Therapy Basics
The ethical principle that treatment information will not be disclosed without the client's consent.
Confidentiality
An anxiety and worry that is excessive and occurs more days than not for a period of at least 6 months.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
The CBT technique of identifying and changing distorted thought patterns.
Cognitive Restructuring
The involuntary, repetitive movements, most often of the face and tongue, caused by long-term antipsychotic use.
Tardive Dyskinesia (TD)
The ethical principle requiring the therapist to act in the ways that promote the client's well-being.
Beneficence
An unconscious strategy where a client redirects past feelings onto the therapist.
Transference
Symptoms developing within 3 months of an identifiable stressor, causing significant impairment.
Adjustment Disorder
The core DBT philosophy that integrates two opposing concepts: acceptance and change.
Dialectics
A fixed, false belief that is firmly held despite clear evidence to the contrary.
Delusion
The legal concept that protects the client's right to prevent the therapist from disclosing confidential information in a legal proceeding.
Privileged Communication
The most severe defense mechanism where an individual incorporates another's values into their own self-structure.
Introjection
The primary distinction between the Criteria for MDD and Adjustment Disorder regarding minimum required duration.
MDD is 2 weeks, Adjustment Disorder onset is within 3 months.
A distress tolerance skill in DBT that involves non-judgmentally accepting reality to reduce suffering.
Radical Acceptance
A disturbance in thought process where ideas shift abruptly from one unrelated subject to another, making speech incoherent.
Loose Associations
The legal requirement for a therapist to breach confidentiality to prevent physical violence to an identifiable victim.
Duty to Warn/Protect
The process of providing a client with education about their condition and treatment plan.
Psychoeducation
The term for the severe inability to swallow safely, which requires diet modification and is a key concern in long-term care.
Dysphagia
The acronym for the four core communication skills of Motivational Interviewing.
OARS (Open-Ended Questions, Affirmations, Reflective Listening, and Summarizing.)
A sensory perception experienced in the absence of an external stimulus.
Hallucination
The ethical breach that occurs when a therapist has a professional role and an additional, distinct, and inappropriate role (e.g., friend or partner) with a client.
Dual Relationship / Boundary Violation
The unconscious redirection of feelings from one person onto the therapist, and the therapist's emotional reaction to that process.
Transference AND Countertransference
The core symptom of an Adjustment Disorder that determines if the disturbance is "clinically significant" (two possible answers).
(1) Marked distress that is out of proportion to the stressor OR (2) Significant impairment in functioning (social, occupational).
The class of antidepressants that increases serotonin by preventing its reabsorption.
SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor)
The systematic presentation of a feared object or situation to a client to reduce avoidance and habituate the fear response.
Exposure Therapy
The strict ethical principle that a therapist practices only within the bounds of their education, training, and experience.
Competence