anxiety: A nervous reaction to events causing excessive uneasiness and apprehension. People with anxiety may even develop panic attacks.

app: Short for application, or a computer program designed for a specific task.

chatbot: A type of computer program known as a bot (web robot) that has been created to interact with people in a way that seems to model normal human conversation. The idea is that if they seem human-like enough, people should be more willing to “chat” with these computer programs or let them take on tasks previously handled only by people. Some chatbots can craft customized text, such as a letter or report. Others might ask or share information (by phone or online) on a company’s behalf. One drawback: They are susceptible to hallucinating — as in making up their answers — or telling people what the chatbot’s artificial-intelligence model thinks they want (even if this is not objectively healthy or true).

context: The setting or circumstances that help explain an event, some statement or some conclusion.

disorder: (in medicine) A condition where the body does not work appropriately, leading to what might be viewed as an illness. This term can sometimes be used interchangeably with disease.

eating disorder: An illness of the mind involving dangerously unhealthy patterns of eating and weight loss or gain.

mental health: A term for someone’s emotional, psychological and social well-being. It refers to how people behave on their own and how they interact with others. It includes how people make choices, handle stress and manage fear or anxiety. Poor mental health can be triggered by disease or might reflect a short-term response to life’s challenges. It can occur in people of any age, from babies to the elderly.

psychiatrist: A medical doctor who spends many years learning to study and treat diseases of the human mind. Treatments may consist of talking therapies, prescription drugs or both. This medical field is known as psychiatry.

psychological: (adj.) Related to how the human mind works, especially in relation to guiding actions and behavior.

psychologist: A scientist or mental-health professional who studies the mind, especially in relation to actions and behaviors. Some work with people. Others may conduct experiments with animals (usually rodents) to test how their minds respond to different stimuli and conditions.

risk: The chance or mathematical likelihood that some bad thing might happen. For instance, exposure to radiation poses a risk of cancer. Or the hazard — or peril — itself. (For instance: Among cancer risks that the people faced were radiation and drinking water tainted with arsenic.)

self-harm: Intentionally injuring one’s body. Examples may include cutting, scratching or burning oneself. This unhealthy behavior is typically a way this individual attempts to cope with emotional pain. It’s usually not intended as a suicide attempt. Also known as self-injury.

social: (adj.) Relating to gatherings of people; a term for animals (or people) that prefer to exist in groups. (noun) A gathering of people, for instance those who belong to a club or other organization, for the purpose of enjoying each other’s company.

survey: To view, examine, measure or evaluate something, often land or broad aspects of a landscape. (with people) To ask questions that glean data on the opinions, practices (such as dining or sleeping habits), knowledge or skills of a broad range of people. Researchers select the number and types of people questioned in hopes that the answers these individuals give will be representative of others who are their age, belong to the same ethnic group or live in the same region. (n.) The list of questions that will be offered to glean those data.

system: A network of parts that together work to achieve some function. For instance, the blood, vessels and heart are primary components of the human body’s circulatory system. Similarly, trains, platforms, tracks, roadway signals and overpasses are among the potential components of a nation’s railway system. System can even be applied to the processes or ideas that are part of some method or ordered set of procedures for getting a task done.

technology: The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, or the devices, processes and systems that result from those efforts.

therapy: (adj. therapeutic) Treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder.

tool: An object that a person or other animal makes or obtains and then uses to carry out some purpose such as reaching food, defending itself or grooming.