| perceptual disorders | Disturbances in recognizing and interpreting sensory stimuli dependent upon one's previous experience. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| auditory perceptual disorders | Disorders of auditory perception manifesting as difficulties with auditory memory, speech perception and sound localization. Lesions are usually in the temporal lobe. (12 Dec 1998) |
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| perceptual closure | The tendency to perceive an incomplete pattern or object as complete or whole. This includes the gestalt law of closure. (12 Dec 1998) |
| perceptual defense | Selective perceiving such that the individual protects himself from becoming aware of something unpleasant or threatening, e.g., obscene words are not heard correctly, or violent acts are not seen accurately. (12 Dec 1998) |
| perceptual distortion | Lack of correspondence between the way a stimulus is commonly perceived and the way an individual perceives it under given conditions. (12 Dec 1998) |
| perceptual expansion | Development of an ability to recognise and interpret sensory stimuli through associations with past similar stimuli; perceptual expansion by relaxation of defenses is a goal of psychotherapy. (05 Mar 2000) |
| perceptual masking | The interference of one perceptual stimulus with another causing a decrease or lessening in perceptual effectiveness. (12 Dec 1998) |
| affective personality disorder | A disturbance of feelings or mood expressed as a milder form of depression and related emotional features that colour the whole psychic life and for which psychosocial stressors are believed to play the major role. (05 Mar 2000) |
| alcohol amnestic disorder | <psychiatry> A mental disorder with brain damage characterised by amnesia, compensatory confabulation, disturbance of attention, and peripheral neuritis. It is usually associated with alcoholism and dietary deficiencies. (12 Dec 1998) |
| antisocial personality disorder | <psychiatry> An individual who engages in deviant behaviour with lack of remorse. (13 Jan 1998) |
| asthenic personality disorder | A personality type characterised by low energy level, easy fatigability, incapacity for enjoyment, lack of enthusiasm, and oversensitivity to physical and emotional stress. When appearing in marked form it becomes a psychological disorder (asthenic personality disorder), also called dependent personality. Synonym: asthenic personality disorder, dependent personality disorder. (05 Mar 2000) |
| attention deficit disorder | An inability to control behaviour due to difficulty in processing neural stimuli. (12 Dec 1998) |
| attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity | A behaviour disorder originating in childhood in which the essential features are signs of developmentally inappropriate inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Although most individuals have symptoms of both inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, one or the other pattern may be predominant. The disorder is more frequent in males than females. Onset is in childhood. Symptoms often attenuate during late adolescence although a minority experience the full complement of symptoms into mid-adulthood. (12 Dec 1998) |
| attention deficit hyperactivity disorder | <psychiatry> A condition seen in children where there is increased motor activity in association with poor attention span. Often treated with amphetamine medications. (27 Sep 1997) |
| autistic disorder | autism, infantile autism |
| autonomic disorder | Disorganization of autonomic processes. (05 Mar 2000) |