Glossary P

Paraplegia refers to paralysis of the legs and lower part of the body, affecting both sensation and motor response.

Parapraxes is defined as relatively minor errors in everyday living, as in losing and forgetting things, slips of the tongue, mistakes in writing, and small accidents. Freud believed that such errors are usually unconsciously motivated. Please see Parapraxis

Parapraxis means a slip of the tongue or pen that reveals the unconscious mind. Parapraxis is a fancy word for the Freudian slip which is derived from Greek words "para" which means beside, beyond and "praxis" which means act.

Paraprofessional refers to an individual who works in a near-professional capacity under the supervision of a more highly trained person. Paraprofessionals, examples are crisis hotline workers moreover are persons with no formal clinical training, but who have been trained to assist professional mental health workers. The use of Paraprofessionals has been growing in community psychology and in the mental health field as a whole, and the results of meta-analyses suggest that Paraprofessionals may be as effective or in some cases even more effective than professionals. They are individuals without advanced education in psychology who have been trained to assist professional mental health workers.

Parapsychology is defined as the study of extranormal psychological events, such as extrasensory perception. Parapsychology is a term coined by J.B. Rhine to refer to the experimental and quantitative study of paranormal phenomena. Now generally used instead of "psychical research" to refer to all scientific investigation of the paranormal

parasomnia refers to abnormal behavior such as a nightmare or sleep-walking that occurs during sleep.

parasomnias is a category of sleep disorders in which behavioral or physiological events intrude on on-going sleep. Persons suffering from parasomnias usually complain of unusual behaviors during sleep such as sleepwalking and nightmares .

Parasuicide refers to a Suicidal gesture to get attention from loved ones, family, or professionals.