psychogenic
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Originating in the mind or emotions: Describes a condition, symptom, or disorder whose primary cause is believed to be psychological or emotional, rather than physical or organic.
- Relating to psychological causation: Pertaining to the role of mental processes, such as stress, trauma, or conflict, in the development of a physical or mental state.
Usage Examples
- Adjective:
- The patient's paralysis was determined to be psychogenic, stemming from severe emotional trauma rather than nerve damage.
- Some forms of chronic pain can be psychogenic, where psychological factors are the main contributors.
- The doctor explained the difference between a neurological seizure and a psychogenic non-epileptic seizure.
Advanced Usage
- Psychogenic amnesia: A loss of memory typically caused by severe psychological stress or trauma, not by physical injury to the brain.
- After the accident, she experienced psychogenic amnesia and could not recall the event.
- Psychogenic pain: Pain that is primarily caused, increased, or prolonged by mental, emotional, or behavioral factors.
- His back pain was diagnosed as psychogenic pain, linked to chronic work-related stress.
Variants and Related Words
- Psychogenesis (n): The origin and development of a condition, process, or phenomenon from psychological causes.
- The study focused on the psychogenesis of certain anxiety disorders.
- Psychosomatic (adj): While often used similarly, "psychosomatic" more specifically refers to physical diseases or symptoms that are caused or aggravated by mental factors. A psychosomatic disorder has real physical symptoms, whereas a psychogenic disorder originates from the mind.
- A psychosomatic illness like stress-induced eczema involves real physical manifestations.
Synonyms
- Functional: Often used in medicine to describe a disorder where the body part appears normal but doesn't work correctly, frequently implying a psychological origin.
- Non-organic: Denoting a condition not caused by a detectable physical disease or structural change.
Antonyms
- Organic: Caused by a detectable physical or physiological disease, injury, or change in the body.
- Physiogenic: Originating from physical or physiological causes. (Note: This is a less common but direct antonym.)
- Neurogenic: Originating in the nervous system or from nerve stimulation.
Adjective
- mental or emotional rather than physiological in origin
- a psychogenic disorder
- of or relating to the psychological cause of a disorder