6.

Dreamlike state – another term for

Typical Signs and Symptoms in
psychomotor epilepsy or complex partial
seizure.
Psychopathology
7. Somnolence – abnormal drowsiness, usually

SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS displayed in organic processes.

8. Coma vigil (akinetic mutism) – patient
Signs – objective; based from clinician’s observation. appears to be sleeping but is aroused easily.

Symptoms – subjective; subjective experiences of the 9. Coma – profound level of consciousness,

patient. abnormal state of deep stupor that is

accompanied by a total loss of consciousness,
▪ Psychopathological signs and symptoms are
loss of voluntary behavior and some reflexes.
not clearly differentiated, they often overlap.

Syndrome – a constellation of signs and symptoms that

make up a recognizable condition, is often used to show DISTURBANCES OF ATTENTION

the overlap of the two. Attention – selective aspects of perception; quantity of

effort given to focusing on parts of an experience; ability
to concentrate
TYPICAL SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS IN
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY 1. Distractibility – the inability to concentrate or
focus attention because patient is easily drawn
DISTURBANCES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
to irrelevant external stimuli.
Consciousness – state of awareness 2. Selective attention – blocking out of anxiety-
causing stimuli.
Apperception – perception modified by one’s own
3. Hyper vigilance – excessive focus and
thoughts and emotions
attention is given to all internal and external
Sensorium – sometimes used as another term for stimuli due to paranoia.
consciousness.

▪ refers to the state of functioning of the special

DISTURBANCES IN SUGGESTIBILITY
senses
Suggestibility – uncritical and compliant response to
1. Disorientation – disturbed orientation influence or an idea.
regarding time, place, or person.
1. Folie a deux (or folie a trois) –
2. Delirium – patient exhibits confusion,
emotional/mental illness shared between two
restlessness, bewilderment, and a disoriented
(or three) persons; also called shared
reaction that is usually associated with
psychosis between two (or three) persons.
hallucinations and fear.
2. Hypnosis – artificially induced consciousness
3. Clouding of consciousness – a state of
characterized by heightened suggestibility.
perceptual and cognitive confusion.
4. Stupor – a general condition wherein the DISTURBANCES IN EMOTION

patient exhibits extreme unresponsiveness and Emotion – a complex feeling or state related to mood
loss of orientation to the environment. and affect with psychic, somatic, and behavioral
5. Twilight state – a disturbance in components.
consciousness, with hallucinations.
Affect – the expression or outward manifestation of 8. Ecstasy – feeling of intense rapture or delight.
emotion observable to others. 9. Depression – the psychopathological feeling
of sadness.
1. Appropriate affect – a normal condition
10. Anhedonia – loss of interest and withdrawal
wherein emotional tone is in harmony or is
from all regular and pleasurable activities.
consistent with the accompanying thought,
Often associated with depression.
idea, or speech. It is also described as broad
11. Grief or Mourning – sadness that is
or full affect wherein a full range of emotions is
appropriate to a real loss.
appropriately expressed.
12. Alexithymia – the inability or difficulty in
2. Inappropriate affect – inconsistency between
describing one’s moods or emotions.
the emotional tone and the idea, thought, or
speech accompanying it. Other Emotions
3. Blunted affect – characterized by a severe
1. Anxiety – a feeling of apprehension that is
reduction in the intensity of the externalized
caused by anticipation of internal or external
feeling tone.
danger/threat.
4. Restricted or constricted affect – reduction
2. Free-floating anxiety – unfocused and
in the intensity of feeling tone. It is less severe
pervasive fear that is not attached to any idea.
than blunted affect.
3. Fear – anxiety caused by a consciously
5. Flat affect – the absence or near absence of
recognized and realistic danger.
any signs of affective expression. It can be
4. Agitation – motor restlessness associated
characterized by an immobile face and a
with severe anxiety.
monotonous voice.
5. Tension – unpleasant increased motor and
6. Labile affect – rapid and abrupt changes in
psychological activity.
the emotional feeling tone which is unrelated
6. Panic – acute, episodic, intense anxiety attack
to an external stimuli.
associated with overwhelming feelings of
Mood – the sustained and pervasive emotion dread.
subjectively experienced and reported by the patient, 7. Apathy – dulled emotional tone associated
and is observable to others. with indifference or detachment
8. Ambivalence – presence of two opposing
1. Dysphoric Mood – unpleasant mood
impulses toward the same thing, in the same
2. Euthymic Mood – normal range of mood
person, at the same time.
3. Expansive Mood – the expression of one’s
feelings without any restraint. It is frequently
and overestimation of one’s significance or
Physiological disturbances associated with mood
importance.
4. Irritable Mood – the person is easily provoked ▪ Signs that refer to the somatic (usually
to anger and is easily annoyed. autonomic) dysfunction of a person, which are
5. Mood Swings (labile mood) – moving most often associated with depression; also
between euphoria and depression or anxiety. known as vegetative signs.
6. Elevated Mood – characterized by an air of 1. Anorexia – loss of or decrease in appetite.
enjoyment and confidence. A mood which is 2. Hyperphagia – increase in appetite and food
more cheerful than normal but is not intake.
considered pathological. 3. Insomnia – difficulty or lack the lack of ability to
7. Euphoria – intense elation with feelings of fall asleep.
grandeur.
 a. Initial – difficulty in falling asleep. (early
onset)
b. Middle – difficulty in sleeping through
the night without waking up; difficulty in
going back to sleep if awaken in the
middle of the night. (middle onset)
c. Terminal – early morning awakening.
(late onset)
4. Hypersomnia – excessive sleeping.
5. Diurnal variation – mood is regularly worst in
morning, immediately after awakening, and
improves as the day progresses.
6. Diminished libido – decreased sexual
interest, drive, and performance.
* Increased libido is usually associated with manic
states.
7. Constipation – inability or difficulty in
defecating.
DISTURBANCES IN MOTOR FUNCTIONING
Motor Behavior – the aspect of the psyche which
includes impulses, motivations, wishes, drives,
instincts, and cravings, as expressed by a person’s
behavior or motor activity.
1. Echopraxia – the person’s pathological
imitation of movements of another person.
2. Catatonia – motor anomalies in non-organic
disorders (as opposed to disturbances of
consciousness and motor activity secondary to
organic pathology)
a. Catalepsy – general term used to
describe an immobile position that is
constantly maintained.
b. Catatonic Excitement – agitated,
purposeless motor activity that is
uninfluenced by external stimuli.
c. Catatonic Stupor – noticeable slowed
motor activity, often to a point of
immobility and seeming unawareness
of surroundings.
d. Catatonic Rigidity – voluntary
assumption of a rigid posture, held
against all efforts to be moved.
e. Catatonic Posturing – voluntary
assumption of an inappropriate or
bizarre posture which is generally
maintained for long periods of time.
f. Cerea Flexibilitas (Waxy Flexibility)
– a condition wherein the person can
be molded into a position that is then
maintained. When the examiner moves
the person’s limb, the limb feels as if it
were made of wax.
3. Negativism – motiveless resistance to all
instructions or to all attempts to be moved.
4. Cataplexy – temporary muscle weakness and
loss of muscle tone precipitated by a variety of
emotional states.
5. Stereotypy – repetitive fixed pattern of physical
action or speech.
6. Mannerism – deep-seated/ingrained and
habitual involuntary movement.
7. Automatism – automatic performance of an
act or acts generally representative of
unconscious symbolic activity.
8. Command Automatism –automatic following
of suggestions (automatic obedience).
9. Mutism – voicelessness that is not caused by
structural abnormalities or physical conditions.
10. Overactivity – abnormality in motor behavior
that can manifest itself as psychomotor
agitation, hyperactivity, tic, sleepwalking, or
compulsions.
a. Psychomotor Agitation – excessive
motor and cognitive overactivity,
usually nonproductive and in response
to inner tension.
b. Hyperactivity (Hyperkinesis) –
restless, aggressive, and destructive
activity, often associated with some
underlying organic pathology.
c. Tic – involuntary, spasmodic motor
movement.
 d. Sleepwalking (Somnambulism) – DISTURBANCES IN THINKING/THOUGHT
motor activity during sleep.
Thinking – the goal-directed flow of ideas. Symbols and
e. Akathisia – subjective feeling of
associations initiated by problem or task and leading
muscular tension secondary to
toward a reality-oriented conclusion.
antipsychotic or other medication,
which can cause restlessness, pacing, General disturbances in form or process of thinking
repeated sitting and standing; can be
1. Mental disorder – clinically significant
mistaken for psychotic agitation.
behavioral or psychological syndrome that is
f. Compulsion – uncontrollable impulse
associated with distress or disability, and not
to perform an act repetitively
just an expected response to a particular event.
i. Dipsomania – compulsion to
2. Psychosis – inability to distinguish reality from
drink alcohol.
fantasy. Impairment in reality testing, with
ii. Kleptomania – compulsion to
creation of a new reality.
steal.
3. Reality testing – the objective evaluation and
iii. Nymphomania – excessive
judgment of the world outside the self.
and compulsive need for coitus
4. Formal though disorder – disturbance in the
in a woman.
form of thought instead of the content of
iv. Satyriasis – excessive and
thought. Thinking is characterized by loosened
compulsive need for coitus in a
associations, neologisms, and illogical
man.
constructs. Thought process is disordered and
v. Trichotillomania –
the person defined psychotic.
compulsion to pull out one’s
5. Illogical thinking – thinking containing
hair.
erroneous conclusions or internal
vi. Ritual – automatic activity
contradictions. It is considered
compulsive in nature, anxiety-
psychopathological only when it is marked and
reducing in origin.
when not caused by cultural values or
11. Hypoactivity (Hypokinesis) – decreased
intellectual deficit.
motor and cognitive activity, as in psychomotor
6. Dereism – mental activity not concordant with
retardation; visible slowing of thought, speech
logic experience.
and movements.
7. Autistic Thinking – thinking that gratifies
12. Mimicry – simple, imitative motor activity of
unfulfilled desires but has no regard for reality;
childhood.
a preoccupation phase in children in which
13. Aggression – forceful goal-directed action that
thoughts, words, or actions assume power.
may be verbal or physical; the motor
8. Magical thinking – a form of dereistic thought;
counterpart of the affect of rage, anger, or
thinking similar to that of the preoperational
hostility.
phase
14. Acting out – direct expression of an
unconscious wish or impulse in action; in children (Jean Piaget), in which thoughts, words, or
unconscious fantasy is lived out impulsively in actions assume power (e.g., to cause or to prevent
behavior. events).

9. Primary process thinking – general term for

thinking that is dereistic; illogical and magical;
normally found in dreams, abnormally in
psychotics.
Specific disturbances in form of thought 10. Irrelevant answer – answer that is not in
harmony with question asked.
1. Neologism – new word or phrase whose
11. Loosening of associations – characteristic
derivation cannot be understood; often seen in
schizophrenic thinking or speech disturbance
schizophrenia; it has also been used to mean a
involving a disorder in the logical progression of
word that has been incorrectly constructed but
thoughts; manifested as a failure to
whose origins are nonetheless understandable
communicate verbally adequately; unrelated
(e.g., headshoe to mean hat), but such
and unconnected ideas shift from one subject
constructions are more properly referred to as
to another.
word approximations.
12. Derailment – gradual or sudden deviation in
2. Word Salad – incoherent, essentially
train of thought without blocking; sometimes
incomprehensible, mixture of words and
used synonymously with loosening of
phrases commonly seen in far-advanced cases
association.
of schizophrenia (See also incoherence.).
13. Flight of ideas – rapid succession of
3. Circumstantiality – disturbance in the
fragmentary thoughts or speech in which
associative thought and speech processes in
content changes abruptly and speech may be
which a patient digresses into unnecessary
incoherent.
details and inappropriate thoughts before
14. Clang association – association or speech
communicating the central idea; observed in
directed by the sound of a word rather than by
schizophrenia, obsessional disturbances, and
its meaning; words have no logical connection;
certain cases of dementia.
punning and rhyming may dominate the verbal
4. Tangentiality – oblique, digressive, or even
behavior. Seen most frequently in
irrelevant manner of speech in which the central
schizophrenia or mania.
idea is not communicated.
15. Blocking – abrupt interaction in train of thinking
5. Incoherence – thought that, generally is not
before a thought or idea is finished after brief
understandable; patient never gets from
pause, person indicates no recall of what was
desired point to desired goal.
being said or was going to be said.
6. Perseveration – pathological repetition of the
16. Glossolalia – unintelligible jargon that has
same response to different stimuli, as in a
meaning to the speaker but not to the listener;
repetition of the same verbal response to
occurs in schizophrenia.
different questions; persistent repetition of
specific words or concepts in the process of Specific disturbances in content of thought
speaking. Seen in cognitive disorders,
1. Poverty of content – thought that gives little
schizophrenia, and other mental illness.
information because of vagueness, empty
7. Verbigeration – meaningless and stereotyped
repetitions, or obscure phrases.
repetition of words or phrases, as seen in
2. Overvalued idea – false or unreasonable belief
schizophrenia; also called cataphasia.
or idea that is sustained beyond the bounds of
8. Echolalia – a person’s psychopathological
repeating of words or phrases of by another; reason; it is held with less intensity or duration than a
tends to be repetitive and persistent. Seen in delusion, but is usually associated with mental illness.
certain kinds of schizophrenia, particularly the
3. Delusion – false belief, based on incorrect
catatonic types.
inference about external reality, not consistent
9. Condensation – mental process in which one
with patient’s intelligence and cultural
symbol stands for a number of components.
background that cannot be corrected by
reasoning
a. Bizarre delusion – false belief that is
patently absurd or fantastic (e.g.,
invaders from space have implanted
electrodes in a person's
common in schizophrenia.
b. Systematized delusion – group of
elaborate delusions related to a single
event or theme.
c. Mood-congruent delusion – delusion
with content that is mood appropriate
(e.g., depressed patients who believe
that they are responsible for the
destruction of the world).
d. Mood-incongruent delusion
delusion with content that has no
association to mood or is mood-neutral.
e. Nihilistic delusion – depressive
delusion that the world and everything
related to it have ceased to exist.
f. Delusion of poverty – false belief that
one is bereft or will be deprived of all
material possessions
g. Somatic Delusion – delusion
pertaining to the functioning of one's
body.
h. Paranoid delusions – includes
persecutory delusions and delusions of
reference, control, and grandeur
i. Delusion of persecution –
false belief of being harassed
or persecuted; often found in
litigious patients who have a
pathological tendency to take
legal action because
imagined mistreatment. (most
common delusion)
ii. Delusion of grandeur
exaggerated conception
one's importance, power, or
identity.
iii. Delusion of reference – false
belief that the behavior of
others refers to oneself or that
events, objects, or
people have a particular and
unusual significance, usually
of a negative nature; derived
brain), from idea of reference, in
which persons falsely feel that
others are talking about them
(e.g., belief that people on
television or radio are talking to
or about the person). See also
thought broadcasting.
i. Delusion of self-accusation – false
feeling of remorse and guilt. Seen in
depression with psychotic features.
– j. Delusion of control – false belief that
a person's will, thoughts, or feelings are
being controlled by external forces.
i. Thought withdrawal –
delusion that one’s thoughts
are being removed from one’s
mind by other people or forces.
ii. Thought insertion – delusion
that thoughts are being
implanted in one's mind by
other people or forces.
iii. Thought broadcasting –
feeling that one's thoughts are
being broadcast or projected
into the environment.
k. Delusion of infidelity – false belief
that one's lover is unfaithful.
Sometimes called pathological
jealousy.
l. Erotomania – delusional belief, more
of common in women than in men, that
someone is deeply in love with them
(also known as de Clérembault
– syndrome).
of m. Pseudologia fantastica – a type of
lying, in which the person appears to
believe in the reality of his or her
fantasies and acts on them.
4. Preoccupation of thought – centering of
thought content on a particular idea, associated
other
 with a strong affective tone, such as a paranoid
trend or a suicidal or homicidal preoccupation.
5. Egomania – morbid self-preoccupation or self-
centeredness.
6. Monomania – mental state characterized by
preoccupation with one subject.
7. Hypochondria – exaggerated concern about
health that is based not on real medical
pathology, but on unrealistic interpretations of
physical signs or sensations as abnormal.
8. Obsession – persistent and recurrent idea,
thought, or impulse that cannot be eliminated
from consciousness by logic or reasoning;
obsessions are involuntary and ego-dystonic.
See also compulsion.
9. 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 in itself other than to prevent
something from occurring in the future.
10. Coprolalia – involuntary use of vulgar or
obscene language. Observed in some cases of
schizophrenia and in Tourette's syndrome.
11. 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.
a. Simple phobia – circumscribed dread
of a discrete object or situation.
b. Social phobia – fear of public
humiliation, as in fear of public
speaking, performing, or eating in
public.
c. Acrophobia – fear of high places.
d. Algophobia – fear of pain.
e. Claustrophobia – Abnormal fear of
closed or confining spaces.
f. Xenophobia – Abnormal fear of
strangers.
g. Zoophobia – Abnormal fear of animals.
12. Noesis – a revelation in which immense
illumination occurs in association with a sense
that one has been chosen to lead and
command.
13. Unio mystica – feeling of mystic unity with an
infinite power.
DISTURBANCES IN SPEECH
Speech – ideas, thoughts, feelings as expressed
through language; communication through the use of
words and language.
1. Pressure of Speech – rapid speech that is
increased in amount difficult to interpret.
2. Volubility (logorrhea) – copious, coherent,
logical speech; excessive talking observed in
manic episodes of bipolar disorder. (also known
as tachylogia, verbomania)
3. Poverty of Speech – restriction in the amount
of speech used; replies may be mono-syllabic.
4. Nonspontaneous speech – verbal responses
given only when asked or spoken to directly; no
self-initiation of speech.
5. Poverty of content of speech – speech that is
adequate in amount but conveys little
information because of vagueness, emptiness
or stereotyped phrases.
6. Dysprosod – loss of normal speech melody.
(called prosody)
7. Dysarthria – difficulty in articulation, not in
word finding or in grammar.
8. Excessively loud or soft speech – loss of
modulation of normal speech volume; may
reflect a variety of pathological conditions
ranging from psychosis to depression to
deafness.
9. Stuttering – frequent repetition or prolongation
of a sound or syllable, leading to markedly
impaired speech fluency.
10. Cluttering – erratic and dysrhythmic speech,
consisting of rapid and jerky spurts.
APHASIC DISTURBANCES (disturbances in
language output)
 1. Motor Aphasia – disturbance of speech common hallucination in psychiatric
caused by an organic mental disorder in which disorders.
understanding remains but ability to speak is d. Visual Hallucination – false
grossly impaired; speech is halting laborious, perception involving sight consisting of
and inaccurate. (also known as Broca’s, non- both formed images(e.g. people) and
fluent, or expressive aphasia) unformed images (e.g. flashes of light);
2. Sensory Aphasia – organic loss of ability to most common in organically
comprehend the meaning of words; speech is determined disorders.
fluid and spontaneous, but incoherent and e. Olfactory Hallucination – false
nonsensical. (also known as Wernicke’s, fluent, perception in smell; most common in
or receptive aphasia) organic disorders.
3. Nominal Aphasia – difficulty in finding correct f. Gustatory Hallucination – false
name for an object. (also termed anomia) perception of taste, such as unpleasant
4. Syntactical Aphasia – inability to arrange taste caused by an uncinate seizure;
words in proper sequence. most common in organic disorders.
5. Jargon Aphasia – words produced are totally g. Tactile (Haptic) Hallucination – false
neologistic; nonsense words repeated with perception of touch or surface
various intonations and inflections. sensation, as from an amputated limb
6. Global Aphasia – combination of a grossly (phantom limb), crawling sensation on
non-fluent aphasia and a severe fluent aphasia. or under the skin (formication).
h. Somatic Hallucination – false
sensation of things occurring in or to
DISTURBANCES OF PERCEPTION the body, most often visceral in origin
(also known as cenesthetsic
Perception – process of transferring physical
hallucination).
stimulation into psychological information; the mental
i. Lilliputian Hallucination – false
process by which sensory stimuli are brought into
perception in which objects are seen as
awareness.
reduced in size (also termed
1. Hallucination – false sensory perception not micropsia).
associated with real external stimuli; there may j. Mood-congruent Hallucination – a
or may not be a delusional interpretation of the kind of hallucination wherein the
hallucinatory experience; hallucinations content of which is consistent with
indicate a psychotic disturbance only when either a depressed or manic mood (e.g.
associated with impairment in reality testing a depressed patient hears voices
a. Hypnagogic Hallucination – false saying that the patient is a bad person;
sensory perception occurring while a manic patient hears voices saying
falling asleep; generally considered a that the patient is inflated of worth,
non-pathological phenomenon. power, knowledge, etc.)
b. Hypnopompic Hallucination – false k. Mood-incongruent Hallucination –
perception occurring while awakening Hallucination whose content is not
from sleep; generally considered non- consistent with either depressed or
pathological. manic mood (e.g. in depression,
c. Auditory Hallucination – false hallucinations not involving such
perception of sound, usually voices but themes as guilt, deserved punishment,
also other noises such as music; most
 or inadequacy; in mania, hallucinations
not involving such themes as inflated
worth or power)
l. Hallucinosis – Hallucinations, most
often auditory, that are associated with
chronic alcohol abuse and that occur
within a clear sensorium.
m. Trailing Phenomenon – perceptual
abnormality associated with
hallucinogenic drugs in which moving
object are seen as a series of discrete
and discontinuous stages.
2. Illusion – misperception or misinterpretation of
real external sensory stimuli.
DISTURBANCES ASSOCIATED WITH ORGANIC
MENTAL DISORDER
Agnosia – an inability to recognize and interpret the
DISTURBANCES OF MEMORY
significance of sensory impressions.
Memory – function by which information stored in the
1. Anosognosia – inability to recognize illness as
brain is later recalled to consciousness
occurring to oneself.
2. Autotopagnosia – inability to recognize a body
part as one’s own.
3. Visual Agnosia – inability to recognize objects
or persons.
4. Astereognosia – inability to recognize objects
by touch.
5. Prosopagnosia – inability to recognize faces.
6. Apraxia – inability to carry out specific tasks.
DISTURBANCES ASSOCIATED WITH
CONVERSION AND DISSOCIATIVE PHENOMENA
Somatization of repressed material or the development
of physical symptoms and distortions involving the
voluntary muscle or special sense organs; not under
voluntary control and not explained by any physical
disorder.
1. Hysterical Anesthesia – loss of sensory
modalities resulting from emotional conflicts.
2. Macropsia – state in which objects seem larger
than they are.
3. Micropsia – state in which objects seem
smaller than they are (both macropsia and
micropsia can also be associated with clear
organic conditions such as complex partial
seizures).
4. Depersonalization – a subjective sense of
being unreal, strange, or unfamiliar to oneself.
5. Derealization – a subjective sense that the
environment is strange or unreal; a feeling of
changed reality.
6. Fugue – taking on a new identity with amnesia
for the old identity; often involves travel or
wandering to new environments.
7. Multiple personality – one person who
appears at different times to be in possession
of an entirely different personality and
character.
1. Amnesia – partial or total inability to recall past
experiences; may be organic or emotional in
origin.
2. Paramnesia – falsification of memory by
distortion of recall.
a. Fausse reconnaissance – false
recognition.
b. Retrospective falsification – memory
becomes unintentionally
(unconsciously) distorted by being
filtered through patient’s present
emotional, cognitive, and experiential
state.
c. Confabulation – unconscious filling of
gaps in memory by imagined or untrue
experiences that patient believes but
that have no basis in fact; most often
associated with organic pathology.
d. Déjà vu – illusion of visual recognition
in which a new situation is correctly
regarded as a repetition of a previous
memory.
 e. Déjà entendu – illusion of auditory b. Moderate (I.Q. of 35 or 40 to 50 or 55)
recognition. c. Severe (I.Q. of 20 or 25 to 35 or 40)
f. Déjà pense – illusion that a new d. Profound (I.Q. below 20 or 25)
thought is recognized as a thought
Obsolete terms are “idiot” (mental age less than 3
previously felt or expressed.
years), “imbecile” (mental age of 3 to 7 years), and
g. Jamias vu – false feeling of
“moron” (mental age of about 8)
unfamiliarity with a real situation one
has experienced. 2. Dementia – organic and global deterioration of
h. False memory – a person’s intellectual functioning without clouding of
recollection and belief by the patient of consciousness
an event that did not actually occur. a. Dyscalculia – loss of ability to do
3. Hypermnesia – exaggerated degree of calculations not caused by anxiety or
retention and recall. impairment in concentration.
4. Eidetic image – visual memory of almost b. Dysgraphia – loss of ability to write in
hallucinatory vividness. cursive style; loss of word structure.
5. Screen memory – a consciously tolerable 3. Pseudodementia – clinical features
memory covering for a painful memory. resembling a dementia not caused by an
6. Repression – a defense mechanism organic mental dysfunction; most often caused
characterized by unconscious forgetting of by depression.
unacceptable ideas or impulses. 4. Concrete thinking – literal thinking; limited use
7. Lethologica – temporary inability to remember of metaphor without understanding of nuances
a name or a proper noun. of meaning; one dimensional thought.
8. Blackout – amnesia experienced by alcoholics 5. Abstract thinking – ability to appreciate
about behavior during drinking bouts; usually nuances of meaning; multidimensional thinking
indicates that reversible brain damage has with ability to use metaphors and hypotheses
occurred. appropriately.

Levels of Memory

a. Immediate – reproduction or recall of perceived

material within seconds to minutes.

b. Recent – recall of events over past few days.

c. Recent past – recall of events over past few months.

d. Remote – recall of events in distant past.

DISTURBANCES OF INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence – the ability to understand, recall,

mobilized, and constructively integrates previous
learning in meeting new situations.

1. Mental Retardation: Lack of intelligence to a

degree in which there is interference with social
and vocational performance:
a. Mild (I.Q. of 50 or 55 to approximately
70)