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

A leading child psychiatrist reveals how ‘therapy speak’ and the culture of self-diagnosis is reshaping a generation – and what to do about it.

‘The most energising book I’ve read this year. As a parent I was transfixed by recognition. As a therapist it opened my eyes’ Chris Cleave, author of Everyone Brave is ForgivenADHD. OCD. Toxic. Unwell. A new language has entered our culture. Over the past decade, psychiatrist Suzanne Garfinkle-Crowell noticed more and more girls describing themselves through the lens of ‘therapy speak’ and psychiatric diagnoses, often pulled from social media. At the same time, she saw parents responding to this jargon with either alarm or dismissiveness, widening the communication gap between the generations. In Girlhood, Translated, Dr Garfinkle-Crowell explores how therapy speak is reshaping the identities of girls. Drawing on vivid stories from the therapy room, she reveals, with stunning insight and compassion, the dynamics at play underneath the labels. She helps us understand why girls turn to this language in the first place – and what they’re trying to say when they do. Girlhood, Translated is both an urgent call to change the conversation around mental health and a tender, beautifully written portrait of modern girlhood. Exploring what happens when human emotion is pathologised, Suzanne Garfinkle-Crowell shows us how we can move beyond the language of illness towards greater agency, healing and connection. ‘Exceptional. Will change conversations the very next day’ Professor Peter Fonagy‘Phenomenal. Funny, wise and compassionate’ Catherine Steiner-Adair, author of The Big Disconnect‘I recommend this book to all who have contact with teenage girls’ Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia and Women Rowing North