Mental Health Dictionaries

No matter where your child is in their mental health journey, you’ve probably had to look up a term because you’re not quite sure what it exactly means. Mental health is just that, health, so the official medical terms for mental illnesses, medications, diagnoses, and parts of the brain that affect your emotions and mood can get overwhelming. There are also different types of treatment you can seek out and different types of therapists which can make the whole thing very confusing.

We’ve compiled a list of several glossaries for you to check out if you want quick access to any of them and want to be able to provide some sort of information for your child. You can choose which one is best for depending on which of their definitions are most relevant for your child.

Mental Health Glossary (Teen Mental Health)
Rogers Behavioral Health Glossary
Child and Adolescent Mental Health (Stanford Children’s Health)
An Anti-Glossary (Mental Health Today)

Note: It is incredibly important that you do not rely on these glossaries. If you feel like the definition of a diagnosis fits your child or that the effects of a medication would benefit them, reach out to their doctor to get more information. 


Is there anything about mental health or mental illness that you’ve wanted more information about? What has stopped you from learning more about mental illness? Was it because the information was overwhelming, or were you afraid because of stigma or being afraid of giving inaccurate information to your child?

Leave a Reply