psych-, psycho-, -psyche, -psychic, -psychical, -psychically

1. A natural childbirth technique in which psychological preparation is used to condition the patient and diminish perception of pain.
2. Psychotherapy directed toward the prevention of emotional disorders and the maintenance of mental health.

The belief that fire is the substance of the soul; psychopyrist, someone who holds this belief.

A method of treating anxiety and tension by practicing general bodily relaxation, as in systematic desensitization.

An involuntary repetition of formerly voluntary activities.

Death agony.

1. Rarely used term for a psychiatric syndrome characterized by incoherent and strange philosophical theories; a manifestation of schizophrenia.
2. A form of hebephrenic schizophrenia characterized by vague and often bizarre theories of philosophy; usually, the stream of thought is incoherent.

A malignant type of anxiety reaction seen in two to three percent of war neuroses.

Anguish and perplexity, rather than fear or excitement, are the primary features. Pulse remains above 120, respiration about 40.

Body temperature rises rapidly after seven days, the tongue becomes ulcerated, and jaundice and tympanitic abdomen may appear. Patients become restless, develop automatic movements and facial spasms.

Having a spiritual body.

A method of inspecting the mind or soul.

Concerning an hallucination or mental perception that takes place in the absence of a real, external stimulus, or which is a gross distortion of perceptual input: Those with psychosensorial conditions frequently report that they hear voices of nonexistent or absent people talking to them.

1. Pertaining to the conscious perception of impulses that are felt or experienced: When she was relaxed, Sarina's psychosensory awareness of the stroke of the feather on her arm was pleasant.
2. Relating to an hallucination which, by effort of the mind, is able to understand and to interpret physical stimuli: Walking through a cemetery at midnight challenged the gangs' psychosensory abilities, because one of the members was convinced that he saw a ghost.
3. A reference to an experience, such as one which is imagined but does not originate in actual physical situations: Peter was convinced that he smelled onions cooking and it was hard to convince him that it was just a psychosensory experience because no one was cooking any onions!

1. A mental and behavioral disorder causing gross distortion or the disorganization of a person's mental capacity, affective response, and capacity to recognize reality, communicate, and relate to others to the degree of interfering with the person's capacity to cope with the ordinary demands of everyday life.

• Those associated with organic brain syndromes; such as, Korsakoff's syndrome.
• Those less strictly organic and having some functional component(s); for example, the schizophrenias, and bipolar disorders.

2. Generic term for any of the so-called insanities, the most common forms being the schizophrenias: "Melvin's doctor determined that he had a psychosis that consisted of a mental disorder in which he has a loss of contact with reality as well as personality disintegrations or the disorganizations of his psychic and behavioral mental processes."
3. A severe emotional and behavioral disorder: "The doctor told Derek's wife that her husband had a psychosis that includes a loss of reality contact, unlike a neurotic disorder in which reality contact is retained."

1. Of or pertaining to the interaction between social and psychological factors.
2. Denoting the interrelationship between a person and his or her environment, in particular the psychological and interpersonal aspects of the individual's relationship to the group.