A-B-A design - Experimental design in which participants first experience the baseline condition (A), then experience the experimental treatment (B), and then return to the baseline (A).

Abatement of Action - A suit which has been quashed and ended.

Abnormal Psychology - The area of psychological investigation concerned with understanding the nature of individual pathologies of mind, mood, and behavior.

Abreaction - An emotional release or discharge after recalling a painful experience that has been repressed because it was not consciously tolerable. Often the release is surprising to the individual experiencing it because of it's intensity and the circumstances surrounding its onset. A therapeutic effect sometimes occurs through partial or repeated discharge of the painful affect.

Absolute Threshold - The minimum amount of physical energy needed to produce a reliable sensory experience; operationally defined as the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected half the time.

Absorption - The process the body uses to move elements from the outside world into the blood and other tissues.

Abstinence - The conscious choice not to use drugs. The term "abstinence" usually refers to the decision to end the use of a drug as part of the process of recovery from addiction.

Abstract Attitude - (categorical attitude) This is a type of thinking that includes voluntarily shifting one's mind set from a specific aspect of a situation to the general aspect; It involves keeping in mind different simultaneous aspects of a situation while grasping the essentials of the situation. It can involve breaking a situation down into its parts and isolating them voluntarily; planning ahead ideationally; and/or thinking or performing symbolically. A characteristic of many psychiatric disorders is the person's inability to assume the abstract attitude or to shift readily from the concrete to the abstract and back again as demanded by circumstances.

Abstract of Record - A short, abbreviated form of the case as found in the record.

Abstract of Title - A chronological summary of all official records and recorded documents affecting the title to a parcel of real property.

Abulia - A lack of will or motivation which is often expressed as inability to make decisions or set goals. Often, the reduction in impulse to action and thought is coupled with an indifference or lack of concern about the consequences of action.

Abuse - The USFDA defines abuse as "deliberately taking a substance for other than its intended purpose, and in a manner that can result in damage to the person's health or his ability to function." - Abuse Potential - A measure of how likely a drug is to be "abused".

Abused Child - a child to whom any of the following applies: is the victim of sexual activity; is endangered; exhibits evidence of any physical or mental injury or death, inflicted other than by accidental means, or an injury or death that is at variance with the history given of it; suffers physical or mental injury, due to acts of the child's parents, guardian, or custodian, that harms or threatens to harm the child's health or welfare; or is subjected to out-of-home care child abuse.

Acalculia - The loss of a previously possessed ability to engage in arithmetic calculation.

Acceptance - The taking and receiving of anything in good faith with the intention of retaining it.

Accessory - A person who assists in the commission of a crime, either before or after the fact.

Accommodation - According to Piaget, the process of restructuring or modifying cognitive structures so that new information can fit into them more easily; this process works in tandem with assimilation. Also, the process by which the ciliary muscles change the thickness of the lens of the eye to permit variable focusing on near and distant objects.

Accomplice - 1. A partner in a crime. 2. A person who knowingly and voluntarily participates with another in a criminal activity.

Accord - A satisfaction agreed upon between the parties in a lawsuit which bars subsequent actions on the claim.

Accord and Satisfaction - A method of discharging a claim upon agreement by the parties to give and accept something in settlement of the claim.

Accretion - The increase or accumulation of land by natural causes, as out of a lake or river.

Acculturation Difficulty - A problem stemming from an inability to appropriately adapt to a different culture or environment. The problem is not based on any coexisting mental disorder.

Accused - The name for the defendant in a criminal case.

Acetaldehyde - The metabolite that results when alcohol dehydrogenase breaks down alcohol in the body.

Acetylcholine - A neurotransmitter in the brain, which helps to regulate memory, and in the peripheral nervous system, where it affects the actions of skeletal and smooth muscle.

Acknowledgment - A formal declaration before an authorized official by the person who executed an instrument that it is his free act and deed; the certificate of the official on such instrument attesting that it was so acknowledged.

Acquirer - A middle man between a dealer (usually) a chipper or another on the outer edge of the heroin scene.

Acquisition - The stage in a classical conditioning experiment during which the conditioned response is first elicited by the conditioned stimulus.

Acquittal - A release, absolution, or discharge of an obligation or liability. In criminal law the finding of not guilty.

Acting Out - This is the process of expressing unconscious emotional conflicts or feelings via actions rather than words. The person is not consciously aware of the meaning or etiology of such acts. Acting out may be harmful or, in controlled situations, therapeutic (e.g., children's play therapy).

Action Case - Cause, suit, or controversy disputed or contested before a court of justice.

Action in Personam - An action against the person, founded on a personal liability. In contrast to action in rem, an action for the recovery of a specific object, usually an item of personal property such as an automobile.

Action in Rem - Proceeding "against the thing" as compared to personal actions (in personam). Usually a proceeding where property is involved.

Action Potential - The electrical part of a neuron's two-part, electrical-chemical message. An action potential consists of a brief pulse of electrical current that travels along the axon to relay messages over long distances.

Active Judge - A judge in the full-time service of the court. Compare to senior judge.

Actualization - The realization of one's full potential - intellectual, psychological, physical, etc.

Acute Effects - The short-term effects of a drug. Acute effects are those that people feel shortly after they ingest a drug and are under its influence (e.g., while they are intoxicated).

Acute Stress - A transient state of arousal with typically clear onset and offset patterns.

ADAMH Board - (Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services) The agency that, for the one or more counties it serves, makes plans to meet the need for services regarding alcoholism, drug addiction, and mental health and contracts with treatment programs and mental health agencies by using local and state funds; in a larger county, there may be two boards: an alcohol and drug addiction services board, and a community mental health board.

Adaptive Behaviors - Useful behaviors we acquire as we respond to the world around us. Adaptive behaviors help us get the things we want and need for life.

Adatuss - Hydrocodone antitussive.

ADC and AFDC - (Aid to Dependent Children and Aid to Families with Dependent Children) The welfare program for low-income families with children that was replaced by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families; ADC was the program's name in Ohio and AFDC its federal name

Addiction - An organism's psychological or physical dependence on a drug, characterised by tolerance and withdrawal.

Addictive Drugs - Drugs that change the brain, change behavior, and lead to the loss of control of drug-taking behavior.

Additur - An increase by a judge in the amount of damages awarded by a jury.

Adenosine - A neurotransmitter that binds to the adenosine receptor. Caffeine is an adenosine antagonist and prevents adenosine from binding with its receptor.

Adequate Parental Care - The provision by a child's parent or parents, guardian, or custodian of adequate food, clothing, and shelter to ensure the child's health and physical safety and the provision by a child's parent or parents of specialized services that are warranted by the child's physical or mental needs.

Adiadochokinesia - The inability to perform rapid alternating movements of one or more of the extremities. This task is sometimes requested by physicians of patients during physical examinations to determine if there exists neurological problems.

Adjective Law - Also, procedural law. That body of law which governs the process of protecting the rights under substantive law.

Adjournment - A temporary postponement to a case

Adjudication - Giving or pronouncing a judgment or decree. Also the judgment given.

Adjustment Disorder - A pathological psychological reaction to trauma, loss or severe stress. Usually these last less than six months, but may be prolonged if the stressor e.g. pain or scarring is enduring.

Administration - The means by which a drug is taken.

Administrative Agencies - Agencies created by the legislative branch of government to administer laws pertaining to specific areas such as taxes, transportation, and labor.

Administrative Hearing - Hearing conducted by the Child Support Enforcement Agency's Administrative Hearing Unit to establish paternity, set a support order, or modify an existing order.

Administrative Office of the United States Courts - The federal agency responsible for collecting court statistics, administering the federal courts' budget, and performing many other administrative and programmatic functions, under the direction and supervision of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

Administrative Offset - a method to collect past due child support amounts involving cooperation between the Department of Job and Family Services and the U.S. Treasury Secretary.

Administrative Process - Steps taken by the Child Support Enforcement Agency, to establish and enforce child support obligations as an alternative to court actions.

Administrative Review - a meeting that a public children services agency or private child placing agency must conduct every six months for each child who is subject to a case plan in order to review the child's placement and progress with the case plan.

Administrative Subpoenas - Issued by a state or county agency, by statute, commanding an individual to appear at a certain time and place to give testimony regarding a certain matter; or, to provide information.

Administrator - The person appointed to oversee an estate in the event that no will is written

Admiralty Law - Also, maritime law. That body of law relating to ships, shipping, marine commerce and navigation, transportation of persons or property by sea, etc.

Admissible - A term used to describe evidence that may be considered by a jury or judge in civil and criminal cases.

Admissible Evidence - Evidence that can be legally and properly introduced in a civil or criminal trial.

Admission - A statement tending to establish the guilt or liability of the person making the statement.

Admonish - To advise or caution. For example the court may caution or admonish counsel for wrong practices.

Adoption Assessor - A person who is retained by a probate court or an agency to do the following: (1) record social and medical histories of parents who place a child up for adoption, (2) give to and discuss with the biological parents information about adoption and the release of identifying information, and (3) conduct home studies and assessments of persons seeking to adopt and minors to be adopted.

Adrenal Gland - A small gland in the body that releases a variety of hormones that help us deal with stress. Two of these hormones, epinephrine and norepinephrine, are also part of the flight-or-fight response. Cocaine sharply increases the levels of these hormones in the body.

Adrenergic - This refers to neuronal or neurologic activity caused by neurotransmitters such as epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine.

Adulteration - The process of diluting a drug.

Adult-Supervised Living Arrangement - The arrangement in which a person who is a pregnant minor, minor parent, or child of a minor parent must reside as a condition of eligibility for Ohio Works First if the person does not reside in the home of a parent, legal guardian, or specified relative.

Advance Notice of Default - Notification to an obligor that he/she is in default, and subject to one or more enforcement remedies to satisfy the support obligation.

AdvanceSheets - Paperback pamphlets published by law book publishers weekly or monthly which contain reporter cases, including correct volume number and page number. When there are sufficient cases, they are replaced by a bound volume.

Advanced Generalist Practice - A more inclusive paradigm of social work practice, building upon the generalist approach, in which the practitioner uses a multi-system and multi-level approach, and exercises increased specification and integration of theory, research, and methods to assessment and intervention in practice situations.

Adversary Proceeding - One having opposing parties such as a plaintiff and a defendant. Individual lawsuit(s) brought within a bankruptcy proceeding.

Adversary System - The system of trial practice in the United States and some other countries in which each of the opposing, or adversary, parties has the opportunity to present and establish opposing contentions before the court.

Adverse Possession - Method of acquiring real property under certain conditions by possession for a statutory period.

Advocacy - The act of intervening on behalf of an individual, group, or community to represent, defend, and support access to resources and/or services, and to address structural obstacles or barriers that restrict civil rights and principles of social justice; a distinction is often made between case advocacy (advocacy for individual rights), and class advocacy (advocacy for rights of a group or specific segment of the population).

Affect - A person's affect is their immediate emotional state which the person can recognise subjectively and which can also be recognised objectively by others. A person's mood is their predominant current affect.

Affective Disorders - Refers to disorders of mood. Examples would include Major Depressive Disorder, Dysthymia, Depressive Disorder, N.O.S., Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood, Bipolar Disorder...

Affiant - The person who makes and subscribes an affidavit.

Affidavit - A sworn written statement or printed statement made under oath.

Affirmation - A solemn and formal declaration that an affidavit is true. This is substituted for an oath in certain cases.

Affirmative Defense - A defense raised in a responsive pleading (answer) relating a new matter as a defense to the complaint; affirmative defenses might include contributory negligence or estoppel in civil actions; in criminal cases insanity, duress, or self-defense might be used.

Affirmed - In the practice of appellate courts, the word means that the decision of the trial court is correct.

Age of Majority - Attained upon one's eighteenth birthday. However, a child support order will remain in effect beyond attainment of eighteen as long as the child continuously attends an accredited high school on a full-time basis. No current obligation will remain in effect after the child attains the age of nineteen, unless a court orders otherwise.

Age-Associated Memory Impairment - (AAMI) The mild disturbance in memory function that occurs normally with aging; benign senescent forgetfulness. Such lapses in memory are lately humorously referred to as representing "a senior moment".

Ageism - Prejudice against older people, similar to racism and sexism in its negative stereotypes.

Agent - One who has authority to act for another.

Aggravated Assault - An attempt to cause serious bodily injury to another or purposely, knowingly or recklessly causing such injury, or an attempt to cause or purposely or knowingly cause bodily injury to another with a deadly weapon.

Aggravated Battery - The unlawful use of force against another with unusual or serious consequences such as the use of a dangerous weapon.

Aggression - Behaviors that cause psychological or physical harm to another individual.

Agitation - (psychomotor agitation) Excessive motor activity that accompanies and is associated with a feeling of inner tension. The activity is usually nonproductive and repetitious and consists of such behavior as pacing, fidgeting, wringing of the hands, pulling of clothes, and inability to sit still.

Agnosia - Failure to recognize or identify objects despite intact sensory function; This may be seen in dementia of various types. An example would be the failure of someone to recognize a paper clip placed in their hand while keeping their eyes closed.

Agonist - A chemical that binds to a specific receptor and produces a response, such as excitation or inhibition of action potentials. Opiates, cannabis, nicotine, and some hallucinogens such as LSD are agonists.

Agonist Medication - A chemical entity that is not naturally occuring within the body which acts upon a receptor and is capable of producing the maximal effect that can be produced by stimulating that receptor. A partial agonist is capable only of producing less than the maximal effect even when given in a concentration sufficient to bind with all available receptors.

Agonist/Antagonist Medication - A chemical entity that is not naturally occuring within the body which acts on a family of receptors (such as mu, delta, and kappa opiate receptors) in such a fashion that it is an agonist or partial agonist on one type of receptor while at the same time it is also an antagonist on another different receptor.

Agonist-Antagonist - Any opioid that produces that has both agonist and antagonist activity at opioid receptor sites. The drug may be primarily one or the other. For example, butorphanol is more an agonist than an antagonist.

Agoraphobia - An extreme fear of being in public places or open spaces from which escape may be difficult or embarrassing.

Agraphia - The loss of a pre-existing ability to express one's self through the act of writing.

Agreement -Mutual consent.

Aid and Abet - To actively, knowingly, or intentionally assist another person in the commission or attempted commission of a crime.

AIDS - Acronym for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a syndrome caused by a virus that damages the immune system and weakens the body's ability to fight infection.

Akathisia - An inner feeling of excessive restlessness which provokes the sufferer to fidget in their seat or pace about.

Akinesia -A state of motor inhibition or reduced voluntary movement.

Akinetic Mutism - A state of apparent alertness with following eye movements but no speech or voluntary motor responses.

Alcohol - A chemically simple, but psychoactively complex drug, commonly used in many beverages. Alcohol is a depressant drug with significant liability for abuse and addiction.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase - The enzyme found mainly in the liver and stomach that breaks down (metabolizes) alcohol.

Alcoholics Anonymous - One of the earliest forms of addiction treatment in the United States, AA developed the 12-step approach to assisting recovery from alcohol addiction (alcoholism). Several other Anonymous groups have adapted the 12-step approach to help people recover from addiction to other drugs (e.g. Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, Pot Smokers Anonymous).

Alexia - Loss of a previously intact ability to grasp the meaning of written or printed words and sentences.

Alexithymia - A disturbance in affective and cognitive function that can be present in an assortment of diagnostic entities. Is common in psychosomatic disorders, addictive disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder. The chief manifestations are difficulty in describing or recognizing one's own emotions, a limited fantasy life, and general constriction in affective life.

Algophobia - Fear of pain.

Algorithm - A step-by-step procedure that always provides the right answer for a particular type of problem.

Alibi - A defense claim that the accused was somewhere else at the time a crime was committed.

Alien - A foreign-born person who has not qualified as a citizen of the country.

Alienation - The estrangement felt in a setting one views as foreign, unpredictable, or unacceptable. For example, in depersonalization phenomena, feelings of unreality or strangeness produce a sense of alienation from one's self or environment.

Alimony - also known as “maintenance” and “spousal support”, alimony is the money paid by one spouse to another following a divorce

Alkaloid - A molecule that contains nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. All opioids are alkaloids.

Allegation - A statement of the issues in a written document (a pleading) which a person is prepared to prove in court.

Alleged Father - A person who has been named as the father of a child born out of wedlock, but for who paternity has not been established.

Allocation of Parental Rights and Responsibilities - the rights and obligations of parents with respect to their children as determined by a court pursuant to a divorce, dissolution, legal separation, annulment, or child custody proceeding.

Alloplastic - Referring to adaptation by means of altering the external environment. This can be contrasted to autoplastic, which refers to the alteration of one's own behavior and responses.

All-or-None Law - The rule that the size of the action potential is unaffected by increases in the intensity of stimulation beyond the threshold level.

Alogia  - An impoverishment in thinking that is inferred from observing speech and language behavior. There may be brief and concrete replies to questions and restriction in the amount of spontaneous speech (poverty of speech). Sometimes the speech is adequate in amount but conveys little information because it is overconcrete, overabstract, repetitive, or stereotyped (poverty of content).

Alphaprodine - A short-acting morphine like synthetic analgesic.

Alteration - Changing or making different.

Alternate Juror - A juror selected in the same manner as a regular juror who hears all the evidence but does not help decide the case unless called on to replace a regular juror.

Alternative Dispute Resolution - Settling a dispute without a full, formal trial. Methods include mediation, conciliation, arbitration, and settlement, among others.

Altruism - Prosocial behaviors a person carries out without considering his or her own safety or interests.

Alveoli - Tiny, balloon-like air sacks in the lungs. Alveoli are designed to allow oxygen to pass rapidly into the blood and are also efficient at absorbing inhaled drugs.

Alzheimer's Disease - A degenerative disease in which neurons of the brain die, leading to loss of the ability to think, learn, and remember (dementia).

Amacrine Cells - Cells that integrate information across the retina; rather than sending signals toward the brain, amacrine cells link bipolar cells to other bipolar cells and ganglion cells to other ganglion cells.

Ambiguity - A perceptual object that may have more than "one interpretation.

Ambivalence  - The coexistence of contradictory emotions, attitudes, ideas, or desires with respect to a particular person, object, or situation. Ordinarily, the ambivalence is not fully conscious and suggests psychopathology only when present in an extreme form.

Amentia  - Subnormal development of the mind, with particular reference to intellectual capacities; a type of severe mental retardation.

American Bar Association - A national association of lawyers whose primary purpose is improvement of lawyers and the administration of justice.

American Law Reports - A publication which reports cases from all United States jurisdictions by subject matter.

Amicus Curiae - Latin for "friend of the court." It is advice formally offered to the court in a brief filed by an entity interested in, but not a party to, the case.

Amimia  - A disorder of language characterized by an inability to make gestures or to understand the significance of gestures.

Amines  - Organic compounds containing the amino group. Amines such as epinephrine and norepinephrine are significant because they function as neurotransmitters.

Amino Acids - Small chemical compounds that are the building blocks of proteins.

Amnesia - A failure of memory caused by physical injury, disease, drug use, or psychological trauma.

Amok - A culture specific syndrome from Malay involving acute indiscriminate homicidal mania .

Amphetamines - Stimulant drugs whose effects are very similar to cocaine.

Amygdala - The part of the limbic system that controls emotion, aggression, and the formation of emotional memory.

Amyloid - Any one of various complex proteins that are deposited in tissues in different disease processes. These proteins have an affinity for Congo red dye. In neuropsychiatry, of particular interest are the beta-amyloid (A4) protein, which is the major component of the characteristic senile plaques of Alzheimer's disease, and the amyloid precursor protein (APP).

Anaclitic -  In psychoanalytic terminology, dependence of the infant on the mother or mother substitute for a sense of well-being. This is considered normal behavior in childhood, but pathologic in later years.

Anal Stage - The period of pregenital psychosexual development, usually from 1 to 3 years, in which the child has particular interest and concern with the process of defecation and the sensations connected with the anus. The pleasurable part of the experience is termed anal eroticism. 

Analgesic - A drug which relieves pain without rendering the patient unconscious.

Analogs - Drugs whose chemical structures have been slightly modified from a parent compound. There are many analogs to morphine or LSD. See Designer drug.

Analytic Psychology - A branch of psychology that views the person as a constellation of compensatory internal forces in a dynamic balance.

Anamnesis  - The developmental history of a patient and of his or her illness, especially recollections.

Anandamide - The endogenous neurotransmitter that binds to the cannabinoid receptor.

Anankastic Personality  - Synonym for obsessive-compulsive personality.

Anchoring Heuristic - An insufficient adjustment up or down from an original starting value when judging the probable value of some event or outcome.

Ancillary - A proceeding which is auxiliary or subordinate to another proceeding. In probate, a proceeding in a state where a decedent owned property but was not domiciled.

Androgyny - A combination of male and female characteristics in one person.

Anesthesia - The loss of sensation, primarily to pain, often accompanied by the loss of consciousness.

Anesthetic Gases - Gaseous drugs that produce loss of sensation and consciousness.

Anexsia-D - An analgesic soup in pill form consisting of aspirin, caffeine, phenacetin, and Hydrocodone.

Anhedonia  - Inability to experience pleasure from activities that usually produce pleasurable feelings. Contrast with hedonism.

Anileridine - A synthetic opioid similar to Demerol.

Anima  - In Jungian psychology, a person's inner being as opposed to the character or persona presented to the world. Further, the anima may be the more feminine "soul" or inner self of a man, and the animus the more masculine soul of a woman.

Animal Cognition - The cognitive capabilities of nonhuman animals; researchers trace the development of cognitive capabilities across species and the continuity of capabilities from nonhuman to human animals.

Annotations - Remarks, notes, case summaries, or commentaries following statutes which describe interpretations of the statute.

Annul - to void

Annulment - is a legal decree stating that a marriage was not valid – not to be confused with “divorce”

Anomic or Amnestic Aphasia - Loss of the ability to name objects.

Anomie  - Apathy, alienation, and personal distress resulting from the loss of goals previously valued. Emile Durkheim popularized this term when he listed it as a principal reason for suicide.

Anorexia Nervosa - An eating disorder in which an individual weighs less than 85 percent of her or his expected weight but still controls eating because of a self-perception of obesity.

Anosognosia  - The apparent unawareness of or failure to recognize one's own functional defect (e.g., hemiplegia, hemianopsia).

Answer - A formal, written statement by the defendant in a lawsuit which answers each allegation contained in the complaint.

Answers to Interrogatories - A formal written statement by a party to a lawsuit which answers each question or interrogatory propounded by the other party. These answers must be acknowledged before a notary public or other person authorized to take acknowledgments.

Antagonist - A chemical that binds to a receptor and blocks it, producing no response, and preventing agonists from binding, or attaching, to the receptor. Antagonists include caffeine and naloxone.

Antagonist Medication - A chemical entity that is not naturally occuring within the body which occupies a receptor, produces no physiologic effects, and prevents endogenous and exogenous chemicals from producing an effect on that receptor.

Anticipatory Coping - Efforts made in advance of a potentially stressful event to overcome, reduce, or tolerate the imbalance between perceived demands and available resources.

Antitrust Acts - Federal and state statutes to protect trade and commerce from unlawful restraints, price discriminations, price fixing, and monopolies.

Antitussive - A drug that relieves coughing.

Anxiety - An intense emotional response caused by the preconscious recognition that a repressed conflict is about to emerge into consciousness.

Anxiety - Anxiety is provoked by fear or apprehension and also results from a tension caused by conflicting ideas or motivations. Anxiety manifests through mental and somatic symptoms such as palpitations, dizziness, hyperventilation, and faintness.

Anxiety Disorders - Mental disorders marked by physiological arousal, feelings of tension, and intense apprehension without apparent reason.

Anxiety  - The apprehensive anticipation of future danger or misfortune accompanied by a feeling of dysphoria or somatic symptoms of tension. The focus of anticipated danger may be internal or external.

Apathy  - Lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern.

Aphasia  - An impairment in the understanding or transmission of ideas by language in any of its forms--reading, writing, or speaking--that is due to injury or disease of the brain centers involved in language.

Aphonia  - An inability to produce speech sounds that require the use of the larynx that is not due to a lesion in the central nervous system.

Apomorphine - A non-euphoric morphine derivative used to induce vomiting.

Apparent Motion - A movement illusion in which one or more stationary lights going on and off in succession are perceived as a single moving light; the simplest form of apparent motion is the phi phenomenon.

Appeal - a request to a higher court to overturn the judgment of a lower one

Appeal Bond - A guaranty by the appealing party insuring that court costs will be paid.

Appearance - The act of coming into court as a party to a suit either in person or through an attorney.

Appellant - The party appealing a decision or judgment.

Appellate - About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgment of a lower court (trial court) or tribunal. For example, the U.S. circuit courts of appeals review the decisions of the U.S. district courts.

Appellate Court - A court having jurisdiction to hear appeals and review a trial court's procedure.

Appellee - The party against whom an appeal is taken.

Appendix - Supplementary materials added to the end of a document.

Apperception  - Perception as modified and enhanced by one's own emotions, memories, and biases.

Apraxia  - Inability to carry out previously learned skilled motor activities despite intact comprehension and motor function; this may be seen in dementia.

Arbitration - The hearing of a dispute by an impartial third person or persons (chosen by the parties), whose award the parties agree to accept.

Arbitrator - A private, disinterested person chosen by the parties in arbitration to hear evidence concerning the dispute and to make an award based on the evidence.

Archetype - A universal, inherited, primitive, and symbolic representation of a particular experience or object.

Arraignment - A proceeding in which a criminal defendant is brought into court, told of the charges in an indictment or information, and asked to plead guilty or not guilty.

Arrearage - the amount of support that is due under a support order, but not yet paid

Arrest - To take into custody by legal authority.

Article III Judge - A federal judge who is appointed for life, during "good behavior," under Article III of the Constitution. Article III judges are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

Article of Incorporation - is a document filed with the state incorporating a limited liability company

Assault - Threat to inflict injury with an apparent ability to do so. Also, any intentional display of force that would give the victim reason to fear or expect immediate bodily harm.

Assessment - The diagnostic process in which a professional examines a drug user to determine the extent of the person's drug use, whether he or she is addicted, and what type of treatment might be most effective.

Assessment Fee - Administrative fee the CSEA is permitted, by law, to add on to, and collect from a non-custodial parent's child support payments (currently 2%) Also known as processing fee or poundage.

Assets - Property of all kinds, including real and personal, tangible and intangible.

Assignment - The transfer to another person of any property, real or personal.

Assignment of Rights - A public assistance eligibility requirement whereby the applicant/recipient must assign to the state all rights he/she may have to income, such as child support.

Assimilation - According to Piaget, the process whereby new cognitive elements are fitted in with old elements or modified to fit more easily; this process works in tandem with accommodation.

Assistance Group - a group of individuals that are treated as a unit for purposes of determining eligibility for and the amount of assistance provided under certain welfare programs

Association Cortex - The parts of the cerebral cortex in which many high-level brain processes occur.

Assume - An agreement to continue performing duties under a contract or lease.

Assumption of risk - A doctrine under which a person may not recover for an injury received when he has voluntarily exposed himself to a known danger.

Astereognosis  - Inability to recognize familiar objects by touch that cannot be explained by a defect of elementary tactile sensation.

Asthenia - Asthenia is a weakness or debility of some form, hence neurasthenia, a term for an illness seen by dctors around the turn of the century, a probable precursor to chronic fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

At Issue - The time in a lawsuit when the complaining party has stated their claim and the other side has responded with a denial and the matter is ready to be tried.

Ataxia - Partial or complete loss of coordination of voluntary muscular movement.

Attachment - Taking a person's property to satisfy a court-ordered debt.

Attempt - An endeavor or effort to do an act or accomplish a crime, carries beyond preparation, but lacking execution.

Attention - A state of focused awareness on a subset of the available perceptual information.

Attitude - The learned, relatively stable tendency to respond to people, concepts, and events in an evaluative way.

Attorney of Record - The principal attorney in a lawsuit, who signs all formal documents relating to the suit.

Attorney-at-Law - An advocate, counsel, or official agent employed in preparing, managing, and trying cases in the courts.

Attorney-in-Fact - A private person (who is not necessarily a lawyer) authorized by another to act in his or her place, either for some particular purpose, as to do a specific act, or for the transaction of business in general, not of legal character. This authority is conferred by an instrument in writing, called a "letter of attorney," or more commonly "power of attorney."

Attribution Theory - A social-cognitive approach to describing the ways the social perceiver uses information to generate causal explanations.

Attributions - Judgments about the causes of outcomes.

Audience Design - The process of shaping a message depending on the audience for which it is intended.

Auditory Cortex - The part of the cerebral cortex that processes sounds and produces our awareness of them.

Auditory Hallucination - A hallucination involving the perception of sound, most commonly of voices. Some clinicians and investigators would not include those experiences perceived as coming from inside the head and would instead limit the concept of true auditory hallucinations to those sounds whose source is perceived as being external.

Auditory Nerve - The nerve that carries impulses from the cochlea to the cochlear nucleus of the brain.

Aura - A premonitory, subjective brief sensation (e.g., a flash of light) that warns of an impending headache or convulsion. The nature of the sensation depends on the brain area in which the attack begins. Seen in migraine and epilepsy.

Autoeroticism  - Sensual self-gratification. Characteristic of, but not limited to, an early stage of emotional development. Includes satisfactions derived from genital play, masturbation, fantasy, and oral, anal, and visual sources.

Automated Interface - Exchange of information electronically between IV-A (public assistance), the Medicaid program, and IV-D (child support) agencies.

Automatic Processes - Processes that do not require attention; they can often be performed along with other tasks without interference.

Automatic Stay - An injunction that automatically stops lawsuits, foreclosures, garnishments, and most collection activities against the debtor the moment a bankruptcy petition is filed.

Automatism  - Automatic and apparently undirected nonpurposeful behavior that is not consciously controlled. Seen in psychomotor epilepsy.

Autonomic Nervous System - (ANS) The subdivision of the peripheral nervous system that controls the body's involuntary motor responses by connecting the sensory receptors to the central nervous system (CNS) and the CNS to the smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, and glands.

Autoplastic - Referring to adaptation by changing the self.

Autotopagnosia - Inability to localize and name the parts of one's own body. finger agnosia would be autotopagnosia restricted to the fingers.

Availability heuristic - A judgment based on the information readily available in memory.

Aversion Therapy - A type of behavioral therapy used to treat individuals attracted to harmful stimuli; an attractive stimulus is paired with a noxious stimulus in order to elicit a negative reaction to the target stimulus.

Avolition - An inability to initiate and persist in goal-directed activities. When severe enough to be considered pathological, avolition is pervasive and prevents the person from completing many different types of activities (e.g., work, intellectual pursuits, self-care).

Award - a decision, usually by an arbitrator, in favor of a plaintiff or defendant, as the case may be

Axon - The cable-like structure neurons used to send messages to other neurons. It carries the neuron's electrical message.

Axon terminal - The structure at the end of an axon that produces and releases chemicals (neurotransmitters) to transmit the neuron's message across the synapse to another neuron.