Psychobabble
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Psychobabble is a customarily pejorative term to denote technical jargon that is used outside of its intended purpose in psychology. The term implies that the speaker lacks the experience and understanding necessary for proper use of a given psychological term. Frequent usage can associate a clinical word with less meaningful buzzword definitions. Some psychological buzzwords have come into widespread use in business management training, motivational seminars, self-help, and popular psychology. These words can be overused by laypersons in describing life problems as clinical maladies, when such nomenclature is not valuable, meaningful or appropriate.
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[edit] Basis of the term
Psychobabble is based on the idea that social and personal conflicts can be better understood through the use of complex, descriptive or special esoteric language. The term came into popular usage following the 1977 publication of Psychobabble: Fast talk and quick cure in the age of feeling, by author and journalist R. D. Rosen. He had coined the term in 1975, and the term became a cover story in New Times Magazine, titled "Psychobabble: the new language of candor". The book Psychobabble explores an explosion of psychological treatments and terminology, in both professional and non-professional settings.
Most professional fields develop a unique glossary of terminology which, with frequent usage, may become commonplace jargon or buzzwords. Psychology practitioners may reject the psychobabble label when applied to the "ownership" of their special terminology. The vagueness inherent in many psychological concepts contributes to the over-use of psychobabble terminology in inaccurate or erroneous means.
Some pejorative allusions to psychobabble imply that certain psychological concepts lack precision and eventually become meaningless or pseudoscientific. Science demands that ideas be testable in experiments where results are repeatable. In this context, the psychobabble label is pejorative in the implication that the language of psychology is often not based on scientifically proven concepts. In other cases, psychobabble can refer to the use of jargon to imply meanings beyond those accepted by scholars and trained practitioners.
[edit] Likely contexts
In some contexts, certain psychological jargon may be dismissed as psychobabble when used by untrained individuals, or during discussion of pop psychology themes. Language often dubbed psychobabble would include New Age phraseology, self-help groups, personal development coaching, and LGATs (Large Group Awareness Training).
The term psychobabble might refer disparagingly to grandiloquent but perhaps vacuous use of psychology-laced jargon. Automated talk-therapy offered by various ELIZA computer programs produce notable examples of conversational patterns that, while not loaded with jargon, can be accurately described as psychobabble. ELIZA programs parody clinical conversations in which a therapist replies to a statement with a question that requires little specific knowledge of a given topic.
A related term to psychobabble is neurobabble (Miller 1986). In Unvalidated Fringe and Fraudulent Treatment of Mental Disorders, Beyerstein (1990) writes that neurobabble can be found in “ads [that] suggest that brain 'repatterning' will foster effortless learning, creativity, and prosperity” and relates neuromythologies of left/right brain pseudoscience to specific New Age products and techniques. He adds that “the purveyors of neurobabble urge us to equate truth with what feels right and to abandon the commonsense insistence that those who would enlighten us provide at least as much evidence as we demand of politicians or used-car salesmen.”
[edit] Examples
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Psychobabble consists of selected words and phrases with roots in psychotherapy practice. Psychobabble terms are commonly overused as if they possess some special esoteric value or meaning when they might not. (Various terms and phrases from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders are but one significant source of psychobabble, as the usage of various terms waxes and wanes, while, for the most part, the incidence of true mental disorders does not vary significantly over time).
- Co-dependent
- Denial
- Dysfunctional
- Empowerment
- Holistic
- Meaningful relationship
- Self-actualization
- Synergy
- Well-being
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- The Tower Of Psychobabble, By Dr. John A. Riolo. "In psychotherapy we have our own jargon or lingo. Over time some of the terms have become household names. "
- Beyerstein. B.L (1990). In Unvalidated Fringe and Fraudulent Treatment of Mental Disorders, "Brainscams: Neuromythologies of the New Age.". International Journal of Mental Health 19(3): 27-36,27.
- Ganz, Richard L. Psychobabble: The Failure of Modern Psychology and the Biblical Alternative pub. Crossway Books 1993 ISBN 0-89107-734-0
