Psychiatry Study, Treatment, & prevention of mental disorders

Definitions Psychiatrist – doctor who specializes in psychiatry Psychologist – qualified person in psychology, - usually not a doctor, - not able to prescribe medication -studies human behaviour

Word parts Word rootCombining formMeaning Psychpsych/osoul or mind Phob-phobiafear Epileptepileptic/i/oseizure Phrenphren/i/o,phrenic/odiaphragm / mind / phrenic nerve Mentment/omind / chin

Mental disorders Anxiety disorders – emotional states where person fears an imagined danger Symptoms include rapid pulse, sweating, trembling, nausea, tension, & apprehension Psychosis – people find it difficult to distinguish fact from fantasy Psychosomatic – symptoms feel real to the person but are of emotional or imagined origin

Mental Disorders Confabulation – fabricated memories. person has no intention to deceive& believes memories are true Hallucinations – sensory experiences e.g. seeing, hearing things that do not exist Schizophrenia – any of several psychotic disorders characterised by disturbances of mood, thought, sense of self & behaviour, contact with reality

Mental Disorders Delusions- fixed beliefs of things that are untrue, e.g. person is Jesus Illusions – are misinterpretations of real sensory experience e.g. a mirage of seeing water in the dessert. Panic disorders – episodes of extreme fear & can include physical symptoms of anxiety disorder Repression – unpleasant thoughts, feelings, & ideas are suppressed or removed from consciousness

Mental Disorders Conversion disorder – stress & anxiety are converted into body symptoms Major depression

Word Parts Maniamadness Neur/nerve -pathdisease phren/omind, diaphragm psych/omind psychosomaticrelating to both mind and body psychotrophicdrugs with effect on psychic function, brhaviour, & the body schizsplit,division

Diagnostic Terms Amnesia (anteretrograde) inability to recall events following trauma Amnesia (retrograde) Inability to recall events preceding a trauma Bipolar disorderaffective disorder - episodes of both mania & depression paranoidcharacterised by fixed & logically elaborated delusions of persecution e.g. schizophrenia Neurosisperson recognises they are ill. E.g. anxiety disorder, phobias, obsessive compulsive Psychosisabnormal pattern of thought, action & feeling. Patient does not recognise they are ill

Conditions & terms Catatoniapatient is unresponsive with fixed posture & refuses to talk Cyclothymiaalternating periods of elation & depression deleriumorganic reaction resulting in alteration in consciousness & attention Dementiaacquired reduction in intelligent functioning that occurs after the brain has matured DissociationDissociative experiences are characterised bycertain mental events that would ordinarily be expected to be processed together (e.g.,thoughts, emotions, motor activity, sensations, memories and sense of identity) are functionally isolated from one another and, in some cases, rendered inaccessible to consciousness and/or voluntary recall (Steinberg, 1994).

Conditions and Terms Maniamood disorder – elation, increased activity, rapid speech, decreased need for sleep Defence mechanism The means by which the psych protects itself e.g. panic Mutismunwillingness or inability to speak repressionremoval of disturbing impulses, thoughts and feelings from conscious awareness

Treatments Antidepressants Cognitive therapy - form of psychotherapy that helps a person to change unhelpful or unhealthy thinking habits, feelings and behaviours. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) - electrical impulse is applied to the brain to induce a seizure psychotherapy Is thought that ECT-induced seizures interrupt electrochemical messages and ‘reset’ the brain. ACT 1