psychological harm
Injury without wounds
Psychological harm is damage to a person's mental or emotional well-being.
Unlike physical injury, it affects the mind—causing distress, trauma, anxiety, or lasting changes to how someone thinks or feels.
The term appears in legal, clinical, and ethical contexts: The court recognized psychological harm as grounds for damages.
Abuse, neglect, harassment, and witnessing violence can all inflict psychological harm.
- abandonmentAct of leaving permanently
- trust issuesSkepticism toward others' motives
- PTSDChronic reaction to horrific events
- traumaLasting psychological wound
- isolationComplete separation from others
coercion · victim blaming · flashbacks · night terrors · sadness · learned helplessness · anxiety · elder neglect · gaslighting · memory loss · withdrawal · dissociation · cognitive dissonance · catastrophizing · invalidation · guilt · intrusive thoughts · panic attacks
- traumaabuse, abandonment, abandonment trauma, acute stress, amnesia
- attachment traumaattachment disorder, attachment issues, insecure attachment, anxious attachment, avoidant attachment
- damagebreakage, break, crack, fracture, dent
- sufferingagony, anguish, misery, pain, torment
- forensic psychologyforensic evaluation, forensic interview, insanity plea, legal insanity, forensic psychiatry
- Overdiagnosisovertesting, overtreatment, overscreening, overprescription, overprescribing
psychological harmpsychological healing
Mind's return to wholeness
emotional healing · psychological support · psychological wellbeing · mental wellness · emotional support
psychological harmphysical harm
Damage to body
bodily harm · physical injury · bodily injury · physical trauma · flesh wound
psychological harmpsychological well-being
Healthy emotional state
mental health · emotional well-being · mental wellness · mental fitness · emotional health