psychobabble

American  

[sahy-koh-bab-uhl] / ˈsaɪ koʊˌbæb əl /

noun

1. writing or talk using jargon from psychiatry or psychotherapy without particular accuracy or relevance.

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psychobabble British  

/ ˈsaɪkəʊˌbæbəl /

noun

1. informal the jargon of psychology, esp as used and popularized in various types of psychotherapy

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Other Word Forms

• psychobabbler
  noun

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Etymology

Origin of psychobabble

psycho- + babble; popularized by a book of the same title (1977) by U.S. journalist Richard D. Rosen (born 1949)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

psychobabble

It may sound like esoteric psychobabble, or an overemphasis on something that should be inherent in players.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 7, 2019

In the end, no such censorship was required; the American contestants were uniformly chaste and polite, their speech sanitized psychobabble cultivated to convey self-awareness, depth, and respect for women.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 10, 2019

Biological theories of and treatments for the brain, notably drugs like Thorazine, lithium, Valium and Prozac, displaced Freudian psychobabble and transformed psychiatry into a truly scientific discipline.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 3, 2019

We Americans simply adore this entire transactional/Return-on-Invement psychobabble even when it comes to the most intimate details of our lives: the love in a marriage/partnership.

From New York Times ● Feb. 10, 2018

We both expected Ms. Antilly to spew a bunch of psychobabble at us.

From "Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher

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