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J-L

Judgment - The ability to make logical, rational decisions.

Kindling - A phenomenon in which a small change in neuronal activity, if it is repeated, may eventually lead to full-blown epilepsy.

Kinesthetic hallucination - Hallucinations involving the sense of touch

Korsakoff’s syndrome - A severe form of amnesia with the preservation of other cognitive functions found in chronic alcoholism.

La belle indifférence - (French) Literally, "beautiful indifference." The attitude of unconcern about a symptom in order to lower anxiety. Seen in certain patients with conversion disorders who show an inappropriate lack of concern about their disabilities.

Labile - Having rapidly shifting emotions; unstable.

Labile affect - Affect repeatedly and rapidly shifts from one extreme to another, from example from despair to elation.

Lability - Instability, particularly with regard to affect.

Laconic - Using or involving the use of a minimum of words; concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious; crisp; brief and to the point; effectively cut short.

Latent content - The hidden (i.e., unconscious) meaning of thoughts or actions, especially in dreams or fantasies. In dreams, it is expressed in distorted, disguised, condensed, and symbolic form.

Learned helplessness - A condition in which a person attempts to establish and maintain contact with another by adopting a helpless, powerless stance.

Legally incompetent - A person judicially declared to be incapable of managing his or her affairs, including standing trial.

Libido - Sexual drive. (Sexual is used here in the broad sense to include pleasure and love-object seeking).

Limbic System - Group of brain structures composed of the hippocampus and amygdala. Associated with memory storage, the coordination of autonomic functions, and the control of mood and emotion.

Limit setting - The reasonable and rational setting of parameters for client behavior that provide control and safety.

Lithium - An anti-manic drug that stabilizes the manic phase of a bipolar disorder, It can modify future manic episodes and protect against future depressive episodes.

Logorrhea - Fluent and rambling speech using many words. Same as Volubility.

Long-term memory - The relatively permanent memory of past learning.

Loose associations - Disturbance of thinking in which ideas shift from one subject to another in an unrelated manner. When this condition is severe, speech may be incoherent. The speaker gives no indication of being aware of the disconnectedness, contradictions, or illogicality of speech. Same as Associative Looseness.

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