In recent years, therapeutic terms like “manipulation,” “gaslighting,” and various diagnostic labels have become part of everyday conversation. While raising awareness about mental health is important, the casual misuse of these terms can dilute their meaning and, more worryingly, endanger others.
The Problem with Mislabeling
When terms like “narcissist” or “gaslighting” are used loosely, they can lose their clinical significance. For example, calling someone a narcissist because they exhibit selfish behavior ignores the complex criteria required for a diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Similarly, labeling disagreements or misunderstandings as “gaslighting” can trivialize the serious psychological abuse the term originally described.
This overuse can harm relationships, stigmatize individuals, and prevent people from getting the professional help they need. When diagnostic terms are thrown around carelessly, those truly suffering from mental health issues may feel invalidated or misunderstood. It can also lead to false accusations, damaging trust and communication between people.
How It Endangers Others
Misusing these terms doesn’t just dilute their meaning; it can also endanger others. For example, accusing someone of being manipulative or gaslighting without fully understanding the context can escalate conflicts and create unnecessary hostility. This can result in serious social consequences, from strained relationships to workplace discrimination.
Additionally, the use of terms based in incorrect information can lead to mismanagement of mental health concerns. It is important that the meaning behind words continue to carry their weight and effectively communicate the severity of an experience or situation. This dilution or twisting of terms can prevent someone from accessing the appropriate treatment or support they need.
A Call for Caution and Compassion
As therapists, we advocate for increased awareness and understanding of mental health. Instead of jumping to conclusions or labeling behaviors with clinical terms, let’s promote open, honest communication and encourage people to seek professional guidance when they’re struggling.
By being mindful of our language, we can help preserve the integrity of these important concepts and protect the mental health and well-being of ourselves and others.
_____________
For readers seeking more information or guidance on mental health topics, consider scheduling an appointment with one of our therapists who can provide professional insight tailored to your individual needs. You can book an appointment by calling (352) 363- 1998.
Misusing clinical terms doesn’t just dilute their meaning; it can also endanger others. For example, accusing someone of being manipulative or gaslighting without fully understanding the context can escalate conflicts and create unnecessary hostility. This can result in serious social consequences, from strained relationships to workplace discrimination.
It’s Child Abuse Awareness Month. No one likes to think about child abuse. So we’re largely silent about it. Which creates a perfect condition for child abuse to thrive and proliferate. Because abuse of all kinds thrives in silence and darkness. And the cost...
We store our experiences not only in our minds, but also within our bodies. Traumatic events can imprint themselves on our physical sensations, leading to lingering effects that impact our physical and mental well-being. Addressing these deep-seated traumas requires a...
In Florida, mental health counselors can be Graduate Interns, Registered Interns (RMHCI or RCSWI), or fully Licensed (LMHC, LMFT or LCSW). Are you confused by all these letters and titles? How do you know what to look for in a...
What is OCD? Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) is characterized by experiencing cycles of unwanted intrusive thoughts (obsessions) and repetitive behaviors (compulsions) that can cause a significant amount of distress for an individual (International OCD Foundation,...
October is "Domestic Violence" Awareness Month. I put "domestic violence" in quotation marks because that's an outdated term that emphasizes the physical violence, and misleads us to think it's only happening in domesticity -- such as in a marriage. There's a better...
This post was originally published on March 2, 2014. Thousands of comments later, I'm still getting emails and calls about it weekly. Given the interest in sociopathy in the news today, I decided to re-publish it here.Ted Bundy. Jeffrey Dahlmer. Danny Rolling. Jim...
Some thoughts on the last few weeks. I’ll make the writing short and the recommendations long for further learning, because my thoughts aren't needed here; we need to listen to the voices of people of color. Trauma needs a witness, and I witness with my feelings...
“Dearly beloved, we have gathered here today to get through this thing called Life.” — Prince I’m shifting gears from the 3-a-week blogs on poems/pods/books. I’ll keep sharing what I’m leaning into going forward….just not in this same 3x/week form. ...
I think I should rename this regular Friday post: Memoir Recommendation Friday. Here’s another one: More Myself: A Journey, by Alicia Keys. Singer and songwriter Alicia Keys takes us through her life from childhood...
Happy Friday!
Each Friday I’m sharing a book I’ve loved, one I think may be interesting/helpful/relevant/on topic (as we move into a much longer period of self-quarantine and distancing than any of us thought back in March).
Words — poetry, spoken, or on the page — are my comfort, so if nothing else, this exercise keeps me focused and gives structure to my week. I love hearing about what other people are reading, listening to, and finding helpful too — so please, if you got something — click on the title and share it in the comments!
I remember exactly where I was driving when I first heard Tara Westover being interviewed. I had to immediately pull my car off the road and call my sister.
Westover’s memoir, Educated, tells the story of being raised in a large fundamentalist, isolationist, survivalist family on a mountain in the US west…and Westover’s eventual decision to get an education, which led her to a new kind of life. It’s a story of identity, coming of age, and the realization that to be human is to define your own reality through life as you see it — through your own eyes, your own understanding of the world, and your own experiences that define it.
Her experiences are quite amazing.
Tara Westover was born in 1986, into a family of 9 in rural Idaho. She had no birth certificate, and no schooling. No vaccines, no medical records. No social security number.
And no intervention for the mental illness and violence that visited her family.
Her father distrusted all institutions. The family survived on her mother’s midwifery and herbalist practice and her father’s scrap metal junkyard. At all times, the family prepared for “days of abomination” and had “head for the hills” bags packed.
Eventually, one of her older brothers made it off the mountain and into college; later Westover taught herself enough grammar, math and science to take the ACT and get into Brigham Young University. There, she heard about the Holocaust, the Civil Rights Movement for the very first time. Westover eventually graduated magna cum laude, studied at Harvard and earned her PhD at Cambridge. It was a journey fraught with immense pain, disconnection,
I asked myself why I felt pulled to recommend this story and the answer lies in the concept of isolation, and it’s opposite, connection.
There are many kinds of isolation. Isolation of the mind and spirit. Isolation from ideas, from experiences. Isolation from the human spirit. Isolation from information. Isolation from community and within a community.
As we live in a form of isolation (social distancing), what ideas and thoughts and beliefs and actions are we isolating with?
Who is isolated from what our society offers; how does what our society offers isolate some of us and include others?
What world will we create when we go “back” — whenever and in whatever form that is?
Again — this unwelcome, uncomfortable, un-asked-for pandemic offers us a breath, a moment in time, to think about what we miss, what we really need, what connection we long for. Though we didn’t ask for it, we’ve been given a space to consider the kind of connection we have, we need, and we can create. Culture and society have ideas about that — but individually, we do too. And we can use that power we have.
Educated is a good meditation on all of this. It’s also an incredibly gripping, page turning read about family, loyalty, connection and disconnection, belonging, sanity, the human spirit, and the purpose of an education.
One reviewer wrote:
“A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all of these things at once.”
Well said.
Have a good weekend, and be well, wash you hands and stay connected!
Lisa
