The following are health and medical definitions of terms that appear in the Nightmares article. American Medical Association (AMA): The AMA. The AMA's mission statement proclaims:
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American Psychiatric Association: A medical specialty society with over 35,000 US and international member physicians who "work together to ensure humane care and effective treatment for all persons with mental disorder, including mental retardation and substance-related disorders. It is the voice and conscience of modern psychiatry. Its vision is a society that has available, accessible quality psychiatric diagnosis and treatment." The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the oldest national medical specialty society in the US.
Antagonist: In biochemistry, an antagonist acts against and blocks an action. For example, insulin lowers the level of glucose (sugar) in the blood, whereas another hormone called glucagon raises it; therefore, insulin and glucagon are antagonists.
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Anxiety: A feeling of apprehension and fear characterized by physical symptoms such as palpitations , sweating, and feelings of stress . Anxiety disorders are serious medical illnesses that affect approximately 19 million American adults. These disorders fill people's lives with overwhelming anxiety and fear. Unlike the relatively mild, brief anxiety caused by a stressful event such as a business presentation or a first date, anxiety disorders are chronic, relentless, and can grow progressively worse if not treated.
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Behavior therapy: A treatment program that involves substituting desirable behavior responses for undesirable ones.
Caffeine: A stimulant found naturally in coffee beans, tea leaves, cocoa beans (chocolate) and kola nuts (cola) and added to soft drinks, foods, and medicines. A cup of coffee has 100-250 milligrams of caffeine. Black tea brewed for 4 minutes has 40-100 milligrams. Green tea has one-third as much caffeine as black tea.
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Chest: The area of the body located between the neck and the abdomen . The chest contains the lungs , the heart and part of the aorta . The walls of the chest are supported by the dorsal vertebrae , the ribs , and the sternum .
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Chronic: This important term in medicine comes from the Greek chronos, time and means lasting a long time.
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Cognitive: Pertaining to cognition , the process of knowing and, more precisely, the process of being aware, knowing, thinking, learning and judging. The study of cognition touches on the fields of psychology , linguistics, computer science, neuroscience , mathematics, ethology and philosophy.
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Cognitive behavior therapy: See: Cognitive therapy.
DSM-IV: The 4th edition of "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM) a comprehensive classification of officially recognized psychiatric disorders. DSM-IV was issued in 1993.
EEG: Electroencephalogram, e technique for studying the electrical current within the brain. Electrodes are attached to the scalp. Wires attach these electrodes to a machine which records the electrical impulses. The results are either printed out or displayed on a computer screen. Electroencephalogram is abbreviated EEG.
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Fatigue: A condition characterized by a lessened capacity for work and reduced efficiency of accomplishment, usually accompanied by a feeling of weariness and tiredness. Fatigue can be acute and come on suddenly or chronic and persist.
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Imagery: Both a mental process (as in imagining) and a wide variety of procedures used in therapy to encourage changes in attitudes, behavior, or physiological reactions. As a mental process, it is often defined as "any thought representing a sensory quality." It includes, as well as the visual, all the senses - aural, tactile, olfactory, proprioceptive, and kinesthetic.
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Insomnia: The perception or complaint of inadequate or poor-quality sleep because of one or more of the following: difficulty falling asleep; waking up frequently during the night with difficulty returning to sleep; waking up too early in the morning; or unrefreshing sleep. Insomnia is not defined by the number of hours of sleep a person gets or how long it takes to fall asleep. Individuals vary normally in their need for, and their satisfaction with, sleep. Insomnia may cause problems during the day, such as tiredness, a lack of energy, difficulty concentrating, and irritability.
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Journal of the American Medical Association: JAMA, which began publication in 1883, now bills itself as "the world's best-read medical journal". However one defines "best-read", JAMA clearly ranks as one of the two leading general medical journals published in the United States. The other is the New England Journal of Medicine.
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Open-label: A term used to describe the situation when both the researcher and the participant in a research study know the treatment the participant is receiving. Open-label is the opposite of double-blind when neither the researcher nor the participant knows what treatment the participant is receiving.
Open-label trial: A clinical trial in which researchers and participants know which drug or vaccine is being administered.
Placebo: A "sugar pill" or any dummy medication or treatment.
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Placebo effect: Also called the placebo response . A remarkable phenomenon in which a placebo -- a fake treatment, an inactive substance like sugar, distilled water, or saline solution -- can sometimes improve a patient's condition simply because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful. Expectation to plays a potent role in the placebo effect. The more a person believes they are going to benefit from a treatment, the more likely it is that they will experience a benefit.
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Plague: The plague is an infectious disease due to a bacteria called Yersinia pestis .
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Post-traumatic stress : An anxiety disorder that develops in some individuals who have had major traumatic experiences. The person is typically numb at first but later has symptoms including depression , excessive irritability, guilt (for having survived while others died), recurrent nightmares, flashbacks to the traumatic scene, and overreactions to sudden noises.
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Post-traumatic stress disorder: A common anxiety disorder that develops after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Family members of victims also can develop the disorder. PTSD can occur in people of any age, including children and adolescents. More than twice as many women as men experience PTSD following exposure to trauma. Depression , alcohol or other substance abuse, or other anxiety disorders frequently co-occur with PTSD.
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Prevalence: The proportion of individuals in a population having a disease. Prevalence is a statistical concept referring to the number of cases of a disease that are present in a particular population at a given time.
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Prospective: Looking forward. A prospective study or a prospective clinical trial is one in which the participants are identified and then followed forward in time.
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Psychiatric: Pertaining to or within the purview of psychiatry , the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis , and treatment of mental illness.
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Psychiatry: The medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis , and treatment of mental illness.
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PTSD: Post-traumatic stress disorder. (The abbreviation PTSD has rapidly gained in popularity because saying "post-traumatic stress disorder" can be enough of a mouthful as to be stressful in itself.)
Randomized: The use of chance alone to assign the participants in an experiment or trial to different groups in order to fairly compare the outcomes with different treatments. Randomization is an important feature of experimental design.
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Randomized controlled trial: (RCT) A study in which people are allocated at random (by chance alone) to receive one of several clinical interventions. One of these interventions is the standard of comparison or control. The control may be a standard practice, a placebo ("sugar pill"), or no intervention at all. Someone who takes part in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) is called a participant or subject. RCTs seek to measure and compare the outcomes after the participants receive the interventions. Because the outcomes are measured, RCTs are quantitative studies.
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Rape: Forced sexual intercourse; sexual assault; sexual intercourse between an adult and a minor . Rape may be heterosexual (involving members of opposite sexes) or homosexual (involving members of the same sex). Rape involves insertion of an erect penis or an inanimate object into the female vagina or the male anus . Legal definitions of rape may also include forced oral sex and other sexual acts.
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REM sleep : REM sleep is the portion of sleep when there are rapid eye movements (REMs).
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Retrospective: Looking backward on the past, on what has already taken place. A retrospective study looks backward in time, usually using medical records and interviews with patients who already known to have or have had a disease.
Sleep : The body's rest cycle.
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Stress: Forces from the outside world impinging on the individual. Stress is a normal part of life that can help us learn and grow. Conversely, stress can cause us significant problems.
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Therapy: The treatment of disease .
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Trauma: Any injury , whether physically or emotionally inflicted. "Trauma" has both a medical and a psychiatric definition. Medically, "trauma" refers to a serious or critical bodily injury, wound, or shock . This definition is often associated with trauma medicine practiced in emergency rooms and represents a popular view of the term. In psychiatry , "trauma" has assumed a different meaning and refers to an experience that is emotionally painful, distressful, or shocking, which often results in lasting mental and physical effects.
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- gabapentin, Neurontin, Gabarone - Read about the medication gabapentin (Neurontin, Gabarone), a drug used for treating seizure disorders, shingles, fibromyalgia, neuropathy, hot flashes, restless leg syndrome, and hyperydrosis.
- Anxiety - Read about anxiety (generalized anxiety disorder, GAD) causes, physical symptoms and signs, medications and treatment. Learn about symptoms (worry, fear) and other types of anxiety disorders.
- trazodone, Desyrel - Read about trazodone (Desyrel), a drug used for the treatment of depression, panic attacks, agoraphobia, cocaine withdrawal, and agressive behavior.
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