Mental Health Glossary

Plain-language definitions of common mental health terms, with links to free screening tests on LuriaLab. For education and self-reflection only — not a substitute for professional diagnosis.

• Dissociation

  Dissociation is a disconnect between your thoughts, identity, consciousness, or memory and your sense of the present moment. It can feel like spacing out, feeling unreal, or watching yourself from outside your body.

• Depersonalization

  Depersonalization is the sense of being detached from yourself — as if you are an outside observer of your thoughts, feelings, or body. It is a common form of dissociation.

• Generalized Anxiety

  Generalized anxiety usually means persistent, hard-to-control worry and tension about everyday concerns — often with restlessness, fatigue, irritability, or sleep problems — for weeks at a time.

• Adult ADHD

  Adult ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) describes enduring difficulties with attention, organization, restlessness, or impulsivity that begin in childhood and continue to interfere with work, relationships, or daily tasks.

• PTSD

  PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is a trauma-related condition that can develop after exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence, with symptoms such as flashbacks, avoidance, negative mood changes, and hypervigilance lasting more than one month.

• Derealization

  Derealization is a form of dissociation where your surroundings feel unreal, dreamlike, foggy, or visually distorted, even though you know they are real.

• Anxiety

  Anxiety is a natural response to stress or perceived threat, involving worry, nervousness, and physical arousal. It becomes a concern when it is frequent, intense, or interferes with daily life.

• Panic Attack

  A panic attack is a sudden episode of intense fear that peaks within minutes, with physical symptoms such as a racing heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, and a feeling of losing control.

• Social Anxiety

  Social anxiety is a marked fear of social or performance situations where you might be judged, embarrassed, or scrutinized, often leading to avoidance.

• Specific Phobia

  A specific phobia is an intense, persistent, and irrational fear of a particular object or situation — such as heights, flying, needles, or animals — that leads to avoidance.

• Health Anxiety

  Health anxiety is a preoccupation with having or developing a serious illness, often persisting despite medical reassurance and normal test results.

• Stress

  Stress is the body and mind's response to demands or pressure. Short-term stress can be helpful, but chronic stress can affect mood, sleep, concentration, and physical health.

• Burnout

  Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged stress — most often work-related — with feelings of cynicism and reduced effectiveness.

• Depression

  Depression is more than sadness — it is a persistent low mood or loss of interest lasting at least two weeks, often with changes in sleep, appetite, energy, and concentration.

• Postnatal Depression

  Postnatal depression is a form of depression that develops after childbirth, involving persistent low mood, anxiety, and difficulty coping that goes beyond the short-lived "baby blues."

• Geriatric Depression

  Geriatric depression is depression occurring in older adults. It may show up differently than in younger people — with more physical complaints, memory concerns, or withdrawal rather than obvious sadness.

• Inattention

  Inattention is persistent difficulty sustaining focus, following through on tasks, and staying organized — a core symptom cluster of ADHD.

• Hyperactivity

  Hyperactivity is excessive movement, restlessness, or a feeling of being "driven by a motor," and is one of the core symptom areas of ADHD.

• Impulsivity

  Impulsivity is a tendency to act quickly without fully considering the consequences — such as interrupting, making rash decisions, or difficulty waiting.

• Autism

  Autism (autism spectrum) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental difference affecting social communication, sensory processing, and patterns of behavior and interests.

• Autistic Traits

  Autistic traits are characteristics associated with the autism spectrum — such as social communication differences, focused interests, and sensory sensitivities — that vary widely between individuals.

• OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)

  OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) involves recurring unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviors or mental acts (compulsions) done to reduce distress.

• Intrusive Thoughts

  Intrusive thoughts are unwanted, involuntary thoughts, images, or urges that can be disturbing. They are very common and do not reflect a person's true intentions or character.

• Compulsions

  Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or mental acts a person feels driven to perform to reduce anxiety or prevent a feared event, often in response to obsessions.

• Trauma

  Psychological trauma is the emotional and physiological response to a deeply distressing or threatening event that overwhelms a person's ability to cope.

• Complex PTSD

  Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) can develop after prolonged or repeated trauma. Alongside core PTSD symptoms, it involves difficulties with emotion regulation, self-worth, and relationships.

• Flashback

  A flashback is a vivid, involuntary re-experiencing of a traumatic event, where the past feels as if it is happening in the present moment.

• Hypervigilance

  Hypervigilance is a heightened state of alertness in which a person constantly scans for danger, often after trauma, leading to tension and exhaustion.

• Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

  Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a condition marked by intense and unstable emotions, relationships, and self-image, along with impulsivity and fear of abandonment.

• Emotional Dysregulation

  Emotional dysregulation is difficulty managing the intensity, duration, or expression of emotions, leading to reactions that feel overwhelming or hard to control.

• Self-Esteem

  Self-esteem is your overall subjective sense of personal worth and value. It influences how you think, feel, and behave, and can change over time.

• Low Self-Esteem

  Low self-esteem is a persistent negative view of yourself and your worth, often involving self-criticism, self-doubt, and difficulty valuing your own needs.

• Perfectionism

  Perfectionism is a tendency to set excessively high standards and judge yourself harshly for falling short. It can be motivating in moderation but harmful when rigid and self-critical.

• Emotional Intelligence

  Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to perceive, understand, use, and manage emotions — in yourself and others — to guide thinking and behavior.

• Life Satisfaction

  Life satisfaction is your overall cognitive evaluation of how your life is going compared with your own standards and expectations.

• Eating Disorder

  Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions involving disturbed eating behaviors and distressing concerns about weight, shape, or food that affect health and daily life.

• Anorexia Nervosa

  Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder involving restriction of food intake, intense fear of gaining weight, and a distorted perception of body weight or shape.

• Bulimia Nervosa

  Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder marked by recurrent episodes of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors such as purging, fasting, or excessive exercise.

• Body Image

  Body image is how you perceive, think, and feel about your physical appearance. It can be positive, neutral, or negative and can strongly affect wellbeing.

• Substance Use Disorder

  Substance use disorder is a condition where drug use becomes compulsive and continues despite negative consequences on health, relationships, or responsibilities.

• Addiction

  Addiction is compulsive engagement with a substance or behavior despite harmful consequences, often involving loss of control, cravings, and continued use despite problems.

• Sexual Dysfunction

  Sexual dysfunction is persistent difficulty with sexual desire, arousal, orgasm, or satisfaction that causes distress. It can have physical, psychological, or medication-related causes.

• Premature Ejaculation

  Premature ejaculation is ejaculation that regularly occurs sooner than desired, is difficult to control, and causes distress or interpersonal difficulty.

• Compulsive Sexual Behavior

  Compulsive sexual behavior is a pattern of difficulty controlling intense sexual urges or behaviors that leads to distress or harm to health, relationships, or responsibilities.

• Somatoform Dissociation

  Somatoform dissociation is dissociation experienced in the body — such as numbness, pain, motor weakness, or sensory changes — that is linked to psychological rather than purely medical causes.

• Attachment Style

  Attachment style describes your characteristic patterns of connecting, trusting, and responding to closeness in relationships, shaped by early experiences and later relationships.

• Anxious Attachment

  Anxious attachment is a relationship pattern involving a strong desire for closeness alongside fear of rejection or abandonment, often needing frequent reassurance.

• Avoidant Attachment

  Avoidant attachment is a relationship pattern involving a strong emphasis on independence and self-reliance, with discomfort around emotional closeness and vulnerability.

• Separation Anxiety

  Separation anxiety is excessive fear or distress about being apart from home or attachment figures. It is normal in early childhood but can become a disorder at any age when excessive.

• Child Anxiety

  Child anxiety refers to excessive worry, fear, or nervousness in children and adolescents that goes beyond typical developmental fears and interferes with daily life.

• Screening vs Diagnosis

  Screening is a quick way to identify whether symptoms may be present and whether further evaluation is warranted. Diagnosis is a formal clinical judgment made by a qualified professional after comprehensive assessment.