Fourth Edition, September 2011

Psychosocial Rehabilitation
A range of interventions aimed at improving a client’s 
personal, domestic, and social functioning, so that 
they can live independently in the community.
Psychotic 
A term used to describe a condition in which a person 
is unable to tell what is real from what is imagined, as 
occurs with the experience of hallucinations or de-
lusions. The condition may also include features of 
thought disorder, disorientation or confusion.
Psychotropic medication 
Medication that aff ects thought processes or feeling 
states.
Schizophrenia/Schizophrenic Disorder
A group of mental illnesses of which the essential and 
most obvious features is the presence of psychotic 
symptoms during the active phase of the illness. There 
may also be a loss in the person’s ability to perform 
some life tasks, such as relating to others, maintaining 
employment, and domestic duties.
Separation anxiety disorder 
A disorder with onset before the age of 18 consisting 
of inappropriate anxiety concerning separation from 
home or from persons to whom the child is attached. 
Symptoms may include: unrealistic concern about 
harm befalling or loss of a major attachment fi gure; re-
fusal to go to school (school phobia) in order to stay at 
home and maintain contact with this fi gure; refusal to 
go to sleep unless close to this person; clinging; night-
mares about the theme of separation; and develop-
ment of physical symptoms or mood changes (apathy, 
depression) when separation occurs or is anticipated. 
Severe Mental Illness 
A mental illness in which a person’s ability to think, 
communicate, and behave appropriately is so impaired 
that it interferes with the person’s ability to deal with 
ordinary demands of life. Without eff ective treatment 
and support, the outcome for the person may be sig-
nifi cant impairment, disability, and/or disadvantage.