Psycho Babble

Words like “narcissist,” “gaslighting,” “triggered,” “toxic,” and “on the spectrum” have become part of everyday conversation. We use psychological terms to describe our friends, our families, our coworkers—and sometimes ourselves. But what happens when words that have specific psychological meanings become casual labels? In this episode, Jim and Ralph take a look at the growing influence of “psychobabble” in everyday language and consider how terms from psychology and psychiatry have moved from the therapist’s office into ordinary conversation.

Some of these words can help us understand ourselves and other people. Others can oversimplify complicated behavior, turn ordinary disagreements into psychological diagnoses, or make serious conditions sound like everyday personality quirks. We’ll look at some of the most common examples, including “narcissist,” “gaslighting,” “triggered,” “trauma,” “OCD,” and “on the spectrum,” and ask an important question: Has our psychological vocabulary made us more psychologically informed—or have we simply learned a lot of psychological words?

LEARN MORE: Check out Jim's recent book The Human Story of Psychology at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HF6CFTZC