Antipsychotic Medications - Glossary

Glossary

Antipsychotic: drugs used to treat severe mental disorders

Psychosis: Mental disturbance of serious magnitude that may be characterized by loss of contact with reality. Delusions and hallucinations are often present

Neurotransmitter: Chemicals that act as messengers between cells in the brain and nervous system; they transmit impulses across the gap from a neuron to another neuron, a muscle, or a gland

Serotonin: A neurotransmitter involved in the processes of sleep and memory, as well as other neurological functions

Dopamine: A chemical that transmits messages in the brain and plays a role in movement

Neuroleptics: Drugs like Anti-psychotics which reduce the features of psychosis

Antidepressant: A drug used to treat depression

Bipolar Disorder: This disorder is characterized by successive feelings of elation and depression

Schizophrenia: The most common form of psychosis, characterized by partial or total withdrawal of interest in the world outside of oneself and loss of intellectual and emotional function

Depression: Mental state of low mood commonly associated with feelings of sadness, emptiness, despair or loss of interest in life or worldly matters

Hallucinations: A perception of something (as a visual image or a sound) with no external cause usually arising from a disorder of the nervous system (as in delirium tremens or in functional psychosis without known neurological disease) or in response to drugs

Delusions: A false, unshakable belief that cannot be corrected with reasoning, and is not in the same social, educational, or cultural background as the patient

Ataxia: Failure of muscle coordination

Parkinson's disease: A progressive disorder of the nervous system marked by muscle tremors, muscle rigidity, decreased mobility, stooped posture, slow voluntary movements, and a mask-like facial expression

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