Definition

1. 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

1. mental or emotional rather than physiological in origin
   • a psychogenic disorder
2. of or relating to the psychological cause of a disorder