In May, APA added 40 new terms to its Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms^® to provide more effective searching on current topics, including digital information and technology; family therapy; and parenting. This Thesaurus update also includes 25 new cross-referenced terms, and 64 revised scope notes.

New terms from this spring update will initially be applied to current content only; following the Fall 2026 release, the majority of 2026’s new postable terms will be back-mapped to older records.

Using the controlled vocabulary of the Thesaurus means a database search will quickly and accurately retrieve all publications related to a specific concept, regardless of the keywords the authors may have used.

This latest Thesaurus update includes edits for some existing terms. Thirty-five terms that were previously “cross-referenced,” that is, redirected you to the preferred “Use” or “postable” term, are now listed as postable terms themselves.

The Thesaurus tool is found on all platforms as part of APA PsycInfo® and redirects synonyms to the preferred “Use” term to include in your search. Each Thesaurus record includes links to broader terms, narrower terms, and related terms, the year the term was introduced, an historical note if applicable, and a scope note providing definition and application.

You can see the full list of Thesaurus changes on our website.  

Related Resource: 
YouTube playlist – Using the APA Thesaurus to Find Relevant Articles on a Topic