Mental Health Services Glossary

An eight-week structured group program that teaches mindfulness meditation techniques to reduce stress and improve psych...

A brief 30-point questionnaire used to screen for cognitive impairment and track cognitive changes over time.

A descriptor indicating whether a patient's psychotic or other symptoms are consistent in theme with their prevailing mo...

A collaborative, client-centred counselling style designed to strengthen a person's motivation and commitment to change...

Mental Status Examination, a systematic assessment of psychological functioning and cognitive abilities.

An older term for a class of antipsychotic medications that act primarily by blocking dopamine receptors, used in the ma...

Physical symptoms associated with mood disorders—such as disrupted sleep, appetite changes, fatigue, and psychomotor dis...

A written or verbal agreement between a clinician and a patient in which the patient commits to not engaging in self-har...

An intensive outpatient treatment program that provides structured therapeutic services for several hours daily while al...

Suicidal thoughts that lack a specific plan or intent to act, typically involving wishes to be dead or not exist without...

A clinical escalation descriptor indicating that a patient's suicidal thinking has progressed from vague wishes to die (...

A style convention in mental health documentation that places the person before their diagnosis or condition, prioritisi...

Patient Health Questionnaire-9, a standardized screening tool for depression severity.

The concurrent use of multiple psychiatric or other medications by a single patient, often raising concerns about drug i...

A specific event, stressor, or biological change that directly triggers the onset or worsening of a psychiatric episode...

Referring to early symptoms or warning signs that occur before the full onset of a mental health episode or disorder. Of...

Individual, relational, or environmental characteristics that reduce the likelihood of adverse mental health outcomes, i...

A legal document in which individuals specify their treatment preferences for future psychiatric care when they may lack...

An involuntary short-term detention of a person in a psychiatric facility, authorized when an individual is determined t...

A recovery-oriented approach that helps individuals with serious mental illness develop skills and supports needed to li...

Educational interventions designed to provide patients and families with information about mental health conditions, tre...

A comprehensive evaluation combining psychological testing and educational performance measures, used to identify learni...

A structured therapeutic group intervention that combines psychological support with educational content to help partici...

Originating from psychological rather than organic or physiological causes; used to classify symptoms or conditions whos...