A chronic form of schizophrenia characterized primarily by the presence of persecutory or grandiose delusions, often associated with hallucination.

Chronic mental disorders in which there has been an insidious development of a permanent and unshakeable delusional system (persecutory delusions or delusions of jealousy), accompanied by preservation of clear and orderly thinking. Emotional responses and behavior are consistent with the delusional state.

A severe emotional disorder of psychotic depth characteristically marked by a retreat from reality with delusion formation, HALLUCINATIONS, emotional disharmony, and regressive behavior.

A personality disorder characterized by the avoidance of accepting deserved blame and an unwarranted view of others as malevolent. The latter is expressed as suspiciousness, hypersensitivity, and mistrust.

A false belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that persists despite the facts, and is not considered tenable by one's associates.

Study of mental processes and behavior of schizophrenics.

A type of schizophrenia characterized by frequent incoherence; marked loosening of associations, or grossly disorganized behavior and flat or grossly inappropriate affect that does not meet the criteria for the catatonic type; associated features include extreme social withdrawal, grimacing, mannerisms, mirror gazing, inappropriate giggling, and other odd behavior. (Dorland, 27th ed)

Behavior exhibited by individuals who are overly suspicious, but without the constellation of symptoms characteristic of paranoid personality disorder or paranoid type of schizophrenia.

A type of schizophrenia characterized by abnormality of motor behavior which may involve particular forms of stupor, rigidity, excitement or inappropriate posture.

Agents that control agitated psychotic behavior, alleviate acute psychotic states, reduce psychotic symptoms, and exert a quieting effect. They are used in SCHIZOPHRENIA; senile dementia; transient psychosis following surgery; or MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION; etc. These drugs are often referred to as neuroleptics alluding to the tendency to produce neurological side effects, but not all antipsychotics are likely to produce such effects. Many of these drugs may also be effective against nausea, emesis, and pruritus.

Subjectively experienced sensations in the absence of an appropriate stimulus, but which are regarded by the individual as real. They may be of organic origin or associated with MENTAL DISORDERS.

Disorders in which there is a loss of ego boundaries or a gross impairment in reality testing with delusions or prominent hallucinations. (From DSM-IV, 1994)

A personality disorder in which there are oddities of thought (magical thinking, paranoid ideation, suspiciousness), perception (illusions, depersonalization), speech (digressive, vague, overelaborate), and behavior (inappropriate affect in social interactions, frequently social isolation) that are not severe enough to characterize schizophrenia.

A condition in which closely related persons, usually in the same family, share the same delusions.

Standardized procedures utilizing rating scales or interview schedules carried out by health personnel for evaluating the degree of mental illness.

Cognitive disorders including delirium, dementia, and other cognitive disorders. These may be the result of substance use, trauma, or other causes.

Psychotic organic mental disorders resulting from the toxic effect of drugs and chemicals or other harmful substance.

Conceptual system developed by Freud and his followers in which unconscious motivations are considered to shape normal and abnormal personality development and behavior.

An obsolete concept, historically used for childhood mental disorders thought to be a form of schizophrenia. It was in earlier versions of DSM but is now included within the broad concept of PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENT DISORDERS.

A defense mechanism, operating unconsciously, whereby that which is emotionally unacceptable in the self is rejected and attributed (projected) to others.

Unconscious process used by an individual or a group of individuals in order to cope with impulses, feelings or ideas which are not acceptable at their conscious level; various types include reaction formation, projection and self reversal.

A major deviation from normal patterns of behavior.

Techniques to reveal personality attributes by responses to relatively unstructured or ambiguous stimuli.

A psychoanalytic therapy wherein each social transaction is analyzed to determine the involved ego state (whether parent-like, child-like, or adult-like) as a basis for understanding behavior.

Tests designed to assess neurological function associated with certain behaviors. They are used in diagnosing brain dysfunction or damage and central nervous system disorders or injury.

Adaptation of the person to the social environment. Adjustment may take place by adapting the self to the environment or by changing the environment. (From Campbell, Psychiatric Dictionary, 1996)

A major affective disorder marked by severe mood swings (manic or major depressive episodes) and a tendency to remission and recurrence.

Mental activity, not predominantly perceptual, by which one apprehends some aspect of an object or situation based on past learning and experience.

A psychotic disorder characterized by the patient's belief that acquaintances or closely related persons have been replaced by doubles or imposters.

A psychoanalytic term meaning self-love.

Disturbances in mental processes related to learning, thinking, reasoning, and judgment.

The artificial language of schizophrenic patients - neologisms (words of the patient's own making with new meanings).

Categorical classification of MENTAL DISORDERS based on criteria sets with defining features. It is produced by the American Psychiatric Association. (DSM-IV, page xxii)

Global conflict involving countries of Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America that occurred between 1939 and 1945.

Dominance of one cerebral hemisphere over the other in cerebral functions.

A thioxanthine with effects similar to the phenothiazine antipsychotics.

A selective blocker of DOPAMINE D2 RECEPTORS and SEROTONIN 5-HT2 RECEPTORS that acts as an atypical antipsychotic agent. It has been shown to improve both positive and negative symptoms in the treatment of SCHIZOPHRENIA.

A tricylic dibenzodiazepine, classified as an atypical antipsychotic agent. It binds several types of central nervous system receptors, and displays a unique pharmacological profile. Clozapine is a serotonin antagonist, with strong binding to 5-HT 2A/2C receptor subtype. It also displays strong affinity to several dopaminergic receptors, but shows only weak antagonism at the dopamine D2 receptor, a receptor commonly thought to modulate neuroleptic activity. Agranulocytosis is a major adverse effect associated with administration of this agent.

A scale comprising 18 symptom constructs chosen to represent relatively independent dimensions of manifest psychopathology. The initial intended use was to provide more efficient assessment of treatment response in clinical psychopharmacology research; however, the scale was readily adapted to other uses. (From Hersen, M. and Bellack, A.S., Dictionary of Behavioral Assessment Techniques, p. 87)

Standardized tests designed to measure abilities, as in intelligence, aptitude, and achievement tests, or to evaluate personality traits.

Subjective feeling of having committed an error, offense or sin; unpleasant feeling of self-criticism. These result from acts, impulses, or thoughts contrary to one's personal conscience.

The rostral part of the frontal lobe, bounded by the inferior precentral fissure in humans, which receives projection fibers from the MEDIODORSAL NUCLEUS OF THE THALAMUS. The prefrontal cortex receives afferent fibers from numerous structures of the DIENCEPHALON; MESENCEPHALON; and LIMBIC SYSTEM as well as cortical afferents of visual, auditory, and somatic origin.

The ability to understand and manage emotions and to use emotional knowledge to enhance thought and deal effectively with tasks. Components of emotional intelligence include empathy, self-motivation, self-awareness, self-regulation, and social skill. Emotional intelligence is a measurement of one's ability to socialize or relate to others.

The part of CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM that is contained within the skull (CRANIUM). Arising from the NEURAL TUBE, the embryonic brain is comprised of three major parts including PROSENCEPHALON (the forebrain); MESENCEPHALON (the midbrain); and RHOMBENCEPHALON (the hindbrain). The developed brain consists of CEREBRUM; CEREBELLUM; and other structures in the BRAIN STEM.

Disorders in which the essential feature is a severe disturbance in mood (depression, anxiety, elation, and excitement) accompanied by psychotic symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, gross impairment in reality testing, etc.

The ability of the BRAIN to suppress neuronal responses to external sensory inputs, such as auditory and visual stimuli. Sensory filtering (or gating) allows humans to block out irrelevant, meaningless, or redundant stimuli.

Intellectual or mental process whereby an organism obtains knowledge.

Those disorders that have a disturbance in mood as their predominant feature.

Non-invasive method of demonstrating internal anatomy based on the principle that atomic nuclei in a strong magnetic field absorb pulses of radiofrequency energy and emit them as radiowaves which can be reconstructed into computerized images. The concept includes proton spin tomographic techniques.

A phenyl-piperidinyl-butyrophenone that is used primarily to treat SCHIZOPHRENIA and other PSYCHOSES. It is also used in schizoaffective disorder, DELUSIONAL DISORDERS, ballism, and TOURETTE SYNDROME (a drug of choice) and occasionally as adjunctive therapy in INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY and the chorea of HUNTINGTON DISEASE. It is a potent antiemetic and is used in the treatment of intractable HICCUPS. (From AMA Drug Evaluations Annual, 1994, p279)

Observable changes of expression in the face in response to emotional stimuli.

Disorders affecting TWINS, one or both, at any age.

Psychiatric illness or diseases manifested by breakdowns in the adaptational process expressed primarily as abnormalities of thought, feeling, and behavior producing either distress or impairment of function.

An enzyme that catalyzes the oxidative deamination of naturally occurring monoamines. It is a flavin-containing enzyme that is localized in mitochondrial membranes, whether in nerve terminals, the liver, or other organs. Monoamine oxidase is important in regulating the metabolic degradation of catecholamines and serotonin in neural or target tissues. Hepatic monoamine oxidase has a crucial defensive role in inactivating circulating monoamines or those, such as tyramine, that originate in the gut and are absorbed into the portal circulation. (From Goodman and Gilman's, The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 8th ed, p415) EC 1.4.3.4.

Studies which start with the identification of persons with a disease of interest and a control (comparison, referent) group without the disease. The relationship of an attribute to the disease is examined by comparing diseased and non-diseased persons with regard to the frequency or levels of the attribute in each group.

A latent susceptibility to disease at the genetic level, which may be activated under certain conditions.

Synthesized from endogenous epinephrine and norepinephrine in vivo. It is found in brain, blood, CSF, and urine, where its concentrations are used to measure catecholamine turnover.

Measurable biological (physiological, biochemical, and anatomical features), behavioral (psychometric pattern) or cognitive markers that are found more often in individuals with a disease than in the general population. Because many endophenotypes are present before the disease onset and in individuals with heritable risk for disease such as unaffected family members, they can be used to help diagnose and search for causative genes.

Imaging techniques used to colocalize sites of brain functions or physiological activity with brain structures.

The feeling-tone accompaniment of an idea or mental representation. It is the most direct psychic derivative of instinct and the psychic representative of the various bodily changes by means of which instincts manifest themselves.

A statistical technique that isolates and assesses the contributions of categorical independent variables to variation in the mean of a continuous dependent variable.

A complex involuntary response to an unexpected strong stimulus usually auditory in nature.

A group of two-ring heterocyclic compounds consisting of a benzene ring fused to a diazepine ring.

The part of the cerebral hemisphere anterior to the central sulcus, and anterior and superior to the lateral sulcus.

Behavior-response patterns that characterize the individual.

Dopamine beta-Hydroxylase is an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of dopamine to norepinephrine, a crucial step in the synthesis of catecholamines within the adrenal glands and central nervous system.

A component of the NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH concerned with research, overall planning, promoting, and administering mental health programs and research. It was established in 1949.

Focusing on certain aspects of current experience to the exclusion of others. It is the act of heeding or taking notice or concentrating.

Lower lateral part of the cerebral hemisphere responsible for auditory, olfactory, and semantic processing. It is located inferior to the lateral fissure and anterior to the OCCIPITAL LOBE.

Dibenzothiazepines are a class of heterocyclic chemical compounds that contain a dibenzothiazepine ring structure, which have been used in the development of various pharmaceutical drugs, particularly as tranquilizers, muscle relaxants, and anticonvulsants, but their use has declined due to side effects and the development of newer drugs.