Joe Nucci, like many brand-new therapists, loved showing off his fancy new psychology vocabulary during grad school. All these diagnoses and concepts were exciting, Nucci says, and helped explain so much. But as he continued his schooling, he realized that applying those terms in everyday life could be perilous.

Some self-help creators online could use a bit of that wisdom. As the stigma surrounding mental health has waned over the last 10 years, an influx of well-meaning influencers and consumers looking to understand more about themselves may have bought into flattened descriptions of popular terms — like boundaries or narcissism — or have internalized simplistic ideas about their emotions. “I was noticing that not only was some of it just technically incorrect, but it was being explained or applied in a way that ultimately was harmful,” Nucci says. “If people were taking that advice too literally or without the important missing nuance, it could lead to decisions that would actually hurt mental health and not help it.”

So Nucci, a licensed psychotherapist in private practice with over 250,000 followers on Instagram, set out to dispel some of those myths — to correct the therapy-speak that has come to dominate mental health. In Psychobabble: Viral Mental Health Myths and the Truths to Set You Free, Nucci outlines over three dozen misconceptions that have rampantly circulated online. Here, he discusses seven of the most pervasive, how we got here, and how to fight back.

Myth: Your diagnosis explains who you are

Over the last decade or so, Nucci has noticed discussions around diagnoses morph from “You have X disorder” and “You are so much more than a label” to “almost a personality feature,” he says. Diagnoses are best utilized to inform a treatment plan to promote better functioning, Nucci says. But when people wear their diagnoses like a label, it may become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Those with ADHD, for example,........

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