The Dangers of Psychobabble
Society straddles the line between awareness and encouragement of mental illness
Psychobabble [sahy-koh-bab-uhl]: writing or talk using jargon from psychiatry or psychotherapy without particular accuracy or relevance, according to the dictionary. While the epidemic of mental illness ravages the United States, a much less discussed trend of using psychological terms incorrectly develops alongside it. Comments underneath social media posts reek of “gaslighting”, “narcissist”, etc. But diminishing certain terms to casual everyday usage actually harms the mental health community as a whole.
As a psychology major, I wrote my senior thesis on how the media’s impact on mental health can be helpful or harmful. After months of research, I arrived at the conclusion that like many other things in psychology, there isn’t a straightforward answer. However, I saw an uptick in the negative effect of media on mental health recently, especially when it comes to social media.
I care so much about this issue both because of my education in psychology as well as my own life experiences. It is difficult trying to discuss a topic in psychology or talk about something that happened to me when the words I use may have a completely different meaning to someone who learned about these terms online. There are stories I want to tell but how carefully can one tread when it comes to their own dialogue? Should I feel like I am stepping on eggshells when I talk about my life just based on the worry that my words will be misconstrued? This isn’t specific to psychology at all, it’s a linguistic issue. However, because these psychological terms hold so much power it becomes more serious than misuse of just an average word. Psychology is the human experience, the human psyche. While this makes so many things relatable and what makes the study of it so riveting, it is also what can cause deep rifts between people due to the impact it can have.
Most of us see it once we realize it’s a problem. It’s the comments of “this person definitely has narcissistic personality disorder” under posts of people seeking relationship advice. People are creepy. People are pushy. People are narcissists. However, according to the Cleveland Clinic around 5% of people have NPD. By using these diagnoses from armchair psychologists, we trivialize abuse at the hands of actual people with NPD. Now consider “gaslighting.” According to the dictionary, gaslighting is manipulation of a person by psychological means into questioning their own sanity. When you look up gaslighting on the internet, the first things to come up are warning signs and how to shut it down. Lying is not gaslighting. This doesn’t mean lying is excusable or that it shouldn’t be taken seriously. The issue at hand is that lying and gaslighting are not interchangeable.
In today’s world of misinformation, we are captivated by buzzwords. It is only human, and we shouldn’t feel ashamed of that. People misrepresent their credibility all the time. However, this trickles down from a case of misrepresentation to altering the definition and usage of a serious diagnostic term.
Another issue that stems from psychobabble is the romanticization of mental illness. Researchers are still trying to decide the issue of the chicken or the egg when it comes to online mental health. Does this generation actually have more mental health issues, do we just feel more open to speaking about mental health, or do things like the internet encourage those to develop mental illnesses?
R.D. Rosen, who developed the term psychobabble, noted certain terms that are more popular than others. An example would be multiple personality disorder (also known as dissociative identity disorder). According to the American Psychological Association, around 1.5% of the general public are diagnosed with it. However, someone posts a self-diagnosis chart on a social media site riddled with misinformation and buzz words and suddenly many people think they have the disorder. Similar to the effect that misuse of gaslighting has on abuse victims, this issue also devalues the hardships those with diagnoses experience.
The bottom line is not to place blame on those who do not know better. It is completely normal to want to trust people and what they have to say. We are drawn to pop psychology and we all crave an understanding of ourselves and the world around us. However, it is on us as a society to eliminate the use of psychobabble. Believe victims. Respect victims. End the cycle.
