| biogenic | A term used to describe abnormal behavior that results from malfunction within the body. According to biogenic theory, mental disturbance is due to organic disorders.
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| clinical psychologist | A Ph.D. or Psy.D. who spent four to six years in graduate school and completed a one-year clinical internship. Clinical psychology programs emphasize training in psychological assessment and therapeutic intervention, as well as research.
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| community mental health centers | Facilities designed to provide a variety of psychological services for everyone within a specified area.
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| community psychology | The branch of psychology that deals with human-environment interactions and the ways society affects individual and community functioning; focuses on social issues, social institutions, and other settings and their interaction with individuals, groups, and organizations.
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| deinstitutionalization | The widespread discharge of mental patients from the hospital into the community.
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| exorcism | The practice of expelling evil spirits from a person believed to be possessed by such demons.
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| free association | A psychoanalytic technique in which the patient verbalizes whatever thoughts come to mind, without structuring or censoring the remarks.
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| general paresis | A final stage of syphilis, involving the gradual and irreversible breakdown of physical and mental functioning.
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| humors | In Hippocrates' view, the four vital fluids possessed by humans: phlegm, blood, black bile, and yellow bile. The balance of these humors in each individual was thought to influence personality.
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| hypnosis | An artificially induced trance, or sleeplike state, in which the subject is highly susceptible to suggestion.
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| hysteria | A psychogenic disorder that mimics a biogenic disorder.
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| inpatient | A mental patient who is hospitalized.
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| managed behavioral health care | Managed care for mental health. See managed care.
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| managed care | Umbrella term for the varied organizational structures, insurance benefits, and regulations that provide for and control the cost of health care.
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| medical model | The conceptualization of psychological abnormality as a group of diseases analogous to physical diseases.
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| moral therapy | A nineteenth-century approach to treatment that involved providing an environment in which the mentally ill would be treated humanely and could discuss their difficulties, live in peace, and engage in some useful employment.
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| neuroscience perspective | A theory of abnormal behavior that concentrates on the physical aspects of a disorder in an effort to understand its characteristics.
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| norms | The rules in any society that define "right" and "wrong." Norms guide most of our actions and are an important standard for defining abnormality.
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| outpatient | A mental patient who receives treatment outside of the hospital.
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| prefrontal lobotomy | A psychosurgical procedure for severely disturbed patients in which some of the connections between the frontal lobe and the lower parts of the brain are severed; very rarely performed today.
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| prevention | The process of keeping psychological disorders from beginning in the first place by changing the environment, the family, or the individual.
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| primary prevention | The first level of prevention of psychological disorder, the goal of which is to prevent disorders from developing.
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| psychiatric social worker | Someone who has earned an M.S.W. (master of social work), with special courses and training in psychological counseling.
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| psychiatrist | An M.D. who specializes in diagnosing and treating mental disorders. Because of their medical degree, psychiatrists can also prescribe psychoactive drugs.
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| psychoanalysis | The psychodynamic therapy method that relies heavily on the techniques of free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of resistance and transference. The aim is to give patients insight into their unconscious conflicts, impulses, and motives.
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| psychoanalyst | Someone who has had postgraduate training at a psychoanalytic institute and has undergone psychoanalysis him- or herself. (Most psychoanalysts are psychiatrists, but other mental health professionals may undertake this training.)
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| psychogenic theory | The theory that psychological disturbance is due primarily not to organic dysfunction but to emotional stress.
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| psychopathology | Abnormal psychology.
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| secondary prevention | The second level of prevention of psychological disorder, the goal of which is to detect and treat disorders at an early stage, so that minor disorders do not develop into major ones.
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| syndrome | The distinct cluster of symptoms that tends to occur in a particular disease.
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