Other Diagnostic Vocabulary

Question 1

Acculturation Difficulty

Answer 1

A problem adapting to or finding appropriate ways to adapt to a different culture or environment.

Question 2

Affect

Answer 2

Behavior that expresses a subjectively experienced emotion.

Question 3

Difference Between Affect & Mood

Answer 3

Affect is responsive to changing emotional states; mood is a pervasive and sustained emotion.

Question 4

Anhedonia

Answer 4

The inability to experience pleasure.

Question 5

Antisocial Behavior

Answer 5

Conduct indicating indifference to another person or property; criminal behavior, dishonesty, or abuse are examples.

Question 6

Comorbidity

Answer 6

The simultaneous appearance of two or more illnesses. May reflect a causal relationship between the disorders.

Question 7

Compensation

Answer 7

A defense mechanism operating unconsciously by which on attempts to make up for real or fancied deficiencies.

Question 8

Compulsion

Answer 8

Repetitive ritualistic behaviors that aim to prevent or reduce distress.

Question 9

Coping Mechanisms

Answer 9

Ways of adjusting to environmental stress without altering one’s goals or purposes; consciously or unconsciously.

Question 10

Coprophagia

Answer 10

Eating of filth or feces.

Question 11

Decompensation

Answer 11

The deterioration of existing defenses, leading to an exacerbation of pathological behavior.

Question 12

Dissociation

Answer 12

The splitting of clusters of mental contents from conscious awareness; the separation of an idea from its emotional significance and affect.

Question 13

Dysphoria

Answer 13

Unpleasant Mood

Question 14

Echolalia

Answer 14

Parrot-like repetition of overheard words or fragments of speech. Tends to be repetitive and persistent, often uttered w/ a mocking, mumbling, or staccato intonation.

Question 15

Fetishism

Answer 15

A paraphilia marked by distress over or acting on sexual urges involving the use of nonliving objects, such as underclothing, stockings, or boots.

Question 16

Flashback (Post-/Hallucinogen Perception Disorder)

Answer 16

Re-experiencing, after ceasing the use of a hallucinogen, one or more perceptual experiences from the drug.

Question 18

Flight of Ideas

Answer 18

An early, continuous flow of accelerated speech w/ abrupt changes from one topic to another.

Question 19

Hallucination

Answer 19

A sensory perception in the absence of an actual external stimulus.

Question 20

Hypomania

Answer 20

Abnormality of mood falling somewhere between normal euphoria and mania. Characterized by unrealistic optimism, pressure of speech and activity, and a decreased need for sleep.

Question 21

Identity Crisis

Answer 21

A loos of the sense of sameness and historical continuity of one’s self and an inability to accept or adopt the role one perceives as being expected by society.

Question 22

Labile

Answer 22

Rapidly shifting emotions; instability.

Question 23

Mania

Answer 23

A mood disorder characterized by excessive elation, inflated self-esteem and grandiosity, hyperactivity, agitation, and accelerated thinking and speaking.

Question 24

Manic Episode

Answer 24

A distinct period of time (usually lasting at least 1 week) of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood accompanied by such symptoms as inflated self-esteem or grandiosity, decreased need for sleep, over talkativeness, flight of ideas, racing thoughts, increased goal directed activity, etc.

Question 25

Panic Attack

Answer 25

Period of intense fear or discomfort, including fearing that one is dying, going crazy, or losing control, that reaches a crescendo within 10 minutes.

Question 26

Phobia

Answer 26

Fear cued by the presence or anticipation of a specific object or situation; exposure to which creates an immediate anxiety response or panic attack.

Question 27

Systemic Desensitization

Answer 27

A behavior therapy used to modify behaviors associated w/ phobias. Involves the construction of a hierarchy of anxiety producing stimuli by the subject, followed by gradual presentation of the stimuli until they no longer produce anxiety.

Question 28

Thought Disorder

Answer 28

A disturbance of speech, communication, or content of thought, such as delusions, flight of ideas, preservation, loosening of associations, etc.

Question 29

Tic

Answer 29

An involuntary, sudden, rapid, and recurrent, nonrhythmic stereotyped motor movement or vocalization.