Signs and symptoms in psychiatry
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The document outlines key concepts and definitions related to signs and symptoms in psychiatry, highlighting the overlap between objective signs and subjective symptoms. It emphasizes the complexities of diagnosing mental disorders and describes various psychiatric terms, including neurosis, psychosis, and numerous specific symptoms and conditions. The work serves as an educational resource for understanding the classifications and manifestations of mental health issues.
Signs and symptoms in psychiatry
- 1. SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS IN PSYCHIATRY By: DR. ROBIN VICTOR PGT, DEPT OF PSYCHIATRY SMCH 1
- 2. Introduction In PSYCHIATRY, signs and symptoms are not as clearly demarcated as in other fields of medicine, they often overlap. Because of this, disorders in psychiatry are often described as syndromes, a constellation of signs and symptoms that together make up a recognizable condition. SIGNS are any indication of a medical condition that can be objectively observed (i.e. by someone other than the patient). Symptoms is merely any manifestation of a condition that is apparent to the patient (i.e. something consciously affecting the patient).These are subjective experiences. 2
- 3. Normality Normality has been defined as “patterns of behavior or personality traits that are typical or that conform to some standard of proper and acceptable ways of behaving and being.” The World Health Organization (WHO) defines normality as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, but, again, this definition is limited, because it defines physical and mental health simply as the absence of physical or mental disease. 3
- 4. Mental Disorder According to the DSM-IV-TR, a mental disorder is conceptualized as a behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that is associated with distress or disability. In addition, the syndrome or pattern must not be merely an expected and culturally sanctioned response to a particular event, such as the death of a loved one. The DSM-IV-TR emphasizes that neither deviant behavior (e.g., political, religious, or sexual) nor conflicts that are primarily between the individual and society are mental disorders. 4
- 5. Neurosis In DSM a neurosis is defined as follows: “A mental disorder in which the predominant disturbance is a symptom or group of symptoms that is distressing to the the individual and is recognized by him or her as unacceptable (ego-dystonic) Reality testing is grossly intact. Behavior does not actively violate gross social norms (though it may be quite disabling). The disturbance is relatively enduring or recurrent without treatment and is not limited to a transitory reaction to stressor.” 5
- 6. Psychosis The traditional meaning of the term psychosis emphasized loss of reality testing and impairment of mental functioning manifested by delusions, hallucinations, confusion, and impaired memory. In the most common psychiatric use of the term, psychotic became synonymous with severe impairment of social and personal functioning characterized by social withdrawal and an inability to perform the usual household and occupational roles. 6
- 7. SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS ABREACTION A process by which repressed material, particularly a painful experience or a conflict, is brought back to consciousness; in this process, the person not only recalls, but also relives the repressed material, which is accompanied by the appropriate affective response. ABULIA Reduced impulse to act and to think, associated with indifference about consequences of action. Occurs as a result of neurological deficit, depression, and schizophrenia. ACALCULIA Loss of ability to do calculations not caused by anxiety or impairment in concentration. Occurs with neurological deficit and learning disorder. 7
- 8. ACENESTHESIA Loss of sensation of physical existence. ACROPHOBIA Dread of high places. ACTING OUT Behavioral response to an unconscious drive or impulse that brings about temporary partial relief of inner tension. Common in borderline states. ACULALIA Nonsense speech associated with marked impairment of comprehension. Occurs in mania, schizophrenia, and neurological deficit. ADIADOCHOKINESIA Inability to perform rapid alternating movements. Occurs with neurological deficit and cerebellar lesions 8
- 9. ADYNAMIA Weakness and fatigability, characteristic of neurasthenia and depression. AEROPHAGIA Excessive swallowing of air. Seen in anxiety disorder. AGEUSIA Lack or impairment of the sense of taste. Seen in depression and neurological deficiet. AGITATION Severe anxiety associated with motor restlessness. AGNOSIA Inability to understand the import or significance of sensory stimuli The term has also been used to refer to the selective loss or disuse of knowledge of specific objects because of emotional circumstances, as seen in certain schizophrenic, anxious, and depressed patients. Occurs with neurological deficit. 9
- 10. AGORAPHOBIA Morbid fear of open places or leaving the familiar setting of the home. May be present with or without panic attacks. AGRAMMATISM Speech in which the patient forms words into a sentence without regard for grammatical rules. Seen in Alzheimer's and Pick's disease. AGRAPHIA Loss or impairment of a previously possessed ability to write. AKATHISIA Subjective feeling of motor restlessness manifested by a compelling need to be in constant movement; may be seen as an extrapyramidal adverse effect of antipsychotic medication. 10
- 11. AKINESIA Lack of physical movement, as in the extreme immobility of catatonic schizophrenia; may also occur as an extrapyramidal effect of antipsychotic medication. AKINETIC MUTISM Absence of voluntary motor movement or speech in a patient who is apparently alert (as evidenced by eye movements). Seen in psychotic depression and catatonic states. ALEXITHYMIA Inability or difficulty in describing or being aware of one's emotions or moods; elaboration of fantasies associated with depression, substance abuse, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). ALOGIA Inability to speak because of a mental deficiency or an episode of dementia. 11
- 12. AMBIVALENCE Coexistence of two opposing impulses toward the same thing in the same person at the same time. Seen in schizophrenia, borderline states, and obsessive– compulsive disorders (OCDs). AMNESIA Partial or total inability to recall past experiences; may be organic (amnestic disorder) or emotional (dissociative amnesia) in origin. AMNESTIC APHASIA Disturbed capacity to name objects, even though they are known to the patient. Also called anomic aphasia. ANALGESIA State in which one feels little or no pain. Can occur under hypnosis and in dissociative disorder 12
- 13. ANERGIA Lack of energy. ANHEDONIA Loss of interest in and withdrawal from all regular and pleasurable activities. Often associated with depression ANOMIA Inability to recall the names of objects. ANOREXIA Loss or decrease in appetite. In anorexia nervosa, appetite may be preserved, but the patient refuses to eat. ANOSOGNOSIA Inability to recognize a physical deficit in oneself (e.g., patient denies paralyzed limb). 13
- 14. ANTEROGRADE AMNESIA Loss of memory for events subsequent to the onset of the amnesia; common after trauma, korsakoff syndrome ANXIETY Feeling of apprehension caused by anticipation of danger, which may be internal or external. APATHY Dulled emotional tone associated with detachment or indifference; observed in certain types of schizophrenia and depression. APHASIA Any disturbance in the comprehension or expression of language caused by a brain lesion. APHONIA Loss of voice. Seen in conversion disorder. 14
- 15. APPERCEPTION Awareness of the meaning and significance of a particular sensory stimulus as modified by one's own experiences, knowledge, thoughts, and emotions. APRAXIA Inability to perform a voluntary purposeful motor activity; cannot be explained by paralysis or other motor or sensory impairment. In constructional apraxia, a patient cannot draw two- or three-dimensional forms. ASTASIA ABASIA Inability to stand or to walk in a normal manner, even though normal leg movements can be performed in a sitting or lying down position. Seen in conversion disorder. ASTEREOGNOSIS Inability to identify familiar objects by touch. Seen with neurological deficit 15
- 16. AUTISTIC THINKING Thinking in which the thoughts are largely narcissistic and egocentric, with emphasis on subjectivity rather than objectivity, and without regard for reality; used interchangeably with autism and dereism. Seen in schizophrenia and autistic disorder. AUTOMATIC OBEDIENCE Strict obedience of command without critical judgment. The person may respond to an inner voice, as in schizophrenia, or to another person's command, as in hypnosis. AUTOMATISM Activity carried out without conscious knowledge. AUTOSCOPY Seeing oneself or a double as part of a brief hallucinatory experience. 16
- 17. BELLE INDIFFERENCE A person showing disinterest in his or her physical complaint. Occurs in conversion disorder. BEREAVEMENT Feeling of grief or desolation, especially at the death or loss of a loved one. BLACKOUT Amnesia experienced by alcoholics about behavior during drinking bouts; usually indicates reversible brain damage. BRADYKINESIA Slowness of motor activity, with a decrease in normal spontaneous movement. BRADYLALIA Abnormally slow speech. Common in depression. BRADYLEXIA Inability to read at normal speed. 17
- 18. CATALEPSY Condition in which persons maintain the body position into which they are placed; observed in severe cases of catatonic schizophrenia. CATAPLEXY Temporary sudden loss of muscle tone, causing weakness and immobilization; can be precipitated by a variety of emotional states and is often followed by sleep. Commonly seen in narcolepsy. CATATONIC POSTURING Voluntary assumption of an inappropriate or bizarre posture, generally maintained for long periods of time. May switch unexpectedly with catatonic excitement. CENESTHESIA Change in the normal quality of feeling tone in a part of the body. 18
- 19. CEREA FLEXIBILITAS Condition of a person who can be moulded into a position that is then maintained; when an examiner moves the person's limb, the limb feels as if it were made of wax. Also called waxy flexibility. Seen in schizophrenia. CHOREA Movement disorder characterized by random and involuntary quick, jerky, purposeless movement. CLANG ASSOCIATION Association or speech directed by the sound of a word rather than by its meaning; words have no logical connection; punning and rhyming may dominate the verbal behavior. Seen most frequently in schizophrenia or mania. CLAUSTROPHOBIA Abnormal fear of closed or confining spaces 19
- 20. CLOUDING OF CONSCIOUSNESS Any disturbance of consciousness in which the person is not fully awake, alert, and oriented. Occurs in delirium, dementia, and cognitive disorder. CLUTTERING Disturbance of fluency involving an abnormally rapid rate and erratic rhythm of speech that impedes intelligibility; the affected individual is usually unaware of communicative impairment COMPULSION Pathological need to act on an impulse that, if resisted, produces anxiety; repetitive behavior in response to an obsession or performed according to certain rules, with no true end. 20
- 21. CONCRETE THINKING Thinking characterized by actual things, events, and immediate experience rather than by abstractions; seen in young children, in those who have lost or never developed the ability to generalize (as in certain cognitive mental disorders), and in schizophrenic persons. CONDENSATION Mental process in which one symbol stands for a number of components. CONFABULATION Unconscious filling of gaps in memory by imagining experiences or events that have no basis in fact, commonly seen in amnestic syndromes; should be differentiated from lying. CONSTRUCTIONAL APRAXIA Inability to copy a drawing, such as a cube, clock, or pentagon, as a result of a brain lesion 21
- 22. CONVULSION An involuntary, violent muscular contraction or spasm. COPROLALIA Involuntary use of vulgar or obscene language. Observed in some cases of schizophrenia and in Tourette's syndrome. COPROPHAGIA Eating of filth or feces. CRYPTOGRAPHIA A private written language. CRYPTOLALIA A private spoken language. 22
- 23. DÉJÀ ENTENDU Illusion that what one is hearing one has heard previously. DÉJÀ PENSÉ Condition in which a thought never entertained before is incorrectly regarded as a repetition of a previous thought. DÉJÀ VU Illusion of visual recognition in which a new situation is incorrectly regarded as a repetition of a previous experience DELIRIUM Acute reversible mental disorder characterized by confusion and some impairment of consciousness; generally associated with emotional lability, hallucinations or illusions, and inappropriate, impulsive, irrational, or violent behavior. 23
- 24. DELIRIUM TREMENS Acute and sometimes fatal reaction to withdrawal from alcohol, usually occurring 72 to 96 hours after the cessation of heavy drinking; distinctive characteristics are marked autonomic hyperactivity usually accompanied by tremulousness, hallucinations, illusions, and delusions. DELUSION False belief, based on incorrect inference about external reality, that is firmly held despite objective and obvious contradictory proof or evidence and despite the fact that other members of the culture do not share the belief. DEPERSONALIZATION Sensation of unreality concerning oneself, parts of oneself that occurs under extreme stress or fatigue. Also seen in schizophrenia, depersonalization disorder, and schizotypal personality disorder. 24
- 25. DEREALIZATION Sensation of changed reality or that one's surroundings have altered. Usually seen in schizophrenia, panic attacks, and dissociative disorders. DETACHMENT Characterized by distant interpersonal relationships and lack of emotional involvement. DIPSOMANIA Compulsion to drink alcoholic beverages. DISTRACTIBILITY Inability to focus one's attention; the patient does not respond to the task at hand but attends to irrelevant phenomena in the environment. DYSARTHRIA Difficulty in articulation, the motor activity of shaping phonated sounds into speech, not in word finding or in grammar. 25
- 26. DYSGEUSIA Impaired sense of taste. DYSGRAPHIA Difficulty in writing. DYSKINESIA Difficulty in performing movements. Seen in extrapyramidal disorders. DYSLALIA Faulty articulation caused by structural abnormalities of the articulatory organs or impaired hearing. DYSLEXIA Specific learning disability syndrome involving an impairment of the previously acquired ability to read; unrelated to the person's intelligence. 26
- 27. DYSMEGALOPSIA A distortion in which the size and shape of objects is misperceived. DYSMETRIA Impaired ability to gauge distance relative to movements. Seen in neurological deficit. DYSMNESIA Impaired memory. DYSPHAGIA Difficulty in swallowing. DYSPHASIA Difficulty in comprehending oral language (reception dysphasia) or in trying to express verbal language (expressive dysphasia). DYSPHONIA Difficulty or pain in speaking. 27
- 28. DYSPHORIA Feeling of unpleasantness or discomfort; a mood of general dissatisfaction and restlessness. Occurs in depression and anxiety. DYSTONIA Extrapyramidal motor disturbance consisting of slow, sustained contractions of the axial or appendicular musculature; one movement often predominates, leading to relatively sustained postural deviations; acute dystonic reactions (facial grimacing and torticollis) are occasionally seen with the initiation of antipsychotic drug therapy. ECHOLALIA Psychopathological repeating of words or phrases of one person by another; tends to be repetitive and persistent. Seen in certain kinds of schizophrenia, particularly the catatonic types 28
- 29. EGOMANIA Morbid self-preoccupation or self-centeredness EMOTION Complex feeling state with psychic, somatic, and behavioral components ENCOPRESIS Involuntary passage of feces, usually occurring at night or during sleep. ENURESIS Incontinence of urine during sleep. ERYTHROPHOBIA Abnormal fear of blushing. 29
- 30. EXPRESSIVE APHASIA Disturbance of speech in which understanding remains, but ability to speak is grossly impaired; halting, laborious, and inaccurate speech (also known as Broca's, nonfluent, and motor aphasias). EXPRESSIVE DYSPHASIA Difficulty in expressing verbal language; the ability to understand language is intact. FATIGUE A feeling of weariness, sleepiness, or irritability after a period of mental or bodily activity. Seen in depression, anxiety, neurasthenia, and somatoform disorders. FEAR Unpleasurable emotional state consisting of psychophysiological changes in response to a realistic threat or danger. Compare with anxiety. 30
- 31. FLOCCILLATION Aimless plucking or picking, usually at bedclothes or clothing, commonly seen in dementia and delirium. FLUENT APHASIA Aphasia characterized by inability to understand the spoken word; fluent but incoherent speech is present. Also called Wernicke's, sensory and receptive aphasias. FOLIE À DEUX Mental illness shared by two persons, usually involving a common delusional system. FORMICATION Tactile hallucination involving the sensation that tiny insects are crawling over the skin. Seen in cocaine addiction and delirium tremens. 31
- 32. GRIEF Alteration in mood and affect consisting of sadness appropriate to a real loss; normally, it is self limited. See also depression and mourning. GUILT Emotional state associated with self-reproach and the need for punishment. In psychoanalysis, refers to a feeling that stems from a conflict between the ego and the superego (conscience). HALLUCINATION False sensory perception occurring in the absence of any relevant external stimulation of the sensory modality involved. HALLUCINOSIS State in which a person experiences hallucinations without any impairment of consciousness 32
- 33. HYPERACTIVITY Increased muscular activity. HYPERACUSIS Extreme sensitivity to sounds. HYPERALGESIA Excessive sensitivity to pain. Seen in somatoform disorder. HYPERESTHESIA Increased sensitivity to tactile stimulation. HYPERMNESIA Exaggerated degree of retention and recall. It can be elicited by hypnosis and may be seen in certain prodigies; also may be a feature of OCD, some cases of schizophrenia, and manic episodes of bipolar I disorder. 33
- 34. HYPERPHAGIA Increase in appetite and intake of food. HYPERSOMNIA Excessive time spent asleep. May be associated with underlying medical or psychiatric disorder or narcolepsy, may be part of the Kleine-Levin syndrome, or may be primary. HYPERVENTILATION Excessive breathing, generally associated with anxiety, which can reduce blood carbon dioxide concentration and can produce lightheaded-ness, palpitations, numbness, tingling periorally and in the extremities, and, occasionally, syncope. HYPERVIGILANCE Excessive attention to and focus on all internal and external stimuli; usually seen in delusional or paranoid states 34
- 35. HYPNAGOGIC HALLUCINATION Hallucination occurring while falling asleep, not ordinarily considered pathological. HYPNOPOMPIC HALLUCINATION Hallucination occurring while awakening from sleep, not ordinarily considered pathological. HYPNOSIS Artificially induced alteration of consciousness characterized by increased suggestibility and receptivity to direction. HYPOACTIVITY Decreased motor and cognitive activity, as in psychomotor retardation; visible slowing of thought, speech, and movements. Also called hypokinesis. 35
- 36. INSOMNIA Difficulty in falling asleep or difficulty in staying asleep. It can be related to a mental disorder, can be related to a physical disorder or an adverse effect of medication, or can be primary IRRELEVANT ANSWER Answer that is not responsive to the question. IRRITABILITY Abnormal or excessive excitability, with easily triggered anger, annoyance, or impatience. IRRITABLE MOOD State in which one is easily annoyed and provoked to anger. JAMAIS VU Paramnestic phenomenon characterized by a false feeling of unfamiliarity with a real situation that one has previously experienced. 36
- 37. LETHOLOGICA Momentary forgetting of a name or proper noun. LILLIPUTIAN HALLUCINATION Visual sensation that persons or objects are reduced in size; more properly regarded as an illusion. MACROPSIA False perception that objects are larger than they really are. MAGICAL THINKING A form of dereistic thought; thinking similar to that of the preoperational phase in children (Jean Piaget), in which thoughts, words, or actions assume power (e.g., to cause or to prevent events). MALINGERING Feigning disease to achieve a specific goal, for example, to avoid an unpleasant responsibility. 37
- 38. MANIPULATION Maneuvering by patients to get their own way, characteristic of antisocial personalities. MANNERISM Ingrained, habitual involuntary movement. METONYMY Speech disturbance common in schizophrenia in which the affected person uses a word or phrase that is related to the proper one but is not the one ordinarily used MOOD SWINGS Oscillation of a person's emotional feeling tone between periods of elation and periods of depression. MOTOR APHASIA Aphasia in which understanding is intact, but the ability to speak is lost 38
- 39. MUSCLE RIGIDITY State in which the muscles remain immovable. MUTISM Organic or functional absence of the speech. NEGATIVISM Verbal or nonverbal opposition or resistance to outside suggestions and advice; commonly seen in catatonic schizophrenia in which the patient resists any effort to be moved or does the opposite of what is asked. NEOLOGISM New word or phrase whose derivation cannot be understood; often seen in schizophrenia 39
- 40. NOEISIS Revelation in which immense illumination occurs in association with a sense that one has been chosen to lead and command. Can occur in manic or dissociative states. NOMINAL APHASIA Aphasia characterized by difficulty in giving the correct name of an object. NYMPHOMANIA Abnormal, excessive, insatiable desire in a woman for sexual intercourse. OVERACTIVITY Abnormality in motor behavior that can manifest itself as psychomotor agitation, hyperactivity (hyperkinesis), tics, sleepwalking, or compulsions. OVERVALUED IDEA False or unreasonable belief or idea that is sustained beyond the bounds of reason. It is held with less intensity or duration than a delusion but is usually associated with mental illness. 40
- 41. PANPHOBIA Overwhelming fear of everything. PARAPRAXIS Faulty act, such as a slip of the tongue or the misplacement of an article. Freud ascribed parapraxis to unconscious motives. PARESTHESIA Abnormal spontaneous tactile sensation, such as a burning, tingling, or pins-and- needles sensation. PERSEVERATION Pathological repetition of the same response to different stimuli, as in a repetition of the same verbal response to different questions. PHOBIA Persistent, pathological, unrealistic, intense fear of an object or situation; the phobic person may realize that the fear is irrational but, nonetheless, cannot dispel it. 41
- 42. PICA Craving and eating of non-food substances, such as paint and clay. POLYPHAGIA Pathological overeating. POSTURING Strange, fixed, and bizarre bodily positions held by a patient for an extended time PREOCCUPATION OF THOUGHT Centering of thought content on a particular idea, associated with a strong affective tone, such as a paranoid trend or a suicidal or homicidal preoccupation. PRESSURED SPEECH Increase in the amount of spontaneous speech; rapid, loud, accelerated speech, as occurs in mania, schizophrenia, and cognitive disorders 42
- 43. PROSOPAGNOSIA Inability to recognize familiar faces that is not due to impaired visual acuity or level of consciousness. PSEUDOCYESIS Rare condition in which a non-pregnant patient has the signs and symptoms of pregnancy, such as abdominal distention, breast enlargement, pigmentation, cessation of menses, and morning sickness. PSEUDODEMENTIA (1) Dementia like disorder that can be reversed by appropriate treatment and is not caused by organic brain disease. (2) Condition in which patients show exaggerated indifference to their surroundings in the absence of a mental disorder; also occurs in depression and factitious disorders. PSYCHOMOTOR AGITATION Physical and mental overactivity that is usually nonproductive and is associated with a feeling of inner turmoil, as seen in agitated depression 43
- 44. RETROGRADE AMNESIA Loss of memory for events preceding the onset of the amnesia. RUMINATION Constant preoccupation with thinking about a single idea or theme, as in OCD. SATYRIASIS Morbid, insatiable sexual need or desire in a man. SHAME Failure to live up to self-expectations; often associated with fantasy of how person will be seen by others. SOMATOPAGNOSIA Inability to recognize a part of one's body as one's own (also called ignorance of the body and autotopagnosia). SOMNOLENCE Pathological sleepiness or drowsiness from which one can be aroused to a normal state of consciousness. 44
- 45. STUTTERING Frequent repetition or prolongation of a sound or syllable, leading to markedly impaired speech fluency SUICIDAL IDEATION Thoughts or act of taking one's own life. TENSION Physiological or psychic arousal, uneasiness, or pressure toward action; an unpleasurable alteration in mental or physical state that seeks relief through action. TWILIGHT STATE Disturbed consciousness with hallucinations. UNIO MYSTICA Feeling of mystic unity with an infinite power. 45
- 46. WAXY FLEXIBILITY Condition in which a person maintains the body position into which they are placed. WORD APPROXIMATION Use of conventional words in an unconventional or inappropriate way ( (e.g., handshoes for gloves and time measure for clock); distinguished from a neologism, which is a new word whose derivation cannot be understood. WORD SALAD Incoherent, essentially incomprehensible, mixture of words and phrases commonly seen in far-advanced cases of schizophrenia. XENOPHOBIA Abnormal fear of strangers. ZOOPHOBIA Abnormal fear of animals. 46
- 47. WILLIAM OSLER (1898–1919) said of medicine in general “It is learned only by experience; it is not an inheritance; it cannot be revealed. Learn to see, learn to hear, learn to feel, learn to smell, and know that by practice alone can you become expert.” So it is with psychiatry. One sees the posture of depression, hears the neologisms in schizophrenia, smells the odour of alcoholism, and feels the violent patient's anger. 47
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