Medical Terminology for Social Workers

Acute

Current, currently visible; related to the present or recent past (not chronic)

Agnosia

an inability to recognize and name objects

akinesia

lack of movement

alogia

lack of thought content, inferred from lack of verbal productions

anergia

loss of strength or energy; feeling a loss of strength

anhedonia

an inability to experience pleasure

Aprazia

loss of motor skill not explained by simple weakness or previously existing incoordination

Atazia

Muscle incoordination especially affecting gait

Avolition

lack of initiative, especially for goal directed activity

Blocking

an interruption of communication before a thought or idea has been completed, caused by a psychological factor that are unconscious or unknown to the individual

Blunting

With respect to affect, marked reduction in normal intensity

Catatonic

several striking motor abnormalities, generally described as related to psychosis (extreme excitement, stupor, negatives, rigidity or posturing)

Chronic

long persisting, not acute or limited to the present

comorbid

two or more conditions existing at the same time

compulsion

a powerful impulse toward a specific purposeful behavior which is often repetitive and unwanted and often in response to an obsession

concrete

refers to literal thought

confabulation

creation of inaccurate memories or fabrications, unconsciously, to substitute for unrecalled events

Delirium

an acute, organically caused mental disorder characterized by confusion and altered consciousness

Delusions

a fixed, false belief not ordinarily accepted by other members of an individuals culture

dementia

an organically caused mental disorder characterized by loss of previously held mental abilities, including intellect, memory and judgment

Dyskinesia

a movement disorder involving involuntary muscle contractions

dysphonia

an impaired ability to create or understand sounds