Glossary of Common Mental Health Terms

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eking help from a mental health professional can be an overwhelming process. Often times, it can be difficult to determine what mental health services are appropriate, or which treatment approach would be most effective for the needs of yourself or a family member. Understanding what services are available and learning about about the various treatment modalities and approaches can make this process more manageable. This glossary contains definitions of frequently used mental health terms pertaining to the needs of children, adolescents, and adults.

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Types of Mental Health Settings

Emergency and Crisis Services

A group of services available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to help during a mental health emergency. Examples include telephone crisis hotlines, mobile crisis teams, suicide hotlines, crisis counseling, crisis residential treatment services, crisis outreach teams, and crisis respite care. For more information, see Getting Help for Mental Health Emergencies.

Home-Based services

Typically available for children and adolescents (see Guide to Community Based Intensive Services for Children and Adolescents (CBHI and BHCA)), and sometimes available for the elderly population, are mental health services provided in the individual or family's home, either for a defined period of time, or for as long as it takes to stabilize with a mental health problem. Examples include parent training, counseling, and working with family members to identify, find, or provide other necessary help. The goal is to prevent the individual from being placed outside of the home, or to access services that they are unable to access due to disabling factors that do not permit them to leave their homes.

Inpatient Hospitalization

Mental health treatment provided in a hospital setting 24 hours a day. Inpatient hospitalization provides: (1) short-term treatment in cases where an individual is in crisis and possibly a danger to his/herself or others, and (2) diagnosis and treatment when the patient cannot be evaluated or treated appropriately in an outpatient setting.

Outpatient Therapy

Sessions that take place in a mental health professional’s office, whether it is a clinic or private practice setting. Outpatient therapy sessions are available to individuals, couples, and families across the lifespan and typically occur for 45-50 minutes, usually once a week. Outpatient therapy is often referred to as “talk therapy.”

Partial Hospitalization Program/ Day Treatment

Partial Hospitalization is often considered a step-down service following an inpatient hospitalization. However, an inpatient hospitalization is not the only way to participate in a PHP. If an individual feels they would benefit extra mental health support, often in order to prevent an inpatient hospitalization, they can often get a referral from a mental health professional, like their outpatient therapist, to participate in a PHP or a day program. PHPs usually last at least 4 hours a day and provide a structured environment where participants receive group counseling, vocational training, skill building, crisis intervention, and recreational therapy.

Residential Treatment Centers

Facilities that provide treatment 24 hours a day and can usually serve more than 12 people at a time. Adults and children with serious emotional disturbances receive constant supervision and care. Treatment may include individual, group, and family therapy; behavior therapy; special education; recreation therapy; and medical services. Residential treatment is usually more long-term than inpatient hospitalization. Centers are also known as therapeutic group homes.

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Types of Therapy and Theoretical Approaches

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

An empirically based psychological intervention derived from the cognitive behavioral model of psychotherapy. ACT combines mindfulness strategies together with commitment and behavior change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility.

Addiction and Recovery Therapy

Therapy focused on addressing and reducing symptoms related to addictions, while addressing the root causes of addiction, and replacing it with healthy habits. This type of therapy focuses on interrupting the destructive cycle of seeking using, recovering, and seeking again.

Animal Assisted Therapy

Therapy that involves animals, typically pets, as part of the therapy session, with the goal of improving an individual’s social and emotional functioning. Equine (horse) assisted therapy is a growing field that has been proven to be effective in building confidence, improving communication, and giving personal insights to participants.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

This treatment, which is common in the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders, is a research-based behavior therapy. The treatment is based on rewarding certain desired behaviors, which will reinforce those behaviors to they increase, and the behaviors that are not reinforce will decrease and eventually go away. The goal is to increase positive behaviors and decrease negative behaviors as well as learning new skills and improve social interactions.

Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC)

This is a therapy for children and adolescents who have experienced complex trauma as well as their caregiving systems. This treatment is focused on 4 areas including normative childhood development, traumatic stress, attachment, and risk and resilience. This treatment is focused on both the individual level with the child and their family as well as organizational framework to support systems to work from a trauma-informed lens. The goal is to help children, adolescents and their caregivers to shift from survival to being empowered and future-oriented.

Bilingual Therapy

Therapy provided by a provider fluent in two or more languages. If a bilingual therapist is not available interpreters or interpretive computer software may also be used to facilitate therapy between two people who do not speak the same language.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

A therapy approach that aims to teach individual new skills on how to solve problems concerning dysfunctional emotions, behaviors, and cognitions through a goal-oriented systematic approach. CBT aims to help individuals recognize negative, or dysfunctional, thoughts and to discuss how these thoughts are linked to behaviors. The goal of CBT is to change an individual’s thoughts in order to create more positive behavioral changes.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

This is a specific type of cognitive behavioral therapy that has been proven to be effective in reducing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This short-term, targeted treatment helps patients learn to challenge and modify unhelpful beliefs rooted in trauma and help the client create a new understanding and conceptualization of the traumatic event. The goal is to reduce the impact of the traumatic event on the person’s everyday life.

Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD)

This is a condition that, while not recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM 5), is commonly accepted by mental health professionals as a condition distinctly different from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This diagnosis is noted often in adults who experienced chronic trauma in childhood, but can also be diagnosed in adults who have experienced ongoing trauma

Couples Therapy

A type of therapy that assists in resolving problems within a relationship. Couples therapy can occur at any stage of the relationship, such as while dating, during marriage, or in the process of a divorce. Typically, two people attend therapy sessions together to discuss specific issues. Couples therapy aims to help couples deal more effectively with problems by increasing communication, which may help prevent problems from becoming more serious.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

DBT is a cognitive-behavioral approach that emphasizes the interrelation of social factors and individuals thought and behavior. The theory behind this approach is that some people are prone to react in a more intense and out-of-the-ordinary manner toward certain emotional situations, primarily those found in romantic, family, and friend relationships.

Divorce Mediation

Divorce mediation occurs when an individual and their spouse meet with a neutral third party, the mediator, and issues are worked through so the couple can end their marriage as amicably and cost effectively as possible. Divorce medication can be especially useful when a couple has children.

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)

This holistic, evidence-based practice involves tapping on specific acupoints, which are based in the traditional Chinese medicine that there are 12 primary meridians which carry energy throughout the body. This treatment does not require any special tools and allows individuals anywhere at any time to tap on the various acupoints, typically on the head and face, while focusing on a particular issue or emotion. In focusing on the acupressure points, individuals experience a reduction in anxiety, mood or pain.

Evidence-Based Practices

Evidence-based practices are approaches to prevention or treatment that are based in theory and have undergone scientific evaluation. According to the American Psychological Association, it is the integration of the best available research with clinical expertise in the context of patient characteristics, culture and preferences. Many of the treatment approaches have been within this glossary have been empirically studied. For more information or to find an evidence-based treatment, visit SAMHSA’s Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center.

Expressive Arts Therapy

Encourages people to express and understand emotions through artistic expression and through the creative process. Expressive Art therapy provides the client-artist with critical insight into emotions, thoughts, and feelings via the use of visual arts, dance/movement, music, psychodrama, and writing.

Existential Therapy

Existential psychotherapy is a philosophical method of therapy that operates on the belief that emotional and intellectual conflict is due to that individual's confrontation with the 'givens' of existence. Existential psychotherapy is an optimistic approach in that it embraces human potential, while remaining realistic by emphasizing a recognition of the intrinsic limitations of being human. Following in the tradition of the in-depth psychotherapies, existential therapy has much in common with psychodynamic, humanistic, experiential, and relational approaches to psychotherapy.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR is a therapy in which a patient recalls a traumatic event while simultaneously undergoing bilateral stimulation that can consist of moving the eyes from side to side, vibrations or tapping movements on different sides of the body, or tones delivered through one ear, then the other, via headphones. The goal of EMDR therapy is to process these distressing memories, reducing their lingering influence and allowing clients to develop more adaptive coping mechanisms.

Family Therapy

A type of psychotherapy that works with couples and families to nurture change and development. Families are viewed as a system in which each member influences the others. There are several types of family therapy, but many of them share the goal of identifying patterns of interaction, improving communication, and reducing conflict.

Group Therapy

A type of therapy that involves one or more therapists working with 6-10 people at the same time. Group therapy is sometimes used alone, but it is also commonly integrated into as comprehensive treatment plan that also includes individual therapy.

Guardian Ad Litem Services (GAL)

Guardians are adults who are legally responsible for protecting the well-being and interests of their ward, who is usually a minor. A GAL is a unique type of guardian relationship that has been created by a court order only for the duration of a legal action. Courts appoint GAL’s for infants, minors, and mentally incompetent persons, all of whom generally need help protecting their rights in court. GAL’s figure in divorces, child neglect and abuse cases, paternity suits, contested inheritances, and are usually attorneys.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

This evidence-based treatment developed by Richard Schwartz theorizes that every human being is a system of parts, including protective and wounded inner parts, that are led by a core Self. This treatment allows people to heal by accessing and healing their protective and wounded inner parts, helping people to create inner and outer connectedness by accessing their Self first, and from that core, coming to understand and healing their parts.

Life Coaching

A service that is profoundly different from therapy, or counseling. The coaching process is a present and future focused process. It addresses specific personal projects, business successes, general conditions and transitions in the client’s personal life, relationships, or profession by examining what is going on right now, discovering what the obstacles or challenges might be, and choosing a course of action to make and individuals life the way they want it to be. Life coaching is not covered by insurance.

Mindfulness

A common translation of a term from Buddhist psychology that means “awareness” or “bare attention.” It is frequently used to refer to a way of paying attention that is sensitive, accepting, and independent of any thoughts that may be present. Mindfulness is the antithesis of mental habits in which the mind is on “automatic pilot,” where most experiences pass by completely unrecognized. Mindfulness therapy encourages clients to focus on their breathing and their body in order to notice, but not judge, their thoughts so they can practice living in the moment.

Narrative Therapy

A collaborative approach to counseling. It focuses on the stories of the client’s life and is based on the idea that problems are manufactured in social, cultural, and political contexts. Each person produces the meaning of their life from stories, or narratives that are available in these contexts.

Neuropsychological Assessment

A comprehensive assessment of cognitive processes where neurological or neurodevelopmental disorders are evaluated with the goal of understanding the etiology and evolution of a disorder. Neuropsychology is the unique integration of genetic, developmental, and environmental history with testing data to better understand brain functioning. With a comprehensive assessment of a person’s cognitive and personality functioning, it is possible to specify the origin and development of a disorder with the end goal of implementing customized recommendations.

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)

This is an evidence-based treatment designed to improve the parent-child relationship and reduce disruptive behavior in young children. This treatment is focused on children ages 2-7 years old and focused on communication, increasing cooperation, and decreasing behaviors like defiance, aggression and tantrums.

Psychological Assessment

A psychological assessment can include numerous components such as norm-referenced psychological tests, informal tests and surveys, interview information, school or medical records, medical evaluation and observational data. A psychologist determines what information to use based on the specific questions being asked. For example, assessments can be used to determine if a person has a learning disorder, is competent to stand trial or has a traumatic brain injury. They can also be used to determine if a person would be a good manager or how well they may work with a team.

Play Therapy

A form of therapy that uses play-based models and techniques to better communicate with and help clients achieve optimal mental health. Play therapy is often used with children and may involve the use of dolls/dollhouses, puppets, and other toys. Play is used to help individuals address unresolved psychological issues by working out their concerns through play.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Psychodynamic therapy, also known as insight-oriented therapy, focuses on unconscious processes as they are manifested in a person's present behavior. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are to increase a client's self-awareness and to understand the influence of the past on their present behavior.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

Sensorimotor psychotherapy is body-based talk therapy that was developed by psychologist Pat Ogden to treat trauma. The treatment involves helping clients who have experienced trauma to learn how the trauma is impacting them somatically, including learning about physical symptoms which may be of a dissociative nature, like motor inhibitions, which can create difficulties with emotion regulation, cognition or daily functioning.

Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Therapy (SMART)

This is a treatment for trauma specifically in children and adolescents who have experienced complex trauma by using therapeutic equipment like weighted blankets, balance beams, and fitness balls to support children’s natural ways of regulate their bodies and emotions. It uses movement and relationship to regulate arousal states and help to widen the child’s window of tolerance for both positive and negative emotional states.

Sex Therapy

A form of psychotherapy that addresses sexual dysfunctions that are interfering with the ability to have a healthy, fulfilling sex life. Individuals may attend sessions alone, or couples may go to sessions together. Sex therapists are trained to understand the etiology of the sexual concerns and offers strategies to improve sexual functioning.

Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE)

This is a parent-based treatment for children and adolescents with anxiety, OCD and similar problems, like selective mutism, social anxiety and fears and phobias. Parents are taught a range of skills and tools that can help their child better manage their anxiety, and the focus is helping parents learn to respond more supportively to their anxious child and to reduce the accommodations they have been making to manage their child’s symptoms.

Spiritual and Faith Counseling

Incorporates pastoral counseling elements and techniques and combines them with life experiences to create a focused spiritual perspective in order to assist the client on their spiritual path.

Trauma‐Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF‐CBT)

An evidence-based treatment approach shown to help children, adolescents, and their caregivers overcome trauma-related difficulties. It is designed to reduce negative emotional and behavioral responses following child sexual abuse, domestic violence, traumatic loss, and other traumatic events.

Trauma-Informed Care

This is an approach to care that focuses on having a complete picture of the client’s life, past and present, and provide treatment with a healing orientation. This orientation seeks to realize the widespread impact of trauma, recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma, integrate knowledge about trauma into the policies, procedures, and practices and actively avoid re-traumatization.

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The information in this guide was drawn from the following sources:

American Neuropsychiatric Association. (2015). What is neuropsychology?

American Psychological Association. (2016). Understanding Psychological Testing and Assessment. Retrieved on August 21, 2016 from www.apa.org/topics/testing-assessment-measurement/understanding

Marriage Counseling and Therapy Network. (2016). Counseling Approaches-Term Definitions.