IdiosyncrasyBOOTY!!! comes from Greek ιδιοσυγκρασία "a peculiar temperament", "habit of body" (idios "one's own" and sun-krasis "mixture"). It is defined as a structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group. The term can also be applied to symbols. Idiosyncratic symbols mean one thing for a particular person, as a blade could mean war, but to someone else, it could symbolize a knighting. By the same principle, linguists state that words are not only arbitrary, but also largely idiosyncratic signs. The silver Anglia knight, commisioned as a trophy in 1850, intended to represent the Black Prince. ...

The word idiosyncratic is often used as a label to denote a group attitude or opinion that regards the own group as righteous and superior, everyone else or a selected outgroup as an evil enemy, while at the same time regarding all criticisms towards the own position as hostile attacks.

Idiosyncrasy in medicine

Disease

Idiosyncrasy defined the way physicians conceived diseases in the nineteenth century. They considered each disease as a unique condition, related to each patient. This understanding began to change in the 1870s, when discoveries made by researchers in Europe permitted the advent of a 'scientific medicine', a precursor to the Evidence-Based Medicine that is the standard to practice today. The term disease refers to an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs function. ... Evidence-based medicine (EBM) or scientific medicine is an attempt to apply more uniformly the standards of evidence gained from the scientific method to certain aspects of medical practice. ...

Pharmacology

In contemporary medicine (as of 2007), the term Idiosyncratic drug reaction denotes a non-immunological hypersensitivity to a substance, without connection to pharmalogical toxicity.^[1]. Idiosyncratic stresses here the fact that other individuals would react differently, or not at all, and that the reaction is an individual one based on a specific condition of the one who suffers it. Most commonly, this is caused by an enzymopathy, congenital or acquired, so that the triggering substance cannot be processed properly in the organism and causes symptoms by accumulating or blocking other substances to be processed. An idiosyncrasy causing symptoms like an allergy is also called pseudoanaphylaxis ^[1]. There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... Hypersensitivity refers to undesirable (damaging, discomfort-producing and sometimes fatal) reactions produced by the normal immune system. ...

Psychiatry

In psychiatry, the term means a specific and unique mental condition of a patient, often accompanied by neologisms. In psychoanalysis and behaviorism, it is used for the personal way a given individual reacts, perceives and experiences a common situation: a certain dish made of meat may cause nostalgic memories in one person and disgust in another. These reactions are called idiosyncratic. Psychiatry is a branch of medicine dealing with the prevention, assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of the mind and mental illness. ... A neologism (Greek νεολογισμός [neologismos], from νέος [neos] new + λόγος [logos] word, speech, discourse + suffix -ισμός [-ismos] -ism) is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created (coined) — often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. ... Psychoanalysis is a family of psychological theories and methods based on the work of Sigmund Freud. ... Behaviorism (also called learning perspective) is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things which organisms do—including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors. ... Nostalgia currently describes a longing for the past: Often an idealized and unrealistic past The term was originally coined in 1678 by Johannes Hoffer (1669-1752) from Greek (νόστος = nostos = ones homeland, άλγος = algos = pain/longing) roots, to refer to...

Idiosyncrasy in economics

In portfolio theory, risks of price changes due to the unique circumstances of a specific security, as opposed to the overall market, are described as idiosyncratic risk. This risk can be virtually eliminated from a portfolio through diversification. It is also often called unsystematic or specific risk. (Modern) Portfolio theory is a branch of finance. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Roche Lexikon Medizin, 5th edition (online version, German)