Glossary of Clinical, Relational, and Therapeutic Terms
Below is a non-exhaustive dictionary of clinical concepts, neurodiversity terms, alternative relationship language, and practice policies used across my therapeutic work and website.
Clinical Practice and Administrative Terms
AMFT (Associate Marriage and Family Therapist)
A pre-licensed clinical professional in California who holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology or marriage and family therapy, has passed state board examinations, and practices under the direct supervision of a licensed clinician while accumulating hours toward full licensure. Learn more on my Meet Andrew page.
AASECT (American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists)
The primary professional credentialing body for clinical specialists in human sexuality, sex therapy, and sexual health education. I am actively pursuing certification through the AASECT Certified Sex Therapist (CST) track as part of my Sex and Intimacy Therapy practice.
Comprehensive Coordinated Care
A clinical practice model where your therapist actively coordinates with your broader care team, including medical doctors, psychiatrists, or individual therapists, to ensure aligned treatment goals and avoid contradictory care.
Release of Information (ROI)
A confidential legal document signed by a client that gives explicit consent for their therapist to exchange necessary clinical information with designated third parties, such as physicians or individual therapists.
Superbill
A standardized, itemized healthcare receipt containing official diagnostic and procedure codes that clients submit to their health insurance provider for potential out-of-network reimbursement. Details on fees and reimbursement are available on my FAQ page.
Out-of-Network Provider
A healthcare provider who does not contract directly with insurance companies. Clients pay the provider directly and may seek partial reimbursement from their insurer using a Superbill.
Existential, Mindfulness, and Individual Modalities
Existential Therapy
A therapeutic approach focused on fundamental human questions, including personal agency, freedom, responsibility, meaning-making, isolation, and anxiety during major life transitions. Explore my Existential and Mindfulness Therapy services.
Mindfulness-Based Interventions
Clinical techniques that train present-moment awareness, non-judgmental observation of thoughts, and somatic grounding to interrupt anxiety and cognitive overwhelm.
Alexithymia
A difficulty in identifying, naming, and expressing one’s own emotions, often experienced alongside high stress, trauma, or neurodivergent processing profiles. Learn about this on my Men’s Issues page.
Personal Agency
The capacity of an individual to act independently, make deliberate choices, and take ownership of their path, even when facing significant external constraints or life pivots.
Somatic Grounding
Physical and breath-based awareness exercises designed to regulate the autonomic nervous system during times of acute anxiety, emotional dysregulation, or high conflict. Read more on my Anxiety and Depression Therapy page.
Strengths-Based Therapy
A clinical framework that emphasizes an individual’s inherent resilience, internal resources, and capabilities rather than viewing them solely through a diagnostic or pathology-based lens.
Neurodiversity and Executive Functioning
Adult ADHD
A neurodevelopmental profile in adults characterized by distinct patterns of attention, task initiation, executive function, and emotional regulation. Read more on my Adult ADHD and Executive Functioning page.
Body Doubling
A productivity strategy where a neurodivergent individual works on tasks in the physical or virtual presence of another person to improve focus, motivation, and task completion.
Executive Dysfunction
Friction or difficulty in cognitive processes responsible for task initiation, organization, working memory, time management, emotional regulation, and planning.
Masking
The conscious or unconscious suppression of natural neurodivergent traits, behaviors, or stims to conform to neurotypical societal expectations, often leading to chronic exhaustion and burnout.
Mixed-Neurotype Couple
A romantic partnership where one partner is neurodivergent and the other is neurotypical, or where both partners possess differing neurodivergent profiles. Explore my Mixed-Neurotype Couples Therapy page.
Neurodiversity-Affirming Care
A clinical stance that views neurological differences such as ADHD or Autism as natural human variations rather than pathologies or defects to be cured.
Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD)
An intense, overwhelming emotional response to real or perceived rejection, criticism, or failure, frequently experienced by neurodivergent individuals.
Time Blindness
An executive functioning difference that makes it difficult to intuitively gauge, track, or estimate the passage of time, often leading to scheduling challenges or chronic lateness.
Consensual Non-Monogamy and Polyamory
Consensual Non-Monogamy (CNM / ENM)
An umbrella term for relationship structures where all partners explicitly consent to engaging in romantic, emotional, or sexual relationships with multiple people. Read details on my ENM and Polyamory Competent Care page.
Compersion
The feeling of empathetic joy or warm satisfaction an individual experiences when seeing their romantic partner experience intimacy, love, or connection with another person.
Kitchen Table Polyamory (KTP)
A style of polyamory where partners, metamours, and extended relational networks feel comfortable spending time together and communicating openly, often symbolized by sitting around a kitchen table together.
Metamour
The partner of one’s partner, with whom one does not necessarily share a direct romantic or sexual relationship.
Nesting Partner
A romantic partner with whom one shares a home, living expenses, and domestic responsibilities, regardless of whether the relationship contains formal hierarchy.
New Relationship Energy (NRE)
The intense state of excitement, euphoria, and heightened focus experienced during the initial phase of a new romantic or sexual connection.
Parallel Polyamory
A relational approach where partners maintain separate relationships with minimal contact or crossover between their respective metamours.
Polycule
The connected network of individuals involved in non-monogamous relationships, including partners, metamours, and co-parents.
Relationship Anarchy (RA)
A relational philosophy where individuals construct their connections based on explicit mutual consent and custom agreements rather than adhering to traditional societal hierarchies or labels.
Solo Polyamory
A form of polyamory where an individual prioritizes personal autonomy, independence, and self-nesting, choosing not to merge finances, housing, or legal structures with romantic partners.
Kink, BDSM, and Power Dynamics
Aftercare
The deliberate period of physical, emotional, and psychological grounding provided between partners following a scene or intense play experience to ensure comfort and emotional safety.
BDSM
An acronym encompassing Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, and Sadism and Masochism. Learn more about my approach on my Kink Competent Care page.
CCCC (Consent, Communication, Care, and Comfort)
A relational and play framework in kink that prioritizes ongoing explicit consent, open dialogue, holistic physical and emotional care, and mutual comfort throughout scenes and dynamics.
Consensual Non-Consent (CNC)
An advanced, highly negotiated form of kink play where partners pre-negotiate scenario boundaries, safe words, and consent limits in advance to simulate intense play safely.
Kink-Aware, Competent, and Affirming Therapy
A multi-tiered standard of clinical care for clients engaged in BDSM, kink, power dynamics, and alternative sexualities:
- Kink-Aware: The therapist recognizes kink terminology, practices, and subcultures without shock, confusion, or overt judgment.
- Kink-Affirming: The therapist actively validates non-traditional dynamics and alternative sexualities as healthy, non-pathological expressions of human intimacy rather than symptoms of trauma or psychological dysfunction.
- Kink-Competent: The therapist possesses deep practical and clinical knowledge of BDSM mechanics, consent frameworks (SSC, RACK, PRICK, CCCC), negotiation, power exchange, safety protocols, and community norms.
Clinical competency is critical, as awareness or affirmation alone may be insufficient, or in some cases, harmful. Without clinical competency, a therapist may unintentionally rely on the client to educate them during paid sessions, misinterpret consensual edge play as abusive, or fail to effectively navigate nuanced relational negotiations. Competency ensures that your lifestyle is fully understood, safely supported, and integrated into treatment without friction. Learn more on my Kink Competent Care page.
Negotiation
An explicit conversation prior to play where partners discuss desires, hard boundaries, soft limits, medical considerations, safe words, and aftercare expectations.
Power Exchange (D/s)
A consensual relationship dynamic or play arrangement where partners intentionally transfer varying degrees of control or decision-making power to another partner.
PRICK (Personal Responsibility Informed Consensual Kink)
A risk-management framework in kink communities emphasizing personal agency, self-education, and individual accountability for risk, offering a person-centered alternative to universal safety definitions.
RACK (Risk-Aware Consensual Kink)
A foundational kink framework recognizing that while play involves inherent physical or emotional risks, consenting adults have the right to assess and negotiate those risks informedly.
Safe Word
A pre-negotiated word or physical signal used during play to immediately pause or stop a scene, regardless of the active power dynamic.
SSC (Safe, Sane, and Consensual)
A traditional foundational framework in BDSM practice asserting that kink activities should be safe (minimizing physical harm), sane (conducted with sound judgment), and fully consensual.
Relational Transitions, Intimacy, and Family Systems
Conscious Uncoupling
A structured, collaborative approach to ending a romantic relationship or marriage with mutual respect, clear boundary design, and minimal hostility. See my Divorce, Co-Parenting, and Step-Parenting Therapy page.
Desire Discrepancy
A common relational challenge where partners experience differing levels, frequencies, or expressions of sexual or romantic desire. Read about this on my Sex and Intimacy Therapy page.
Discernment Therapy
A specialized, short-term process for couples where one or both partners are ambivalent about whether to commit to relationship repair or move toward separation.
Parallel Parenting
A co-parenting arrangement for high-conflict post-divorce situations where parents interact independently within their own households while minimizing direct contact, protecting children from adult friction.
Premarital Alignment
Proactive counseling that helps couples examine shared expectations, communication loops, finances, and long-term values prior to marriage. Details are available on my Premarital and Relationship Dynamics page.
Structural Relationship Mapping
The process of explicitly outlining relational boundaries, shared commitments, individual autonomy, and communication rules using structured tools such as a Relationship Structure Template. Learn more on my Couples and Relationship Therapy hub page.
Compliance Notice: Andrew Robertson, AMFT# 158068 (under the supervision of Melissa Volchok, LMFT #120203).
