Mental Health Services Glossary

A dissociative experience in which the external world feels unreal, detached, or dreamlike, documented as a symptom dist...

A comprehensive cognitive-behavioral treatment that emphasizes emotional regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal e...

List of possible diagnoses being considered based on presenting symptoms and clinical findings.

The clinical decision made at the conclusion of a psychiatric evaluation regarding the appropriate next step in a patien...

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision, published by the American Psych...

A clinical descriptor for an individual who meets diagnostic criteria for both a psychiatric disorder and a substance us...

A clinician's legal and ethical obligation to take steps to protect an identifiable third party when a patient has made...

A stable mood state characterized by normal emotional range and reactivity. Often used to describe patients with mood di...

A measure of the emotional attitudes—particularly criticism, hostility, and emotional over-involvement—displayed by fami...

A thought process disturbance characterized by rapid, loosely connected leaps from one idea to another, typically observ...

A validated seven-item self-report screening tool used to measure the severity of generalized anxiety disorder symptoms.

Global Assessment of Functioning score, a numeric rating of psychological, social, and occupational functioning.

A legal-clinical term designating that a person, due to a mental disorder, is unable to provide for their basic personal...

Abbreviation for Homicidal Ideation; thoughts, urges, or preoccupations about harming or killing another person, documen...

The documented process by which a patient voluntarily agrees to a proposed treatment after receiving and comprehending r...

In psychiatric documentation, a patient's awareness and understanding of their own mental illness and its effects on the...

Initial comprehensive evaluation conducted when a patient enters mental health treatment services.

Legal detention of a person for psychiatric evaluation when they pose danger to self or others.

Intensive Outpatient Program - structured mental health treatment that allows patients to maintain daily responsibilitie...

Rapid, exaggerated, or unpredictable shifts in mood or emotional expression that are disproportionate to the situation.

The intensity and setting of mental health or substance use treatment matched to a patient's clinical needs, ranging fro...

Abbreviation for 'Level of Care,' referring to the intensity and setting of mental health or substance use treatment app...

Acronym for Level of Care Utilization System, a standardised assessment tool used to determine the appropriate level of...

A structured, environment-based treatment approach in which all aspects of the inpatient or residential setting—physical...