864 articles
Electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): seizure-inducing brain stimulation treatment developed by Cerletti and Bini in Rome in 1938, used for severe depression, catatonia, and mania; effective short-term but causes memory loss.
Elevated mood
Elevated mood (ICD-11 MB24.8, 高揚気分) is a symptom of persistently elated or expansive mood, coded under mood/affect signs; pathological when persistent and impairing, it is the entry feature of manic episodes in bipolar I disorder.
Elizabeth Wurtzel
Elizabeth Wurtzel (1967-2020), American author of Prozac Nation (1994), the Gen X depression memoir; also wrote Bitch, More, Now, Again, and Creatocracy; died of breast cancer complications at 52.
Emetophobia
Emetophobia, or specific phobia of vomiting, is an anxiety disorder classified under specific phobias in DSM-5 and ICD-11. It mostly begins in childhood, affects far more women than men, and is treated mainly with exposure-based CBT.
Emotional dumping
Emotional dumping, also called trauma dumping, is the informal, non-clinical term for sharing traumatic or emotionally intense experiences without the listener's consent, timing, or capacity in mind, contrasted with healthy venting and linked in research to co-rumination.
Emotionally focused therapy
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), also called EFCT for couples, is an attachment-based psychotherapy developed by Sue Johnson and Les Greenberg in the 1980s, structured in three stages and nine steps, with meta-analytic support for treating couple distress.
Empathy in autistic people
Empathy in autistic people: research on cognitive and affective empathy in autism, meta-analytic effect sizes, alexithymia confounds, and Milton's double empathy problem (2012).
EPIC trial
EPIC (Early Psychosis: Investigating Cognition), NCT07196423, is a University of Nottingham, Wellcome Trust-funded trial testing glutamate measured with fMRS as a working memory marker in psychosis and a predictor of tDCS response, 106 participants, 2026-2027.
Erotic asphyxiation
Erotic asphyxiation (breath play, asphyxiophilia) restricts oxygen or blood flow to the brain for sexual arousal; autoerotic forms cause an estimated 250-1,000 US deaths yearly, mostly by hanging.
Erotomania
Erotomania, or de Clérambault's syndrome, is a delusional disorder in which the patient believes a higher-status person loves them despite no contact; classified in ICD-11 and DSM-5-TR, linked to stalking, treated with antipsychotics and separation.
Erotomanic delusion
Erotomanic delusion (erotomania, de Clérambault's syndrome, ICD-11 MB26.04): the fixed belief that a higher-status person is in love with one; a delusional disorder subtype marked by paradoxical rationalization, stalking risk, and mood-disorder comorbidity.
EST-S-02 trial
EST-S-02 (NCT04093518) is a phase 3, triple-blind Moldovan trial by Tangent Data testing 200-µg estradiol patches vs placebo as antipsychotic add-on in women over 38 with schizophrenia, based on a post hoc age-38 benefit; status unknown, no results.
Ether addiction
Ether addiction: dependence on diethyl ether when inhaled or drunk for intoxication, grouped with inhalants. Documented in 19th-century Ireland's ether drinking epidemic and in case reports fulfilling DSM-IV dependence criteria without physical withdrawal.
Euphoria (disambiguation)
Euphoria (εὐφορία): intense feeling of well-being; also a psychiatric sign of exaggerated elation in mania, a drug-effect term, and the HBO drama starring Zendaya as Rue Bennett; from Greek euphoros, bearing well.
Excessive startle reflex
Excessive startle reflex (hyperekplexia, startle disease, ICD-11 8A07.2): exaggerated startle reactions to unexpected stimuli, mainly from glycine receptor defects (GLRA1), treated with clonazepam.
Excited delirium
Excited delirium (ExD/ExDS) is a disputed agitation syndrome coined in 1980s Miami by Wetli and Fishbain, long used to explain restraint deaths; unrecognized in DSM-5/ICD and abandoned by major medical bodies since 2023.
Excoriation disorder
Excoriation disorder, also called skin-picking disorder or dermatillomania, is a DSM-5 obsessive-compulsive and related disorder involving recurrent skin picking causing lesions; prevalence about 3.45%, treated with habit reversal therapy, SSRIs, and N-acetyl cysteine.
Exhibitionism
Exhibitionism: a paraphilia of sexual excitement from genital exposure to unsuspecting strangers; exhibitionistic disorder (DSM-5-TR, ICD-11 6D30) requires nonconsenting acts or distress for 6+ months; prevalence up to 8% in men; treated with SSRIs, antiandrogens.
Existential therapy
Existential therapy, also known as existential psychotherapy, is a talk therapy rooted in European existential philosophy and developed after World War II by Viktor Frankl, Rollo May, and Irvin Yalom.
Exposure and response prevention
Exposure and response prevention (ERP) is a cognitive-behavioral therapy in which patients deliberately confront feared stimuli while refraining from compulsions, the first-line psychological treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder, typically over 12 to 20 sessions.
Exposure therapy
Exposure therapy, also called in vivo, imaginal, or interoceptive exposure and including flooding and ERP, is a behavior therapy for anxiety disorders, OCD, and PTSD that uses repeated confrontation with feared stimuli; mechanisms debated between habituation and inhibitory learning models.
Externalizing disorder
An externalizing disorder is a mental disorder involving outward-directed behavior such as aggression, impulsivity, and rule breaking, spanning conditions like ADHD, conduct disorder, and antisocial personality disorder.
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), also called EMD therapy, is an eight-phase psychotherapy developed by Francine Shapiro in 1987 for PTSD, using bilateral eye movements; guideline-recommended but with debated mechanisms and low-certainty evidence.
Factitious disorder
Factitious disorder (Munchausen syndrome; FDIA, ICD-11 6D51): intentional feigning or induction of illness without external reward, distinct from malingering and somatic symptom disorder; about 1% clinical prevalence, 6-9% mortality in proxy cases.
Factitious disorder imposed on another
Factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA), formerly Munchausen syndrome by proxy, is a DSM-5-TR disorder in which a caregiver falsifies or induces illness in a dependent, usually a child, for attention rather than material gain.
Factitious disorder imposed on self
Factitious disorder imposed on self, formerly Munchausen syndrome, is a mental disorder in which a person deliberately fakes or induces illness in themselves to assume the sick role, without external rewards, distinguished from malingering by internal motivation.
False awakening
False awakening: a dream in which the sleeper believes they have woken up, typically during REM sleep. Also called a false awakening loop when repeated; related to lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis.
False pregnancy
False pregnancy (pseudocyesis, phantom pregnancy) is a rare psychosomatic syndrome in which a nonpregnant person believes they are pregnant and shows real pregnancy signs, with negative hCG tests and ultrasound, treated with imaging confirmation plus psychological care.
Family Constellations
Family Constellations (Familienstellen), a group method founded by Bert Hellinger in the late 1980s, uses representatives to portray a client's family system; evidence of effectiveness is contested, with a 2026 review finding no reliable supporting evidence.
Family therapy
Family therapy (systemic therapy) is psychotherapy treating the family unit's relationships and patterns rather than an individual alone. Approaches include structural, Bowen, and multiple family therapy; evidence supports family-based treatment for adolescent eating disorders and family-focused therapy in schizophrenia.