Psychiatry

Amitriptyline is a tricyclic antidepressant (TCA), one of the oldest classes of antidepressant medications. It works by increasing the levels of neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin in the brain. It is primarily used to treat major depressive disorder and various neuropathic pain conditions.

Lithium carbonate is the classic antimaniac (mood stabilizer) agent, specifically used to treat and prevent manic episodes in bipolar disorder. It has been the first-line treatment for mania for decades. The other options: Imipramine is a tricyclic antidepressant, Benztropine is an anticholinergic, and Diphenylhydramine is an antihistamine.

Hypnosis is a trance state characterized by heightened suggestibility and focused attention, resembling sleep superficially but the individual remains responsive. It is not true sleep as the person can still respond to suggestions.

Cerletti and Bini were Italian psychiatrists who pioneered Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) in 1937. They developed this treatment modality while researching the therapeutic potential of induced seizures.

Aversion therapy creates negative associations with unwanted behaviors or substances through pairing with unpleasant stimuli. It has been effectively used to treat alcoholism by associating alcohol consumption with nausea or discomfort.

Implosive therapy involves intense, prolonged exposure to fear-producing stimuli either through imagination or real-life situations. It aims to extinguish fear responses through flooding the individual with maximum anxiety-provoking content.

Electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) involves passing controlled electric currents through the brain via electrodes placed on the head. This induces brief seizures which have therapeutic effects for certain psychiatric conditions like severe depression and catatonia.

Delirium is an acute confusional state characterized by impaired attention, disorganized thinking, and perceptual disturbances. Unlike dementia which develops gradually, delirium has an acute onset and fluctuating course with clouded consciousness.

ECT is an established treatment for multiple severe psychiatric conditions including postpartum depression, catatonia, and involutional melancholia (severe depression in older adults). All three conditions are recognized indications for ECT.

Depersonalization is a dissociative experience where individuals feel detached from themselves, as if observing their own thoughts or body from outside. This sense of unreality about the self is the defining feature.

Negativism is a behavioral disturbance characterized by resistance or opposition to instructions or attempts to be moved. The person may do the opposite of what is requested or maintain a posture despite efforts to move them, representing a disturbance of voluntary activity.

Hypochondriasis (now called illness anxiety disorder) is a somatoform disorder characterized by preoccupation with having or acquiring a serious illness. Patients misinterpret normal bodily sensations or minor symptoms as signs of severe disease despite medical reassurance.

Somnambulism is the medical term for sleepwalking - a sleep disorder where individuals walk or perform other complex behaviors while in a sleep state. It occurs during deep sleep stages and the individual typically has no memory of the episode.

Frigidity refers to partial or complete lack of sexual enjoyment or satisfaction in females. Vaginismus involves involuntary muscle spasms making intercourse painful, not lack of enjoyment. Promiscuity is behavioral pattern not a physiological disorder. Impotence is a male sexual disorder involving inability to achieve or maintain erection.

Pica is classified as an eating disorder characterized by persistent craving and consumption of non-food items like dirt, chalk, ice, or paper. It is not a sexual disorder (involves sexual behavior), emotional disorder (mood-related), or social-affective disorder (relating to social interactions and emotions).

Exhibitionism is defined as compulsive exposure of genitals in public, typically by males, for sexual arousal. Promiscuity involves multiple sexual partners. Scopophilia is obtaining pleasure from looking at erotic scenes. Voyeurism involves secretly observing others for sexual pleasure.

Transsexualism involves strong identification with opposite gender and distress with one's biological sex, classified as gender identity disorder. It is not an eating disorder, elementary disorder is not a standard psychiatric classification, and childhood schizophrenia involves psychosis in children.

All listed conditions represent psychiatric emergencies. Suicide risk requires immediate intervention to prevent death. Underactive patients may be catatonic or severely depressed requiring urgent care. Overactive patients may be manic, psychotic, or violent posing danger to self or others.

Tic disorders are characterized by repeated involuntary contractions of muscles or vocalizations. STG is not a standard psychiatric term. Rapport refers to therapeutic relationship. Truancy is habitual absence from school, not a movement disorder.

Scopophilia is obtaining sexual pleasure by looking at erotic objects or scenes. Oralism is not a standard paraphilia term. Frottage involves rubbing against non-consenting persons. Fetishism involves using non-living objects for sexual arousal.

Akathisia is an extrapyramidal symptom characterized by inner restlessness and inability to sit still, commonly caused by antipsychotic medications. Affective disorders involve mood disturbances like depression or mania. Binge eating is an eating disorder symptom. Crisis is a general term for acute situation, not specific to extrapyramidal symptoms.