Psychology for Everyone

Glossary of Key Terms

A to C

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): a talk therapy that teaches people to make room for difficult thoughts and feelings while taking action toward the things they value.

  • Adjustment disorder: a strong or lasting stress reaction to a life change, such as a job loss, a move, or a breakup, that is more intense than expected and affects daily life.

  • Agoraphobia: intense fear of places or situations where escape might be hard or help might not be available, such as crowds, public transport, or open spaces.

  • Anhedonia: loss of the ability to feel pleasure or interest in things once enjoyed. It is a common feature of depression.

  • Antidepressant: a medicine used mainly for depression and anxiety disorders. Several types exist and each works a little differently.

  • Antipsychotic: a medicine used mainly to treat psychosis and to help stabilise mood in some conditions.

  • Anxiety disorder: a condition in which fear or worry is excessive, lasts a long time, and interferes with life.

  • Assessment: the process of gathering information about a person’s symptoms, history, and strengths so a professional can understand what is happening.

  • Attachment: the emotional bond between a child and caregivers, which shapes how a person later forms relationships.

  • Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): a neurodevelopmental condition involving ongoing patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

  • Autism spectrum: a neurodevelopmental difference that affects communication, social interaction, sensory experience, and flexibility of routines.

  • Behavioural activation: a therapy method that helps people with low mood step by step re-enter rewarding and meaningful activities.

  • Bipolar disorder: a mood condition with episodes of depression and episodes of unusually elevated or irritable mood (mania or hypomania).

  • Burnout: a state of exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced effectiveness caused by long-term unmanaged stress, usually linked to work or caregiving.

  • Case manager: a professional who coordinates services, appointments, housing, and benefits for a person with ongoing needs.

  • Catatonia: a state in which a person may be unusually still, mute, or unresponsive, or may show unusual repeated movements. It needs medical attention.

  • Clinical psychologist: a professional trained in psychology to assess mental health problems and provide talk therapy.

  • Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT): a structured, short-term therapy that links thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches practical skills to change unhelpful patterns.

  • Cognitive distortion: a habitual, biased way of thinking, such as catastrophising or black-and-white thinking.

  • Co-occurring disorders: two or more conditions present at the same time, for example depression and a substance use problem.

  • Compulsion: a repeated behaviour or mental act that a person feels driven to perform, often to reduce the distress caused by an obsession.

  • Counsellor: a trained professional who supports people with life problems, emotions, and relationships through talking and guidance.

  • Emergency help: a free or low-cost phone, text, or chat service where trained people support someone in emotional distress.

D to H

  • Delusion: a strongly held false belief that does not change even when clear evidence is shown, and that is not explained by a person’s culture or faith.

  • Dementia: a group of conditions in which memory, thinking, and daily function decline beyond what is expected with normal ageing.

  • Depression (major depressive disorder): a condition marked by persistent low mood or loss of interest, along with changes in sleep, appetite, energy, concentration, and self-worth.

  • Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT): a skills-based therapy that teaches mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.

  • Diagnosis: a professional’s conclusion about which condition best explains a person’s symptoms.

  • DSM-5-TR: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a widely used guide published by the American Psychiatric Association.

  • Dissociation: feeling detached from yourself, your body, or your surroundings, as if things are unreal or you are watching from outside.

  • Dopamine: a brain chemical involved in motivation, reward, movement, and attention.

  • Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT): a medical treatment given under anaesthesia that uses a brief electrical stimulus to help people with severe depression and some other serious conditions.

  • Emotional regulation: the ability to notice, understand, and manage the intensity and expression of emotions.

  • EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing): a structured therapy used mainly for trauma that helps the brain reprocess distressing memories.

  • Empathy: understanding and sharing another person’s feelings.

  • Exposure therapy: a method in which a person gradually and safely faces feared situations or memories until the fear fades.

  • Flashback: a vivid re-experiencing of a traumatic event, as if it were happening again.

  • Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD): ongoing, hard-to-control worry about many everyday things, with physical tension and restlessness.

  • Hallucination: sensing something that is not there, such as hearing voices or seeing things others cannot.

  • Hypomania: a milder form of elevated mood and energy than mania, with less impact on daily functioning, seen in bipolar II disorder.

  • Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis: the body’s main stress-hormone system, linking the brain and the adrenal glands.

I to O

  • ICD-11: the International Classification of Diseases, published by the World Health Organisation, used in most countries to classify illnesses including mental disorders.

  • Insomnia: ongoing difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking too early, with daytime effects.

  • Insight: a person’s awareness that they have a condition or problem.

  • Intrusive thought: an unwanted thought, image, or urge that pops into the mind. Almost everyone has them.

  • Mania: a period of abnormally high energy, reduced need for sleep, racing thoughts, and risky behaviour, lasting at least a week or leading to hospital care.

  • Mental status examination: the clinician’s structured observation of appearance, speech, mood, thinking, and awareness during an interview.

  • Mental well-being: a state in which a person can realise their abilities, cope with normal stress, work productively, and contribute to their community.

  • Mindfulness: paying attention to the present moment on purpose and without judgement.

  • Mood stabiliser: a medicine used to reduce the extremes of mood swings, especially in bipolar disorder.

  • Neurodevelopmental: relating to how the brain develops from early life, as in autism, ADHD, and learning differences.

  • Neurologist: a medical doctor who treats diseases of the brain and nerves, such as epilepsy, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease.

  • Neuron: a nerve cell that sends and receives signals in the brain and body.

  • Neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to change its connections in response to experience and learning.

  • Neurotransmitter: a chemical messenger, such as serotonin or dopamine, that passes signals between neurons.

  • Obsession: a persistent, unwanted thought, image, or urge that causes distress.

  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): a condition in which obsessions and compulsions take up much time or cause major distress.

  • Occupational therapist: a professional who helps people build the daily living, work, and coping skills they need for independence.

P to Z

  • Panic attack: a sudden surge of intense fear with physical symptoms such as a pounding heart, breathlessness, and dizziness, usually peaking within minutes.

  • Peer support: help from someone with lived experience of a mental health condition.

  • Personality disorder: a long-standing pattern of thinking, feeling, and relating that is rigid, differs from cultural expectations, and causes distress or difficulty.

  • Phobia: an intense, disproportionate fear of a specific object or situation, leading to avoidance.

  • Postnatal (postpartum) depression: depression that begins during pregnancy or after the birth of a baby.

  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): a condition that can follow a terrifying or life-threatening event, with re-experiencing, avoidance, negative changes in mood and thinking, and heightened alertness.

  • Prefrontal cortex: the front part of the brain involved in planning, judgement, and self-control.

  • Prognosis: the likely course and outcome of a condition.

  • Psychiatric nurse: a nurse with special training in caring for people with mental health conditions.

  • Psychiatrist: a medical doctor who specialises in diagnosing and treating mental illness, including prescribing medicine.

  • Psychoeducation: teaching people and families about a condition, its treatment, and how to manage it.

  • Psychologist: a professional with training in the science of behaviour and mental processes who may assess, research, or provide therapy.

  • Psychosis: a state in which a person loses some contact with shared reality, with symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions.

  • Psychotherapy: treatment by talking and structured exercises with a trained therapist, also called talk therapy.

  • Relapse: the return of symptoms after a period of improvement.

  • Resilience: the ability to adapt and recover when facing adversity, trauma, or stress.

  • Rumination: going over the same worries or sad thoughts again and again without finding a solution.

  • Schizophrenia: a serious mental illness involving psychosis along with changes in motivation, emotion, and thinking.

  • Self-esteem: the overall opinion a person holds about their own worth.

  • Serotonin: a brain chemical involved in mood, sleep, appetite, and digestion.

  • SSRI: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, a common type of antidepressant.

  • Social anxiety disorder: intense fear of being judged, embarrassed, or humiliated in social situations.

  • Stigma: negative attitudes and unfair treatment directed at people because of a health condition or difference.

  • Stress: the body’s and mind’s response to demands or threats.

  • Substance use disorder: a pattern of using alcohol or drugs that continues despite harm and is hard to control.

  • Talk therapy: see psychotherapy.

  • Trauma: an overwhelming experience, or series of experiences, that exceeds a person’s ability to cope.

  • Trigger: something that brings back strong emotions or memories related to a past experience.

  • Withdrawal: symptoms that occur when a person reduces or stops a substance after long use. Some withdrawals need medical supervision.

  • Wellness plan: a written personal plan listing habits, supports, warning signs, and steps to stay well.

Additional terms: Indic and classical vocabulary

These terms come from the Hindu and Ayurvedic sources used in Volume 6 and elsewhere. They are given for lookup, not as clinical definitions.

Affect — observed emotion.

Ahamkara — I-making; kin to asmita.

Ahita-artha — unwholesome object of mind or sense (Charaka).

Anhedonia — loss of pleasure.

Citta / vritti — mind-field and its waves (YS 1.2).

CBT / ERP / DBT / IPT / EMDR — therapy types.

Dharma — duty-in-context, not fatalism.

Diathesis–stress — vulnerability plus load; not destiny.

Dissociation — disconnection from self, body, or world.

Dosha — vata, pitta, kapha; rajas and tamas as mental doshas.

Interoception — sensing the inner body.

Klesha — five afflictions (YS 2.3–2.9).

Manas / buddhi / atman — moving mind, intellect, self.

Sattvavajaya — restraint of mind from unwholesome objects (Charaka Sutra 11.54).

Sthitaprajna — steady wisdom (Gita 2).

Unmada / apasmara — classical names for severe mental derangement and seizure-like loss of memory (not self-labels).

Window of tolerance — arousal range where learning and choice are possible.

All 35 chapters · 183 stories from real life · 61 Hindu shloks for the mind · Psychology for Everyone – A Mental Well Being Series