Management of Patients with Psychotic Disorders – Vocabulary Review

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering disorders, symptoms, pharmacology, side effects, and nursing concepts related to psychotic disorders.

Schizophrenia

Chronic psychotic disorder characterized by positive and negative symptoms, cognitive decline, and functional impairment.

Schizotypal Personality Disorder

Personality disorder marked by odd behavior, magical thinking, ideas of reference, and constricted affect without frank psychosis.

Delusional Disorder

Psychotic disorder featuring one or more non-bizarre, fixed false beliefs with otherwise normal functioning.

Brief Psychotic Disorder

Sudden onset of hallucinations or delusions lasting <1 month, often triggered by stress.

Schizophreniform Disorder

Schizophrenia-like illness lasting 1–6 months; may progress to schizophrenia if symptoms persist.

Schizoaffective Disorder

Illness with concurrent schizophrenia symptoms and mood episodes (depression or mania).

Substance/Medication-Induced Psychotic Disorder

Psychosis directly caused by drugs, alcohol, or prescribed medications.

Psychotic Disorder Due to Another Medical Condition

Hallucinations or delusions secondary to illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Positive Symptoms

Excesses such as hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, and bizarre behavior.

Negative Symptoms

Deficits including flat affect, avolition, alogia, anhedonia, and social withdrawal.

Hallucination

Sensory perception without external stimulus; can be auditory, visual, tactile, etc.

Delusion

Fixed, false belief not consistent with reality or culture (e.g., persecutory, grandiose).

Clang Association

Speech pattern in which words are chosen based on sound rather than meaning (rhyming).

Neologism

Made-up word or phrase understood only by the speaker.

Word Salad

Incoherent mixture of words and phrases lacking logical connection.

Tangentiality

Replying to a question in an oblique or unrelated way, never reaching the point.

Circumstantiality

Irrelevant details and delayed reaching of the point in conversation.

Echolalia

Pathological repetition of another person’s words.

Echopraxia

Involuntary imitation of another person’s movements or gestures.

Avolition

Lack of motivation to initiate or persist in goal-directed activities.

Alogia

Poverty of speech; decreased fluency and productivity of language.

Anhedonia

Inability to experience pleasure from normally enjoyable activities.

Anergia

Lack of energy; physical and mental exhaustion.

Catatonia

Marked psychomotor disturbance such as stupor, rigidity, or agitation.

Waxy Flexibility

Maintaining a posture for an extended time after external positioning.

Neuroleptics or Typical (First-Generation) Antipsychotic

Dopamine-blocking drug class targeting positive symptoms but with higher EPS risk.

Atypical (Second-Generation) Antipsychotic

Dopamine- and serotonin-blocking drugs treating positive and negative symptoms with fewer EPS.

Extrapyramidal Side Effects (EPS)

Drug-induced movement disorders including dystonia, akathisia, pseudoparkinsonism, and tardive dyskinesia.

Acute Dystonia

Sudden muscle spasms of neck, eyes, tongue, or larynx occurring early in antipsychotic therapy.

Akathisia

Subjective inner restlessness with inability to stay still; pacing, rocking.

Pseudoparkinsonism

Drug-induced Parkinson-like symptoms: shuffling gait, rigidity, tremor, bradykinesia.

Tardive Dyskinesia

Late-onset, potentially irreversible involuntary movements such as lip smacking and tongue protrusion.

Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS)

Rare, life-threatening reaction to antipsychotics with muscle rigidity, high fever, and elevated CPK.

Agranulocytosis

Dangerous drop in WBCs, especially linked to clozapine; presents with fever and sore throat.

Anticholinergic Side Effects

Dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation, urinary retention, and orthostatic hypotension from many psychotropics.

Therapeutic Milieu

Structured, supportive hospital environment promoting safety, trust, and skill building.

Command Hallucination

Auditory hallucination instructing the patient to act, possibly violently; high safety risk.

Black Box Warning (Atypical Antipsychotics)

Increased mortality in elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis.

Prodromal Phase

Early period of functional decline and subtle symptoms before active psychosis.

Active Phase

Period when positive psychotic symptoms are prominent and diagnosable.

Residual Phase

Phase following treatment where positive symptoms diminish but negative symptoms persist.

Dopamine Hypothesis

Theory that excess dopamine activity contributes to schizophrenia’s positive symptoms.

Metacognitive Training

Psychotherapy aimed at improving thought patterns to reduce delusional beliefs.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

Electric-induced seizures used for severe depression and some resistant psychoses.

CPK (Creatine Phosphokinase)

Muscle enzyme elevated in NMS indicating muscle breakdown.

CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)

Structured therapy modifying distorted thoughts and behaviors in psychotic disorders.

Associative looseness, Neologisms, concrete thinking, and clang associations.

Positive (hard) symptoms of Schizophrenia

Hallucinations, delusions, religiosity, echolalia, and mutism.

Positive (hard) symptoms of Schizophrenia

Perseveration, tangibility, word salad, circumstantiality, and depersonalization.

Postiive (hard) symptoms of Schizophrenia

Magical thinking, paranoia, and identification and imitation.

Positive (hard) symptoms of Schizophrenia

Inappropriate affect, inability to initiate goal-directed activity, and waxy flexibility.

Negative (soft) symptoms of Schizophrenia

Apathy, deteriorated appearance of self, social isolation, and alogia.

Negative (soft) symptoms of Schizophrenia

Regression, pacing and rocking, cognitive decline, and anergia.

Negative (soft) symptoms of Schizophrenia

Anhedonia, posturing, and bland or flat affect.

Negative (soft) symptoms of Schizophrenia