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glossary

Important Terms Related to Community Health 

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COVID-19

Community spread is spread of a disease among a certain area, in which there is no direct knowledge of how or when someone contracted the disease.

COVID-19 is the specific illness related to the current pandemic. The acronym, provided by the World Health Organization, stands for "coronavirus disease 2019," referring to the year the virus was first detected. The name of the virus is SARS-CoV-2.

An epidemic is a situation where a disease spreads rapidly among many people, and in a higher concentration than normal. It is on a smaller scale, however, than a pandemic.

An outbreak is a higher-than-normal rate of occurrence of a disease. The terms epidemic and pandemic are often used to describe the magnitude or nature of an outbreak or series of outbreaks.

However, a pandemic is a worldwide spread of a disease. This is a higher order of magnitude than an epidemic. In other words, an 'outbreak' is the occurrence of disease cases in excess of what's normally expected; an 'epidemic' is more than a normal number of cases of an illness, specific health-related behavior or other health-related events in a community or region; and a 'pandemic' is basically a global epidemic.

 A novel coronavirus is a strain that hasn't been detected in humans before. The virus responsible for the current pandemic is often called the novel coronavirus.

Flatten the curve refers to a curve that is a projection of the number of people who contract COVID–19 over a period of time. The graph represents the number of people who have the disease, on the y-axis (vertical), for each day since the first case, on the x-axis (horizontal).

 

A high curve is created by a steep increase in the number of cases per day followed by a quick decrease. A flatter curve is created by a more gradual increase in the number of cases per day and a more gradual decrease. Over a long period of time, the number of people infected with the novel coronavirus might be about the same, but the difference is in the number of cases each day.

Person-to-person spread means the virus has been transmitted due to close contact between people, whether the interaction involves actual physical contact or just a cough or sneeze in close quarters.

Social Distancing is a way of preventing the spread of contagious illnesses, as suggested by the World Health Organization. "Social distancing" doesn't mean staying inside. It means keeping a generous amount of personal space -- about three feet -- in between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.

Symptomatic simply means someone is showing symptoms of a particular illness or a disease. For COVID-19, that would include things like fever, cough or shortness of breath. Many individuals have COVID-19 but do not show any overt symptoms, in this case the person would be asymptomatic.  

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Anxiety is a type of body signal, or group of sensations, that are generally unpleasant. A person with anxiety experiences a variety of physical sensations that are linked with thoughts that make them feel apprehensive or fearful. A person with anxiety will often also think that bad things may happen even when they are not likely to happen.

A clinic is a setting where various health professionals work directly with patients.

Mental Health

A clinical is an activity that takes place between a health provider and a patient (diagnosis, treatments, etc.).

Cognition involves the mental processes associated with thinking, learning, planning, memory, etc. 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a form of psychotherapy (talk therapy), designed to help treat various mental disorders. It focuses on changing the persons’ thoughts and behaviours to help reverse the person’s symptoms and help increase the person’s functioning.

Community treatment: providing various kinds of treatments and services in the community instead of in the hospital. For example: in the doctor’s office, in a health clinic or health center, in a school, etc.

Depression is a term used to describe a state of low mood or a mental disorder. This can be confusing because people may often feel depressed but will not have the mental disorder called Depression. People with a Depression could be experiencing either Major Depressive Disorder or Dysthymic Disorder. The most common type of Depression as a mental disorder is a Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). A person with MDD feels very low /sad/depressed or irritable and also experiences lack of interest, less pleasure, hopelessness, fatigue, sleep problems, loss of appetite, suicidal thoughts.

Grief is normal emotional suffering experienced by a person from a loss of a loved one (e.g. it is experienced when a family member dies). It is different from a depressive disorder. Grief is not a mental disorder.

Hormones are chemicals formed in one part of the body and carried to another body part or organ where they have an impact on how that part functions. They are important in growth, development, mood, and metabolism (food uptake and breakdown). For example, serotonin is a hormone in the brain that affects mood, growth hormone comes from the pituitary gland to many parts of the body and affects growth, testosterone affects sexual functioning, etc.

Mental Health is a state of emotional, behavioural, and social wellbeing, not just the absence of mental or behavioural disorder. It does not mean lack of distress. A person can have a mental disorder and mental health at the same time. For example: a person may have a Major Depressive Disorder that has been effectively treated and is still taking treatment for the disorder. Now they have mental health as well as a mental disorder.

A Mental Health Professional is a broad category of health care workers who work to help other people improve their mental health or treat mental disorders. Examples are psychiatrists, clinical social workers, psychiatric nurses, psychologists, mental health counselors, child and youth workers, etc. They have all received training in working with people who are living with a mental disorder.

Mental Health Promotion involves activities that try to improve the mental health of people or try to reduce risk for the development of various mental health or social problems.

Mental Illness refers to a range of brain disorders that affect mood, behaviour, and thought process. Mental illnesses are listed and defined in the DSM and the ICD. The terms mental illness and mental disorder are often used interchangeably.

Mood is the ongoing inner emotional feeling experienced by a person.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): This mental disorder can happen to people who experience a really scary, painful, or horrific event in which they felt scared or helpless and during which they were in danger of death or severe injury. People who develop PTSD will have flashback memories, or nightmares, of the event and will avoid things that remind them of the event.

Psychotherapy is a type of treatment for emotional, behavioural, personality, and other psychiatric disorders based mainly on person to person communication. Psychotherapies can be evidence-based (supported by many good research studies) or non-evidence based (not supported by many good research studies). It is important for a patient to know what the evidence to support the psychotherapy that they are being treated with is.

A risk factor is anything that increases a person’s chances of getting a disorder (can be aspects of a person’s health, genetics, lifestyle or environment). Remember, risk factors increase a person’s chances of getting a disorder – they do not cause the disorder. And, risk factors can be weak or strong, so having a specific risk factor may or may not be important for the person.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that helps in regulating many different brain functions, including mood, anxiety and thinking.

A therapist is a person who is professionally trained and/or skilled in the practice of a particular type of therapy.

MH terms
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