What do others here think about casual use of the word "crazy" in a work setting. For instance, "that's a crazy idea" or "they're crazy to think ...."
i've seen "a crazy idea" replaced by "a wild idea" and i think it's elegant
Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid
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Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid
#32What do others here think about casual use of the word "crazy" in a work setting. For instance, "that's a crazy idea" or "they're crazy to think ...."
I think it's crazy that we spend time thinking about minor bs like this instead of spending that effort trying to solve actual problems. This type of stuff is great for people who want to feel like they have made a positive change without actually having accomplished anything of value.
being precise in your language is of great value, both when it comes to thinking and communicating. Per Wittgenstein, "the limits of my language mean the limits of my world". If you're a software developer you should be familiar with how important syntactic precision is.
Someone who runs around the office and complains about everything being 'so crazy' is genuinely not articulating anything meaningful but just ranting. And it's quite amazing how many people can't tell the difference between a rant and a productive argument. Perceiving this as 'policing' is just an excuse to not putting an effort into what you think and say.
Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid
#33> Furthermore, there are ample reasons to doubt whether “brainwashing” permanently alters beliefs
This person needs to look at interviews of mk-ultra experiment survivors. Brainwashing is very real and permanent.
Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid
#34Looking at the headline, one might think this is another tedious guide to what (arguably) constitutes politically correct language in modern society (case example: "use 'unhoused' in favor of 'homeless'"), but it's actually a collection of well-researched and documented examples of misuse of technical terms. For example: > " Chemical imbalance . Thanks in part to the success of direct-to-consumer marketing campaigns…
I don't see the difference. Both "Politically Correct" and "Psychiatrically Correct" are addressing the same concern of misconceptions due to inaccurate or misleading language. You can be houseless but not homeless, and still need help with your housing.
Unhoused vs homeless looks like a good example of a euphemism treatmill (in progress). Their state is not being altered by the "finer" wording instead it sounds pretentious and condescending.
There are a lot of these political correct terms that are being used more cynically by now, however I'd prefer to not open that can of worms.
Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid
#35It seems pointless, difficult and dangerous all at the same time to try to police our speech and writing. Some things have benign usage that is not harming anyone or any group of people and convey the intended meaning better than alternative words.
Did you read the article? Because even with a cursory scroll would you find that it's clearly not about policing speech. For example:
> (22) p = 0.000. Even though this statistical expression, used in over 97,000 manuscripts according to Google Scholar, makes regular cameo appearances in our computer printouts, we should assiduously avoid inserting it in our Results sections. This expression implies erroneously that there is a zero probability that the investigators have committed a Type I error
Oh no. Big bad PC culture is stopping us from stating fallacious statistical conclusions.
Please don't dilute the quality of discussions on this site by posting reactionary nonsense before even reading something to which you're responding.
Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid
#36It seems pointless, difficult and dangerous all at the same time to try to police our speech and writing. Some things have benign usage that is not harming anyone or any group of people and convey the intended meaning better than alternative words.
However, this is a list for students, teachers, and researchers, and within that context, precision is important. This group of terms in the article is not about policing - something like "crazy" or "schizophrenic". It's about technical terminology within that particular context. It also was a good article about the problems behind the mental model.
To pick one example, I don't think expanding the use of fetish to include an obsessive and fanatic interest of things outside sexual desire is bad.
But I also do not write academic / published papers.
Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see the difference. Both "Politically Correct" and "Psychiatrically Correct" are addressing the same concern of misconceptions due to inaccurate or misleading language. You can be houseless but not homeless, and still need help with your housing.
This is not the case. Often the "politically correct" version is not actually more correct, but is replacing some common phrase that is declared obnoxious by some very small unrepresentative minority of people who coincidentally make their living as activists. Yes you can be houseless but not homeless, but you can also be homeless and not houseless. It's an utterly stupid distinction predicated on an intentionally in…
"first, do no harm" includes psychological safety.
To use a bold example, there's a difference between telling your client they are "overweight" and telling them they are a "fat ass".
Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid
#38>Nevertheless, the attitude-change techniques used by so-called “brainwashers” are no different than standard persuasive methods identified by social psychologists, such as encouraging commitment to goals, manufacturing source credibility, forging an illusion of group consensus, and vivid testimonials
Ok, let me get this straight. You openly admit that brainwashing techniques are now routinely and knowingly used in "casual" settings, but you want me to stop using the term, because it's so routine and because it never was never long-term effective. Faulty reasoning at best, manipulative bullshit at worst.
Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's crazy that we spend time thinking about minor bs like this instead of spending that effort trying to solve actual problems. This type of stuff is great for people who want to feel like they have made a positive change without actually having accomplished anything of value.
being precise in your language is of great value, both when it comes to thinking and communicating. Per Wittgenstein, "the limits of my language mean the limits of my world". If you're a software developer you should be familiar with how important syntactic precision is. Someone who runs around the office and complains about everything being 'so crazy' is genuinely not articulating anything meaningful but just rantin…
Okay, but sometimes things are so crazy.
Re: Psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid
#40If anything, I find this to be a, perhaps unintentional, damning indictment of psychology and psychiatry in general. If your discipline cannot clearly define things in a reasonably concrete and provable way, such that it is readily apparent to the patients and the public at large, and also such that the language effectively clarifies itself out of necessity, then much of what you do needs to be strongly questioned --…
The data is pretty clear that psychology and psychiatry sucks at doing it's job. But it's a hell of a tough job, and using more meaningful words probably doesn't hurt.