Issues

Anger is a completely normal, usually healthy, human emotion. But when it gets out of control and turns destructive, it can lead to problems—problems at work, in your personal relationships, and in the overall quality of your life. And it can make you feel as though you’re at the mercy of an unpredictable and powerful emotion.

Mood disorders involve disabling disturbances in emotion – from the extreme sadness and disengagement of depression to the extreme elation and irritability of mania (major depression, dysthymic disorder, bipolar disorder.

A loose term for difficulties in a relationship that are sufficiently serious to become the focus of clinical attention.

Most generally, a vague, unpleasant emotional state with qualities of apprehension, dread, distress and uneasiness. Anxiety is frequently distinguished from fear by its being often objectless, whereas fear assumes a specific feared object, person or event.

A subclass of anxiety disorders with two essential characteristics: recurrent and persistent thoughts, ideas and feelings; and repetitive, ritualized behaviours. Attempts to resist a compulsion produce mounting tension and anxiety, which are relieved immediately by giving in to it.

Sexual mistreatment of another person. As the term is used it virtually always refers to the abuse of a child by an adult (recent or past).

The emotional reactions felt following the death of a loved one. A full depressive syndrome is considered normal in the case of such a loss and is often accompanied by poor appetite, insomnia and preoccupations with a sense of worthlessness.

A discrete period of intense fear or discomfort accompanied by various symptoms which may include shortness of breath, dizziness, palpitations, trembling, sweating, nausea and often a fear that one is going crazy. The attacks are initially unexpected and typically last no longer that 15 minutes.

An umbrella psychiatric category covering all disorders of sexual behavior and function, including the paraphilias (exhibitionism, fetishism, masochism, transvestic fetishism, voyeurism) and the sexual dysfunctions.

Generally, a mood state characterized by a sense of inadequacy, a feeling of despondency, a decrease in activity or reactivity, pessimism, sadness and related symptoms. It can appear as secondary to another disorder.

A heterogeneous group of disorders defined by longstanding, pervasive, and inflexible patterns of behavior and inner experience that deviate from expectations of a person’s culture. These problematic patterns are manifested in at least two of the following areas: cognition, emotion, relationships, and impulse control. Personality disorders are not diagnosed unless they cause distress or functional impairment (paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, antisocial, borderline, histrionic, narcissistic, avoidant, dependent, obsessive-compulsive).

Inhibition of arousal or of the psychophysiological aspects of the sexual response cycle. The term is only used when there is no evidence of an organic disorder that might cause the symptoms.

A class of childhood disorders that emerge during childhood characterized by a serious distortion of basic psychological functioning. The notion of distortion here is a general one and many involve social, cognitive, perceptual, attentional, motor or linguistic functioning.

Any persistent fear of a specific stimulus object or situation. The most common simple phobias involve animals, blood, closed spaces and heights.

Feelings of unease and discomfort in social settings typically accompanied by shyness and social awkwardness. Distinguished from social phobia.

Variety of conditions characterized by serious disturbances in eating habits and appetitive behaviours such as Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Pica and Rumination disorder of infancy.

Physical abuse is physical force or violence that results in bodily injury, pain, or impairment. It includes assault, battery, and inappropriate restraint. Perpetrators may be acquaintances, sons, daughters, grandchildren, or others. Physical abuse that is perpetrated by spouses or intimate partners in order to gain power and control over the victim is described as domestic violence.

Stress is a normal psychological and physical reaction to the ever-increasing demands of life. In looking at the causes of stress, remember that your brain comes hard-wired with an alarm system for your protection. When your brain perceives a threat, it signals your body to release a burst of hormones to fuel your capacity for a response. This has been labeled the “fight-or-flight” response. Once the threat is gone, your body is meant to return to a normal relaxed state. Unfortunately, the nonstop stress of modern life means that your alarm system rarely shuts off. That’s why stress management is so important. Stress management gives you a range of tools to reset your alarm system.Without stress management, all too often your body is always on high alert. Over time, high levels of stress lead to serious health problems.

Emotional abuse is elusive. Unlike physical abuse, the people doing it and receiving it may not even know it’s happening. It can be more harmful than physical abuse because it can undermine what we think about ourselves. It can cripple all we are meant to be as we allow something untrue to define us. Emotional abuse can happen between parent and child, husband and wife, among relatives and between friends.

An anxiety disorder that emerges following a psychologically distressing, traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a bad accident, war or rape. The syndrome includes re-experiencing the trauma in dreams, recurrent thoughts and images, a kind of psychological numbness with an accompanying lessening of feeling of involvement with the world around one, hypervigilance, and an exaggerated startle response. In psychiatric diagnosis, the term is not applied until the symptoms have continued for at least a month; prior to that the condition is called acute stress disorder.

Lit. counselling a person concerning the selection of a vocation. The term is used broadly and encompasses specific testing of skills and abilities, and psychological assessment of personality, motivation, life goals, etc. Generally, counselling (or guidance) is aimed at helping an individual into an occupation for which he or she displays a high aptitude.

An intense emotional state associated with the loss of someone (or something) with whom (or which) one has had deep emotional bond.

Work-related stress results when the demands of work exceed resources for managing those demands. Most jobs will involve some level of stress, and this level will fluctuate over time as a result of various factors. However, when occupational stress becomes excessive or chronic, it can cause significant problems for an individual’s physical health, and increase the risk of anxiety and mood related problems.