PEPTIC ULCER
A craterlike wound in the inner wall of the stomach or duodenum resulting from the corrosive effects of acid-containing digestive…
PERPLEXITY STATES
A form of mental confusion in which the patient is assailed with doubt and uncertainty about his own thoughts.Perplexity is…
PAIN DRIVE
drive directed to the removal of noxious stimulation.This basic drive is activated by special sense organs in the form of…
PAIRED ASSOCIATES LEARNING
A technique for studying learning. Words, syllables, digits, or other items are learned in pairs, and the subject is later…
PARALOGICAL THINKING
False, illogical thinking found particularly in schizophrenic reactionsParalogical thinking may take many forms. A patient who is preoccupied with his…
PARAMNESIA
A falsification or distortion of memory; a confusion of fact with fantasy in recalling events.We have all experienced some of…
PARANOID REACTION (GENERAL)
A psychotic reaction marked by more or less systematized delusions without personality disorganization or deterioration. The term was first applied…
PARANOID STATES
A psychotic disorder characterized by transient, poorly systematized delusions.Paranoid states appear to be intermediate between “true” paranoia and paranoid schizophrenia.…
PARATHYROID GLANDS
Two pairs of small endocrine glands adjacent to the thyroid gland in the neck, which regulate calcium metabolism and maintain…
PARKINSON’S DISEASE
A chronic degenerative disease of the central nervous system, usually occurring between the ages of fifty and seventy. Atrophy takes…
PRETERNATURAL
Preternatural phenomena are of a nature that they cannot be readily described and understood using the currently understood natural laws…
PRIMARY ABILITIES
Psychologist Louis L. Thurstone (1887-1955) first proposed in 1936 that there were primarily seven components of intelligence: Verbal Ability, Word…
PRIMARY DATA
The data first obtained through observation or experiment prior to analysis and statistical work up.
PRIMARY MASOCHISM
Theoretically, the part of the aggressive or death instinct directed inward to the individual after absorption and direction of a…
PRIMARY REPRESSION
A theory in Psychoanalysis that describes the first phase of repression. Ideas associated with instinctual desires are identified and prevented…
PRINCIPLE OF INERTIA
Also referred to as the inertia principle, this psychoanalytical theory explains the tendency of an organism to expend as little…
PRIVATE PRACTICE 1
A medical professional operating as a self-employed provider of care. For nations with public health care, private practice refers to…