• Specialty
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• Neuro-Psych
  • Lots of Neuro-Psych Terms
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  • Consciousness Levels
  • Cranial Nerves (I-XII)
  • Depression Related Terms
  • Glasgow Coma Scale
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  • Neuro/Psych Medications
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  • Sleep Related Abbreviations
  • Sleep Related Terms
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  • Tumors - Neuro
  • Sample Reports - Neurosurgery
  • Sample Reports - Sleep Medicine
  • Sample Reports - Psychiatry / Psychology
  • Sample Reports - Neurology

• Mental Health Related Terms

- D -

• Da Costa's syndrome

Neurocirculatory asthenia; 'soldier's heart'; a functional disorder of the circulatory system that is usually a part of an anxiety state or secondary to hyperventilation.



• Decompensation

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



• Defense mechanism

Automatic psychological process that protects the individual against anxiety and from awareness of internal or external stressors or dangers. Defense mechanisms mediate the individual's reaction to emotional conflicts and to external stressors. Some defense mechanisms (e.g., projection, splitting, and acting out) are almost invariably maladaptive. Others, such as suppression and denial, may be either maladaptive or adaptive, depending on their severity, their inflexibility, and the context in which they occur.



• Delirium

A condition in which changes in cognition, including a disturbance in consciousness, occur over a relatively short period of time.



• Delusion

A false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly sustained despite what almost everyone else believes and despite what constitutes incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary. The belief is not one ordinarily accepted by other members of the person's culture or subculture (e.g., it is not an article of religious faith). When a false belief involves a value judgment, it is regarded as a delusion only when the judgment is so extreme as to defy credibility. Delusional conviction occurs on a continuum and can sometimes be inferred from an individual's behavior. It is often difficult to distinguish between a delusion and an overvalued idea (in which case the individual has an unreasonable belief or idea but does not hold it as firmly as is the case with a delusion). Delusions are subdivided according to their content. Some of the more common types are: bizarre; delusional jealousy; grandiose; delusion of reference; persecutory; somatic; thought broadcasting; thought insertion.



• Delusion of reference

A delusion whose theme is that events, objects, or other persons in one's immediate environment have a particular and unusual significance. These delusions are usually of a negative or pejorative nature, but also may be grandiose in content. This differs from an idea of reference, in which the false belief is not as firmly held nor as fully organized into a true belief.



• Delusional jealousy

The delusion that one's sexual partner is unfaithful. erotomanic A delusion that another person, usually of higher status, is in love with the individual.



• Delusions

A perception, such as delusions of grandeur, that is thought to be true by the person experiencing it, although the perception is wrong.



• Dementia

Dementia is a problem in the brain that makes it hard for a person to remember, learn and communicate; eventually is becomes difficult for a person to take care of himself or herself. This disorder can also affect a person's mood and personality. Dementias may be associated with poor impulse control and personality changes.



• Denial

A defense mechanism where certain information is not accessed by the conscious mind. Denial is related to repression, a similar defense mechanism, but denial is more pronounced or intense. Denial involves some impairment of reality. Denial would be operating (as an example) if a cardiac patient who has been warned about the potential fatal outcome of engaging in heavy work, decides to start building a wall of heavy stones.



• Dependent Personality Disorder

Persons with this disorder rely heavily on others for validation and fulfillment of basic needs. They often lack self-confidence, have difficulty making decisions and are unable to properly care for themselves.



• Depersonalization

An alteration in the perception or experience of the self so that one feels detached from, and as if one is an outside observer of, one's mental processes or body (e.g., feeling like one is in a dream).



• Depression

A mood disorder characterized by feelings of sadness, loneliness, despair, low self-esteem, worthlessness, withdrawal from social interaction and sleep and eating disturbances.



• Derailment

('loosening of associations') A pattern of speech in which a person's ideas slip off one track onto another that is completely unrelated or only obliquely related. In moving from one sentence or clause to another, the person shifts the topic idiosyncratically from one frame of reference to another and things may be said in juxtaposition that lack a meaningful relationship. This disturbance occurs between clauses, in contrast to incoherence, in which the disturbance is within clauses. An occasional change of topic without warning or obvious connection does not constitute derailment.



• Derealization

An alteration in the perception or experience of the external world so that it seems strange or unreal (e.g., people may seem unfamiliar or mechanical).



• Detachment

A behavior pattern characterized by general aloofness in interpersonal contact; may include intellectualization, denial, and superficiality.



• Detoxification

The process of cleansing the body of a drug, such as alcohol or other chemicals.



• Diagnosis

The determination by a physician of the cause of a person's problems, usually by identifying both the disease process and the agent responsible.



• Diplopia

Double vision due to paralysis of the ocular muscles; seen in inhalant intoxication and other conditions affecting the oculomotor nerve.



• Disconnection syndrome

Term coined by Norman Geschwind (1926-1984) to describe the interruption of information transferred from one brain region to another.



• Disorientation

Confusion about the time of day, date, or season (time), where one is (place), or who one is (person).



• Displacement

A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, in which emotions, ideas, or wishes are transferred from their original object to a more acceptable substitute; often used to allay anxiety.



• Dissociative identity disorder

An uncommon disorder involving a disturbance in identity, in which two or more separate and distinct personality states (identities) influence or direct behavior at different times. Sometimes called multiple personality disorder.



• Distractibility

The inability to maintain attention, that is, the shifting from one area or topic to another with minimal provocation, or attention being drawn too frequently to unimportant or irrelevant external stimuli.



• Double bind

Interaction in which one person demands a response to a message containing mutually contradictory signals, while the other person is unable either to comment on the incongruity or to escape from the situation.



• Double depression

An episode of major depression that occurs along with dysthymia, a chronic, long-term mild depression.



• Drive

Basic urge, instinct, motivation; a term used to avoid confusion with the more purely biological concept of instinct.



• Dually Diagnosed

A person who has both an alcohol or drug problem and an emotional/psychiatric problem is said to have a dual diagnosis.



• Dyad

A two-person relationship, such as the therapeutic relationship between doctor and patient in individual psychotherapy.



• Dysarthria

Imperfect articulation of speech due to disturbances of muscular control or incoordination.



• Dyskinesia

Distortion of voluntary movements with involuntary muscular activity.



• Dyslexia

Inability or difficulty in reading, including word-blindness and a tendency to reverse letters and words in reading and writing. A child with dyslexia reads below the expected level given his/her age, school grade and intelligence.



• Dysphoria

An emotional state characterized by malaise, anxiety, depression or unease.



• Dysphoric mood

An unpleasant mood, such as sadness, anxiety, or irritability.



• Dyssomnia

Primary disorders of sleep or wakefulness characterized by insomnia or hypersomnia as the major presenting symptom. Dyssomnias are disorders of the amount, quality, or timing of sleep.



• Dysthymia (ALSO KNOWN AS DYSTHYMIC DISORDER)

A mood disorder characterized by chronic mildly depressed or irritable mood often accompanied by a loss of interest or pleasure in normal activities that is present most of the time for at least two years. Many people with dysthymia experience major depressive episodes at times.