Glossary

These are plain definitions of the words this site uses, written so you can quote them.

Each topic name links to its room. Self-hypnosis has its own entry because people search for it, and you’ll find it inside the hypnosis room. Further down are the everyday health words the pages use, such as grief, rumination, and antidepressant, with links to the pages where they come up. These definitions are for education, and the depression and loneliness rooms are not yet medically reviewed.

Arcana Mentis: Arcana Mentis is this site, a free place to learn how your own mind works. The name is Latin for “secrets of the mind,” which is where the tagline, Hidden Knowledge of the Mind, comes from. It offers education only and doesn’t diagnose or treat anyone.
Mind control: Mind control means looking after your own thoughts, attention, and habits. On this site it always means your own mind, never someone else’s. In practice it covers small skills, like noticing where your attention went, bringing it back without scolding yourself, and answering a harsh inner voice with a fairer sentence.
Brain optimization: Brain optimization means training your attention, memory, willpower, and imagination with everyday habits, such as a regular wake time, a daily walk, enough sleep, and time with other people. It’s education, separate from medical treatment, and it makes no promise to turn back the clock. If your memory changes in a way that worries you, talk with your doctor.
Getting your life back: Getting your life back means taking charge of your ordinary days again, often after a big change like retirement, divorce, illness, or years of caregiving. It usually starts small, with one hour of the day that belongs to you and one thing you do in it on purpose. The room of the same name offers practical steps for rebuilding a week that feels like yours.
Spirituality and religion: The spirituality and religion room treats belief and practice with respect for every tradition and for people who have left one. Its pages lean toward ease and gentle attention, such as a few minutes of stillness or a familiar prayer said slowly. It never tries to sell you a creed or argue you out of one.
Manifestation: Manifestation means pointing your attention and your actions at a goal you chose, then taking a real step toward it. On this site a wish always comes paired with a next step you can finish, such as one phone call or one form filled in. It makes no promise of money, magic, or any supernatural result.
Hypnosis: Hypnosis is a state of focused attention in which a person becomes more open to suggestion, meaning words or images meant to change how they feel or act. This site teaches it only as something you practice on yourself, in short, gentle sessions. Never practice it while driving or operating anything, and stop if it makes you feel worse.
Self-hypnosis: Self-hypnosis is one practice inside the hypnosis room, something you do for yourself. You settle into a chair, slow your breathing, focus your attention, and repeat a few calming words you chose ahead of time, then count yourself back to the room. People use it for things like nerves before a talk or loosening the grip of a habit, and it can’t cure an illness.
Meditation: Meditation is a way of practicing attention, often for a few minutes in a chair. You rest your attention on something simple, like your breath or a word, and gently bring it back each time it wanders. It doesn’t cure illness or replace medical care, and if stillness makes you feel worse, stop and tell your doctor.
Depression (on this site): Depression is a common, serious mood disorder that affects how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, and a doctor looks for symptoms that last most of the day, nearly every day, for at least two weeks. The depression room is education meant to go alongside care from your doctor. Keep taking any prescribed medicine as prescribed, and talk with your doctor before changing it. In a US crisis, call or text 988.
Loneliness: Loneliness is the painful feeling of having less connection with other people than you want. You can feel it in a full house and feel content on your own, so it differs from simply being alone. The loneliness room treats it as a subject worth understanding, with small ways to feel less alone, and it’s written with warmth and respect, to go alongside care.
Adjunct to care: An adjunct to care is educational material meant to go alongside professional help, since “adjunct” means something added. It’s never a reason to stop a prescribed medicine without talking with your doctor. Every page in the depression and loneliness rooms is written as an adjunct to care, adding to the help you already have.
Self-mastery: Self-mastery means looking after your own mind (your attention, habits, and inner voice) without claiming to treat any illness. It grows through small, repeated practice, like keeping a promise to yourself to walk after lunch. On this site it never means controlling other people.
A teaching site: Arcana Mentis teaches. It doesn’t diagnose, prescribe, or take the place of a doctor. A teaching site gives you information and practices to try at home, and it leaves decisions about your care with you and the people treating you.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is the US crisis line. You can call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org, at any hour, and it’s free and confidential. You don’t need to be sure you’re “unwell enough” before you reach out.
Antidepressant: An antidepressant is a prescribed medicine used to treat depression and some other conditions. Many antidepressants take several weeks to work fully, and stopping one suddenly can cause unpleasant effects. Keep taking yours as prescribed, and talk with the doctor who prescribed it before you change anything. The page on questioning the medicine helps you write down your questions for that visit.
Clinician: A clinician is a health professional who treats patients, such as a doctor, a nurse practitioner, a physician assistant, a psychologist, or a licensed counselor. This site uses the word when the right person could be any of them. Your primary care doctor is often a good first person to talk with about mood, sleep, or loneliness, and talk with your clinician helps you prepare.
Doomscrolling: Doomscrolling means scrolling through bad news or upsetting posts on a phone or tablet for a long time, often late at night, and feeling worse afterward. It can cut into sleep and leave a low mood lower by morning. The page nights with the phone has gentler ways to end the day.
Empty nest: The empty nest is the stretch of life after grown children move out of the family home. Many parents feel proud and lost at the same time, and the house can feel too still in the evenings. When the sadness lasts or deepens, it’s worth mentioning to your doctor, and the empty nest page offers small steps for the meantime.
Grief: Grief is the natural response to losing someone or something you love, and it can show up as sadness, numbness, anger, tiredness, or trouble sleeping. It often comes in waves and can return around anniversaries and holidays. Grief and depression can overlap, so if grief feels stuck or keeps you from daily life for a long time, talk with your doctor. The page after a loss looks at the difference.
Low mood: A low mood is a stretch of feeling sad, flat, heavy, or tired of everything, for hours or days. Everyone has low moods now and then, often after a loss or a hard week. When a low mood hangs on for weeks or starts to crowd out daily life, talk with your doctor, since it can be a sign of depression.
Mindfulness: Mindfulness means paying attention to what’s happening right now, in your body, your breath, and the room around you, without judging it. Meditation is one way to practice it, and you can also practice while washing a cup or walking to the mailbox. It’s a skill that grows with practice, and it doesn’t replace medical care.
Rumination: Rumination means going over the same worry or memory again and again without reaching a decision or feeling any better. It’s very common during stressful seasons and a low mood, and it often gets worse at night. Writing the worry down or keeping a worry window can help, and rumination that won’t let up is worth mentioning to your doctor.
Social isolation: Social isolation means having few regular contacts with other people, such as rarely seeing friends or family or seldom leaving the house. It can happen with or without feeling lonely, though the two often go together. The CDC links ongoing loneliness and social isolation with higher risks of heart disease, depression, and dementia.
Talk therapy: Talk therapy, also called psychotherapy, means meeting regularly with a trained professional, such as a psychologist or licensed counselor, to talk through what you’re going through and learn ways to cope. It’s a common treatment for depression, on its own or alongside medicine. Your doctor can help you find a therapist who fits.
Worry window: A worry window is a short, set time each day, often 15 minutes in the afternoon, when you think through your worries on purpose. When a worry shows up at another hour, you jot it down and save it for the window. The idea is to keep worrying to one part of the day instead of letting it run into the evening and the night. The mind control room walks through it.