The major differences between signs and symptoms are described on the table below:
SIGNS SYMPTOMS
Objective Subjective
Based from clinicians observation Subjective experiences of the patient
However, psychopathological signs and symptoms are not clearly differentiated, they often
overlap. A syndrome, or a constellation of signs and symptoms that make up a recognizable condition, is
often used to show the overlap of the two.
DISTURBANCES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Consciousness - state of awareness
Apperception: perception modified by ones own thoughts and emotions
Sensorium: (sometimes used as another term for consciousness) refers to the state of functioning
of the special senses
1. Disorientation disturbed orientation regarding time, place, or person.
2. Delirium patient exhibits confusion, restlessness, bewilderment, and a disoriented reaction that
is usually associated with hallucinations and fear.
3. Clouding of consciousness a state of perceptual and cognitive confusion.
4. Stupor a general condition wherein the patient exhibits extreme unresponsiveness and loss of
orientation to the environment.
5. Twilight state a disturbance in consciousness, with hallucinations.
6. Dreamlike state another term for psychomotor epilepsy or complex partial seizure.
7. Somnolence abnormal drowsiness, usually displayed in organic processes.
8. Coma vigil (akinetic mutism) patient appears to be sleeping but is aroused easily.
9. Coma profound level of consciousness, abnormal state of deep stupor that is accompanied by a
total loss of consciousness, loss of voluntary behavior and some reflexes.
DISTURBANCES OF ATTENTION
Attention selective aspects of perception; quantity of effort given to focusing on parts of an
experience; ability to concentrate
1. Distractibility the inability to concentrate or focus attention because patient is easily drawn to
irrelevant external stimuli.
2. Selective attention blocking out of anxiety-causing stimuli.
3. Hyper vigilance excessive focus and attention is given to all internal and external stimuli due to
paranoia.
DISTURBANCES IN SUGGESTIBILITY
Suggestibility - uncritical and compliant response to influence or an idea.
1. Folie a deux (or folie a trois) emotional/mental illness shared between two (or three) persons;
also called shared psychosis between two (or three) persons.
2. Hypnosis artificially induced consciousness characterized by heightened suggestibility.
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DISTURBANCES IN EMOTION
Emotion a complex feeling or state related to mood and affect with psychic, somatic, and behavioral
components.
Mood the sustained and pervasive emotion subjectively experienced and reported by the patient,
and is observable to others.
1. Dysphoric Mood unpleasant mood
2. Euthymic Mood normal range of mood
3. Expansive Mood the expression of ones feelings without any restraint. It is frequently and
overestimation of ones significance or importance.
4. Irritable Mood the person is easily provoked to anger and is easily annoyed.
5. Mood Swings (labile mood) moving between euphoria and depression or anxiety.
6. Elevated Mood characterized by an air of enjoyment and confidence. A mood which is more
cheerful than normal but is not considered pathological.
7. Euphoria intense elation with feelings of grandeur.
8. Ecstasy feeling of intense rapture or delight.
9. Depression the psychopathological feeling of sadness.
10. Anhedonia loss of interest and withdrawal from all regular and pleasurable activities. Often
associated with depression.
11. Grief or Mourning sadness that is appropriate to a real loss.
12. Alexithymia the inability or difficulty in describing ones moods or emotions.
Other Emotions
1. Anxiety a feeling of apprehension that is caused by anticipation of internal or external
danger/threat.
2. Free-floating anxiety unfocused and pervasive fear that is not attached to any idea.
3. Fear anxiety caused by a consciously recognized and realistic danger.
4. Agitation motor restlessness associated with severe anxiety.
5. Tension unpleasant increased motor and psychological activity.
6. Panic acute, episodic, intense anxiety attack associated with overwhelming feelings of dread.
7. Apathy dulled emotional tone associated with indifference or detachment
8. Ambivalence presence of two opposing impulses toward the same thing, in the same person,
at the same time.
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DISTURBANCES IN THINKING/THOUGHT
Thinking the goal-directed flow of ideas. Symbols and associations initiated by problem or task and
leading toward a reality-oriented conclusion.
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3. Delusion false belief, based on incorrect inference about external reality, not consistent with
patients intelligence and cultural background that cannot be corrected by reasoning
a. Bizarre delusion false belief that is patently absurd or fantastic (e.g., invaders from space
have implanted electrodes in a person's brain), common in schizophrenia.
b. Systematized delusion group of elaborate delusions related to a single event or theme.
c. Mood-congruent delusion delusion with content that is mood appropriate (e.g., depressed
patients who believe that they are responsible for the destruction of the world).
d. Mood-incongruent delusion delusion with content that has no association to mood or is
mood-neutral.
e. Nihilistic delusion depressive delusion that the world and everything related to it have
ceased to exist.
f. Delusion of poverty false belief that one is bereft or will be deprived of all material
possessions
g. Somatic Delusion delusion pertaining to the functioning of one's body.
h. Paranoid delusions includes persecutory delusions and delusions of reference, control, and
grandeur
a) Delusion of persecution false belief of being harassed or persecuted; often found in
litigious patients who have a pathological tendency to take legal action because of
imagined mistreatment. (most common delusion)
b) Delusion of grandeur exaggerated conception of one's importance, power, or identity.
c) Delusion of reference false belief that the behavior of others refers to oneself or that
events, objects, or other people have a particular and unusual significance, usually of a
negative nature; derived from idea of reference, in which persons falsely feel that others
are talking about them (e.g., belief that people on television or radio are talking to or
about the person). See also thought broadcasting.
i. Delusion of self-accusation false feeling of remorse and guilt. Seen in depression with
psychotic features.
j. Delusion of control false belief that a person's will, thoughts, or feelings are being controlled
by external forces.
a) Thought withdrawal delusion that ones thoughts are being removed from ones mind
by other people or forces.
b) Thought insertion delusion that thoughts are being implanted in one's mind by other
people or forces.
c) Thought broadcasting feeling that one's thoughts are being broadcast or projected into
the environment.
k. Delusion of infidelity false belief that one's lover is unfaithful. Sometimes called
pathological jealousy.
l. Erotomania delusional belief, more common in women than in men, that someone is deeply
in love with them (also known as de Clrembault syndrome).
m. Pseudologia fantastica a type of lying, in which the person appears to believe in the reality
of his or her fantasies and acts on them.
4. Preoccupation of thought centering of thought content on a particular idea, associated with a
strong affective tone, such as a paranoid trend or a suicidal or homicidal preoccupation.
5. Egomania morbid self-preoccupation or self-centeredness.
6. Monomania mental state characterized by preoccupation with one subject.
7. Hypochondria exaggerated concern about health that is based not on real medical pathology,
but on unrealistic interpretations of physical signs or sensations as abnormal.
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8. Obsession persistent and recurrent idea, thought, or impulse that cannot be eliminated from
consciousness by logic or reasoning; obsessions are involuntary and ego-dystonic. See also
compulsion.
9. Compulsion pathological need to act on an impulse that, if resisted, produces anxiety; repetitive
behavior in response to an obsession or performed according to certain rules, with no true end in
itself other than to prevent something from occurring in the future.
10. Coprolalia involuntary use of vulgar or obscene language. Observed in some cases of
schizophrenia and in Tourette's syndrome.
11. Phobia persistent, pathological, unrealistic, intense fear of an object or situation; the phobic
person may realize that the fear is irrational but, nonetheless, cannot dispel it.
a. Simple phobia circumscribed dread of a discrete object or situation.
b. Social phobia fear of public humiliation, as in fear of public speaking, performing, or eating
in public.
c. Acrophobia fear of high places.
d. Algophobia fear of pain.
e. Claustrophobia Abnormal fear of closed or confining spaces.
f. Xenophobia Abnormal fear of strangers.
g. Zoophobia Abnormal fear of animals.
12. Noesis a revelation in which immense illumination occurs in association with a sense that one
has been chosen to lead and command.
13. Unio mystica feeling of mystic unity with an infinite power.
DISTURBANCES IN SPEECH
Speech ideas, thoughts, feelings as expressed through language; communication through the use of
words and language.
1. Pressure of Speech rapid speech that is increased in amount difficult to interpret.
2. Volubility (logorrhea) copious, coherent, logical speech; excessive talking observed in manic
episodes of bipolar disorder. (also known as tachylogia, verbomania)
3. Poverty of Speech restriction in the amount of speech used; replies may be mono-syllabic.
4. Nonspontaneous speech verbal responses given only when asked or spoken to directly; no self-
initiation of speech.
5. Poverty of content of speech speech that is adequate in amount but conveys little information
because of vagueness, emptiness or stereotyped phrases.
6. Dysprosod loss of normal speech melody. (called prosody)
7. Dysarthria difficulty in articulation, not in word finding or in grammar.
8. Excessively loud or soft speech loss of modulation of normal speech volume; may reflect a
variety of pathological conditions ranging from psychosis to depression to deafness.
9. Stuttering frequent repetition or prolongation of a sound or syllable, leading to markedly
impaired speech fluency.
10. Cluttering erratic and dysrhythmic speech, consisting of rapid and jerky spurts.
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3. Nominal Aphasia difficulty in finding correct name for an object. (also termed anomia)
4. Syntactical Aphasia inability to arrange words in proper sequence.
5. Jargon Aphasia words produced are totally neologistic; nonsense words repeated with various
intonations and inflections.
6. Global Aphasia combination of a grossly non-fluent aphasia and a severe fluent aphasia.
DISTURBANCES OF PERCEPTION
Perception process of transferring physical stimulation into psychological information; the mental
process by which sensory stimuli are brought into awareness.
1. Hallucination false sensory perception not associated with real external stimuli; there may or
may not be a delusional interpretation of the hallucinatory experience; hallucinations indicate a
psychotic disturbance only when associated with impairment in reality testing
a. Hypnagogic Hallucination false sensory perception occurring while falling asleep; generally
considered a non-pathological phenomenon.
b. Hypnopompic Hallucination false perception occurring while awakening from sleep;
generally considered non-pathological.
c. Auditory Hallucination false perception of sound, usually voices but also other noises such
as music; most common hallucination in psychiatric disorders.
d. Visual Hallucination false perception involving sight consisting of both formed images(e.g.
people) and unformed images (e.g. flashes of light); most common in organically determined
disorders.
e. Olfactory Hallucination false perception in smell; most common in organic disorders.
f. Gustatory Hallucination false perception of taste, such as unpleasant taste caused by an
uncinate seizure; most common in organic disorders.
g. Tactile (Haptic) Hallucination false perception of touch or surface sensation, as from an
amputated limb (phantom limb), crawling sensation on or under the skin (formication).
h. Somatic Hallucination false sensation of things occurring in or to the body, most often
visceral in origin (also known as cenesthetsic hallucination).
i. Lilliputian Hallucination false perception in which objects are seen as reduced in size (also
termed micropsia).
j. Mood-congruent Hallucination a kind of hallucination wherein the content of which is
consistent with either a depressed or manic mood (e.g. a depressed patient hears voices
saying that the patient is a bad person; a manic patient hears voices saying that the patient is
inflated of worth, power, knowledge, etc.)
k. Mood-incongruent Hallucination Hallucination whose content is not consistent with either
depressed or manic mood (e.g. in depression, hallucinations not involving such themes as
guilt, deserved punishment, or inadequacy; in mania, hallucinations not involving such
themes as inflated worth or power)
l. Hallucinosis Hallucinations, most often auditory, that are associated with chronic alcohol
abuse and that occur within a clear sensorium.
m. Trailing Phenomenon perceptual abnormality associated with hallucinogenic drugs in which
moving object are seen as a series of discrete and discontinuous stages.
2. Illusion misperception or misinterpretation of real external sensory stimuli.
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DISTURBANCES OF MEMORY
Memory function by which information stored in the brain is later recalled to consciousness
1. Amnesia partial or total inability to recall past experiences; may be organic or emotional in
origin.
2. Paramnesia falsification of memory by distortion of recall.
a. Fausse reconnaissance false recognition.
b. Retrospective falsification memory becomes unintentionally (unconsciously) distorted by
being filtered through patients present emotional, cognitive, and experiential state.
c. Confabulation unconscious filling of gaps in memory by imagined or untrue experiences
that patient believes but that have no basis in fact; most often associated with organic
pathology.
d. Dj vu illusion of visual recognition in which a new situation is correctly regarded as a
repetition of a previous memory.
e. Dj entendu illusion of auditory recognition.
f. Dj pense illusion that a new thought is recognized as a thought previously felt or
expressed.
g. Jamias vu false feeling of unfamiliarity with a real situation one has experienced.
h. False memory a persons recollection and belief by the patient of an event that did not
actually occur.
3. Hypermnesia exaggerated degree of retention and recall.
4. Eidetic image visual memory of almost hallucinatory vividness.
5. Screen memory a consciously tolerable memory covering for a painful memory.
6. Repression a defense mechanism characterized by unconscious forgetting of unacceptable
ideas or impulses.
7. Lethologica temporary inability to remember a name or a proper noun.
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8. Blackout amnesia experienced by alcoholics about behavior during drinking bouts; usually
indicates that reversible brain damage has occurred.
Levels of Memory
a. Immediate reproduction or recall of perceived material within seconds to minutes.
b. Recent recall of events over past few days.
c. Recent past recall of events over past few months.
d. Remote recall of events in distant past.
DISTURBANCES OF INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence the ability to understand, recall, mobilized, and constructively integrates previous
learning in meeting new situations.
1. Mental Retardation: Lack of intelligence to a degree in which there is interference with social
and vocational performance:
a. Mild (I.Q. of 50 or 55 to approximately 70)
b. Moderate (I.Q. of 35 or 40 to 50 or 55)
c. Severe (I.Q. of 20 or 25 to 35 or 40)
d. Profound (I.Q. below 20 or 25)
Obsolete terms are idiot (mental age less than 3 years), imbecile (mental age of 3 to 7
years), and moron (mental age of about 8)
2. Dementia organic and global deterioration of intellectual functioning without clouding of
consciousness
a. Dyscalculia loss of ability to do calculations not caused by anxiety or impairment in
concentration.
b. Dysgraphia loss of ability to write in cursive style; loss of word structure.
3. Pseudodementia clinical features resembling a dementia not caused by an organic mental
dysfunction; most often caused by depression.
4. Concrete thinking literal thinking; limited use of metaphor without understanding of nuances
of meaning; one dimensional thought.
5. Abstract thinking ability to appreciate nuances of meaning; multidimensional thinking with
ability to use metaphors and hypotheses appropriately.
REFERENCE:
Sadock, B.J., & Sadock, V.A. (2007). Kaplan & Sadocks Synopsis of Psychiatry (10 th ed.) Philadelphia, USA:
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
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