In November, APA added 94 new terms to its Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms^® to provide more effective searching on current topics, including positive psychology, neurology, and trauma. These new terms will be back-mapped to older records.

This Thesaurus update also includes 102 new cross-referenced terms, 673 revised scope notes, and 68 revised history notes. As part of this Fall 2025 update, our taxonomist reviewed about 1000 thesaurus terms that were introducted in the 1980s. 

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.

In addition, six terms have been edited for clarity. 

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 or view the PDF for more details.  

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