Girlhood, Translated: Understanding Young Women in the Age of Therapy Speak and Self-Diagnosis

A clear-eyed child psychiatrist reveals how “therapy speak” and the culture of self-diagnosis is reshaping the inner lives of adolescent girls and young women—and what to do about it.

“Suzanne Garfinkle-Crowell takes on the current issue of diagnosis as identity and, with vivid examples, unpacks old problems and new.”—Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia and Women Rowing North

ADHD. OCD. Toxic. Unwell. Over the past decade, psychiatrist Suzanne Garfinkle-Crowell noticed that girls were coming to her office with an increasingly long list of psychiatric diagnoses, often pulled from the internet and social media. It seemed like it was becoming impossible for young women to talk about their feelings without using "therapy speak" or connecting them to mental illnesses. At the same time, she saw parents responding to this jargon with either alarm or dismissiveness, both of which only broadened the communication gap with their daughters.

In Girlhood, Translated, Dr. Garfinkle-Crowell explores how ‘therapy speak’ is fundamentally reshaping the identities of girls and young women. While some terms (“emotional labor,” “weaponized incompetence,” and even "gaslighting") have helped girls name problems and find common ground, many inadvertently play into the age-old cliché that teenage girls are “hysterical” and “crazy.” Girls are—rightly, desperately—asking for healing and connection, but in a language that often does not get them either.

Through vibrant, moving stories from the therapy room, Dr. Garfinkle-Crowell helps us see why girls have been driven to rely on this lexicon in order to be heard--and teaches us to listen better. Girlhood, Translated shows us how a girl can evolve from damaged object to empowered subject. This book will change the conversation about mental health to one that promotes agency and connection, urging girls not only to heal, but to thrive.