South Africans are Googling narcissists, gaslighting, love, and anxiety. A psychologist says the searches say a lot about us.
South African Google searches are telling. Picture iStock
It may be a sign of the times or the fact that South Africa is in an election cycle, but Google searches are revealing more about our collective psyche than we may think.
So far this year, South Africans have been searching for the meaning of terms that are somewhat less positive, and that may offer a cultural temperature gauge of a country trying to make sense of relationships, trust and emotional exhaustion.
Analysis of Google search data by word and language experts Unscramblerer.com found narcissist drew 38 200 monthly searches for its definition, followed by gaslighting at 36 300, love at 34 500 and anxiety at 31 000.
Integrity, fatigue, stress, spiritual, empathy, democracy, ethics, power, and corruption also made the list.
The research analysed Google Trends data from 1 January to 15 July and calculated search volumes across 130 variations of definition searches.
An Unscramblerer.com spokesperson said one of the most striking findings was that searches were dominated by abstract concepts rather than objects, with the words clustering around emotional wellbeing, values and society, and personal growth.
“From gaslighting and narcissist to integrity and democracy, people are searching for words that help them navigate relationships, emotions and the wider world,” they said.
Searching for words that help navigate life
Psychologist Elize Thesner said the combination raised questions about the national mood.
“Search data can function as a cultural temperature gauge, but it is not a diagnostic instrument,” she said.
“The common emotional threads I see in this data are actually extremely concerning. I see relational uncertainty, vulnerability, self-protection, self-preservation, and issues around trust in general.”
Thesner said the language appeared to move from interpersonal threat and vulnerability towards meaning, boundaries, and justice, before reaching discernment and emotional withdrawal.
Gaslighting and narcissist sitting alongside love and anxiety was telling, she said.
“How can I love someone when I cannot trust what is happening between us?” she said, was a question the pattern could suggest.
“When attachment and safety come into conflict, the nervous system can become hypervigilant. The body starts to question what is real and the meaning behind it.”
The searches also suggest psychology has escaped the consulting room and entered everyday conversation.
Terms including gaslighting, narcissism, trauma, boundaries, and anxiety are heavily discussed on social media.
Thesner said this could make difficult experiences easier to understand, but psychological language could also become shorthand for judging people rather than understanding behaviour.
“Psychological language can describe something observable, but it can also turn a psychological concept into an identity or perceived diagnosis,” she said. “In that sense, psychological language has become a new form of moral language.”
Is it wellness or stress?
Love appearing near anxiety, fatigue and stress may also suggest relationships are happening while people are running on empty emotional tanks.
“When people live with prolonged uncertainty, the nervous system tends to become more focused on survival than connection,” Thesner said.
Financial pressure, work insecurity, social instability, family pressure, and health concerns could reduce emotional capacity, leaving people with less patience and energy even where love remained.
“People do not necessarily stop loving others, but their capacity to receive, give, tolerate, and interpret may become smaller,” she said.
The search pattern also leaps beyond relationships.
Integrity attracted 28 500 monthly searches, while equity, democracy, ethics, power, and corruption also made the list.
Thesner said this could indicate a broader questioning of fairness and authority.
“I think people are becoming more distrustful, and unfairness is increasingly being questioned,” she said.
At the same time South Africans were searching resilience, grace, spiritual and discernment, suggesting the national mood may not simply be one of distress.
“In uncertain times, people tend to reach for whatever helps restore a sense of stability: relationships, faith, community, purpose, moral principles, routines or personal growth,” Thesner said.
She said the searches may ultimately show two sides of the same South African coin: a society becoming more psychologically literate while also becoming emotionally tired.
“Some people are in distress, while others are actively trying to become more psychologically informed and holistically healthy,” Thesner said.
“Within this uncertainty, South Africans appear to be attempting to find coping mechanisms, survive difficult circumstances, and actively seek meaning and agency.”
