I think all these words are equally irrelevant. If your therapist thinks you're inferior, it doesn't matter whether they call you a patient or a platypus. Likewise, if they respect you, they can call you a client, consumer, or Cadillac. The intention will be the same.

I used to work at a psych hospital where the staff was dog-trained to use the word "Individuals" instead of "Patients." It was the most awkward mess and it totally failed. I was actually against it. In the end, the word "Individual" became substituted and just as stigmatized as "Patients". Even worse though, was that the staff was all awkward and unnatural when talking to the patients, ahem, "INDIVIDUALS", and that affected the normal, human communication that I think is a big part of recovery.

I'm a big advocate of treating everyone with dignity and respect, but I think nit-picking about language isn't worth it. It rests on the premise that changing language (surface change) will affect the core, a premise I don't agree with. The jerks are still gonna be jerks and the kind people will still be kind.

P.S. This isn't a rebuttal to your post Evelyn, I was just sharing my thoughts.