Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Glossary
Information about mental health and suicide prevention can sometimes include language you might not be familiar with. These terms are used commonly when talking about suicide prevention.
C
Chat service
Comprehensive suicide prevention plans
Confidentiality
Consumer
Contagion
Crisis center
Crisis counseling
Crisis hotline
Crisis intervention
M
Means
Means restriction
Methods
Mental disorder
Mental health
Mental health problem
Mental health services
Mental illness
P
Postvention
Prevention
Prevention network
Protective factors
Psychiatric disorder
Psychiatry
Psychology
Public health
S
Screening
Screening tools
Self-harm
Self-injury
Social services
Social support
Stakeholders
Stigma
Substance use disorder
Suicidal act (also referred to as suicide attempt)
Suicidal behavior
Suicidal ideation
Suicidality
Suicide
Suicide attempt
Suicide attempt survivors
Suicide survivors
Suicide warning signs
Adapted from the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for action. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, 2001