Forbes December 21, 2025
Over the past decade, mental health literacy has gone mainstream. Therapy language used to be confined to clinical settings and academic journals, but now, it crops up everywhere from TikTok captions to relationship arguments. We talk about “boundaries,” “triggers,” “emotional labor” and “inner children” with the fluency of a licensed counselor or social worker.
This cultural therapeutic reckoning looks a lot like progress — and in many ways, it definitely is. Greater awareness has reduced stigma surrounding mental health, helped people articulate their needs and gave people the necessary courage to seek professional help. That said, there’s also a newfound downside to this therapeutic fluency, which is showing up most predominantly in everyday relationships.
Very few non-professionals using this language...
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