Category: A
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Algedonic
Related to the pain-pleasure concept.
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Alcometer
An instrument used to determine the amount of alcohol in the blood by analyzing the breath of the drinker.
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Alcohol states of consciousness
Various states of altered consciousness during the duration of alcohol’s effects, depending on whether the blood alcohol concentration is increasing or decreasing. Profound changes in mood, thinking, and perception.
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Alcoholic personality
Pertains to personality traits, such as immaturity and dependency, that are frequently found in alcoholics in treatment. Many of these traits may be a result of years of heavy drinking rather than being a cause of alcoholism.
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Alcoholic hepatitis
A forerunner of cirrhosis. Inflammation of the liver as a result of long-term heavy alcohol consumption, often leading to cirrhosis. An inflammation of the liver caused by the toxic effects of alcohol. Liver inflammation resulting from alcohol; other types of hepatitis may be induced by a virus or toxin.
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Alcoholic addiction
A misnomer since alcoholic implies addiction.
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Alcoholic
A person who is unable consistently to choose whether he or she shall drink or not, and who, if he or she drinks, is unable to consistently choose whether he or she shall stop. Person with alcoholism; one who uses alcohol to such an extent or in such a way as to interfere with his/her…
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Alcohol abuse
In the DSM Ill, a pattern of pathological alcohol use that causes impairment of social or occupational functioning, alcohol dependence. The excessive use of alcohol adversely affecting a person’s health. Alcohol abuse is defined as a maladaptive pattern of alcohol use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress. Prevalence increases with age, leveling off in…
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Alchemy
The practice of chemistry during the Middle Ages associated with magic, the transmutation of base metals into gold, and the development of an elixir for immortality. Derived from the Arabic al-kimia, the Egyptian art that strove to change substances from the known and commonplace to something other in the attempt to uncover universal secrets. It…
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Alchemist
During the Middle Ages, a person who practiced alchemy, a form of primitive chemistry. A person who attempted to make gold in the laboratory.