Category: P
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Primary process
In psychoanalytic theory, the generally unorganized mental activity characteristic of the unconscious. This activity is marked by the free discharge of energy and excitation without regard to the demands of environment, reality, or logic. Contrast with secondary process. In Freudian theory, impulses of the id that are pleasure seeking and make no sharp distinction between…
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Primary identification
The earliest form of identification with an object, which occurs before the infant can distinguish the self from the object.
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Primary gain
The relief from emotional conflict and the freedom from anxiety achieved by a defense mechanism. Contrast with secondary gain. In psychiatry, the relief of symptoms when the patient converts emotional anxiety to what he or she perceives as an organic illness (e.g., hysterical paralysis or blindness). The instantaneous alleviation of guilt, anxiety, or other undesirable…
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Primary diagnosis
The condition established as the primary reason for the patient seeking treatment from a health or mental health provider. The condition established after study to be the most severe condition for which the patient receives treatment. Diagnosis of the most important disease process or the underlying disease process afflicting a patient.
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Primary care physician
Usually a general practitioner or specialist in family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, or, occasionally, obstetrics and gynecology who serves as an initial contact for patients in managed care systems. Thy doctor who is usually the first contact for a patient experiencing a health problem. A primary care physician provides comprehensive and continuing care to people…
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Primal scene
In psychoanalytic theory, the real or fancied observation by the child of parental or other heterosexual intercourse and the meaning the child attaches to it. In psychology, a child’s first observation of sexual intercourse. In psychiatry, the term for a child’s first observation of sexual intercourse, real or imagined.
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Prevention (preventive psychiatry)
In traditional medical usage, the prevention or prophylaxis of a disorder. In community psychiatry, the meaning of prevention encompasses the amelioration, control, and limitation of a mental disorder. Prevention of mental disorders is often categorized as follows: Primary prevention Measures implemented to prevent the occurrence of a mental disorder (e.g., by nutrition, substitute parents). Secondary…
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Pressured speech
Rapid, accelerated, frenzied speech. Sometimes it exceeds the ability of the vocal musculature to articulate, leading to jumbled and cluttered speech; at other times, it exceeds the ability of the listener to comprehend because the speech expresses a flight of ideas (as in mania) or unintelligible jargon.
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Presenile dementia
A dementia of the Alzheimer’s type beginning before age 65. An often progressive mental deterioration occurring when the individual is quite young, in the 30s or 40s. Mental degeneration affecting adults of around 40-60 years of age (dated). Dementia beginning in middle age, usually resulting from cerebral arteriosclerosis or Alzheimer’s disease. The symptoms are apathy,…
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Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)
A proposed disorder (listed in dsm-iv-tr appendix b, “criteria sets and axes provided for further study”) characterized by rapidly changing feelings or persistent and marked anger, anxiety, or tension; depressed mood with feelings of hopelessness or self-deprecating thoughts; and many other symptoms, such as lethargy, difficulty in concentrating, overeating or food cravings, insomnia or hypersomnia,…