Vocabulary in The Silent Patient

A mental health professional who works within the criminal justice or secure psychiatric system, treating patients who have committed violent or criminal acts.

A locked psychiatric facility where patients who are considered dangerous to themselves or others are held and treated under close supervision.

Formally detained in a psychiatric hospital under a section of the Mental Health Act, meaning the patient has no legal right to leave.

A condition in which a person who is physically capable of speech chooses, consciously or unconsciously, to stop speaking entirely.

In Greek myth, a queen who sacrificed her own life to save her husband's; here, the title of Alicia's painting, used as a symbol of self-sacrifice and silent suffering.

A work of art — here a painting — made in three connected panels or sections that together form a single composition.

In psychotherapy, the process by which a patient unconsciously redirects feelings originally felt toward someone else — often a parent — onto the therapist.

A therapist's own unconscious emotional reactions toward a patient, which can interfere with or illuminate the therapeutic relationship.

The senior doctor responsible for overseeing all medical and therapeutic decisions within a psychiatric facility.

A Latin legal term meaning 'at first sight'; used here to describe evidence that appears sufficient to prove guilt without needing further examination.

A legal defence arguing that a defendant's mental abnormality substantially reduced their ability to understand or control their actions, reducing a murder charge to manslaughter.

An overwhelming, irresistible urge to behave in a certain way, experienced as being beyond the person's conscious control.

Relating to an excessive, self-centred preoccupation with one's own needs, image, or importance, often at the expense of empathy for others.

A person who obsessively and repeatedly follows, watches, or contacts another person, causing fear, without that person's consent.

Evidence or a claim that a person was somewhere else at the time a crime was committed, used to prove they could not be responsible.

A storyteller whose account cannot be fully trusted because they withhold information, deceive themselves, or deliberately mislead the reader.

A release of deeply held emotional tension, often through an intense experience; in therapy, the relief a patient feels when a buried truth finally surfaces.

A secret or dishonest cooperation between people to deceive others or to cover up wrongdoing.

Prescription medications used to manage symptoms of severe mental illness such as psychosis, hallucinations, or extreme agitation.

A medical or psychiatric prediction about the likely future course and outcome of a patient's condition.