Essential Psychotherapy Terms
Every industry has its own language and terms. These words and phrases can be confusing to anyone who is not part of the daily operations of a specific industry, and the psychotherapy and counselling sector is no exception.
So, to help you understand the terms, acronyms, and phrases regularly used when receiving psychotherapy or counselling, C2C Psychotherapy & Counselling has created this handy reference guide. Here, you’ll find valuable information allowing you to comprehend and communicate your psychotherapy and counselling needs effectively.
Mental health: World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes their abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and can contribute to the community.”
Mental illness: Mental illness occurs when the brain does not work the way it should.
Mental disorder: It involves a clinically significant disturbance in a person’s cognition, emotional regulation, or behavior.
Addiction: It refers to a chronic mental disorder involving biological, psychological, social, or environmental factors in its development and maintenance.
Wellness: It refers to “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” (WHO)
Well-being: The term refers to a person’s experience of health, happiness, and prosperity.
Intervention: It refers to any action taken by a psychotherapist to help a client deal with the issues and problems they are facing.
Therapy: It refers to the meeting of a client with a therapist to resolve problematic concerns such as behaviors, beliefs, feelings, social problems, and physical issues that a client is experiencing.
Suicidal ideation: It’s when a person thinks about killing themselves, which may or not be accompanied by a plan.
Recovery: It refers to “the personal process that people with mental illness go through in gaining control, meaning and purpose in their lives.” (Canadian Mental Health Association)
Internal resources: It encompasses anything internal that provides a person with relaxation, pleasure, support, strength, and safety.
Therapy modalities: It comprises different categories of therapy used to improve a person’s overall well-being.
Therapeutic relationships: It’s the close and consistent association between at least two individuals, such as a therapist and a client.
Confidentiality: It’s “a principle of professional ethics requiring providers of mental health care or medical care to limit the disclosure of a patient’s identity, condition or treatment, and any data entrusted to professionals during an assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.” (APA Dictionary of Psychology)
Privacy: It refers to “the right of patients and others (e.g., customers) to control the amount and disposition of the information they divulge about themselves.” (APA Dictionary of Psychology)
We hope these terms made you feel more confident to proceed with your counselling needs. If you’re looking for a registered psychotherapist in GTA and Ontario, contact the experts at C2C Psychotherapy & Counselling. We specialize in psychotherapy and counselling services for individuals, couples, families, and groups.
We provide a variety of counselling sessions for anxiety, depression, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and trauma responses. We also help patients to recover from emotional abuse, sexual abuse, addictions, grief, loss, self-esteem, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychotic disorders, and behavioral issues.
We offer our services across Brampton, Guelph, Mississauga, Kitchener, Woodbridge, Maple, Vaughan, Etobicoke, Toronto, Orangeville, Caledon, GTA, and all of Ontario. View our complete list of services here, or get in touch with us here.