A safe place to talk openly about mental health & illness
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is selective mutism. Selective mutism (SM) is a rare disorder that begins in childhood and is characterized by an inability to speak in select social contexts (hence the "selective" part of the name). It used to be called… Continue reading What Is… Selective Mutism
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder. Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a type of eating disorder that involves restricting food intake, not with the aim of weight loss, but more along the lines of picky eating twisted to… Continue reading What Is… Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is paranoid personality disorder. With this post on paranoid personality personality (PPD), we've now covered all ten personality disorders in the DSM-5 (you can find the rest of them in the Psychology Corner). PPD falls within the DSM-5's… Continue reading What Is… Paranoid Personality Disorder
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is borderline personality disorder. I've contemplated writing this post for a while, and was somewhat reluctant because there are quite a few bloggers out there with borderline personality disorder (BPD), who can certainly tell it a lot better than… Continue reading What Is… Borderline Personality Disorder
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is avoidant personality disorder. Avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) falls within the DSM-5's cluster C of anxious/fearful personality disorders. It's characterized by intense feelings of inadequacy and fear of social rejection, and avoidance is relied upon as a coping… Continue reading What Is… Avoidant Personality Disorder
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is shy bladder syndrome, also known as paruresis. Shy bladder syndrome, or paruresis, involves difficulty urinating in public settings due to fear of perceived scrutiny when others are present or anticipated to be present soon. It actually falls… Continue reading What Is… Paruresis (Shy Bladder Syndrome)
Reading Our Minds by Daniel Barron, a psychiatrist and pain management fellow, explores the incorporation of Big Data to improve the practice of psychiatry. The idea of supporting psychiatric assessment with solid data is an appealing one, but many questions come to mind. I was surprised by an apparent blind spot of the author's that… Continue reading Book Review: Reading Our Minds
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week we're doing a 2-for-1 looking at schizoid and schizotypal personality disorder. Both schizoid and schizotypal personality disorder fall within the DSM-5's cluster A, which is the odd/eccentric cluster. Despite the similarities in names (it took me a long time… Continue reading What Is… Schizoid & Schizotypal Personality Disorders
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is dependent personality disorder. Dependent personality disorder (DPD) falls within cluster C, the anxious/avoidant personality disorders, in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). People with DPD believe they're unable to care for themselves, and behave… Continue reading What Is… Dependent Personality Disorder
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is histrionic personality disorder. Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) falls within the DSM-5's cluster B of dramatic/emotional/erratic personality disorders. Like any personality disorder, it doesn't just pop up out of nowhere in adulthood; it starts early and is pretty… Continue reading What Is… Histrionic Personality Disorder