Delirium Tremens (DTs)
An acute and sometimes fatal brain disorder (in 10 to 15 percent of untreated cases) caused by total or partial withdrawal from excessive alcohol intake. Usually developing 24 to 96 hours after a person stops drinking, it is a medical emergency. Symptoms include fever, tremors, failure of muscle coordination and sometimes convulsions, frightening delusions and hallucinations. The disorder is often accompanied by nutritional deficiencies.
Delusion
A false belief persistently held despite indisputable and obvious proof to the contrary. The belief id not one ordinarily accepted by other members of the person’s culture. Examples are delusions of grandeur or of persecution.
Dementia
A disorder in which there is loss or impairment of mental powers due to organic causes (physical disease) and severe enough to interfere with work or social functioning. Memory disturbance is the most prominent symptom. Other symptoms include personality change and impairment of abstract thinking, judgment and control of impulses. Dementia may be progressive, static or reversible, depending on the particular conditions of the disease and its treatment.
Depression
When used to describe a mood, depression refers to what may be normal feelings of sadness, despair and discouragement. Most serious depression may be a symptom of a variety of physical and mental disorders, a syndrome of associated symptoms secondary to an underlying disorder or it may itself be a specific mental disorder. The disorder known as major depression is characterized by slowed thinking, decreased purposeful physical activity, sleep and appetite disturbances, low self-esteem, loss of sex drive and feelings guilt and hopelessness.
Diagnosis
The process of determining the nature of a case, disease or illness by examining the signs and symptoms.
Dopamine
A neurotransmitter (brain chemical). Disturbance in the level of dopamine may be associated with some forms of psychosis such as schizophrenia and with abnormal movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. Research suggests that neurons sensitive to dopamine may play an important role in the positive reinforcing properties of cocaine and the opiate drugs.
Down’s Syndrome
The preferred term used for what was once known as Mongolism, a common form of mental retardation caused by a chromosomal abnormality. In addition to mental deficiency, the disease is characterized by a broad face with widely spaced, slanting eyes, small flat-backed head, lax joints, flabby hands, small ears and congenital abnormalities of the heart.
