Psychobabble: The Conversation About Mental Health is a Double-Edged Sword

In recent years, especially after the pandemic, thanks to the youth, their openness, and exposure to digital media, the phrase ‘mental health‘ has gained popularity. While previously discussions about depression, anxiety, eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and other mental disorders were held behind closed doors (if at all), today this discourse is pure mainstream. Experts speak in the media about the importance of caring for mental health, brands provide support in their communication with consumers, and users of social platforms and influencers share their testimonies about struggles with mental challenges.

Due to the flood of content, one might even get the impression that mental challenges have become a kind of currency, something that gives, say, an influencer weight, because who cares if they haven’t shared their story about an anxiety attack or eating disorder. Although the discussion about mental health is important and should be even more prevalent, some media and psychologists and psychotherapists warn of the dangers of this psychobabble or, as they call it, therapy speak (English: therapy speak), as it could divert individuals from seeking real solutions to their mental challenges, trivialize them, lead to misdiagnoses, or provoke so-called cyber hypochondria.

Casual Labeling

Therapy speak has become part of the everyday vocabulary of Generation Z and millennials. For instance, a selfish person can easily be labeled a narcissist, and individuals who spread negative energy or show signs of destructive behavior are labeled toxic. Over coffee and a keyboard, it is easy to talk about setting boundaries, warning signs, triggers, traumas, self-regulation, gaslighting, problems, inner child… The digital world has become a substitute for the psychotherapeutic couch, and platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok accumulate colossal views of content on this topic and hashtag.

For example, last year the Guardian reported that one of the most sought-after psychological terms on YouTube was gaslighting, #narcissism recorded 3.8 billion views on TikTok, and the word trigger sparked a tsunami of digital content from memes to vlogs. This is a great thing because, experts would agree, it helps the ordinary (or untrained) population, especially the youth, articulate their state, feel a sense of belonging to a community that understands them and goes through the same things; recognize subtle symptoms of trauma or mental disorder, and encourages them to dig deeper. At the same time, the problem is that often everything remains superficial, meaning that there is no deeper digging, close ones are pathologized, or key terms used by the profession are trivialized. Recently, the portal Trendwatching warned about these problems, which, just like the profession, praised but also criticized psychobabble, if it, of course, remains only on the surface.

More precisely, the problem is that representatives of Generation Z often rely solely on such digital sources that frequently present completely inaccurate information.

Questionable Digital Sources

Research, claims Trendwatching, has shown that over 83 percent of advice users find on TikTok can mislead them, and even cause cyber hypochondria (diagnosing disorders based on symptoms they found on platforms).

A study published in 2022 by UBC shows that 52 out of the 100 most popular videos on TikTok that address ADHD present inaccurate data or those that can lead users to incorrect conclusions, 27 percent are based solely on personal experiences that have no connection to clinical research, and only 21 video contents were deemed useful. It is no surprise that most of the ‘useful’ content was created by experts in the respective field, not influencers who have ADHD, think they have it, researched it, or know someone with that disorder.

As the publisher of the Mental Health publication on the Substack platform, P. E. Moskowitz, told CBS reporters, psychobabble also encourages the so-called culture of diagnosing. As terminology becomes so familiar and everyone slowly recognizes themselves in some clinical phrases, collective responsibility for mental health issues is shifted from focus, which should actually be addressed by lawmakers and relevant bodies that are often the cause of individual problems. Or, in his words, some people may be worried about low wages or high rents, but they internalize that problem, attributing their bad mood or anxiety to disorder XYZ that they self-diagnosed because they recognized exactly those symptoms in some digital content.

– It is sad that it is overlooked that society is the cause of our problems – emphasized this mental health expert.

It’s About Real Support

The solution to these problems, of course, is not to silence the discourse, nor psychobabble. Younger generations and millennials, whose vocabulary has included therapy speak, should first understand that such content is just the beginning, the first step they need to take if they feel some difficulties with mental health. They should also understand that excessive use of such expressions trivializes the story, and even alienates and shames those who have real problems, as they readily label them with a certain diagnosis (because they understand the terminology). Society must not allow the culture of diagnosing to flare up, nor cyber hypochondria, as this does not solve mental health problems among the youth in the long run, but actually exacerbates them because it distances them from seeking professional help; they seek it in a loquacious online community that understands psychology.

In the end, brands must also keep in mind that by excessively using popular psychological terms, they are actually speaking into the wind and not providing real support, nor ‘building’ a relationship with the target group. Trendwatchers advise them to engage in sincere and empathetic conversations with the audience, especially Generation Z, use normal language, and approach them in communities where they feel at home. And, most importantly, to help real experts on social media, as well as organizations dealing with mental health, to reach the audience with real, verified, accurate information, rather than anecdotal representations of some mental challenge, and to ensure confidentiality of data for everyone seeking help at all times. Psychobabble, or professional terminology in everyday speech, is not in itself controversial; the problem lies in how and when it is used.