To think we should put a stop to terms like 'toxic', 'narcissistic', 'gaslighting'...

If OP wants others to use words precisely and accurately- yet managed to miscommunicate her message perhaps there is a broader problem

I can't help but laugh at the number of people who seem to think OP means a literal ban, rather than just using them when actually appropriate. Kind of makes her point for her. People are way to eager to over interpret and over use terms that are actually useful to describe genuine phenomena.

If someone is saying they are depressed who are you to make a judgement that they are not

it does not stop people being treated for depression and it has encouraged more people to seek support as the notion that being depressed means you can not get out of bed and function or have to tick a number of sections on a diagnoses scale to be depressed

the same with narcissistic, it has not stopped professionals diagnosing (very few people are) but it has allowed people to name traits that a partner/parent etc may have that is damaging to others and have a better understanding

this so called hijacking words has not changed how people are diagnosed but it has allowed people to understand complex and often damaging situations that they are in or have been in

Social Phobia

But unless you’re a psychiatric professional, your armchair diagnosis of someone you don’t like as a ‘narcissist’ means precisely nothing anyway.

It’s not devaluing actual medical diagnoses any more than people saying they have the flu when they just have a bad cold is.

The more people know about the DSM and it's arbitory designations and classifications, the more they realise what it actually is.

Correlation is not causation. It has nothing to do with TikTok or influencers and everything to do with issues which affect (largely) women, are more talked about.

Giving people language to help them understand their life experiences is so important to healing and processing traumatic experiences. I would still be a shell of myself after my previous relationship if I hadn’t got to know the words narcissist and gaslighting and read the book ‘it’s not you’ by dr ramani

I think that these examples are completely different to medical conditions (which a narcissist is). It's not helpful when we're diagnosing people with things that they don't have.

While there is certainly misuse and overuse of some of the terms the OP objects to, much of the increase is due to people recognising certain behaviours and naming them appropriately.
I’d love to live in world where there was no legitimate use for these words but until then, YABU.

... and new words or usages come along to fill the gap. 'Terrible', 'awful', 'wonderful', 'fantastic'... They all had much stronger meanings at one time (inspiring terror, awe etc). Are you saying that the evolving of language is not a good thing?

And they obscure and mislead.

It doesn't mean it's a good thing. The words lose their potency.

That's just how languages evolve and have always evolved. Trying to stop it is like trying to stop the earth rotating.

Up to 6% of people are though to suffer from NPD - that is potentially 1 in 20 people. I think actually they're quite hard to spot and often quite popular, unless you've spent 10 years with one and then you realise the patterns. It's the same with ASD IMO, spend 10 years with an autistic child and you can often spot when other kids are probably autistic.

As a family solicitor I couldn’t agree more. Almost every single client who I see in their first appointment ensures they tell me their ex is a narcissist and I think it takes away from those who really really are!

Narcissist is definitely overused.

I remember watching a documentary on them and apparently very very few people are true narcissists. Apparently people can show some narcissistic traits but aren't narcissists - I think that's what's really being confused.

YABU. My first husband was 100% a narcissist. If I’d understood narcissism and gaslighting back in my 20s maybe I wouldn’t have wasted 10 years with the prick. As it was, he conditioned me to believe that I was imagining it all.

The problem is people using these terms wrongly. A narcissist has come to mean ‘a bit of an arsehole’. I’ve seen people on here describing any white lie as gaslighting, or even someone having a difference of opinion.

It’s important that we know how to recognise a genuine narcissist, and real gaslighting.

I think they should be used appropriately.

I don't want to have to say "my father, who is diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder" every time I'm referring to him just to please a few people who protest a little too much that it's all a "trend". I'll continue calling him a narcissist, cheers.

I don't care if the words are overused. I spent over 18 lonely years feeling like I was alone and like surely it was my fault because no one else I knew had parents who behaved like mine. If more people feel able to throw the word around, maybe children will be able to speak up sooner about the behaviour happening at home. Maybe that's why some people are so keen to ban the words.

They have a useful side, OP.

Use of these terms is a great way to tell that the user is a jargon-loving fool.

"If you think that anyone who calls someone a narcissist is a narcissist then you are effectively calling them a narcissist, which in turn would make you a narcissist."

No not anyone. Those on social media who accuse multiple people they know of being those things, often while they themselves are an empath.

Does it matter if you accuse them in your head or on SM? If you think that anyone who calls someone a narcissist is a narcissist then you are effectively calling them a narcissist, which in turn would make you a narcissist.

Wow, that's a lot of narcissists in one sentence.

I think, although overused, these words are used to describe abusive relationships.
If they help just one person to identify they are being manipulated, exploited or abused in any manner, then they should stay.
Unfortunately it is still the case that many women do not recognise abuse unless it is physical. These words are helping to raise awareness that this is not the case.