Psychobabble is a pejorative term for the use of jargon from the field of psychology. It can imply that a specific usage of jargon is not meaningful -- for instance, when a legitimate term from mainstream psychology is being mis-applied by non-professionals -- or it can imply that the jargon itself is meaningless, especially when the jargon comes from popular psychology rather than mainstream psychology.

Basis of the term

The term came into popular usage following the 1977 publication of Psychobabble: Fast talk and quick cure in the age of feeling. The text explores a virtual explosion of psychological treatments in professional and non-professional settings based on approaches that were said not to promote understanding of

Most professional fields develop a unique terminology that, with frequent usage, becomes a jargon of buzzwords referring to recognized concepts. As such, practitioners of psychology may reject the label "psychobabble" when applied to their unique terminology. But the vagueness inherent in many psychological concepts also permits the use of terminology in ways that may seem inappropriate to others.

Some pejoritive allusions to psychobabble can imply certain concepts of psychology themselves so lack precision as to become meaningless or pseudoscientfic. Science demands that ideas be testable in experiments where results are repeatable. In this context, psychobabble can imply the language of pscyhology is not based in proven concepts. In other cases, psychobabble can refer to usage of jargon to imply meanings beyond those accepted by scholars and formally trained practitioners.

Likely contexts

In some contexts,

The term psychobabble in other contexts refers disparagingly to grandiloquent but allegedly empty use of jargon with a psychological tinge. Automated talk-therapy offered by various ELIZA computer programs produce notable examples of conversational patterns that, while not loaded with jargon, can be seen as psychobabble. ELIZA programs parody clinical conversations in which a therapist replies to a statement with a question that indicates very little specific knowledge of a topic.

Examples

Examples of concepts, words and phrases in common use that are possibly seen as psychobabble by some people.

• authentic
• blocked
• breakthrough
• closure
• co-dependent
• congruence
• empowerment
• envision
• facilitation - as in "I think our meeting could do with some faciliation" . Meaning an independent 3rd party needs to be present to help us stay on our agenda.
• getting it
• grounded
• holistic
• integration
• new paradigm
• meaningful relationship
• metamodel
• self-actualization
• self esteem - as in "he has really low self esteem" , for someone who is self effacing or self sacrificing.
• spaced out - as in "I'm feeling a little spaced out today", meaning I'm not really able to say how I feel.
• stressed out
• stuff - as in "My stuff" gets in the way of .., meaning I experience innappropriately strong emotions around some subject which stop me thinking clearly.
• submodality
• synergy
• transformation
• validation
• visioning
• well-being
• win-win

See also

• Glittering generality Psychojargon