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M-O

Macropsia - The visual perception that objects are larger than they actually are.

Made actions (made acts) - Delusional belief that one's free will has been removed and an external agency is controlling one's actions.

Made feelings - Delusional belief that one's free will has been removed and an external agency is controlling one's feelings.

Magical thinking - The belief that thinking something can make it happen. Magical thinking is part of normal child development

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) - A non-invasive procedure for 2-and 3-dimensional imaging of the brain.

Major depressive disorder - A severe mental illness characterized by feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and worthlessness; often accompanied by suicidal thoughts and feeling of an inability to move.

Major tranquilizer - See Antipsychotic Drug

Malingering - To fake illness or disability symptoms consciously. A conscious effort to deceive others, often to obtain financial gains.

Mania - An unstable elevated mood in which delusions, poor judgment, and other signs of impaired reality testing are evident. Marked impairment during these phases. Positive symptoms of psychosis may also be present.

Manipulation - Purposeful behavior directed at getting needs me. This is maladaptive when it is the feelings or needs of others are disregarded and others are treated as objects in order to fulfill the needs of the person.

Mannerism - Recurrent stereotyped gesture, posture, or movement.

Masochism - Obtaining gratification from experiencing pain.

Means - The instrument or object whereby a self-destructive act is carried out (example: rope, poison, medication, gun).

Megalomania - Megalomania is a state of mental illness often characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence. It includes an obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions.

Melancholia - An older term for depression, derived from the Greek word for black bile, an excess of which was believed to be the cause of low spirits. Melancholia is used today to refer to certain symptoms that occur in severe depression; Extreme depression characterized by tearful sadness and irrational fears.

Mental Illness - A substantial disorder of thought or mood that significantly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality, or ability to cope with the ordinary demands of life. It may be due to changes in the brain caused by genetic, toxic, infectious, psychosocial, or traumatic influences.

Mental status exam - A formal assessment of cognitive functions such as intelligence, thought processes, and capacity of insight.

Metabolism - The chemical and physiological processes by which the body builds and maintains itself and by which it breaks down food and nutrients to produce energy.

Middle insomnia - Awakening in the middle of the night followed by eventually falling back to sleep, but with difficulty.

Minor tranquilizer - See Anxiolytic Drug

Misdemeanor - A criminal offense lesser than a felony and generally punishable by fine or by imprisonment other than in a prison.

Mnemonic disturbance - Loss of memory.

Modeling - A technique in which desired behaviors are demonstrated.

Monoamine oxidase (MAO) - A brain enzyme that inactivates the neurotransmitters norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin.

Monoamine oxidase inhibitor - A compound that interferes with the action of monoamine oxidase (MAO); used in the treatment of depression.

Monomaniacal - Obsessed with a single subject or idea.

Mood - A sustained emotion that impacts on how the person perceives the world. Common examples of mood include depression, elation, anger, and anxiety. In contrast to affect, which refers to more fluctuating changes in emotional "weather," mood refers to a more pervasive and sustained emotional "climate." 

Mood syndrome - An alteration in mood with associated symptoms that occur for a period of time.

Mood-congruent psychotic features - Delusions or hallucinations whose content is entirely consistent with the typical themes of a depressed or manic mood. If the mood is depressed, the content of the delusions or hallucinations would involve themes of personal inadequacy, guilt, disease, death, nihilism, or deserved punishment. The content of the delusion may include themes of persecution if these are based on self-derogatory~ concepts such as deserved punishment. If the mood is manic, the content of the delusions or hallucinations would involve themes of inflated worth, power, knowledge, or identity, or a special relationship to a deity or a famous person. The content of the delusion may include themes of persecution if these are based on concepts such as inflated worth or deserved punishment.

Mood-incongruent psychotic features - Delusions or hallucinations whose content is not consistent with the typical themes of a depressed or manic mood. In the case of depression, the delusions or hallucinations would not involve themes of personal inadequacy, guilt, disease, death, nihilism, or deserved punishment. In the case of mania, the delusions or hallucinations would not involve themes of inflated worth, power, knowledge, or identity, or a special relationship to a deity or a famous person. Examples of mood-incongruent psychotic features include persecutory delusions (without self-derogatory~ or grandiose content), thought insertion, thought broadcasting, and delusions of being controlled whose content has no apparent relationship to any of the themes listed above.

Morbid - Suggesting an unhealthy mental state; "morbid interest in death"; "morbid curiosity" ; ghoulish: suggesting the horror of death and decay; "morbid details"; Diseased: caused by or altered by or manifesting disease or pathology;

MRI - See Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Multiple personality disorder - A severe dissociative disorder in which one or more personalities exist within the client.

Mutism - Refusal or inability to speak.

Narcissism - Self-involvement with lack of empathy for others; self-centeredness, self-importance, self-love.

Narcissistic personality disorder - A personality disorder marked by grandiosity and an exaggerated sense of self-importance, need for admiration, lack of empathy for others, arrogance, and exploitation of others which covers up a frail self-concept.

Negative symptoms - Most commonly refers to a group of symptoms characteristic of schizophrenia that include loss of fluency and spontaneity of verbal expression, impaired ability to focus or sustain attention on a particular task, difficulty in initiating or following through on tasks, impaired ability to experience pleasure to form emotional attachment to others, and blunted affect.

Negativism - Form of aggressive withdrawal that involves refusing to cooperate or obey commands, or ding the exact opposite of what has been requested.

Negligence - The act, or failure to act, that violates the duty of due care and results in a person’s injuries.

Neologism - In psychiatry, a new word or condensed combination of several words coined by a person to express a highly complex idea not readily understood by others; seen in schizophrenia and organic mental disorders.

Neologisms - Words a person makes up that have meaning only for that person; often part of a delusional system.

Neural - Pertaining to a nerve or the nervous system.

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome - A rare and possibly fatal reaction to neuroleptic drugs. Symptoms include: muscle rigidity, fever, and elevated white blood cell count.

Neuroleptics - Medications with an antipsychotic effect that are used in the treatment of schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses. Also known as Antipsychotics.

Neuron - Nerve cell.

Neurotransmitter - Chemical substance that is necessary for communication between nerve cells (neurons). It functions as a messenger between nerve cells. They are molecules that carry chemical messages between nerve cells. Neurotransmitters are released from neurons, diffuse across the minute space between cells (synaptic cleft), and bind to receptors located on post-synaptic neuronal surfaces.

Nihilism - A delusion that the self or part of the self does not exist.

Nihilistic delusion - Fixed false belief that everything is unreal. Delusional belief that oneself, or others or the world does not exist or is about to cease to exist.

Nonverbal communication - Communication without words, such as body language, facial expressions, or gestures.

Norephinephrine - A neurotransmitter that is synthesized from dopamine. Same as Noradrenaline.

No-suicide contract - A contract in which the client states that he or she will not attempt self-harm and that specifies alternative actions.

Nystagmus - Involuntary rhythmic movements of the eyes that consist of small-amplitude~ rapid tremors in one direction and a larger, slower, recurrent sweep in the opposite direction. Nystagmus may be horizontal, vertical, or rotary.

Obsession - Persistent idea or thought that the individual recognizes as irrational but cannot get rid of.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a brain disorder, and more specifically, an anxiety disorder. OCD is manifested in a variety of forms, but is most commonly characterized by a subject's obsessive drive to perform a particular task or set of tasks, compulsions commonly termed rituals.

Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCD) - Personality disorder marked by excessive concern with conformity and adherence to ethical values. Not the same as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Occipital lobe - An area of the brain located at the back of the head. It receives and processes visual information.

OCD - See Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Olfactory hallucinations - Hallucinations that involve the sense of smell, such as of burning rubber or decaying fish.

Organic mental disorders - Specific brain syndromes in which an etiology is known. For example: Alzheimer’s disease, alcohol withdrawal delirium.

Orientation - The ability to relate the self correctly to time, place, and person.

Outpatient - An ambulatory patient who visits a hospital or clinic for treatment, as distinct from a hospitalized patient.

Overcompensation - See Reaction-Formation.

Overvalued idea - A sustained preoccupation that is unreasonable given the evidence available, that is held strongly but not to a delusional degree

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