Glossary

Anticholinergic – a group of common side-effects of the older group of antidepressants, including dry mouth, constipation, difficulty urinating and blurry vision.

Antidepressants – medicines used to reduce the symptoms of depression.

Anxiety – an emotional state characterized by excessive worry, apprehension or fear of impending actual or imagined danger, vulnerability or uncertainty. In a more acute form it can include intense fear and discomfort, with symptoms such as a pounding heart, sweating, shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, and fear of losing control.

Anxiolytics – also known as anti-anxiety medicines, used to reduce anxiety symptoms.

Atypical depression – a type of major depression in which the person has mood reactivity and can be cheered up by positive events and has at least two of the following: increased appetite or weight gain; increased sleep; leaden paralysis and feels easily rejected.

Augmentation – the addition of another medication to boost the effect of the primary medication.

Bipolar disorder – also known as manic-depression, includes the occurrence of one or more manic or hypomanic episodes and usually the occurrence of one or more major depressive episodes.

Cognitive behavioural – a time-limited psychotherapy that focuses on how thoughts influence mood and how some patterns contribute to depression.

Cyclothymic disorder – a long-standing mood disturbance that involves recurrent periods of both depression and hypomania. Although similar in nature to bipolar disorder, the mood swings are not as severe or as prolonged.

Delusion – a false, fixed belief not shared by your culture, such as believing your thoughts are being controlled by forces outside you. A paranoid delusion includes feelings of suspiciousness and grandiosity.

Dysthymic disorder – a type of mood disorder whose main characteristic is a chronically depressed mood that lasts for most of the day, for the majority of the time during a two-year period.

Electroconvulsive therapy – a treatment procedure for severe depression, which involves passing a controlled electric current between two metal discs applied on the surface of the scalp.

Euthymic state – normal, stable mood synonymous with recovery.

Hallucination – a false sensory experience, such as seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling or feeling something that does not really exist.

Hypomania – a state characterized by a high mood and over-activity, but not as extreme as mania.

Interpersonal psychotherapy – a time-limited psychotherapy that focuses on the aspects of relationships to others, which are linked to the depressive episode.

Major depressive disorder – (or unipolar depression) involves one or more major depressive episodes. These include symptoms such as depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, significant changes in weight or sleep, loss of energy, diminished capacity to think or concentrate, feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt, and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.

Mania – a state characterized by an unusually high mood, irritability, over-activity, excessive talkativeness, racing thoughts, inflated ideas of self, and financial extravagance.

Menopause – a period of biological changes in women as they cease to menstruate and have reduced levels of the hormone estrogen.

Mood disorders – disorders that have a disturbance in mood (typically depression or mania) as the predominant feature. The two main categories are unipolar depression and bipolar disorder, or manic-depression.

Mood stabilizers – medicines used to treat symptoms of depression, mostly used in bipolar disorder.

Neuroleptic – antipsychotic medicines used to reduce psychotic symptoms.

Optimization – gradually increasing the dosage of a medication to the highest level where it will have a therapeutic effect.

Personality disoder – an enduring pattern of thoughts, feelings and behaviour that differs in significant ways from the culture in which the person lives. This pattern is pervasive and inflexible, begins in adolescence or early adulthood and causes distress or impairment.

Pharmacotherapy – treatment of symptoms of disorders with medications that operate by altering the chemical balance in specific systems in the brain.

Premenstrual syndrome – severe and disruptive premenstrual stage with changeable moods, irritability, anxiety, sleep difficulties, abdominal cramps, bloating and breast tenderness.

Post-partum depression – a depressive episode following childbirth, usually due to physical and hormonal changes.

Psychoeducation – a process where people get information about disorders and have an opportunity to talk about the feelings they have about the illness.

Psychotherapy – a general term used to describe a form of treatment based on talking with a therapist. Psychotherapy aims to relieve distress by discussing and expressing feelings, to help you change your attitudes, behaviour and habits, and to develop better ways of coping.

Psychotic depression – a major depressive episode in which the person loses touch with reality and may have hallucinations or delusions.

Relapse prevention – managing the mood disorder by medication and/or psychotherapy or other supportive strategies to help the person remain well.

Seasonal affective disorder – a type of depression that tends to be affected by the amount of daylight and the time of the year, usually occurring in the fall and winter.

Support group – a group of people who have a common interest or situation, such as a diagnosis of depression, who meet regularly to share ideas, feelings and community resources information.

Tranquillizers – medicines used to sedate.

Unipolar depression – another name for major depressive disorder.

A Pan American Health Organization / World Health Organization Collaborating Centre

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