glossary
 
 
 
                                                 Glossary of Terms:  N-Z
 
 
  1. negative symptoms: normal behaviors or emotions that are absent.  They include apathy, anergia (low energy), ambivalence, alogia, and avolition and flattened affect.
  2. neuroleptic: from Latin, meaning to seize the neuron.  Any drug that can cause EPSE.
  3. Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome: or NMS, a syndrome related to the use of neuroleptic (antipsychotic) medications that is characterized by increased temperature, rigid muscles, increased WBC (white blood cell count), lab evidence of muscle damage as reflected by an elevated CPK (an enzyme that appears in the blood stream when muscles are injured), and autonomic dysregulation (unstable heart rate and blood pressure).
  4. neurotransmitter: a chemical produced by a nerve that attaches to receptors on another nerve.  This allows the two nerves to communicate with one another.  Examples include dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.
  5.  
  6. obsessions: thoughts that can not be easily dismissed from one's mind; preoccupations.
  7.  
  8. oculogyric crisis: upward deviation of the eyes and/or convergence which may cause diplopia (double vision); see dystonias.
 
  1. off label use: the use of any medication for an indication not approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).  Psychiatrists use many drugs in this way.  In reality, if psychiatrists were to wait for FDA approval, they would be practicing in the dark ages.  FDA approval often takes several years.  The vast majority of psychotropic (psychoactive) medications prescribed for children are used “off label”.
  2.  
  3. opisthotonas: protrusion of the tongue; see dystonias.
 
  1. polydipsia: the excessive consumption of water which can lead to electrolyte imbalances and ultimately to seizures if serum sodium becomes too low.
 
  1. polypharmacy: also known as augmentation and polypharmacology; see combined therapy.
  2.  
  3. positive symptoms: abnormal behaviors or emotions that are present.  They include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech or behavior and catatonia.
  4.  
  5. potency: the relative strength in milligrams of a drug.  Drug "A" may be equal in every other respect to drug "B", except that 10 mg of drug "A" and only 1 mg of drug "B" are required for the same effect.
  6.  
  7. poverty of speech: paucity of speech, a reduced or limited amount of speech; speech limited to few words.  It is presumed that this results from underlying poverty of thought.
  8.  
  9. poverty of thought: paucity of thought or laconic thought, a reduced or limited number of thoughts.
  10.  
  11. prevalence: the number of people with a disease divided by the total number of people in the population; unlike incidence, there is no implication of risk.  The prevalence of Schizophrenia is somewhere around 1%, or 2.2 million adults (NIMH), depending upon the source.
 
  1. psychotropic medications: also known as psychoactive medications.  Drugs whose effects primarily involve the Central Nervous System.
 
  1. refractory: resistant to treatment.
  2.  
  3. side effects: any effects of a drug other than the intended therapeutic effects; side effects can be negative (unpleasant or harmful), neutral, or in some cases beneficial.
  4.  
  5. sexual dysfunction: abnormal sexual functioning related to any of the three stages of sexual activity: desire, arousal, and orgasm.  Problems with desire can be described as decreased libido (sex drive) in either sex.  Problems with arousal may involve a lack of lubrication in women and incomplete or absent erections in men.  Problems with orgasm include absent or abnormal orgasms in either sex and delayed, retrograde (backward), or absent ejaculation in men.
 
  1. Tardive Dyskinesia: TD, a chronic form of EPSE characterized by involuntary movements that can sometimes be permanent.  It is generally not uncomfortable, but the movements be pronounced and quite bizarre.  The risk for developing this potentially debilitating side effect depends upon the relative potency of the drug, the dosage, the duration of exposure to the drug; and to some extent upon the particular drug.  Some drugs, especially some of the newer, or second generation antipsychotics, demonstrate a lower risk for producing TD.  "Masked TD" occurs when a drug causes this side effect, but at the same time conceals, or masks, it.  Some clinicians believe that it is useful to periodically reduce the dosage of antipsychotic medications in an attempt to discover symptoms of TD that may be masked, but this is not a practice that is universally accepted.  Ironically and fortunately, children exposed to these medications seem to be at reduced risk for developing this disorder compared to adults.
  2.  
  3. torticollis: turning of the head to one side or arching of the neck to the side, forward or backward; see dystonias.
  4.  
  5. waxy flexibility: the person's limbs can be moved to a new location in space, where they will remain until they are moved again.
 
 
(Sources:  The author's knowledge base, unless otherwise noted.)
_____________________________________________________________________
 
Related Articles:
 
The Definition of Schizophrenia
 
What Do We Mean by Cognitive Impairment?
 
Anticholinergic Side Effects
_____________________________________________________________________