PSYCHIATRY:
The medical specialty concerned with the origin, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of mental disorders. Physicians specializing in this field - psychiatrists - hold a medical degree and spend four years or more in approved residency training. They must be licensed by their state in order to practice. Psychiatrists are physicians, medical doctors or doctors of osteopathy and are the only mental health professionals licensed to prescribe medication.

MENTAL ILLNESS:
A broad range of disorders with psychological or behavioral symptoms and/or impairment in functioning due to a social, psychological, genetic, physical/chemical or biological disturbance.

PSYCHOTHERAPY:
Psychotherapy is the treatment of individuals with emotional problems, behavioral problems, or mental illness primarily through verbal communication. In most types of psychotherapy, a person discusses his or her problems one-on-one with a therapist. The therapist tries to understand the person's problems and to help the individual change distressing thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. The physician helps patients understand the basis of these problems and find solutions. Treatment may take several sessions over a several weeks, or many sessions over several years.

PSYCHOANALYSIS:
A theory of the psychology of human behavior, a method of research and a system of psychotherapy, originally developed by Sigmund Freud. Through the analysis of free associations and the interpretation of dreams, emotions and behavior are traced to instinctive drives that are repressed and defenses against them in the unconscious. The goal of treatment is to eliminate or reduce the undesirable effects of unconscious conflicts by making the patient aware of their existence, origin and inappropriate expression.

PSYCHOLOGY:
An academic discipline, a profession and a science dealing with the study of mental processes and behavior of people and animals. A psychologist holds a degree in psychology from an accredited program. Many providers of clinical psychological services are licensed under state law, whereas those who teach or do research are usually exempt from licensure requirements. Licensed psychologists generally hold a doctoral degree in psychology and have two years of supervised work experience.

ANXIETY:
Anxiety and fear are often used to describe the same thing. When the word "anxiety" is used to discuss a group of mental illnesses (anxiety disorders), it refers to an unpleasant and overriding inner emotional tension that has no apparent identifiable cause. Fear, on the other hand, causes emotional tension due to a specific, external reason. Anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, phobias, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic-stress disorder. These disorders are severe enough to interfere with social functioning.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/anxietymenu.cfm

ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER:
ADHD is a diagnosis applied to children and adults who consistently display certain characteristic behaviors over a period of time. The most common features include:

• distractibility (poor sustained attention to tasks)
• impulsivity (impaired impulse control and delay of gratification)
  
• hyperactivity (excessive activity and physical restlessness)
  

In order to meet diagnostic criteria these behaviors must be excessive, long-term, and pervasive. The behaviors must appear before age 7, and continue for at least 6 months. A crucial consideration is that the behaviors must create a real handicap in at least two areas of a person's life, such as school, home, work, or social settings. These criteria set ADHD apart from the "normal" distractibility and impulsive behavior of childhood, or the effects of the hectic and overstressed lifestyle prevalent in our society. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/adhdmenu.cfm

AUTISM:
Autism, which affects thought, perception and attention, is a broad spectrum of disorders that ranges from mild to severe. If an infant does not cuddle, make eye contact, respond to affection and touching, or have abnormal responses to a combination of senses such as hearing, balance, smell, taste and reaction to pain, parents should be seriously concerned. This lack of responsiveness may be accompanied by an inability to communicate appropriately, and by a persistent failure to develop two way social relationships. The language skills may be poor, even nonexistent, sometimes repeating words or phrases in place of normal language, or using gestures and pointing instead of words. In addition, the child may show unusual or extreme responses to objects, either avoidance or preoccupation. Another feature of autism is a tendency toward repetitive activities of a restrictive range, like spinning and rhythmic body movements.

BIPOLAR DISORDER:
A major mood disorder in which there are episodes of both mania and severe, disabling depression.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/bipolarmenu.cfm

DEPRESSION:
When used to describe a mood, depression refers to what may be normal feelings of sadness, despair and discouragement. More serious depression may be a symptom of a variety of physical and mental disorders, a syndrome of associated symptoms secondary to an underlying disorder, or it may itself be a specific mental disorder. The disorder known as major depression is characterized by slow thinking, decreased physical activity, sleep and appetite disturbances, low self-esteem, loss of sex drive and feelings of guilt and hopelessness.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/depressionmenu.cfm

MANIA:
A mood disorder characterized by excessive elation or irritability, hyperactivity, poor concentration and accelerated thinking and speaking, resulting in impaired judgment.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/bipolar.cfm

MULTIPLE PERSONALITY (DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY) DISORDER:
A type of Dissociative disorder. Dissociative disorders involve a sudden, temporary change in normally integrated functions of consciousness, identity or motor behavior, so that some part of one or more of these functions is lost.
Sidran Foundation: http://www.sidran.org/didbr.html

OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER:
A type of anxiety disorder marked by the persistent intrusion of unwanted and uncontrollable thoughts. Commonly, patients who suffer from obsessions also suffer from compulsions - repeated, senseless rituals victims go through in an attempt to reduce their anxiety. While compulsive behavior is almost always preceded by obsessive thoughts, some people have obsessive thoughts but do not ritualize.
http://www.ocfoundation.org/ocf1010a.htm and http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/ocdmenu.cfm

ORGANIC MENTAL (COGNITIVE) DISORDER:
A temporary or permanent impairment of the brain, caused by physiological disturbance of brain tissue at any level of organization - structural, hormonal, biochemical, electrical, etc. Causes are associated with aging, toxic substances or a variety of physical disorders.
http://www.mentalhealth.com/p20-grp.html#Cog

PANIC DISORDER:
A type of anxiety disorder in which a person suffers intense, overwhelming terror suddenly and for no apparent reason. The fear is accompanied by such physical symptoms as shortness of breath; heart palpitations; chest discomfort; choking or smothering sensations; unsteadiness; feelings of unreality; tingling; hot or cold flashes; sweating; faintness; trembling; and fear of losing control, dying or going crazy.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/panicmenu.cfm

PERSONALITY DISORDER:
A deeply ingrained, inflexible, maladaptive pattern of relating, perceiving and thinking serious enough to cause distress or impaired functioning. Personality disorders are usually recognizable by adolescence or earlier, continue throughout adulthood and become less obvious in middle or old age. Examples of formally identified personality disorders are antisocial, borderline, compulsive, histrionic, dependent, narcissistic, paranoid, passive-aggressive, and schizoid.
http://personalitydisorders.mentalhelp.net/

PHOBIA:
An obsessive, persistent, unrealistic fear of an object or situation. Some common phobias are: acrophobia - fear of heights; agoraphobia - fear of leaving the familiar setting of the home; claustrophobia - fear of closed places; xenophobia - fear of strangers.

POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER:
A disorder that develops after a person experiences a psychologically distressing event outside the range of usual human experience - a natural disaster such as an earthquake, an accidental disaster such as a plane crash, or a manmade disaster such as war or rape. Post-traumatic stress disorder is characterized by re-experiencing the traumatic event, avoidance of stimuli associated with it, or a numbing of general responsiveness that was not present before the trauma.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/ptsdmenu.cfm

SCHIZOPHRENIA:
A large group of severe disorders of unknown cause and usually of psychotic proportion, typically characterized by disturbances of language and communication; thought disturbances that may involve distortion of reality, misperceptions and sometimes delusions and hallucinations; mood changes and withdrawn, regressive or bizarre behavior. These symptoms must last longer than six months to fall into the category of schizophrenia.
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/schizophreniamenu.cfm

For more information and links about various disorders: http://www.mentalhealth.com/fr13.html