My Psychology Glossary
Hi, my name is Audrey-Anne Gaudette. I am eighteen years old. I have been studying Social Sciences for a year at Montmorency College. My field of study is psychology. Therefore, a psychologist evaluates people that have atypical behavior or mind. They help people with mental illness like depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, etc. The purpose of this glossary is to comprehend some words used only in this field of study. Even if some people aren't familiar with those terms, they can relate to this glossary it if they need to.
- antipsychotic
- noun
- (chiefly of a drug) used to treat psychotic disorders.
- Example: He is prescribed an atypical antipsychotic medication to help alleviate his condition.
- fr: antipsychotique
- anxiety
- noun
- Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure. People with anxiety disorders usually have recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns. They may avoid certain situations out of worry.
- Example: His reported anxiety and low mood during the past 6 weeks obviously highlights his concern for his health.
- fr: anxiété
- behaviour
- noun
- The way in which an animal or person acts in response to a particular situation or stimulus
- Example: Is it possible that a lack of attachment can explain later adult behaviour such as delinquency?
- fr: comportement
- brain
- noun
- An organ of soft nervous tissue contained in the skull of vertebrates, functioning as the coordinating center of sensation and intellectual and nervous activity.
- Example: I would hope that the issues that I have highlighted within this family illustrate that ADHD is more than just a chemical imbalance in the brain treatable by medication.
- fr: cerveau
- depression
- noun
- A mental condition characterized by feelings of severe despondency and dejection, typically also with feelings of inadequacy and guilt, often accompanied by lack of energy and disturbance of appetite and sleep.
- Example: He describes this as a very dark time and suffered from depression for which he did not receive medication.
- fr: depression
- emotions
- noun
- A natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others.
- Example: The OT must be empathetic towards her problems and try to understand her feelings, emotions and behaviour.
- fr: emotions
- hypnosis
- noun
- The induction of a state of consciousness in which a person apparently loses the power of voluntary action and is highly responsive to suggestion or direction. Its use in therapy, typically to recover suppressed memories or to allow modification of behavior by suggestion, has been revived but is still controversial.
- Example: Bower, Monteiro and Gilligan originally investigated this, using hypnosis to induce happy or sad mood states, and reporting that items experienced in a sad mood were much more likely to be subsequently retrieved when sad than items experienced in a happy mood.
- fr: hypnose
- lobotomy
- noun
- A surgical operation involving incision into the prefrontal lobe of the brain, formerly used to treat mental illness.
- Example: The types of treatment include insulin shock therapy, electronic convulsive therapy and pre-frontal lobotomy, which requires certain neural connections in the brain being severed.
- fr: lobotomie
- mental health
- noun
- A person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being.
- Example: For example amputation may have a substantial impact upon his mental health, his ability to maintain previous social interactions and employment.
- fr: santé mentale
- mind
- noun
- The element of a person that enables them to be aware of the world and their experiences, to think, and to feel; the faculty of consciousness and thought.
- Example: Since each mind has a limited capacity for memes, there is considerable competition among memes for entry into as many minds as possible.
- fr: esprit
- neurotransmitter
- noun
- A chemical substance that is released at the end of a nerve fiber by the arrival of a nerve impulse and, by diffusing across the synapse or junction, causes the transfer of the impulse to another nerve fiber, a muscle fiber, or some other structure.
- Example: Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that regulates several vital mood processes in the body, including eating patterns.
- fr: neurotransmetteur
- patient
- noun
- Patient is a medical term that refers to an individual who needs or seeks treatment through medical means.
- Example: The patient is encouraged to transfer their unconscious desires onto the therapist.
- fr: patient
- personality
- noun
- The combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual's distinctive character.
- Example: Psychiatrists had thought that he had a psychopathic personality due to a disturbed and insecure childhood.
- fr: personnalité
- phobia
- noun
- An extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.
- Example: He was diagnosed by Freud as having an anxiety neurosis, an animal phobia in early childhood.
- fr: phobie
- psychoanalysis
- noun
- A system of psychological theory and therapy which aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.
- Example: Bowlby has integrated ideas from such a wide range of fields as psychoanalysis, ethology, experimental psychology and learning theory among other sources.
- fr: psychanalyse
- psychologist
- noun
- An expert or specialist in psychology.
- Example: These interventions will usually be carried out by a psychologist.
- fr: psychologue
- reinforcement
- noun
- The process of encouraging or establishing a belief or pattern of behavior, especially by encouragement or reward.
- Example: Skinner always recommended positive reinforcement such as rewards over negative reinforcement or punishment.
- fr: renforcement
- stimulus
- noun
- A stimulus is any object or event that elicits a sensory or behavioral response in an organism. In perceptual psychology, a stimulus is an energy change which is registered by the senses and constitutes the basis for perception.
- Example: Classical conditioning, developed by Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), occurs when a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus, eventually producing a conditioned stimulus and response.
- fr: stimulus
- treatment
- noun
- Medical care given to a patient for an illness or injury.
- Example: As clinical symptoms always "signified the failure of universal mechanisms" Freud did not pay much attention to symptom presentation and therefore the recommendation for treatment, namely psychoanalysis.
- fr: traitement
- uncunciouss
- noun
- The part of the mind which is inaccessible to the conscious mind but which affects behavior and emotions.
- Example: Some behavious, feeling or judgmenents comes from the uncounscious.
- fr: inconsicent
