warehousing

n. the practice of confining patients with mental disorders to large institutions for long-term, often lifetime, custodial care. This colloquial term implies lack of treatment beyond housing and feeding.

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Psychology term of the day

January 26th 2025

sexually dimorphic nucleus

a nucleus of the central nervous system that differs in size between males and females. In humans, for example, a nucleus in the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus that synthesizes gonadotropin-releasing hormone tends to be larger and more active in males than in females because gonadotropin release is continuous (it is cyclical in females). In songbirds whose males sing more than females, several brain nuclei associated with both song learning and song production are larger in males than in females.