Agoraphobia: a Greek word that literally means "fear of the marketplace." This anxiety disorder involves the fear of experiencing a panic attack in a place or situation from which escape may be difficult or embarrassing.
Anxiety: Increased arousal accompanied by generalized feelings of fear or apprehension.
Anxiety Disorders: Psychological disorders that take several different forms, but which are all related to a generalized feeling of anxiety.
Bipolar Disorder: A mood disorder in which individuals experience very wide swings in mood, from deep depression to wild elation.
Catastrophic Thinking: Thoughts about impending disaster that may result in a fullblown panic attack.
Defense Mechanisms: Techniques used by the ego to keep threatening and unacceptable material out of consciousness and so to reduce anxiety.
Delusions: a perception that is thought to be true by the person experiencing it, although the perception is wrong. There are many types of delusions (i.e., delusions of grandeur).
Depression: A mood disorder in which individuals experience extreme unhappiness, lack of energy, and several related symptoms.
Dysthymia (Also known as dysthymic disorder.): classified as a type of affective disorder or mood disorder that often resembles a less severe, yet more chronic form of major (clinical) depression.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): a mental disorder that causes its sufferers chronic and exaggerated worry and tension that seem to have no substantial cause. Persons with generalized anxiety disorder often worry excessively about health, money, family, or work, and continually anticipate disaster.
Hallucinations: Vivid sensory experiences that have no basis in physical reality.
Major depression (Also known as clinical depression or unipolar depression.): classified as a type of affective disorder or mood disorder that goes beyond the day's ordinary ups and downs, becoming a serious medical condition and important health concern in this country.
Mania: a mood disorder which may be characterized by extreme elation, impulsivity, irritability, rapid speech, nervousness, distractibility, and/or poor judgment.
Mood Disorders: Psychological disorders in which individuals experience swings in their emotional states that are much more extreme and prolonged than is true of most people.
Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder (OCD): an anxiety disorder in which a person has an unreasonable thought, fear, or worry that he or she tries to manage through a ritualized activity to reduce the anxiety. Frequently occurring disturbing thoughts or images are called obsessions, and the rituals performed to try to prevent or dispel them are called compulsions.
Panic Disorder: characterized by chronic, repeated, and unexpected panic attacks - bouts of overwhelming fear of being in danger when there is no specific cause for the fear. In-between panic attacks, persons with panic disorder worry excessively about when and where the next attack may occur.
Personality Disorders: Disorders involving extreme and inflexible personality traits that are distressing to the persons who have them or cause them problems in school, work, or interpersonal relations.
Postpartum Depression: Depression experienced by new mothers shortly after giving birth.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A disorder in which people persistently reexperience traumatic events in their thoughts or dreams, feel as if they are reliving these events from time to time, and persistently avoid stimuli associated with the traumatic events, along with several other symptoms.
Psychiatrist: licensed physicians (M.D. or D.O.) who specialize in the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders. Their medical and psychiatric training prepares them to treat adults and children either individually, as part of and involving the family unit, and/or in a group setting. Psychiatrists can prescribe medications, if needed.
Psychologist: a specialist in the study of the structure and function of the brain and related behaviors or mental processes. A psychologist may provide psychological evaluation, assessment, testing, and treatment, but may not prescribe medications.
Schizophrenia: A complex disorder characterized by hallucinations (e.g., hearing voices), delusions, disturbances in speech, and several other symptoms.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): a mood disorder characterized by depression related to a certain season of the year - especially winter.
Social phobia: an anxiety disorder in which a person has significant anxiety and discomfort related to a fear of being embarrassed, humiliated, or scorned by others in social or performance situations.
Stress: Our response to events that disrupt, or threaten to disrupt, our physical or psychological functioning.
Substance Abuse: A disorder involving one or more of the following: recurrent substance use resulting in failure to fulfill major role obligations at work, school, or home; recurrent substance use in situations in which such use is physically hazardous; and/or recurrent substance-related legal problems.
Substance Dependence: A disorder involving one or more of the following: the need for increasing amounts of a substance to achieve the desired effect, withdrawal symptoms when the substance isn’t taken, an inability to cut down on or control use of the substance, and the dedication of a great deal of time to activities aimed at securing the substance.