Mental Health Terms

Symptoms that indicate a mental health problem are varied. Certain symptoms are associated with specific mental health problems (e.g. hearing voices is often associated with psychosis) while other symptoms are associated with several different types of mental health problems (e.g. sleep difficulties may be present in depression and anxiety). Symptom severity should be considered as a spectrum from mild (e.g. feeling down, once in a while) to severe (constantly feeling hopeless and low).

Functioning, defined as the ability to meet the demands of day to day life, should be considered when assessing mental health problems. Mental health problems can have different levels of impact on a person’s functioning (e.g. with mild depression a person may be attending work/college and functioning normally in many life areas, while with severe depression a person may have withdrawn from many of their day to day activities).

Self-harm is a symptom that can be present in several mental health problems. It refers to any act of self-poisoning or self-injury carried out by an individual irrespective of motivation. This commonly involves self-poisoning with medication or self-injury by cutting. There are several important exclusions that this term is not intended to cover. These include harm to the self-arising from excessive consumption of alcohol or drugs, or from starvation arising from anorexia nervosa.

Suicide refers to a death caused by self-directed injurious behaviour with an intent to die as a result of the behaviour. A Risk to Self or Other protocol is detailed later in the module.