Glossary

Acute: A short and severe stage of an illness or condition.

Advocacy: Active support (or argument) for a cause.

Anxiety Disorders: Anxiety and worry are a normal part of everyday life. Most people get anxious in everyday situations such as at work, at sporting events or before an interview. When a person is worried continuously in particular situations they may be suffering from an anxiety disorder. Often a person with an anxiety disorder fears that a relative or themselves will become ill or have an accident or they worry about money or work.

Case Manager: A staff member who is usually based in a community mental health service who will act as a guide to help you towards recovery. They are responsible for looking after your interests when you are a consumer using public mental health services.

Case Management: This is a service that links, mobilises, coordinates, monitors, and reviews services and resources for the consumers of the mental health services.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: A form of therapy that is designed to change the mental images, thoughts and though patterns to help consumers overcome emotional and behavioural problems.

Community: Group of people living in one place or sharing the same background for example the same religion, ethnic origin, profession.

Consumer: A person with a mental illness who uses mental health services.

Crisis Intervention: At times of acute danger or difficulty staff become involved with a person to help change the course of their condition.

Depression: Depression is a common condition that has many forms. It may be caused by a number of things such as a reaction to a death, loss of a job or a break-up with a partner. Depression may vary from a mild, long-standing sadness to a deep despair making it difficult to function from day-to-day. Depression affects how a person feels, thinks and behaves and it also often affects physical health. Often people feel empty, worthless, apathetic and irritable and they have a loss of pleasure in daily activities. People who are depressed often find basic activities such as sleeping, eating and thinking very difficult.

Diagnosis: Identifying an illness by looking at the pattern of symptoms that a person describes or is experiencing.

Diversional Therapy Program: A form of treatment that aims to provide mental diversion or relaxation for a consumer.

First Episode Psychosis: The first time that a consumer experiences a mental state where there is distortion in, or a loss of contact with reality.

Mental Health Assessment: A measurement or evaluation of the consumers’ mental health including their social, emotional and behavioural functioning.

Mental Illness: A diagnosable psychiatric disorder resulting in significant impairment, disability or disadvantage.

Mood Disorders: Everyone has changes in their mood and there are good reasons for these mood changes. If you have just had dinner with friends you may feel happy and if your pet has just died you may feel sad. Usually our mood is suitable for what is happening in our lives. People who have mood disorders tend to have big changes in their moods for no obvious reason. They may be excited or happy for no reason or upset and sad when good things are happening in their lives. When severe mood swings keep happening without good reason it is likely that the person has a mood disorder.

Music Therapy: A form of treatment used by rehabilitation staff, which uses music to help relaxation.

Promotion and Prevention: Refers to interventions that occur before the initial onset of a disorder to prevent the development of a disorder. Any action taken to maximise mental health and well being among populations and individuals.

Psychosis: Refers to a mental state in which a person experiences distortion in or a loss of contact with reality.

Referral: To send or direct a person to another service or specialist for further treatment.

Rehabilitation: Programs which are designed to strengthen individual skills to assist recovery and to develop the environmental supports necessary to sustain the individual as actively and independently as possible in a community setting and prevent hospitalisation. Services, including basic life, prevocational, vocational, recreational, or social, for persons with severe and persistent mental illness.

Suicidal Thoughts: When a person thinks about killing himself or herself.

Symptoms: A change in a person’s physical, behavioural or mental state indicating that a person is not functioning normally or an illness is present.

Treatment: The use of medication, rehabilitation and a team of mental health professionals, as well as yourself to help in the recovery from a mental illness.