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Alexithymia
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Alexithymia A disturbance in affective and cognitive function that can be present in an assortment of diagnostic entities. Is common in psychosomatic disorders, addictive disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder. The chief manifestations are difficulty in describing or recognizing one's own emotions, a limited fantasy life, and general constriction in affective life.
RELATED TERMS--------------------------------------
Cognitive
The mental process of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment.
Diagnostic
Pertaining to a diagnosis; usually refers to a characteristic or criteria which is critical for a specific diagnosis.
Stress
Mental or physical tension that results from physical, emotional, or chemical causes.
Fantasy
In imagination, a series of mental representations connected by a story line or dramatic plot that may possibly be translated into actuality. Imagery in the mind that is fictive rather than perceptual, and that tells a story in either pictures or words. A fantasy, like a dream, may be a program of expectations for the future, or a replay of past happenings, or a combination of both.
SIMILAR TERMS--------------------------------------
Alexander disease
A slowly progressive and ultimately fatal brain disorder that most commonly occurs in children. The infantile form of the disease is characterized by megalencephaly (an abnormally large head), seizures, spasticity and developmental retardation. It leads to death usually within the first decade. Patients with the juvenile and adult forms of Alexander disease typically experience ataxia and spasticity and a more slowly progressive course. The classic hallmark of all forms of Alexander disease is the presence of Rosenthal fibers, abnormal inclusions in astrocytes that contain the intermediate filament protein GFAP. Mutations in the gene for GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) cause Alexander disease, the first known example of a primary genetic disorder of astrocytes, one of the major cell types in the vertebrate CNS. The disease was first described by W. Stewart Alexander, a New Zealand pathologist, in 1949.
Alexia
Loss of a previously intact ability to grasp the meaning of written or printed words and sentences.
Alexian Brothers Medical Center
Alexian Brothers Medical Center is a hospital in Elk Grove Village, Illinois (USA).
PREVIOUS AND NEXT TERMS--------------------------------------
Agonist-antagonist medication
A chemical entity that is not naturally occuring within the body which acts on a family of receptors (such as mu, delta, and kappa opiate receptors) in such a fashion that it is an agonist or partial agonist on one type of receptor while at the same time it is also an antagonist on another different receptor.
Agraphia
The loss of a pre-existing ability to express one's self through the act of writing.
Akathisia
Complaints of restlessness accompanied by movements such as fidgeting of the legs, rocking from foot to foot, pacing, or inability to sit or stand. Symptoms can develop within a few weeks of starting or raising the dose of traditional neuroleptic medications or of reducing the dose of medication used to treat extrapyramidal symptoms. akathisia is a state of motor restlessness ranging from a feeling of inner disquiet to inability to sit still or lie quietly.
Akinetic mutism
A state of apparent alertness with following eye movements but no speech or voluntary motor responses.
Alexia
Loss of a previously intact ability to grasp the meaning of written or printed words and sentences.
Alexithymia
Algophobia
Fear of pain.
Alienation
The estrangement felt in a setting one views as foreign, unpredictable, or unacceptable. For example, in depersonalization phenomena, feelings of unreality or strangeness produce a sense of alienation from one's self or environment.
Alloplastic
Referring to adaptation by means of altering the external environment. This can be contrasted to autoplastic, which refers to the alteration of one's own behavior and responses.
Alogia
An impoverishment in thinking that is inferred from observing speech and language behavior. There may be brief and concrete replies to questions and restriction in the amount of spontaneous speech (poverty of speech). Sometimes the speech is adequate in amount but conveys little information because it is overconcrete, overabstract, repetitive, or stereotyped (poverty of content).
Ambivalence
The coexistence of contradictory emotions, attitudes, ideas, or desires with respect to a particular person, object, or situation. Ordinarily, the ambivalence is not fully conscious and suggests psychopathology only when present in an extreme form.
RELATED TERMS--------------------------------------
Cognitive
The mental process of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment.
Diagnostic
Pertaining to a diagnosis; usually refers to a characteristic or criteria which is critical for a specific diagnosis.
Stress
Mental or physical tension that results from physical, emotional, or chemical causes.
Fantasy
In imagination, a series of mental representations connected by a story line or dramatic plot that may possibly be translated into actuality. Imagery in the mind that is fictive rather than perceptual, and that tells a story in either pictures or words. A fantasy, like a dream, may be a program of expectations for the future, or a replay of past happenings, or a combination of both.
SIMILAR TERMS--------------------------------------
Alexander disease
A slowly progressive and ultimately fatal brain disorder that most commonly occurs in children. The infantile form of the disease is characterized by megalencephaly (an abnormally large head), seizures, spasticity and developmental retardation. It leads to death usually within the first decade. Patients with the juvenile and adult forms of Alexander disease typically experience ataxia and spasticity and a more slowly progressive course. The classic hallmark of all forms of Alexander disease is the presence of Rosenthal fibers, abnormal inclusions in astrocytes that contain the intermediate filament protein GFAP. Mutations in the gene for GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) cause Alexander disease, the first known example of a primary genetic disorder of astrocytes, one of the major cell types in the vertebrate CNS. The disease was first described by W. Stewart Alexander, a New Zealand pathologist, in 1949.
Alexia
Loss of a previously intact ability to grasp the meaning of written or printed words and sentences.
Alexian Brothers Medical Center
Alexian Brothers Medical Center is a hospital in Elk Grove Village, Illinois (USA).
PREVIOUS AND NEXT TERMS--------------------------------------
Agonist-antagonist medication
A chemical entity that is not naturally occuring within the body which acts on a family of receptors (such as mu, delta, and kappa opiate receptors) in such a fashion that it is an agonist or partial agonist on one type of receptor while at the same time it is also an antagonist on another different receptor.
Agraphia
The loss of a pre-existing ability to express one's self through the act of writing.
Akathisia
Complaints of restlessness accompanied by movements such as fidgeting of the legs, rocking from foot to foot, pacing, or inability to sit or stand. Symptoms can develop within a few weeks of starting or raising the dose of traditional neuroleptic medications or of reducing the dose of medication used to treat extrapyramidal symptoms. akathisia is a state of motor restlessness ranging from a feeling of inner disquiet to inability to sit still or lie quietly.
Akinetic mutism
A state of apparent alertness with following eye movements but no speech or voluntary motor responses.
Alexia
Loss of a previously intact ability to grasp the meaning of written or printed words and sentences.
Alexithymia
Algophobia
Fear of pain.
Alienation
The estrangement felt in a setting one views as foreign, unpredictable, or unacceptable. For example, in depersonalization phenomena, feelings of unreality or strangeness produce a sense of alienation from one's self or environment.
Alloplastic
Referring to adaptation by means of altering the external environment. This can be contrasted to autoplastic, which refers to the alteration of one's own behavior and responses.
Alogia
An impoverishment in thinking that is inferred from observing speech and language behavior. There may be brief and concrete replies to questions and restriction in the amount of spontaneous speech (poverty of speech). Sometimes the speech is adequate in amount but conveys little information because it is overconcrete, overabstract, repetitive, or stereotyped (poverty of content).
Ambivalence
The coexistence of contradictory emotions, attitudes, ideas, or desires with respect to a particular person, object, or situation. Ordinarily, the ambivalence is not fully conscious and suggests psychopathology only when present in an extreme form.
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This dictionary contains 19186 terms.
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