864 articles
Dissociative neurological symptom disorder
Dissociative neurological symptom disorder (ICD-11 6B60) is the WHO classification of functional neurological symptoms such as non-epileptic seizures, paralysis, or sensory loss, with twelve subtypes; the DSM-5 counterpart is functional neurological symptom disorder (conversion disorder).
Disturbance of affect
Disturbance of affect (ICD-11 MB24.6) is a symptom code for a disturbance in the expression or outward manifestation of mood, under MB24 symptoms involving mood or affect, distinct from diagnosable mood disorders.
Disturbance of body image
Disturbance of body image (ICD-11 MB27.3), also called body image disturbance: excessively negative, distorted, or inaccurate perception of one's own body; core feature of eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder.
Disulfiram
Disulfiram (Antabuse) is an aldehyde dehydrogenase inhibitor, FDA-approved since 1951 for alcohol dependence, that causes acetaldehyde buildup and an aversive reaction if alcohol is drunk; effective mainly under supervised dosing.
Donald Ewen Cameron
Donald Ewen Cameron (1901–1967), Scottish-Canadian psychiatrist, founded McGill's psychiatry department and the Allan Memorial Institute, led the CIA-funded MK Ultra Subproject 68 "psychic driving" and "depatterning" experiments in Montreal, and headed the American and World Psychiatric Associations.
Doomscrolling
Doomscrolling (doomsurfing) is compulsive scrolling through negative online news, a term from 2018 Twitter popularized during COVID-19 in 2020; meta-analyses link it to anxiety, depression, and distress, though causality is unestablished.
Dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia
Dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia: theory that dysregulated dopamine, mesolimbic excess and mesocortical deficit, drives psychotic symptoms; rooted in chlorpromazine, van Rossum 1966, and Seeman's 1975 D2 receptor discovery.
Down syndrome
Down syndrome (trisomy 21): genetic condition from an extra chromosome 21 copy; ~1 in 640 US births; forms include free trisomy, Robertsonian translocation, mosaicism; features intellectual disability, heart defects, early Alzheimer's.
Drama therapy
Drama therapy is an active, experiential psychotherapy that uses role-play, storytelling, improvisation, and projective tools to achieve psychological growth and change, improving anxiety, depression, and social skills.
Dramatherapy
Dramatherapy is a psychotherapy method using drama techniques such as role play, improvisation, storytelling, puppets, and masks to help clients explore emotions, with a medium overall effect in controlled studies.
Drapetomania
Drapetomania, from Greek drapetes (runaway slave) plus mania, was a pseudoillness coined in 1851 by physician Samuel A. Cartwright to explain enslaved people fleeing captivity; now rejected as scientific racism.
Drug injection
Drug injection is the administration of psychoactive drugs with a syringe and needle, chiefly intravenously. Also called injection drug use, it affects 10.2–23.7 million people worldwide and carries risks of HIV, hepatitis C, overdose, and tissue damage.
Drug liberalization
Drug liberalization: relaxing or removing prohibition-based drug policies, from decriminalization of personal use to regulated legalization. Key examples: Portugal's Law 30/2000 dissuasion commissions, Oregon Measure 110, Thailand's 2022 cannabis decriminalization and 2025 rollback.
Drug overdose
Drug overdose: toxic or lethal excess dosing of opioids, stimulants, sedatives, or acetaminophen; ~125,000 opioid overdose deaths globally (2019), ~105,000 US deaths (2023); naloxone reverses opioid overdose.
Drug paraphernalia
Drug paraphernalia: equipment primarily intended for making or using controlled substances, defined by 21 U.S.C. §863 and state laws patterned on the DEA's Model Act; covers pipes, syringes, and test strips, with harm-reduction exemptions expanding since 2010.
Drug policy of Nazi Germany
Drug policy of Nazi Germany: narcotics law continuing Weimar-era Opium Act rules, methamphetamine Pervitin (Temmler, 1937) mass-issued to the Wehrmacht, restricted in 1941, plus anti-smoking campaigns and the Blitzed controversy.
Drug policy of Portugal
Portuguese drug policy: Law 30/2000, in force July 1, 2001, decriminalized personal drug possession and use (up to a ten-day supply) as misdemeanors handled by dissuasion commissions, with trafficking still criminal and harm-reduction services nationwide.
Drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation (rehab) is medical and psychosocial treatment for substance use disorder, spanning detoxification, outpatient, and residential care. Standard of care combines medications (methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone) with behavioral therapies; only 11 percent of people with opioid use disorder receive medication.
Drug withdrawal
Drug withdrawal: symptom cluster on stopping or reducing a substance after dependence. Covers mechanisms, timelines for alcohol, opioids, benzodiazepines, stimulants, nicotine; CIWA-Ar, COWS scales; tapering guidance.
Duty to Warn
Duty to warn, also called Tarasoff duty, is clinicians' legal obligation to warn identifiable third parties of serious threats from patients, originating in Tarasoff v. Regents (1976) and varying by state.
DYRK1A-related intellectual disability syndrome
DYRK1A-related intellectual disability syndrome (DYRK1A syndrome, MRD7): rare autosomal dominant neurodevelopmental disorder from DYRK1A loss-of-function at 21q22.13, causing microcephaly, speech impairment, ASD, and dysmorphic features.
Dyscalculia
Dyscalculia, also known as mathematics disorder, is a learning disorder marked by severe difficulty with arithmetic and processing numbers, affecting roughly 3 to 7% of people.
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental learning disability affecting word reading and spelling, first named by Rudolf Berlin in the 1880s; prevalence estimates range from 5 to 17.5 percent, with phonological processing deficits as the leading marker.
Dysphoria
Dysphoria (Greek dysphoria, 'hard to bear') is a mood of generalized discontent, agitation and unease, not a standalone diagnosis. It appears across PMDD, gender dysphoria, mixed bipolar states, and epilepsy, measured with scales such as the UGDS, IDDI, and DRSP.
Dysthymia
Dysthymia, now persistent depressive disorder (PDD), is chronic mild depression lasting two years or more; DSM-5-TR dropped the dysthymia label; US past-year prevalence 1.5%, lifetime 2.5%.
Early Start Denver Model
The Early Start Denver Model is a play-based early intervention for children ages 12 to 48 months with autism, developed by Sally Rogers and Geraldine Dawson.
Eating disorder
Eating disorder: mental disorders involving disturbed eating and body-weight concerns, mainly anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and ARFID; 18 million cases in 2023, treated chiefly with CBT-ED and family-based therapy.
Eating of non-nutritive substances
Eating of non-nutritive substances, ICD-11 code MB29.2, is the behavior called pica in DSM-5-TR: persistent eating of non-food items such as clay, ice, starch, or hair for over one month, excluding children under two and culturally sanctioned practice.
EdiTh trial
EdiTh (Ed.iTh, NCT05098444) is a randomized controlled trial at Philipps University Marburg testing an eight-module therapist-guided internet-based CBT program against a waiting list to improve quality of life in women with endometriosis; distinct from the UK EDITH breast screening AI trial.
Effects of pornography
Effects of pornography: research on links between sexually explicit material use and sexual function, satisfaction, mental health, and behavior; ICD-11 CSBD, no DSM-5 porn addiction, mostly small mixed associations.