Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) the jargon of the New Age and the New Therapy, esp. when used by lay people to aggrandize (discussions of) their own condition; also as v.

1977		R.D. Rosen [bk title] Psychobabble.
1984		J. Ellroy Blood on the Moon 49: [A]ll the excited psychobabble that was floating through the room.
1999		Guardian Guide 15–21 May 95: Aided by love, psychobabble and Salvador Dali’s unforgettable dream sequence.
1999		Observer Screen 27 June 3: Diana, limpid-eyed and psychobabbling on Panorama.
2000		Indep. Rev. 23 Feb. 5: It is a lively and gripping read [...] despite the psychobabble.
2012		H. Davidson ‘Magpie’ in ThugLit Sept./Oct. [ebook] ‘Erica, please cut out the bullshit psychobabble’.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1978		Maclean’s (Toronto) 17 Apr. 74: It dawned on Rosen that her words were nothing more than ‘psychobabble’ hippie argot.
1989		Kirk & Madsen After The Ball 348: Drawn directly from the psychobabble racks at the local bookstore.