Mental Health Resource Center/Glossary

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Term Glossary

Welcome to this page of the Mental Health Resource Center. This page contains a glossary of mental health terms.

This page aims to provide information about mental health in non-emergency situations. If this is an emergency, please use the list of helplines or emergency numbers above for immediate help. Your safety and emotional well-being is important.

Glossary

Terms (alphabetically)

Anxiety

An emotion characterized by feelings of uneasiness and tension coming from the anticipation of a future threat. It is often accompanied by recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns, nervous behavior and physical symptoms such as sweating, dizziness, or a rapid heartbeat.

Burnout

A state of chronic emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. Symptoms include feeling overwhelmed, emotionally drained and unable to meet everyday demands.

Depressive Disorder (Depression)

A common mental disorder involving feeling sad, irritable, empty and/or loss of pleasure or interest in activities for long periods of time. A depressive episode is different from regular mood changes – it can happen to anyone, lasts over a longer period of time (at least two weeks) and can affect the ability to function in everyday life.

Emotional Wellbeing

Being emotionally well means feeling good about yourself and your life, being aware of your emotions and able to express them in a healthy way.

Mental Health

Mental health is more than the absence of mental disorders – it refers to a person's overall emotional, social and psychological wellbeing, is experienced differently from person to person and affects how we think, feel, and act.

Mental Illnesses

Mental illnesses are medically diagnosable health conditions. They involve changes in emotion, thinking, or behavior, distress and/or problems in important areas of functioning (like social, work, or family activities). Mental illnesses might also be referred to as mental disorders or mental health conditions.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

A mental health disorder caused by exposure to traumatic event(s). Main symptoms are re-experiencing the event in flashbacks or dreams, avoiding things that remind of the traumatic event and hyper vigilance. Most people who experience traumatic events do not develop PTSD.

Psychological first aid (PFA)

PFA is delivered to individuals in the immediate aftermath of disaster by first responders or mental health professionals. Its purpose is to reduce initial distress and assess immediate (psychological) needs and concerns. PFA includes active listening, social support and discussing coping strategies.

Self-Care

A set of actions aimed at taking care of and promoting one’s own health and well-being, for example by stress reduction or disease prevention and control.

Suicide/Suicidal behavior

Suicide is the act of deliberately ending one's life. Suicidal behavior is a spectrum of activities related to thinking about suicide (suicidal ideation), planning, attempting or committing suicide.

Stigma

Stigma is a label associated with negative opinions, stereotypes, disgrace or reproach about particular characteristics, behaviors or illnesses. Stigma can lead to shame and discrimination against individuals or groups.

Stress

Stress is our body's natural physical and mental response to a difficult situation or challenge. While everyone experiences stress to some degree, too much stress can affect physical and mental health.

Trauma

Trauma is a negative emotional and/or psychological response to a (series of) severe distressing event(s) perceived as emotionally harmful or life threatening, such as accidents, violence, sexual assault, terror, or sensory overload, or threats to life (“traumatic event”).