Why is ‘therapy-speak’ spreading?

‘That’s toxic’. ‘Please respect my boundaries’. ‘You’re emotionally immature’.

It used to be that terms like this were heard primarily in counselling rooms. But, in recent years, they have been flooding out into the online world.

Younger generations who are increasingly struggling with their mental health (see Glynn Harrison’s article in en June 2024) are using this language rampantly across social media. The hashtag #triggered has 6.5 million posts on Instagram, while #trauma has 5.8 million. The hashtag #narcissist has 2.1 billion results on TikTok.