Psychiatry

Glossary of Mental Health Terms

Glossary of Terms – R

To view this glossary simply click on the corresponding letter below.

Please note – this is not an exhaustive list, but includes some fo the terminology commonly used in the assessment and treatment of mental illness. The terms in this glossary were derived from the medical glossary of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and are used with the Centre's permission

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Rapid cycling – refers to a person with bipolar disorder who experiences four or more mood swings or episodes in a twelve month period.. Only 20 per cent of bipolar patients experience rapid cycling.

Reality testing – ability to distinguish reality from unreality. Poor reality testing is the inability to determine where fantasy ends and reality begins.

Recovery/recovery phase – the period when a person is getting over an episode of illness. The patient often feels fragile, dependent and at risk of other episodes.

Recurrence – Appearance of another episode of a disease (such as depressive and anxiety disorders) after a previous episode has shown a response to treatment.

Relapse – Return of symptoms of a disease (including depressive and anxiety disorders) after the patient has appeared to respond to treatment, but before symptoms have been completely resolved.

Relapse prevention – managing the mood disorder by medication and/or psychotherapy or other supportive strategies to help the person remain well.

Residual phase of schizophrenia – the long period of time following the active phase of illness in which symptoms are much less severe or almost disappear.

"Restless Legs" Syndrome (Periodic Limb Movements in Sleep) - A condition in which your legs feel extremely uncomfortable while you're sitting or lying down. It usually makes you feel like getting up and moving around. When you do so, the unpleasant feeling of restless legs syndrome goes away

Reversible inhibitors of monoamine oxidase (RIMAs) – Indicated for the treatment of depression and related mood disorders, RIMAs are a new generation of MAOIs developed specifically to be safer than their older counterparts. Like MAOIs, RIMAs inhibit the enzyme, monoamine oxidase, and by preserving the activity of brain chemicals involved in depression, make these chemicals more available for normal brain function. RIMAs do not, however, have many of the dietary restrictions that made the MAOIs dangerous and difficult for patients to take.

Risk assessment – Ways of assessing the likelihood of future problem behavior, usually violence.

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