A psychiatric home health worker is curious about the use of nuthouse to mean “a mental health facility.” This term goes back to the turn of the 20th century. The word nuts itself once had an extremely positive connotation, referring to anything as...
A mental health therapist wonders about the origin of the term manic. It derives from Greek mania, meaning “madness” or “frenzy,” from an older root that gives us mind and mental. From the same root comes maniac. The word mania is now part of such...
Why are psychiatrists and psychologists called shrinks? It’s a jocular reference to the ritual practice in certain tribal societies of literally shrinking the heads of one’s vanquished enemies. The term shrink was adopted as a joking reference to...
A government official in New Zealand has devised a new Maori-based glossary to replace some of the English words used by the government for talking about mental health, disability, and addiction. For example, he proposes replacing the word autism...
vitamin P n.— «Considering her own history of depression—Vincent had been taking “Vitamin P” (better known as Prozac) for years—she anticipated her mental health might suffer.» —“Norah Vincent spent a year disguised as a man for her last book but...
self-embedding n.— «Health officials in Chicago are warning about a growing trend among teenagers who inflict pain on themselves by inserting foreign objects under their skin. The practice, called “self embedding,” is similar to cutting and is most...
