TEP Psiquiatria key terms

A fixed false belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence and is not shared by others in the person's culture or subculture. It is held with extraordinary conviction.

A perception experienced without an external stimulus, in any sensory modality, that has the full force and clarity of a real perception and is not under voluntary control.

A disturbance in the form or flow of thinking, inferred from speech, manifesting as loosening of associations, derailment, incoherence, neologisms, or thought blocking, rather than in the content of beliefs.

Reductions or losses in normal functions, such as blunted affect, alogia, avolition, anhedonia, and asociality, which are prominent in schizophrenia and contribute strongly to functional impairment.

A set of psychotic experiences described by Schneider, including thought insertion, withdrawal or broadcasting, voices commenting or arguing, and delusions of control, which are strongly suggestive but not pathognomonic of schizophrenia.

A period of at least two weeks with depressed mood or loss of interest plus at least four other symptoms such as sleep, appetite, energy, concentration, psychomotor, worthlessness, or suicidal changes, causing distress or impairment.

A distinct period of abnormally elevated, expansive, or irritable mood and increased energy lasting at least one week or requiring hospitalisation, with symptoms such as grandiosity, decreased need for sleep, pressured speech, and risky behaviour.

A milder form of mania lasting at least four consecutive days, with a clear change in functioning that is observable by others but not severe enough to cause marked impairment or require hospitalisation, and without psychotic features.

A chronic depressive condition with depressed mood for most days for at least two years, accompanied by additional depressive symptoms that do not meet criteria for a major depressive episode but cause clinically significant distress or impairment.

The co-occurrence of persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia) with superimposed major depressive episodes, resulting in a more chronic and often more treatment-resistant course than either condition alone.

A mood disorder defined by the occurrence of at least one manic episode, which may be preceded or followed by hypomanic or major depressive episodes, and is not better explained by another condition.

A mood disorder characterised by at least one hypomanic episode and at least one major depressive episode, with no history of a full manic episode, often with a more chronic depressive course.

A course specifier in bipolar disorder denoting at least four mood episodes (manic, hypomanic, mixed, or depressive) within a twelve-month period, often associated with greater treatment resistance.

An abrupt surge of intense fear or discomfort reaching a peak within minutes, with at least four symptoms such as palpitations, sweating, trembling, dyspnoea, fear of dying, or fear of losing control.

A disorder characterised by recurrent unexpected panic attacks and persistent concern or worry about further attacks or their consequences, or maladaptive behavioural change related to the attacks, lasting at least one month.

Marked fear or anxiety about two or more situations such as using public transport, being in open or enclosed spaces, standing in a crowd, or being outside the home alone, due to thoughts of difficulty escaping or getting help.

A recurrent and persistent thought, urge, or image that is experienced as intrusive and unwanted, causes marked anxiety or distress, and is not simply excessive worry about real-life problems.

Repetitive behaviours or mental acts that a person feels driven to perform in response to an obsession or according to rigid rules, aimed at reducing distress or preventing a feared outcome, though not realistically connected.

A preoccupation with one or more perceived defects or flaws in physical appearance that are not observable or appear slight to others, accompanied by repetitive behaviours such as checking or grooming, causing significant distress or impairment.

A trauma- and stressor-related disorder developing after exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence, with intrusion, avoidance, negative alterations in cognition and mood, and hyperarousal lasting more than one month.

A trauma-related disorder with symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder occurring within three days to one month after a traumatic event, often including dissociative symptoms, and resolving within one month.

A disruption of and discontinuity in the normal integration of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control, and behaviour, which may be transient or persistent.

An acute, fluctuating disturbance in attention and awareness with additional cognitive deficits, developing over a short period, typically due to an underlying medical condition, substance intoxication or withdrawal, or medication.

A chronic, progressive cognitive decline in one or more domains such as memory, language, or executive function, sufficient to interfere with independence in daily activities, not occurring only in the context of delirium.

A brief structured instrument for detecting delirium, requiring acute onset and fluctuating course, inattention, and either disorganised thinking or altered level of consciousness for a positive result.

A widely used brief cognitive screening test scored out of thirty, assessing orientation, registration, attention, recall, language, and visuospatial function, useful for tracking change but influenced by education and culture.

A late-onset, potentially persistent movement disorder caused by dopamine antagonist exposure, characterised by involuntary repetitive movements, most often of the tongue, lips, face, and jaw, but also limbs and trunk.

A rare, life-threatening reaction to dopamine antagonists marked by severe muscle rigidity, hyperthermia, autonomic instability, and altered consciousness, with elevated creatine kinase, requiring immediate drug withdrawal and supportive care.

A potentially serious toxic state caused by serotonergic excess, characterised by mental status change, autonomic hyperactivity, and neuromuscular abnormalities such as clonus and hyperreflexia, often after combining serotonergic drugs.

Movement side effects of dopamine-blocking drugs, including acute dystonia, parkinsonism, akathisia, and tardive syndromes, resulting from blockade of dopamine receptors in the basal ganglia.

A class of antidepressant that inhibits the enzyme monoamine oxidase, increasing synaptic monoamines, requiring dietary restriction of tyramine-rich foods and caution with serotonergic drugs to avoid hypertensive crisis and serotonin toxicity.

An older class of antidepressant blocking serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake and other receptors, effective but limited by anticholinergic, cardiac, and sedative effects and high lethality in overdose.

A medication used to prevent and treat manic and depressive episodes in bipolar disorder, including lithium, valproate, lamotrigine, and some atypical antipsychotics, often requiring plasma level monitoring for efficacy and safety.

A biological treatment delivering a controlled seizure under general anaesthesia and muscle relaxation, used for severe, psychotic, or treatment-resistant depression, mania, and catatonia, with cognitive side effects that are usually transient.

A neuropsychiatric syndrome of abnormal motor and behavioural signs such as stupor, mutism, negativism, posturing, waxy flexibility, and excitement, occurring in psychotic, mood, and medical conditions and responsive to benzodiazepines and electroconvulsive therapy.

A cognitive-behavioural therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder in which the patient is exposed to anxiety-provoking triggers while refraining from performing compulsions, leading to habituation and reduced symptoms.

A structured, time-limited psychological treatment that identifies and modifies unhelpful thoughts and behaviours maintaining distress, widely used across anxiety, mood, and other disorders with strong evidence.

A collaborative, person-centred counselling style designed to strengthen a person's own motivation and commitment to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence, commonly used in substance use and health behaviour change.

A syndrome occurring after reduction or cessation of heavy prolonged alcohol use, with symptoms ranging from tremor, anxiety, and insomnia to seizures and delirium tremens, managed with benzodiazepines and thiamine supplementation.

A person's ability to make a specific decision at a specific time, assessed by understanding relevant information, appreciating its significance, reasoning about options, and communicating a choice.

The legal detention and treatment of a person with a mental disorder without consent, permitted when criteria such as risk to self or others and the need for assessment or treatment are met under mental health legislation.

A legal and ethical standard requiring decisions made for a person lacking capacity to consider their welfare, wishes, values, and the least restrictive option, rather than the clinician's convenience or institutional needs.

A legal determination that a defendant can understand the nature of the proceedings, instruct legal counsel, and participate meaningfully in their defence, distinct from criminal responsibility at the time of the offence.

The intentional production or exaggeration of symptoms for an external gain such as financial compensation, avoiding work, or obtaining drugs, distinguished from factitious disorder where the motivation is to assume the sick role.

The proportion of people with a condition who are correctly identified as having it by a test, reflecting the test's ability to detect disease and used alongside specificity when interpreting diagnostic tests.

The proportion of people without a condition who are correctly identified as not having it by a test, reflecting the test's ability to exclude disease and influencing the value of a positive result.

The number of patients who must receive an intervention for one additional patient to benefit, calculated as the reciprocal of the absolute risk reduction, a measure of clinical effectiveness.

A neurodevelopmental disorder with persistent inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity present before age twelve, in multiple settings, causing impairment, and not better explained by another condition.

A neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by persistent deficits in social communication and interaction across contexts, together with restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities, present from early development.

A childhood disorder involving a repetitive and persistent pattern of behaviour violating the rights of others or major age-appropriate societal norms, including aggression, destruction, deceitfulness, and serious rule violations.

A psychiatric subspecialty providing assessment and management of mental health problems in medically ill patients within general hospital settings, integrating psychiatric care with medical and surgical teams.

A potentially serious toxic state caused by serotonergic excess, characterised by mental status change, autonomic hyperactivity, and neuromuscular abnormalities such as clonus and hyperreflexia, often after combining serotonergic drugs.