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UIP FO Q R E
E Q Y U A L I T EFE FACT SHEET – Mental Health
GLOSSARY OF MENTAL HEALTH TERMS
See also the Illinois Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code, 405 ILCS 5/1-101 et seq., and the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act, 740 ILCS 110/1 et seq.
Abuse Abuse is any physical injury, sexual abuse, or mental injury inflicted on a person receiving services other than by accident.
Adequate and Humane Care and Services Adequate and humane care and services are services that are meant to result in: • a significant improvement of a person’s condition while in an inpatient mental health facility so that he or she may be released; or • the prevention of further decline in a person’s condition so that he or she does not present a danger to himself or herself or to others.
Advance Directive Advance Directives are documents that people can create to control their future medical care or mental health treatment if they become unable to make decisions for themselves. Two kinds of Advance Directives can be used for mental health purposes: Power of Attorney for Health Care and Mental Health Treatment Preference Declaration (see Power of Attorney for Health Care and Mental Health Treatment Preference Declaration).
Care and Custody Care and custody is a court order authorizing an appropriate person to provide or arrange for proper and adequate mental health treatment of a person who is subject to involuntary admission to a mental health facility.
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Certificate A certificate is a document filled out by a physician, qualified examiner, clinical psychologist or psychiatrist stating that on the basis of a their examination, a person is subject to involuntary admission and requires immediate hospitalization. The certificate must indicate that the physician, qualified examiner or clinical psychologist personally examined the person not more than 72 hours prior to admission. A psychiatrist’s certificate must be based upon an examination within 24 hours after the person is brought in for the examination. It also contains the examiner’s clinical observations, other factual information relied upon in reaching a diagnosis and a statement as to whether the person was advised of his or her rights as set forth in the Illinois Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code.
Civil Action A civil action is a lawsuit brought to enforce some legal right, which often includes a request for monetary damages. In general, all actions that are not criminal actions are civil actions.
Clinical Psychologist A clinical psychologist is a psychologist registered with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation who meets the following qualifications: • has a doctoral degree from a regionally accredited university, college or professional school and has two years of supervised experience in health services, of which at least one year is postdoctoral and one year is in an organized health service program; or • has a graduate degree in psychology from a regionally accredited university or college and has not less than six years of experience as a psychologist, with at least two years of supervised experience in health services.
Clinical Social Worker A clinical social worker is a person who has a master's or doctoral degree in social work from an accredited graduate school of social work and has at least three years of supervised post-master's clinical social work practice, which includes the provision of mental health services for the evaluation, treatment, and prevention of mental and emotional disorders.
Department or DHS Department or DHS stands for the Illinois Department of Human Services.
Developmental Disability A developmental disability is a disability, that is caused by: • mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy or autism; or
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• any other condition that results in impairments similar to those caused by mental retardation and that requires services similar to those required by people with mental retardation.
Such disability must begin before the age of 18 years, be expected to continue indefinitely and constitute a substantial disability.
Discharge A discharge is the full release of any person admitted to a mental health facility or otherwise held for purposes of treatment, habilitation, or care and custody.
Electro convulsive Therapy Electro convulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric treatment that involves sending an electric current through an often sedated patient's brain under controlled conditions. ECT patients often experience memory loss of events that happened soon before or after their treatments and might also experience long-term memory loss.
Emancipation Emancipation is the time when a minor is no longer subject to parental authority and is treated as an adult under the law.
Facility Director A facility director is the chief officer of a mental health facility, the supervisor of a treatment program or any person who is designated to act on behalf of the chief officer or supervisor.
Guardian A guardian is a person appointed by the court to make personal and/or financial decisions for another individual. The type of guardianship ordered by the court determines what specific responsibilities and powers the guardian has over the person and his or her property.
Habilitation Habilitation is an effort directed toward improving or increasing the physical, mental, social or economic functioning of a person with a mental disability.
Hospitalization Hospitalization (under the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code) is the treatment of a person as an inpatient by a mental health facility.
Informed Consent An informed consent is a consent by a person that he or she knows and fully understands the risks and benefits of a proposed medical treatment or procedure
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(including mental health treatment) before agreeing to undergo the treatment or procedure.
Least Restrictive Environment The least restrictive environment is an environment that allows a person the most freedom appropriate to his or her mental health condition and treatment needs.
Mental Health Facility A mental health facility is any licensed private or state hospital, institution or facility (or any section or department) that provides treatment of people with mental illness. This includes all hospitals, institutions, clinics, evaluation facilities and mental health centers that provide treatment for such persons.
Mental Health Treatment Preference Declaration A mental health treatment preference declaration is an Advance Directive document in which a person agrees to admission to a mental health facility for up to 17 days and describes the treatment he or she wants with medication and/or electro convulsive therapy or appoints an attorney-in-fact to make those decisions.
Mental Illness Mental illness is a mental or emotional disorder that substantially impairs a person’s thought, perception of reality, emotional process, judgment, behavior or ability to cope with the ordinary demands of life, but does not include a developmental disability, dementia or Alzheimer’s disease absent psychosis, a substance abuse disorder or an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise antisocial conduct.
Minor A minor is a person less than 18 years of age.
Misdemeanor A misdemeanor is a crime less serious than a felony, usually punished by a fine or imprisonment of less than one year in a local jail.
Neglect Neglect means the failure to provide adequate medical or personal care or maintenance to a recipient of services, resulting in physical or mental injury to the recipient or in the deterioration of his or her physical or mental condition.
Peace Officer See Police Officer.
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Person Subject to Involuntary Admission A person subject to involuntary admission is: • a person with mental illness who, because of his or her illness, is reasonably expected to inflict serious physical harm upon himself or herself or another in the near future, which may include threatening behavior or conduct that places another individual in reasonable expectation of being harmed; or • a person with mental illness who, because of his or her illness, is unable to provide for his or her basic physical needs so as to guard himself or herself from serious harm without the assistance of family or outside help. • A person with mental illness who, because of the nature of your illness, are unable to understand the need for treatment and if you are not treated it is reasonable to expect that you will deteriorate further mentally or emotionally and that you will engage in dangerous conduct.
Police Officer A police officer includes any sheriff, police officer or other person deputized by proper authority to serve as a law enforcement officer. The Illinois Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code uses the term “peace officer.”
Power of Attorney for Health Care A power of attorney for health care is an Advance Directive document where a person appoints another person to make medical and/or mental health treatment decisions on his or her behalf.
Psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a medical doctor or physician who has completed medical school and also a multi-year residency in psychiatry in a program accredited either by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or the American Osteopathic Association.
Psychologist A psychologist is a person who has completed a doctoral-level degree in psychology.
Psychotropic Medication Psychotropic medication is medication that is used for antipsychotic, antidepressant, anti-manic, anti-anxiety, behavioral modification or behavioral management purposes. Under the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code, psychotropic medication also includes those tests and related procedures that are essential for the safe and effective administration of a psychotropic medication.
Public Defender A public defender is a lawyer, employed by the government, whose primary duty is to represent criminal defendants who are unable to pay for an attorney. Public defenders
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can also be appointed to represent someone who is the subject of a court hearing for involuntary admission to a mental health facility and/or a hearing for involuntary treatment.
Qualified Examiner A qualified examiner is a person who is: • a clinical social worker licensed under the Clinical Social Work and Social Work Practice Act; or • a registered nurse with a master's degree in psychiatric nursing and three years of clinical training and experience in the evaluation and treatment of mental illness acquired subsequent to any training and experience that constituted a part of the degree program; or • a licensed clinical professional counselor with a master’s or doctoral degree in counseling or psychology or a similar master’s or doctorate program from a regionally accredited institution and at least three years of supervised post- master’s clinical professional counseling experience that includes the provision of mental health services for the evaluation, treatment and prevention of mental and emotional disorders.
Recipient A recipient, or recipient of services, means a person who has formerly received or is receiving mental health treatment, a person in a mental health facility or someone seeing a therapist (see Therapist).
Records Records are a person’s mental health records kept by a therapist or agency in the course of treatment, including those records maintained by a court relating to the filing of a certificate or in relation to any mental health hearing.
Redisclose To redisclose is to share or reveal the information found in a person’s records with someone else.
Restraint A restraint is a restriction through mechanical means or personal physical force on a person’s limbs, head or body. Restraint can be used only to prevent the person from causing physical harm to himself or herself or physical abuse to others, and can be used in addition to seclusion (see Seclusion). Momentary periods of physical restriction by direct person-to-person contact, without the aid of material or mechanical devices, accomplished with limited force and designed to prevent a person from completing an act that would result in potential physical harm to himself or herself or to another person does not constitute restraint.
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Seclusion Seclusion means placing an individual alone in a room from which he or she has no means of leaving. Seclusion can only be used to prevent the person from causing physical harm to himself or herself or physical abuse to others, and can be used in addition to restraint (see Restraint).
Service Provider A service provider is any mental health or developmental disability facility, community agency or person devoted in whole or in part to providing mental health or developmental disabilities services.
State's Attorney (Prosecutor) The state’s attorney (prosecutor) is the government's attorney who presents the case against a criminal defendant, against a person who is the subject of an involuntary admission hearing or against a person subject to an involuntary treatment hearing.
Substitute Decision Maker A substitute decision maker is a person who has the authority to make mental health treatment decisions for another person as the agent under a Power of Attorney for Health Care or as the attorney-in-fact under a Mental Health Treatment Preference Declaration.
Therapist The term therapist includes psychiatrist, physician, psychologist, social worker or nurse providing mental health or developmental disabilities services or any other person not prohibited by law from providing such services or from holding himself or herself out as a therapist, such as a mental health therapist or mental health counselor. The term does not include pharmacist.
Treatment Treatment is an effort to accomplish an improvement in the mental condition or related behavior of a recipient. Treatment includes, but is not limited to, hospitalization, outpatient services, use of medication, psychotherapy, counseling, vocational training and rehabilitation programs.
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UIP FO Q R E
E Q Y U A L I T DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION? Contact Equip for Equality (all services are free of charge): 800.537.2632 (voice) or 800.610.2779 (TTY) [email protected] www.equipforequality.org
This resource material is intended as a guide for people with disabilities. Nothing written here shall be understood to be legal advice. For specific legal advice, an attorney should be consulted. Equip for Equality, an independent nonprofit organization, is the Illinois state Protection & Advocacy System whose mission is to advance the human and civil rights of children and adults with disabilities. This publication was made possible by a grant from the Center for Mental Health Services. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views of the Center for Mental Health Services. ©Equip for Equality, 2005 Revised: Revised: 09/19/2008
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