Abstract Thinking
The ability to conceptualize ides.
EX: Finding meaning in proverbs
Circumstantial Thinking
Pattern of speech characterized by indirectness and delay before getting to the point or answering a question; gets caught up in countless details and explanations
Concrete Thinking
Thinking grounded in immediate experience rather than abstraction. Overemphasis on specific detail as opposed to general and abstract concepts.
Tangenital thinking
Distrubance in associativ ethinking in which the speaker goes off the topic. When it happens frequently and the speaker does not return to topic, interpersonal communication is destroyed. "Goes off on a tangent
Ability to concentrate
When assessing the nurse asks the patient to spell the word "world" backwards. She is assessing the patients:__________ ___ _____________.
Affect
External manifestation of feeling or emotion which is manifested in facial expression, tone of voice and body language. (outward expression of mood)
Broad Affect
Considered a normal range of emotions
Blunted affect
Reduced or minimal emotional response.
Flat affect
Immobile/blank facial expression.
Inappropriate affect
Emotional response incongruent w/ the tone or circumstances of the situation. (A man laughs when told his father is dead)
Restricted affect
Having a far narrower range of emotional expressions than would be expected; muted emotional reactivity
automatisms
Performance of actions without conscious thought or intention.
clanging
meaningless rhyming of words; often in a forcefull manner.
Delusion
False belief held to be true even with evidence to the contrary. Ex: Believing that others are out to ge him or kill him.
Flight of Ideas
continuous flow of speech in which the person jumps from one topic to another. Sometimes the listener can keep up w/ the changes; at other times, it is necessary to listen for themes in the incessant talking. Themes often include grandiose and fantasized
Hallucinations
sense perception for which no external stimulus exists. (Hearing voices when none are present, seeing a ghost) Fals sensory perceptions.
Insight
Understanding and awareness of the reasons for and meaning behind one's motives and behaviors.
Ideas of Reference
False impression that outside events have special meaning for oneself. EX: When a patient feels like worldwide events happen because of his personal thoughts.
Judgement
Ability to make a logical, rational decision.
Labile
Characterized by rapid shifts in mood which may be as dramatic as laughing one minute and crying the next; unstable.
Loose associations
Pattern of thinking that is happhazard, illogical, and confused, and in which connections in thought are interrupted; it is seen primarily in schizophrenic disorders.
Memory
When a nurse is assessing a patient and he asks the patient the name of the current president and the past president, the nurse is assessing the patient's memory
Mood
A pervasive and sustained emotion that, when extreme, can markedly color the way the individual perceives the world. It is an emotional state that is reflected in your affect.
Neologisms
A word a person makes up that has meaning only for that person; often part of a delusional system.
Orientation
Ability to identify the correct time, place, and person
Psychomotor retardation
Extreme slowness of and difficulty in movements that in the extreme can entail complete inactivity and incontinence.
Thought insertion
delusion that thought of other people can be inserted into their own minds
Thought withdrawl
delusion that someone or something is removing thoughts from one's mind
Thought broadcasting
feeling that one's thoughts are being broadcast to the enviroment
Waxy flexibility
Excessive maintenance of posture; for example, after the arms or legs are placed in a certain position, the individual holds that same position for hours.
Word salad
Mixture of words meaningless to the listener and to the speaker as well.
Neurovegetative state
Changes in eating or sleeping habits.