864 articles
Vascular dementia
Vascular dementia (VaD), also called multi-infarct or subcortical ischemic vascular dementia, is dementia caused by cerebrovascular disease, mainly strokes and small-vessel disease; it is the second most common dementia after Alzheimer's, 15–20% of cases, with executive dysfunction and retrieval-based memory loss.
Video game addiction
Video game addiction, formally gaming disorder (ICD-11) or internet gaming disorder (DSM-5, condition for further study), is impaired control over gaming with priority over daily activities and harm despite negative consequences; pooled prevalence about 3%, higher in males and adolescents.
Viktor Frankl
Viktor Emil Frankl (1905-1997), Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, founded logotherapy, the Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy, and wrote Man's Search for Meaning, which sold over 10 million copies in 24 languages.
Von Restorff effect
Von Restorff effect, also called the isolation effect: superior memory for an item that stands out from a homogeneous list, first demonstrated by Hedwig von Restorff in 1933 in Psychologische Forschung and explained today by distinctive processing and retrieval cue efficacy accounts.
Voyeuristic disorder
Voyeuristic disorder (ICD-11 6D31; DSM-5-TR 302.82/F65.3 lineage) is a paraphilic disorder: recurrent intense arousal from observing unsuspecting people naked, disrobing, or having sex, acted on or causing distress, diagnosed only in adults after 6 months.
Wake therapy
Wake therapy is a chronobiological depression treatment in which the patient stays awake part or all of the night, usually with bright light and a shifted sleep schedule.
Walter Jackson Freeman II
Walter Jackson Freeman II (1895–1972), American neurologist at George Washington University who with James Watts introduced lobotomy to the US in 1936 and invented the 1946 transorbital ice-pick lobotomy, performing over 2,900 operations in 23 states.
Wandering in dementia
Wandering in dementia (ICD-11 6D86.6) is a behavioral symptom of Alzheimer's and related dementias in which disoriented movement can lead to going missing; affects 15-60% of people, with weak intervention evidence.
War on drugs
War on drugs: global prohibitionist drug policy campaign named after Nixon's June 17, 1971 'public enemy number one' declaration; built on UN drug conventions, criticized for health and rights costs, contrasted with Portugal's 2001 decriminalization model.
Weiss-Kruszka Syndrome
Weiss-Kruszka syndrome (ZNF462 disorder, metopic ridging-ptosis-facial dysmorphism syndrome) is a rare autosomal dominant neurodevelopmental disorder caused by loss-of-function ZNF462 variants, with metopic ridging, ptosis, developmental delay, autistic features, and congenital anomalies.
Witteveen-Kolk syndrome
Witteveen-Kolk syndrome (WITKOS, SIN3A-related intellectual disability syndrome, OMIM 613406) is a rare autosomal dominant neurodevelopmental disorder from SIN3A loss-of-function variants or 15q24 microdeletions, causing mild intellectual disability, distinctive facies, hypotonia, and epilepsy.
Word salad
Word salad (schizophasia): severely disorganized, incomprehensible speech, the extreme end of formal thought disorder, seen mainly in schizophrenia but also in mania, drug intoxication, and organic brain disorders; quantified by speech-connectedness measures.
World Federation for Mental Health
The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1948 that promotes mental health and organizes World Mental Health Day.
World Mental Health Day
World Mental Health Day, held every 10 October since 1992, was established by the World Federation for Mental Health and is marked by WHO campaigns with annual themes; the 2026 theme is lived experience.
World Suicide Prevention Day
World Suicide Prevention Day, observed 10 September since 2003, is organized by IASP and co-sponsored by WHO to raise awareness that suicide is preventable; themes include Creating Hope Through Action and Changing the Narrative on Suicide.
Written exposure therapy
Written exposure therapy (WET) is a brief, five-session psychotherapy for PTSD in which the patient writes about one traumatic event each session, with no homework.
X-linked intellectual disability-cerebellar hypoplasia syndrome
X-linked intellectual disability-cerebellar hypoplasia syndrome, or OPHN1 syndrome (OMIM 300486), is a rare X-linked dominant disorder caused by OPHN1 loss-of-function variants at Xq12, causing intellectual disability, cerebellar hypoplasia, ventriculomegaly, seizures, and strabismus in males, with milder effects in carrier females.
X-linked intellectual disability, Basilicata-Akhtar type
X-linked intellectual disability, Basilicata-Akhtar type, also called Basilicata-Akhtar syndrome or X-linked MSL3-related disorder, is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder caused by variants in the MSL3 gene.
X-linked intellectual disability, Hedera type
X-linked intellectual disability, Hedera type (MRXSH) is a rare X-linked recessive syndrome caused by ATP6AP2 mutations, causing infancy-onset developmental delay, epilepsy, and mild to moderate intellectual disability.
X-linked intellectual disability, Najm type
X-linked intellectual disability, Najm type, better known as MICPCH (microcephaly with pontine and cerebellar hypoplasia), is a rare X-linked dominant disorder caused by CASK gene mutations, mostly affecting females.
Young Mania Rating Scale
The Young Mania Rating Scale is an 11-item clinician-rated scale scoring manic symptom severity in bipolar disorder, introduced in 1978 and the most used mania outcome measure in trials.
Zeigarnik effect
Zeigarnik effect: proposed better memory for interrupted, unfinished than completed tasks, named after Bluma Zeigarnik (1927, Psychologische Forschung). A 2025 meta-analysis found no reliable recall advantage (ratio 0.99, dz 0.15); the related Ovsiankina resumption effect (~67%) is better supported.
Zoraya ter Beek
Zoraya ter Beek, Dutch woman (born 1995) granted euthanasia approval in May 2024 for unbearable psychiatric suffering after a 3.5-year procedure under the 2002 Dutch euthanasia law, after ten years of failed treatment including 33 ECT sessions.
Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale
The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) is a 20-item self-report questionnaire that screens for and grades depression severity, producing a raw score from 20 to 80 and an index from 25 to 100.