Antisocial PD (ASPD) - A personality disorder characterized by a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others.

Ativan - (see Lorazepam).

Automatic Thoughts - The thoughts (beliefs) about the day-to-day activities of our lives that can occur so quickly, almost without our conscious notice. In cognitive therapy, negative automatic thoughts are eliminated as much as possible.

Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) - The nervous system responsible for regulating automatic bodily processes, such as breathing, heart rate, intestinal, urinary, and sexual functions. ANS is controlled by the hypothalamus.

Beta blockers - A class of drugs that block beta-adrenergic substances, and consequently relieve stress on the heart.

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) - A personality disorder in which there is a marked tendency to act impulsively without consideration of the consequences, together with affective instability. The ability to plan ahead may be minimal, and outbursts of intense anger may often lead to violence or "behavioural explosions"; these are easily precipitated when impulsive acts are criticized or thwarted by others. Two variants of this personality disorder are specified, and both share this general theme of impulsiveness and lack of self-control.

Comorbidity - The presence of co-existing diseases.

Dissociative Disorder - A syndrome in which an individual experiences a disruption in memory, consciousness, and/or identity.

Dyslexia - Learning disability also known as specific reading disability or reading disability. The disorder is characterized by impaired word recognition or decoding skills and reading comprehension difficulties.

Environmental stressors - Stressors caused by environment (e.g., work, school, relationships, noise, climatic extremes).

ERP - Exposure Response Prevention. A type of behavioral therapy.

Fear - A direct, focused response to a specific event or object that an individual is consciously aware of it.

Fugue - An episode during which an individual leaves his/her usual surroundings unexpectedly and forgets essential details about himself/herself and his/her lives.

Half-life - The amount of time it takes for half of a drug concentration to be eliminated from the body. Withdrawal reactions associated with drugs with a longer half-life are more gradual and may be less severe.

ICD - World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases.

Identity Crisis - Chaotic concept of self wherein one's role in life appears to be an insoluble dilemma often expressed by isolation, withdrawal, rebellion and extremism.

Locus Ceruleus - Nerve cluster that lies near the brain's fourth ventricle, where Norepinephrine is concentrated.

Mania - A state characterized by an unusually high mood, irritability, overactivity, excessive talkativeness, racing thoughts, inflated ideas of self and financial extravagance.

Megalomania - A paranoid delusion of grandeur in which an individual believes that he or she is an important person or is carrying out great plans. The Megalomaniac has fantasies of magical control over things and activities in the environment (see Narcissistic Personality Disorder).

Mental Disorder - Any of various conditions characterized by impairment of an individual's normal cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning, and caused by social, psychological, biochemical, genetic, or other factors, such as infection or head trauma.

Munchausen Syndrom - An aberrant condition involving fabrication of an illness to attract medical attention. Sufferers seek numerous medical consultations with different doctors.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) - An all-pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behaviour), need for admiration or adulation and lack of empathy, usually beginning by early adulthood and present in various contexts.

out of the blue panic attack - A panic attack appearing suddenly with no apparent trigger.

Pediatric RN - A registered nurse specializing in the care of children.

Pharmacotherapy - Treatment of disease through the use of drugs.

Placebo - Any dummy medical treatment, originally, a medicinal preparation having no specific pharmacological activity against the patients illness or complaint given solely for the psychophysiological effects of the treatment, more recently, a dummy treatment administered to the control group in a controlled clinical trial in order that the specific and nonspecific effects of the experimental treatment can be distinguished i.e., the experimental treatment must produce better results than the placebo in order to be considered effective.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder - The development of symptoms, following a psychologically stressful event, such as avoidance of the environment intrusive recollections and hyper arousal.

Psychosis - An extreme derangement of the mind, due to mental illness, with total loss of judgment, memory and insight. It may be a temporary, intermittent or permanent condition.

Psychotherapy - A general term used to describe a form of treatment based on talking with a therapist. Psychotherapy aims to relieve distress by discussing and expressing feelings, to help you change your attitudes, behaviour and habits, and to develop better ways of coping.

Selective Mutism - A consistent failure to speak in specific social situations in which there is an expectation for speaking.

Tourette's Syndrome - A neurological disorder characterized by involuntary muscular movements, uncontrollable vocal sounds, and inappropriate words.