In my article "The Need for Psychology Understanding,” I discussed how fiction writers need at least a basic understanding of psychology in order to write realistic content, dialogues, characters, and relationships. One such psychological concept is soft language. Soft language can be used by writers to underplay certain situations, in character dialogue, and to explain misunderstandings that occur in the story.

Soft language is an expression that was first used by George Carlin to describe euphemisms that conceal reality to take the life out of life so that Americans can protect themselves from the truth (Nordquist, 2018). Using soft language is much the same as sugar coating something and very similar to telling a white lie, depending on how it is used by a character. The utilization of this soft language can distort reality by making bad things seem less bad. For instance, when someone dies, it is no longer referred to as them dying, but rather as him or her passing on or how people who are handicapped now use the word 'handicapable' to describe themselves.

The use of this type of soft language could have an unpredictable effect on ethical decision-making in a story or situation as the language can distort the reality of a situation in unexpected ways. An example of such a situation would be if a fictional client was transferring to a new therapist and the old therapist’s notes used soft language to describe the client’s mental issue; the soft language could give the new therapist the wrong impression of his or her client which could lead to an ineffective treatment plan for the client. If the client was suffering from severe depression, but the new therapist treated it as anxiety instead of depression due to the old therapist’s notes, it could lead to severe danger to the client. A writer could use such a situation to explain what is happening to their character and why or to add drama to a situation.

Situations based on misunderstandings of soft language can occur when soft language is used by practicing psychology professionals in their notes and in their communications to other professionals involved in treating a client. It is equally important that people or characters take care when using soft language when communicating with others so that the wrong impression is not given. For example, it would be professional etiquette to use the term special needs instead of mentally crippled, and the interchanging of the two terms does not alter the meaning of the statement, but only makes it politically correct. However, having a character use soft language to soften a diagnosis when talking to a client could give the client the impression that their condition is better than it is, which in turn could give false hope to the client. When the client learns the truth after believing their condition was not as bad as it truly is, the client might feel lied to, betrayed, and/or angry. The client character could even realistically end up feeling depressed or suicidal, and the relationship between the professional and the client would likely suffer from the use of the soft language. 

References

Nordquist, R. (2018, December 6). George Carlin's "Soft Language". Retrieved from

https://www.thoughtco.com/soft-language-euphemism-1692111