Background: Data suggests mental health conditions are common. However, language used to depict conditions can be inaccurate and stigmatizing. This study examined mental health professionals’ perspectives regarding specific terminology and their relationship to stigma-inducing beliefs.

Methods: Participants were randomly selected from the APA and State Psychological Association websites, and Psychology Today. Fifty providers were selected per state and the District of Columbia. Participants completed a 26-item survey assessing their beliefs about mental health terminology and the prevalence of conditions. Data collection occurred between September - December 2022; data analyses were conducted in 2023.

Results: 542 participants completed the survey. The majority of participants (76.4%) believed people will have a mental health condition at some point in their lives. Additionally, the majority reported Abnormal Psychology does not accurately describe mental health conditions (81.5%) and the term increases mental health-related stigma (88.9%). Similar trends were found regarding the term Psychopathology. Most participants supported changing the terms Abnormal Psychology (86.2%) and Psychopathology (67.7%) to less stigmatizing terms, such as Mental Health and Human Experiences or Mental Health Conditions.

Conclusion: The findings have implications within therapeutic settings, in regards to specific language and word choices the psychologists believed are not accurate and are stigma inducing (e.g., “abnormal”; “psychopathology”) and provide clinical implications for therapists to refrain from using the stigma-inducing terms when speaking with clients, colleagues and within their internal case conceptualizations. Furthermore, the results have academic implications, as the majority of psychologists supported programs adopting a new course title instead of Abnormal Psychology or Psychopathology for courses that teach about mental health conditions.