2023-06-08 05:00:04
Therapeutic language
Why avoid using psychological jargon
Terms from psychotherapy are increasingly entering everyday vocabulary. We explain to you how problematic this therapeutic jargon can be and what to pay attention to.
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It is not always advisable to use psychological jargon in conversations between friends.
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Benefiting from psychological support or support is less and less taboo and mental health is increasingly at the heart of concerns. But this development, which deserves to be welcomed in passing, also means that many people use therapeutic jargon on a daily basis. On TikTok, some videos regarding it have gone viral.
It is obviously good to apply what one learns during psychotherapy, of which this is, following all, the end goal. However, used wrongly and through and in an inflationary way,
terms such as ‘trauma trigger’, ‘narcissism’ and ‘trauma’ can be problematic.
These kinds of terms from the field of psychotherapy are also popularized in many TikTok videos. This is not fundamentally bad in itself, knowing that it can help to identify and become familiar with one’s own emotions, but establishing a diagnosis for oneself or for others on the basis of these videos alone does not make sense, and can even be dangerous. To do this, it is necessary to do professional psychotherapy, which everyone must undertake alone when the need arises.
Only professional psychotherapy will establish an accurate diagnosis.
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Because these terms refer to serious problems. For example, a trauma is a major psychic upheaval that is accompanied by long-term painful emotions. When this term is used on a daily basis to describe a relatively innocuous situation, such as a stressful interview with your superior, it can be seen as an insult to people who have actually lived through traumatic experiences.
Therapeutic jargon galore
We also hear today regarding “trigger” all the time when a person is simply annoyed, whereas in psychology, a “trigger” refers to a triggering element of trauma. It can be in particular a smell, a noise or various situations. These stimuli can be so powerful that the affected person sometimes has difficulty distinguishing between what is real and what is not.
“We start using language that we don’t really know,” says psychotherapist Israa Nasir in a TikTok video. And to add: “Many of these concepts are very complex and multidimensional and often do not exist in a situation where everything is either white or black. They are sometimes not intended to be used outside the therapeutic context”.
Therapeutic language, source of relational problems
Transposing therapeutic jargon verbatim can also be problematic at the relational level. “It can literally destroy a relationship,” says Israa Nasir. In fact, the concepts of psychology may not be familiar to the person you have in front of you and, taken out of their therapeutic context, these terms may be perceived as a lack of empathy, or even ‘arrogance. “Used within a relationship, therapeutic jargon is more akin to clinical experience than emotional intimacy. Talking like this creates distance and leaves little room for vulnerability,” says Israa Nasri.
There is, of course, nothing to prevent you from becoming familiar with the concepts of psychology and thus questioning your own emotions and possibly understanding them better. Outside of their therapeutic context, however, these concepts should only be used in discussion with others sparingly and thoughtfully.
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