Borderline Personality Disorder Glossary of Terms

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Alcohol abuse: Use of alcoholic beverages to excess, either on individual occasions (binge...

American Psychiatric Association: A medical specialty society with over 35,000 US and inte...

Amitriptyline: An antidepressant medication. In some patients with depression, abnormal l...

Antidepressants: Anything, and especially a drug, used to prevent or treat depression.

Antisocial personality: See: Antisocial personality disorder.

Antisocial personality disorder: A pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the...

Anxiety: A feeling of apprehension and fear, characterized by physical symptoms such as pa...

Behavior therapy: A treatment program that involves substituting desirable behavior respon...

Bipolar disorder: A mood disorder sometimes called manic-depressive illness or manic-depr...

Borderline personality disorder: A personality type characterized by difficulty forming an...

Brain: The portion of the central nervous system that is located within the skull. It func...

Child abuse: A complex set of behaviors that include child neglect and the physical, emoti...

Chronic: In medicine, lasting a long time. A chronic condition is one that lasts 3 months ...

Clinical depression: Depressed mood that meets the DSM-IV criteria for a depressive disord...

Contrast: Short for "contrast media." Contrast media are X-ray dyes used to provide contra...

Cure: 1. To heal, to make well, to restore to good health. 2. A time withou...

Cymbalta: Brand name for duloxetine hydrochloride, a drug approved by the FDA to treat maj...

Depression: An illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and that affects the way...

Diagnosis: 1 The nature of a disease; the identification of an illness. 2 A ...

Dissociation: In psychology and psychiatry, a perceived detachment of the mind from the em...

Dopamine: An important neurotransmitter (messenger) in the brain.

Duloxetine: See: Cymbalta.

Epinephrine: A substance produced by the medulla (inside) of the adrenal gland. The name e...

Family history: The family structure and relationships within the family, including inform...

Impulsivity: Inclined to act on impulse rather than thought. People who are overly impulsi...

Indicate: In medicine, to make a treatment or procedure advisable because of a particular ...

Intervention: The act of intervening, interfering or interceding with the intent of modify...

Nutrition: 1) The science or practice of taking in and utilizing foods. 2) A nourishing ...

Personality disorder: A disorder characterized by the chronic use of mechanisms of coping ...

Premature birth: A birth that takes place before 37 weeks of gestation have passed. Histor...

Prevalence: The proportion of individuals in a population having a disease or characterist...

Prognosis: The forecast of the probable outcome or course of a disease; the patient's chan...

Psychiatric: Pertaining to or within the purview of psychiatry, the medical specialty conc...

Psychotherapy: The treatment of a behavior disorders, mental illness, or any other conditi...

Risk factor: Something that increases a person's chances of developing a disease. For exam...

Schizophrenia: One of several brain diseases whose symptoms may include loss of personalit...

Schizotypal personality disorder: A type of personality characterized by unusual pattern...

Self-harm: see: non-suicidal self injury.

Serotonin: A neurotransmitter that is involved in the transmission of nerve impulses. Sero...

Sleep: The body's rest cycle.

Stress: In a medical or biological context stress is a physical, mental, or emotional fact...

Substance: 1. Material with particular features.
2. The material that...

Substance abuse: The excessive use of a substance, especially alcohol or a drug. (There is...

Suicidal: Pertaining to suicide. the taking of ones own life. As in a suicidal gesture, su...

Symptom: Any subjective evidence of disease. In contrast, a sign is objective. Blood comin...

Therapeutic: Relating to therapeutics, the branch of medicine that is concerned specifical...

Therapy: The treatment of disease. Therapy is synonymous with treatment.