Category: P

An older tricyclic antidepressant medication seldom prescribed today. Marketed under the brand name vivactil. A heterocyclic antidepressant. Antidepressant used to treat depression. Adverse effects include dry mouth, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular disturbances, and the possibility of interaction with many other drugs. A tricyclic antidepressant drug used to treat moderate or severe depression, especially in apathetic and…

A neurological condition that renders a person incapable of recognizing faces. It arises when the part of the brain dedicated to face recognition is damaged or unable to perform its function. An inability to recognize faces, even one’s own face.  

Brand name (now discontinued) for the benzodiazepine sedative-hypnotic drug estazolam.  

A nonselective beta-adrenergic receptor–blocking agent (i.e., beta-blocker) used in general medical practice to treat hypertension and used “off label” in psychiatry to treat performance anxiety and agitation and aggression, especially in patients who have experienced a brain injury. Marketed under the brand name inderal. A drug belonging to the group known as beta blockers, which…

Indiscriminately engaging in sexual activity with many people. Nonselective sexual intercourse.  

Brand name (now discontinued) for fluphenazine. A commercial preparation of phenothiazine.  

A hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary that promotes lactation in the female and may stimulate testosterone secretion in the male. Inhibiting and releasing factors in the brain in part control prolactin secretion. Because dopamine is involved in the brain’s inhibition of prolactin secretion, the measurement of serum prolactin has been proposed as a way…

Psychological diagnostic tests in which the test material is amorphous or unstructured so that any response will reflect a projection of some aspect of the subject’s underlying personality and psychopathology. A test designed so that the responses given will stem from the person’s underlying mental condition, personality, and mood, rather than from the test material…

A term introduced by psychoanalyst melanie klein (1882–1960) to refer to the unconscious process of projection of one or more parts of the self or of the internal object onto another person (such as the mother). What is projected may be an intolerable, painful, or dangerous part of the self or object (the bad object).…

A degenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by balance difficulties and the inability to aim the eyes. Patients often show mood alteration, depression, apathy, and progressive mild dementia. Also known as steele-richardson-olszewski syndrome. A progressive neurological disorder characterized by neurodegenerative changes of the basal ganglia and the brain stem; symptoms include balance…