When your daughter uses therapy speak, Step 1 is to take it seriously, not literally. This New York Times guide suggests parents should validate the emotional weight behind clinical terms like "triggered," "boundaries," or "gaslighting" without getting tangled in semantic debates. Instead of correcting her vocabulary, acknowledge the feeling: "That sounds really painful." Ask curious questions — "What does that word mean to you?" — to understand her internal landscape.

Avoid dismissing it as jargon or mocking the language; that deepens the disconnect. The goal isn't to master therapeutic terminology but to stay emotionally accessible. By meeting her where she is, you transform potential conflict into connection, making her feel heard rather than analyzed.