I find the whole issue of terms pretty interesting. When I was an therapist/intern at an psychiatric hospital, we referred to the individuals as "patients." Now that I work at an outpatient clinic, suddenly there are "clients." They tried to get us to call the people we work with "members" or "consumers." The whole thing is completely ridiculous to me. A member of what? A psychotherapy agency is not a club. Consumers? You consume a bag of pretzels. Not psychological treatment.

I tend to stick with the term "patient." It is still commonly used among psychoanalytic/dynamic therapists. I don't understand why people don't have a problem being their psychiatrist's patient, yet they have to be their therapist's client.

I don't think the term is such a big deal. People say they want to be "client" because it implies that they are working with the therapist, rather than being under the care of the therapist. I feel like I am a client of the woman who does my taxes.
I think the bottom line is it doesn't really matter what the term is, as long as the treatment is good.