A –

Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP): AEDP is talk therapy, developed by American psychologist Diana Fosha, to deal with trauma and loss. It draws on cross-discipline theory and research, including attachment theory, body-focused approaches, interpersonal neurobiology, emotion theory, and affective neuroscience. AEDP helps us process painful experiences by uncovering difficult emotions, identifying/processing defenses, developing new coping skills and restoring trust, and becoming more comfortable with our emotions. 

Acute Stress Disorder (ASD): ASD is an emotionally intense, physically distressful, or disabling reaction typically lasting a month experienced by a small percentage of people following a catastrophic event. Untreated ASD can lead to trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Adaptation: Adaptation in an evolutionary context is how an organism or population improves its ability to survive in its environment, including changes in behavior, physiology, or structure. Adaptations are hereditary and help organisms pass on their genes. For humans, it’s the ability or tendency to adjust to different situations and can reflect being flexible or resilient. Adapting in the context of variable motor timing refers to the body’s ability to adjust timing parameters based on changing conditions in real-time and improve/optimize overall performance.

Adaptive or Learned Behaviors: Adaptive behaviors reflect our social/practical competence to meet the demands of daily life. We learn skills to function from infancy to old age—at home, in school, in the community. Some people, like those with autism, have mental, developmental, and traumatic issues that interrupt natural skill acquisition. In standardized tests, a score below 97.5% indicates maladaptive functioning (some may score high and still meet criteria for intellectual disability). Categories of skills:

• Social: Communicating/interacting, social responsibility, problem-solving, self-esteem
• Independent living: Shopping, budgeting, cleaning, using money
• Personal care: Eating, dressing, grooming, oral hygiene
• Employment/work: Following directions, completing tasks, getting to work on time
• Practical academics: Reading, computation, telling time

Adaptive Brain: The adaptive brain allows us to meet sudden challenges, opportunities, and threats. Interdependent brain regions connect emotion and cognition as networks. The brain’s neuroplasticity allows it to respond and adapt to internal/eternal stimuli, integrate and compare information, maintain homeostasis, and respond to stress and other internal/external needs, especially if there’s pain or damage. The adaptive brain developed over millions of years.

Adaptive Coping Mechanisms, also called Healthy Coping Strategies: Adaptive coping are cognitive/behavioral efforts to manage stressful conditions and emotional distress—and have positive effects on health by building emotional resiliency. Protective, flexible coping styles (problem-solving and information-seeking strategies) decrease adverse effects of stressors as they occur, reduce them from occurring in the first place, and lead to better adaptation than more restricted or rigid ways of coping. Avoidance of painful emotions is often the motivating force in taking maladaptive approaches (substance abuse, binge eating, suicide) to control, avoid, or regulate painful emotions. Two main coping mechanisms:

• Problem-based coping: Modifying the stressor by removing it from our life—relieving anxiety/sadness by ending an unhealthy relationship, not just dealing with the emotions.
• Emotion-based coping: Regulating emotional distress caused by a stressor in a situation we don’t want to or can’t control—coping with loved one’s death in a healthy way.

Adaptive Control Processes: Adaptive control processes are the brain’s way of making flexible, top-down adjustments to cognitive control, involving attention, learning, working memory, and decision-making. Mental tools—“actively maintaining goal-relevant information,” “inhibiting irrelevant information,” and “shifting information”—help match action to dynamic situations. Conflict adaptation is an adaptive process, occurring when our reactions, response times, and neural activity change based on the task’s difficulty. When a task is difficult, we increase control to achieve an accurate response. Also see Conflict Adaptation Theory

Adaptive Narcissism: While a certain level of self-confidence and a belief in one’s abilities can be adaptive, maladaptive narcissism involves these traits to an extreme degree, causing significant harm to relationships and overall functioning. 

Admiration: A strong need for admiration is a common trait to grandiose narcissists, who can show an insatiable need for attention and praise, seeking validation from others to maintain their inflated sense of self-worth. Also see Narcissism

• Admiration Pathways: Also see Rivalry Pathway

B –

C –

D –

E –

F –

G –

H –

I –