I’ve been struggling to understand more about how my mind works for decades. Over that time a few words have confused me. Maybe I’m thick, but just in case you also find some terms unclear I’ll post information about them here. The aim is to do this before using any of the terms, so do tell me what I miss. If you spot any kind of inaccuracy here please e-mail me about it. Amendments will be credited.

Categories on this page

1. Internet abbreviations
2. Types of guide (helper)
3. Approaches to studying mental illness
4. Types of depression
5. Psychology abbreviations and acronyms
6. Epidemic-like words

Internet abbreviations

lol: used to be written at end of letters and meant ‘loads of love’. Now common on net and when texting or using instant messenger to mean ‘laugh out loud’ or ‘loads of laughs’. It’s used in a range of ways including as a response to show you’re amused, or after a tease to emphasise you’re not being entirely serious. No doubt one day when we meet up with friends and someone describes an amusing experience we’ll stand there with long faces mumbling “lol” at each other.

Types of guide (helper)

counsellor: someone who helps you with personal or psychological problems – this can range from brief and/or informal help through to sustained professional counselling

psychotherapist: someone who treats you for a diagnosed mental or emotional disorder using communication techniques such as conversation – this term should technically only be used if the disorder has been diagnosed by a professional

psychiatrist: a medical doctor who has chosen to specialise in treating people with mental illness – the key here is that they must be medically qualified, which may mean they are biased towards treatment with medication

psychoanalyst: a counsellor or psychotherapist who uses methods based on the teachings of Sigmund Freud – this is likely to include the assumption that childhood events can have a major influence on your present mental state

psychologist: someone who studies the human mind and its mental states in a scientific way

mentor: someone with more experience who guides and teaches you

Approaches to studying mental illness

psychological: how past and present experiences and ways of thinking affect your mental state and your ability to function effectively – this approach underpins counselling and psychotherapy; it includes consideration of how mentally ill parents can affect their children by the way they behave in their presence

physiological: how the structure and chemistry of your brain affect your mental state and your ability to function effectively – this approach underpins such treatments as with medication, by surgery, or using electroconvulsive therapy; it also considers genetic aspects such as predispositions you may have inherited from your parents

supernatural: this looks at causes of mental problems outside your brain and immediate environment – it includes consideration of possession by evil spirits, witchcraft, and being affected by the moon, planets and stars (hence the word ‘lunatic’ originally used to describe someone whose mental illness seems to be affected by the phases of the moon)

Types of depression

depression (unipolar depression): mood varies between normal and very low, sad, dejected, hopeless.

manic depression (bipolar depression): mood varies between depressed, normal, and being manic, high euphoric.

clinical depression (biological depression): the depressed (or manic) state is caused by chemical faults in the brain. This can happen for no discernible reason, like flu.

reactive depression: depression caused by some major life event such as divorce or the death of a loved one. It may deteriorate into clinical depression.

atypical depression: a mild form of depression often linked with overeating (particularly stuff like cake, ice cream) in which the person cannot imagine a proposed activity being enjoyable, but once started on the right activity can gain some pleasure.

dysthymia: being mildly depressed most of the time.

cyclothymia: a mild version of manic depression.

mixed anxiety-depression: I’m not in a position to do more than say it is a mixture of severe anxiety with depression.

psychosis: If you become psychotic you are suffering from psychosis: you have temporarily become separated from reality. Your thinking is in some way irrational. You may experience hallucinations or believe something absurd. Your personality may change. You may do weird things. You may have difficulty dealing with people. There are many possible causes of psychosis including drug misuse, sleep deprivation, severe depression, schizophrenia.

Psychology abbreviations and acronyms

CBT : Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

NLP: Neuro-Linguistic Programming

ECT : Electro-Convulsive Therapy

SSRI: Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor

MAOI: MonoAmine Oxidase Inhibitor

SAD: Seasonal Affective Disorder (feeling a lot more down in the winter months)

Epidemic-like words

Endemic: this describes an infection such as chicken pox which chugs along at a fairly steady rate in the country despite there being no causes from outside the country. Endemic refers to the stable rate of people catching the infection.

Epidemic: when an infection starts to spread significantly faster than usual it’s called an epidemic. The seasonal upsurge of flu every winter is sometimes described as an epidemic, although arguably that gives the wrong impression. Epidemic refers to more rapid spread.

Pandemic: once an infection is spreading significantly faster than usual over an area at least as big as a continent it is likely to be called a pandemic. Pandemic indicates we’re talking wide-spread, probably world-wide.