Real therapists share 11 'therapy speak' words everyone's using wrong

October 19, 2024

Featuring:
Leah Young, LCPC

ERC Pathlight Clinical Manager Leah Young, LCPC, is featured in this Upworthy article highlighting commonly misused "therapy speak" terms. Here, Young notes, "There are some terms being weaponized ... but one word, in particular, is gaslighting. That word has very serious implications and is often part of an abuse cycle."

A recent Reddit thread (rant?) that posed the theory: "Gen Z misuses therapy speak too much" seems to have really struck a nerve. The initial post inspired nearly three-thousand comments from people fed up with the way more and more people are casually tossing around words and phrases that sound like they're pulled directly from the mouth of a psychiatrist.

The rise of therapy speak has been swift and noticeable, especially in younger people. It's true that more people than ever are actually going to therapy and are more aware of mental health terms, but it's also true that even more people are learning about mental health and therapy words from TikTok, YouTube, and other social media. Some estimates indicate that over 80% of mental health content on TikTok is inaccurate!

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