What it is
Concept creep is Nick Haslam’s name for the way psychology’s harm words (abuse, bullying, trauma, mental disorder, addiction, prejudice) have widened over time. He describes two directions: horizontal, where a word starts covering new kinds of things, and vertical, where it starts covering milder versions of the same thing.
Some of that widening is real progress, naming harm that used to go unnamed. Some of it can blur the difference between a bad day and a wound.
How it shows up for me
I try to hold both sides. I don’t want to dismiss someone’s pain, and I also don’t want to use the heaviest word for every hard thing, mine included. Words that mean everything stop helping anyone.