Psychobabble is psychological jargon used inaccurately and pretentiously that sometimes normalises unacceptable behaviour or criticises normal behaviour. It is also known as therapy-speak or pop psychology. A more specialised branch of psychobabble is neurobabble. It is the vocabulary of the consulting room that has escaped into everyday conversation—trauma, triggered, boundaries, validation, gaslighting. It turns the terms of psychological diagnosis into melodrama. Neurobabble has spawned many comic descriptors, the best being neuroflapdoodle (also neurononsense, neurogibberish, neurobaloney). The definition of neuroflapdoodle (similarly applied to psychobabble) by Paul Fletcher, Professor of Health Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge: “a highly simplistic and questionable point is accompanied by a suitably grand-sounding neural term and thus acquires a weightiness that it really doesn’t deserve”. Psychobabble glossary Here is a glossary of psychobabble terms to be careful with. REACHING OUT—once suggested trying to establish emotional contact or offer support. Now it can mean sending someone a text message with an emoji. GASLIGHTING—deliberately manipulating you to make you doubt your perceptions of memory–not disagreeing with your recollection of events. NARCISSIST—describes someone with a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and lack of empathy. It doesn’t mean a selfish person. TRAUMA—means a deeply distressing experience that can......