Mania*
A mood disorder characterized by excessive elation or irritability, hyperactivity, hypersexuality, poor concentration and accelerated thinking and speaking, and resulting in impairment. Mania is seen in major disorders involving disturbance of mood and in organic mental disorders. Often, the term is used inaccurately to indicate a passionate attachment to something (i.e., “She has a mania for chocolate.”) and a slight state of excitement.
Maniac*
An outmoded term for a person afflicted with mental illness. In the past, it usually referred to a highly excited person or a person with an inordinate, uncontrollable passion for or obsession with some thing or someone.
Manic-Depressive Disorder
See
bipolar disorder.
MAOIs (Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors)
A class of antidepressant medications usually prescribed for people who have not responded to tricyclics, or who have certain forms of depression with symptoms including an increase in weight, appetite or sleep.
MAOIs may also be used for cases of mixed anxiety and depression, depression accompanied by pain, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar depression. People taking
MAOIs must adhere to a special diet because of the interaction of the medications with certain foods.
Masochism
A paraphilia in which pleasure is derived from physical or psychological pain inflicted on oneself or by others. When it is consciously sought as a part of the sexual act or as a prerequisite of sexual gratification, it is classified as a paraphilia.
Megalomania
An abnormal preoccupation with delusions of grandeur, wealth and power.
Meloncholia*
An outmoded term used formerly to describe the “extreme depression of spirits” that psychiatrists now see as part of depression and manic-depressive (bipolar) illness.
Mental illnesses
A broad range of disorders with psychological or behavioral symptoms and/or impairment in functioning due to a social, psychological, generic, physical/chemical or biological disturbance.
Multiple Personality
A rare type of dissociative state in which a person adopts two or more personalities. Dissociative disorders involve a sudden, temporary change in normally integrated functions of consciousness, identity or motor behavior, so that some part of one or more of these functions is lost.
