Acute Services

Medical treatment provided mainly in hospital

AD

Advance Directive (also known as Advance Agreement, is a way of making your views known before a crisis when you may be unable to make informed choices)

ADHD

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (see the ADHD condition category for more details)

AMHP

Approved Mental Health Practitioner (social workers, nurses, occupational therapists or psychologists who have been approved by a local social services authority to carry out certain functions under the Mental Health Act)

AOT

Assertive Outreach Team (provides intensive support for severely mentally ill people who are difficult to engage in more traditional services)

AP

Adult Protection (protection of a vulnerable adult who may not be able to protect themselves from abuse as a result of their condition)

Assessment

Measures the cicumstances of an individual, family, group or community against benchmarks in preparing for diagnosis or plan of action

ASW

Approved Social Worker (a social worker with responsibility for assessing someone's needs, care and treatment under the Mental Health Act)

BME

Black and Minority Ethnic (used to name a community group made up of ethnic minorities)

CAMHS

Children & Adolescent Mental Health Services (pronounced Cams, the NHS mental health service for those under the age of 18)

Care Pathway

The name for a care programme which is designed to ease and coordinate the passage of a person through the health care system

Care Plan

A plan written in partnership with a mental health worker outlining the treatment/support/care that someone should receive

CBT

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (a group of therapies that focus on the thoughts, images, beliefs and attitudes that we hold and how this relates to the way we behave, as a way of dealing with emotional problems)

CHI

Commission for Health Improvement (established to improve the quality of NHS care by identifying best practice and where improvements can be made)

CJD

Creutzfeld Jakob Disease (a fatal brain disease first classified in the 1920s)

CM

Care Management (the process of assessing individual needs, allocating resources in a care plan, and monitoring objectives)

CMHT

Community Mental Health Team (community-based teams of workers for people with more severe health problems who are referred by a health professional)

CMHTOP

Community Mental Health Team for Older People (helps older people, usually aged 65 and over, who have a mental health problem and live in their own home or a care home)

Co-morbidity

A term used to signify multiple illness

Commissioning

The process by which the needs of the local poulation are identified, priorities set, and appropriate services purchased and evaluated

CPA

Care Programme Approach (the guidelines that mental health workers are supposed to follow to assess someone's needs and develop plans for their care)

CPN

Community Psychiatric Nurse (nurses based in community teams, not on hospital wards)

CRT

Crisis Resolution Team (also known as Home Treatment Team, provide support for people going through a mental health crisis to try and prevent a hospital admission)

CSW

Community Support Worker (a worker who is part of a CMHT and who supports those with mental health problems in the community)

CTO

Community Treatment Order (a legal order that allows a patient to be discharged from formal detention onto supervised community treatment)

DAT

Drug & Alcohol Team or Drug Action Team (a team of workers who help those with addiction problems)

DD

Dual Diagnosis (refers to people diagnosed with mental health problems who also use illicit drugs and/or alcohol)

DDA

Disablity Discrimination Act (this 1995 Act, significantly extended in 2005, aims to end the discrimination that many disabled people face by establishing certain rights)

DID

Dissociative Identity Disorder (the most complex dissociative disorder, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder or MPD)

Direct Payment

A local authority payment to a person who can then use it to purchase social care, rather than the care being provided directly by the local authority

DLA

Disability Living Allowance (a tax-free benefit for children and adults who need help with personal care, or have walking difficulties, because they are physically or mentally disabled)

DOH

Department of Health (government department responsible for the health of the nation)

DSH

Deliberate Self-Harm

ECT

Electroconvulsive Therapy (one of the most controversial treatments in modern psychiatry, used mainly for severe depression which has not responded to other treatments)

EIP

Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP workers support people when they have their first psychotic experience, helping them to have a beeter long-term outcome)

EMI

Elderly Mentally Ill (those over 65 with a mental health diagnosis)

GP

General Practitioner (your local family doctor)

HP

Health Promotion (the process of enabling people to exert control over the determinants of health and thereby improve their health)

IAPT

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (an NHS initiative enabling better access to talking treatments than previously)

IMCA

Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (a service that provides a specialist advocate to support and represent a person lacking capacity to make decisions about their care and treatment options)

IMHA

Independent Mental Health Advocate (specially trained advocate who a qualifying patient has a right to receive help from on matters such as their rights under the Mental Health Act)

JCB

Joint Commisssioning Board (commissions, monitors and evaluates the shared budget for council and NHS care services)

LD

Learning Disability (a term describing a permanent condition that affects a person's capacity to learn which is not an illness)

MDO

Mentally Disordered Offenders (refers to people who have been compulsorily detained in high security psychiatric hospitals)

MHA

Mental Health Act (the government Act that deals with the legal aspects of mental health)

MHAC

Mental Health Act Commission (regulates the implementation and use of the current Mental Health Act)

MHRT

Mental Health Review Tribunal (an independent body that decides whether a formal patient should be discharged)

MHSW

Mental Health Support Worker (a general term for someone who works to help people with mental health problems)

MILD

Mental Illness and Learning Disabilities (a term which brings together two different but sometimes related kinds of mental disablement)

MPD

Multiple Personality Disorder (the most complicated form of dissociative disorder, also known as Dissociative Identity Disorder or DID)

Nearest Relative

A person's nearest relative has a number of powers and is identified according to the rules set out in section 26 of the Mental Health Act

NHS West Sussex

The business name for West Sussex Primary Care Trust

NICE

National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NHS body which provides authoritative and reliable guidance on best practice)

NIMHE

National Institute for Mental Health in England (government body that supports local areas to develop their mental health services)

NMD

Neurosurgery for Mental Disorder, also known as Psychosurgery

NSF

National Service Framework (sets out in detail what the government wants the mental health service to do)

OCD

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (see OCD condition category for more details)

OT

Occupational Therapy/Therapist (the assessment and treatment of physical and psychiatric conditions using specific activity to promote independent function)

PB

Personal Budget (a person's allocation of funds for their social care, part of Self-Directed Support - see SDS)

PCT

Primary Care Trust (NHS body that provides primary services such as GP surgeries and community nurses, and that commissions other local health services)

Primary Care

General health care services provided by GPs, their staff, and social care services

PTSD

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (see the PTSD condition category for more details)

RMN

Registered Mental Nurse (a nurse who works in mental health and may go on to further study to become a Community Psychiatric Nurse)

RSW

Registered Social Worker (a person employed by a local authority who provides help and support to residents)

SAD

Seasonal Affective Disorder (a type of depression mainly caused by a lack of sunshine during winter months)

SCT

Supervised Community Treatment (arrangement where a patient is discharged from detention in hospital under the Mental Health Act and is required to comply with conditions set out in a community treatment order)

SDS

Self-Directed Support (a system which gives people more control over their social care needs)

Secondary Care

Services for people with more severe mental health needs, such as CMHTs, CRTs, EIP services and inpatient wards.

SEMI

Severe and Enduring Mental Illness (a term used to describe a long-term mental health problem)

SHA

Strategic Health Authority (a government body that checks NHS performance according to Department of Health guidelines)

SoSA

Self or Supported Assessment (a form which is used to decide a social care Personal Budget for someone using the Self-Directed Support system - see SDS)

SPT

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (the local NHS trust which provides mental health services in Sussex)

SSD

Social Services Department (the local authority department dealing with social care for residents)

St. John's Wort

A plant used as a herbal remedy for centuries, but currently it is most often used in tablet form to treat depression (see St. John's Wort in the Conditions/Therapies category)

Stakeholder

Person or organisation with a direct interest in a service or practice.

STR Worker

Support, Time & Recovery Worker (a mental health worker who focuses directly on the needs of service users, providing them with support, giving time to them, and thus promoting their recovery)

Tertiary Care

Care of a highly specialist nature typically provided in regional centres

vCJD

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (a variant of CJD first reported in 1996)

WHO

World Health Organisation (the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations)

WSPCT

West Sussex Primary Care Trust (the PCT that covers the whole of the West Sussex geographical area)