Science / Psychiatry Glossary

Rigidity: An abnormal increase in the general tenseness of muscles that is not caused by anxiety or exercise.

Rreinforcement: The strengthening of a response by reward or avoidance of punishment. This process is central in operant conditioning.

SANS: Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms - an assessment tool for the evaluation of drug treatment effects on schizophrenia symptoms.

SAS: Simpson Angus Scale - an assessment tool designed to measure the symptoms of parkinsonism or extrapyramidal side effects related to the use of antipsychotic medications.

Schizoaffective Disorder: (skiz-o-a-feck-tiv) A condition that includes symptoms of both schizophrenia and affective (mood) disorder.

Schizoid: (skiz-oyd) Socially isolated, withdrawn, having few friends and social relationships, resembling the personality features of schizophrenia, but in a less severe form; no loss of touch with reality.

Schizophrenia: (skiz-o-fre-ne-ah) A common type of psychosis characterized by hallucinations and/or delusions, personality changes, withdrawal, and serious thought and speech disturbances.

Screen Memory: A consciously tolerable memory that serves as a cover for an associated memory that would be emotionally painful if recalled.

Secondary Gain: The external gain derived from any illness, such as personal attention and service, monetary gains, disability benefits, and release from unpleasant responsibilities. See also primary gain.

Secondary Process: In psychoanalytic theory, mental activity and thinking characteristic of the ego and influenced by the demands of the environment. Characterized by organization, systematization, intellectua . . . View Full Definition

Sensory Extinction: Failure to report sensory stimuli from one region if another region is stimulated simultaneously, even though when the region in question is stimulated by itself, the stimulus is correctly reported.

Separation Anxiety Disorder: A disorder with onset before the age of 18 consisting of inappropriate anxiety concerning separation from home or from persons to whom the child is attached. Among the symptoms that may be s . . . View Full Definition

Serotonin (Ser-O-To-Nin): Neurotransmitter that relays impulses between nerve cells (neurons) in the central nervous system. Functions thought to be regulated by nerve cells that utilize serotonin include mood and be . . . View Full Definition

Serotonin-Dopamine Antagonists (Sdas): (ser-o-to-nin do-pah-meen an-tag-o-nists) Also known as atypical antipsychotics. Unlike their predecessors, this newer class of medications treats both the positive and negative symptoms of . . . View Full Definition

Shaping: Reinforcement of responses in the patients repertoire that increasingly approximate sought-after behavior.

Sick Role: An identity adopted by an individual as a patient that specifies a set of expected behaviors, usually dependent.

Sign: An objective manifestation of a pathological condition. Signs are observed by the examiner rather than reported by the affected individual.

Signal Anxiety: An ego mechanism that results in activation of defensive operations to protect the ego from being overwhelmed by an excess of excitement. The anxiety reaction that was originally experienced . . . View Full Definition

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