Therapy jargon may be turning teen girls into self-diagnosed patients

In her column, Dr. Suzanne Garfinkle-Crowell recounts sessions with patients like Hazel, 16, and Violet, 17, who arrive listing multiple diagnoses such as anxiety, OCD, ADHD and PMDD. She observes a cultural shift where teenage girls announce psychiatric labels before even stating their names, a trend reflected in UK statistics that roughly one-fifth of young adolescents carry a formal mental-health diagnosis. Studies from 2025 and 2014 are referenced, showing that anchoring one’s identity to a disorder reduces perceived competence and heightens hopelessness.

Garfinkle-Crowell explains that adolescent brain development, with ongoing myelination and an immature frontal lobe, makes these self-applied labels especially sticky. She attributes the phenomenon to early language development in girls, social diffusion of “therapy speak,” and the legacy of mental-health awareness campaigns that introduced clinical terminology without context. The piece cautions that over-pathologizing everyday emotions may hinder genuine coping and personal growth.