Glossary of Key Terms
|
Term |
Definition in Context |
|
Psychotherapy |
An umbrella term for activities intended to improve a patient’s psychological well-being. |
|
Well-being |
The state of healthy and happy functioning in mind and spirit that therapy aims to improve. |
|
Transference |
A phenomenon where the patient shifts feelings about a significant person from their past onto the therapist. |
|
Resistance |
The instinctive opposition a patient shows toward making unconscious material conscious. |
|
Behavior Modification |
Treatment focusing on changing behaviors through a learning process rather than internal states. |
|
Insight |
An "aha" moment or personal paradigm shift that triggers psychological change. |
|
Empathy |
The capacity to accurately perceive and understand what another person feels and means. |
|
Unconscious |
The part of the psyche containing motivations or systems not currently in the person's awareness |