacy of the psyche over the soma. Going back to the in?uential theories and practice of PSYCHOANALYSIS as expounded from the 1930s, many diseases have been proposed as the result of psychological factors.These have included PEPTIC ULCER, ULCERATIVE COLITIS, ASTHMA, PSORIASIS and others. In this view, much physical disorder is due to repressed or excessive emotions. Likewise it is also argued that whereas some people express psychological distress via psychological symptoms (such as anxiety, depression and so on), others develop physical symptoms instead – and that they are also at greater risk of physical disease.
The trouble with this view is that medical advances repeatedly show that it goes too far. Stress certainly causes physical symptoms – for example, DYSPEPSIA – but the belief that it caused peptic ulcers vanished with the discovery of the true cause: colonisation of the stomach by the bacterium, Helicobacter pylori. Of course, stress and social adversity affect the risk of many diseases. For example, the incidence of heart disease among UK government employees (civil servants) has been shown to be in?uenced by their social class and their degree of job satisfaction. But we do not know how this works. Some argue that social adversity and stress in?uence how the heart functions (‘He died of a broken heart’). Stress can also affect IMMUNITY but it cannot cause AIDS/HIV and we do not know if there is a link running from stress to abnormal immune function to actual illness.
We can say that psychological factors provoke physical symptoms, and often even explain how this can happen. For example, when you are anxious you produce more epinephrine (adrenaline), which gives rise to chest pain, ‘butter?ies in the stomach’ and PALPITATION. These symptoms are not ‘all in the mind’, even if the trigger is a psychological one. People who are depressed are more likely to experience nearly every physical symptom there is, but especially pain and fatigue. Taken as a whole, psychologically induced symptoms are an enormous burden on the NHS and probably responsible for more doctor visits and sickness absence than any other single cause. Also we can be con?dent that social adversity and stress powerfully in?uence the outcome of many illnesses; likewise, a vast range of unhealthy activities and behaviours such as smoking, excessive alcohol intake, excessive eating, and so on. But we must be careful not to assume that our emotions directly cause our illnesses.... psychosomatic diseases
A disorder in which there is interference with the sexual response for no physical cause.... psychosexual dysfunction
Drugs that have an effect on the mind, including hallucinogenic drugs, sedative drugs, sleeping drugs, tranquillizer drugs, and antipsychotic drugs.... psychotropic drugs
adj. describing drugs that induce an altered state of consciousness or perception. Psychedelic drugs, which include *lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and *cannabis, are *hallucinogens and are used legally only for medical or scientific purposes.... psychedelic
A system of ideas developed by Sigmund Freud that explains personality and behaviour in terms of unconscious wishes and conflicts. The main emphasis was on sexuality. Freud believed that a child passes through 3 stages in the first 18 months of life: oral, anal, and genital. After this, the child develops a sexual attraction to the parent of the opposite sex and wants to eliminate the other parent (Oedipus complex). Sexual feelings become latent around age 5 but reemerge at puberty. Psychological problems may develop if fixation occurs at a primitive stage. Modern psychoanalysis has progressed from these ideas and is generally based on the observation that most emotional problems are caused by childhood experiences. Psychoanalysis attempts to free the individual from the past, helping him or her to become a real person in the present. Psychoanalytic theory is decreasing in influence.... psychoanalytic theory
the branch of psychology concerned with all human activities relating to knowledge. More specifically, cognitive psychology is concerned with how knowledge is acquired, stored, correlated, and retrieved, by studying the mental processes underlying attention, concept formation, information processing, memory, and speech. Cognitive psychology views the brain as an information-processing system operating on, and storing, the data acquired by the senses. It investigates this function by experiments designed to measure and analyse human performance in carrying out a wide range of mental tasks. The data obtained allows possible models of the underlying mental processes to be constructed. These models do not purport to represent the actual physiological activity of the brain. Nevertheless, as they are refined by testing and criticism, it is hoped that they may approach close to reality and gradually lead to a clearer understanding of how the brain operates.... cognitive psychology
the interface between medicine and psychiatry, recognized by the Royal College of Psychiatrists as a specialty of psychiatry. Liaison teams ideally consist of psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, pharmacists, health-care support workers, and social workers. They are usually located in general hospitals and see patients after *deliberate self-harm or when a mental illness or *delirium is suspected anywhere in the hospital, in order to diagnose and advise on treatment. They offer *psychosocial assessments, treatment plans, medication advice, and advice regarding mental health and capacity legislation, and support ward staff with the management of challenging patients. They also help develop plans for earlier discharges, provide training, and support governance structures.... liaison psychiatry
see PICU.... psychiatric intensive care unit
n. a medically qualified physician who specializes in the study and treatment of mental disorders. In the UK psychiatrists classically qualify by specialist training for at least six years after medical school and *Foundation Programme years.... psychiatrist
adj. 1. of or relating to the *psyche. 2. relating to parapsychological phenomena. 3. describing a person who is allegedly endowed with extrasensory or psychokinetic powers.... psychic
see polydipsia.... psychogenic polydipsia
see Gardner–Diamond syndrome.... psychogenic purpura
adj. relating to muscular and mental activity. The term is applied to disorders in which muscular activities are affected by cerebral disturbance.... psychomotor
see epilepsy.... psychomotor epilepsy
n. the study of the effects of the mind on the functioning of the immune system, especially in relation to the influence of the mind on susceptibility to disease and the progression of a disease.... psychoneuroimmunology
n. a person who behaves in an antisocial way and shows little or no guilt for antisocial acts and little capacity for forming emotional relationships with others. Psychopaths tend to respond poorly to treatment and do not learn from punishment, but many mature as they age. See also antisocial personality disorder. —psychopathic adj. —psychopathy n.... psychopath
n. the branch of psychology that records physiological measurements, such as the electrical resistance of the skin, the heart rate, the size of the pupil, and the electroencephalogram, and relates them to psychological events. —psychophysiological adj.... psychophysiology
the process by which an individual becomes more mature in his or her sexual feelings and behaviour. Gender identity, sex-role behaviour, and choice of sexual partner are the three major areas of development. In Freudian psychoanalysis the phrase is sometimes used specifically for a sequence of stages, supposed by psychoanalytic psychologists to be universal, in which oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages successively occur. These stages reflect the parts of the body on which sexual interest is concentrated during childhood development.... psychosexual development
an interviewing technique that combines psychiatric history taking with elements of problem solving in *psychotherapy: after a psychiatric history has been elicited, the interviewer summarizes the patient’s difficulties and offers potential solutions. It is often used in patients who have presented with *deliberate self-harm, and research suggests that it offers the possibility of reducing repetition rates in such patients.... psychosocial assessment
n. one of the three traits used by the British psychologist Hans Eysenck in his personality model, the others being extroversion and *neuroticism. Psychoticism is a personality pattern typified by aggressiveness and interpersonal hostility. Eysenck believed that high levels of this trait were linked to increased vulnerability to *psychosis but this has never been verified by subsequent research.... psychoticism
combining form denoting cold.... psychro
adj. describing organisms, especially bacteria, that grow best at temperatures of 0–25°C. Compare mesophilic; thermophilic.... psychrophilic
a *psychosis that is triggered by childbirth and usually arises in the first two weeks after giving birth. It affects 1 in 200 women; those suffering from bipolar affective disorder or schizophrenia or those who have a history of puerperal psychosis are at particularly high risk. The symptoms develop very rapidly and the patient needs to be hospitalized, ideally in a mother and baby psychiatric unit to avoid separation; most patients respond well to *antipsychotic medication.... puerperal psychosis
a delusion of having been transformed into a windigo, a mythical monster that eats human flesh. It is often quoted as an example of a culture-specific syndrome (confined to certain North American Indian tribes).... windigo psychosis
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