Anxiety Neurosis: Glossary
Acupuncture
The insertion of needles into the living tissues for remedial purposes.
Agoraphobia
Abnormal anxiety regarding public places or situations from which the patient may wish to flee or in which he or she would be helpless in the event of a panic attack.
Anhedonia
The absence of pleasure from the performance of acts that would ordinarily be pleasurable.
Anxiety neurosis
Chronic abnormal distress and worry to the point of panic followed by a tendency to avoid or run from the feared situation, associated with over-action of the sympathetic nervous system.
Apprehension
The fearful or uneasy anticipation of the future; dread.
Aromatherapy
The use of fragrances and essences from plants to affect or alter a person's mood or behavior and to facilitate physical, mental, and emotional well-being. The chemicals comprising essential oils in plants have a host of therapeutic properties and have been used historically in Africa, Asia, and India. Its greatest application is in the field of alternative medicine.
Compulsion
Repetitive or ritualistic behavior that a person performs to reduce anxiety. Compulsions often develop as a way of controlling or "undoing" obsessive thoughts.
Derealization
An alteration in one's perception of the environment such that things that are ordinarily familiar seem strange and unreal
Exacerbation
An increase in the severity of a disease or its symptoms.
Hydrotherapy
A mode of treating diseases by the copious and frequent use of pure water, both internally and externally.
Hypervigilance
The condition of maintaining an abnormal awareness of environmental stimuli
Intrusive
Forced-in inappropriately, especially without invitation, fitness, or permission
Obsession
A repetitive or persistent thought, idea, or impulse that is perceived as inappropriate and distressing.
Panic attack
A time-limited period of intense fear and terror accompanied by rapid heartbeat, abnormal chest sensations, shortness of breath, dizziness, tingling, and anxiousness.
Phobia
A persistent, irrational, intense fear of a specific object, activity, or situation (the phobic stimulus), fear that is recognized as being excessive or unreasonable by the individual himself.
