pathologizing
Making illness from normalcy
Pathologizing is treating normal behavior, feelings, or traits as symptoms of disease or disorder.
The term usually carries criticism—that something natural is being medicalized: Stop pathologizing childhood energy as ADHD.
Psychiatry and psychology are common targets: The DSM has been accused of pathologizing ordinary sadness as depression.
Assigning to groups
- diagnosingDetermining a condition's nature
- classifyingSorting into types
- brandingCreating distinctive identity
- taggingAttaching identifying markers
typing · pigeonholing · boxing · identifying · naming · defining · reducing · essentializing
Painful awareness of failure
- stereotypeFixed oversimplified notion
- prejudicePreformed unfavorable opinion
- discriminationUnjust differential treatment
- marginalizationRelegation to powerless periphery
ostracism · exclusion · alienation · demonization · dehumanization · scapegoating · vilification · disgrace
Identification of illness
- symptomsIndicators of disease
- disorderAbsence of organization
- dysfunctionAbnormal or unhealthy operation
- abnormalityDeviation from expected state
psychiatry · neurosis · psychosis · anxiety · depression · syndrome · etiology · treatment
Concerning biology and medicine
- pharmacologyStudy of drug actions
- diseaseDisorder impairing normal function
- illnessState of poor health
- conditionState or stipulation
somatic · overdiagnosis · overtreatment · DSM · institutionalization · professionalization · expertise · authority
Reframing problems as disorders
- overdiagnosisFinding harmless conditions unnecessarily
- reductionismExplaining wholes through parts
- decontextualizingRemoving from original setting
- individualizingMaking something personally distinct
depoliticizing · victim-blaming · gatekeeping · power · Foucault · antipsychiatry · normative · hegemony
categorizing
Assigning to groups
- diagnosingDetermining a condition's nature
- classifyingSorting into types
- brandingCreating distinctive identity
tagging · typing · pigeonholing · boxing · identifying · naming · defining · reducing · essentializing · othering
shame
Painful awareness of failure
- stereotypeFixed oversimplified notion
- prejudicePreformed unfavorable opinion
- discriminationUnjust differential treatment
marginalization · ostracism · exclusion · alienation · demonization · dehumanization · scapegoating · vilification · disgrace · discredit
diagnosis
Identification of illness
- symptomsIndicators of disease
- disorderAbsence of organization
- dysfunctionAbnormal or unhealthy operation
abnormality · psychiatry · neurosis · psychosis · anxiety · depression · syndrome · etiology · treatment · therapy
biomedical
Concerning biology and medicine
- pharmacologyStudy of drug actions
- diseaseDisorder impairing normal function
- illnessState of poor health
condition · somatic · overdiagnosis · overtreatment · DSM · institutionalization · professionalization · expertise · authority · gatekeeping
medicalization
Reframing problems as disorders
- overdiagnosisFinding harmless conditions unnecessarily
- reductionismExplaining wholes through parts
- decontextualizingRemoving from original setting
individualizing · depoliticizing · victim-blaming · gatekeeping · power · Foucault · antipsychiatry · normative · hegemony · discourse
- Psychiatry Critiqueanti-psychiatry, overmedicating, overdiagnosis, involuntary treatment, involuntary commitment
- vilificationvilification, vilifying, demonizing, demonisation, demonize
- Overdiagnosisovertesting, overtreatment, overscreening, overprescription, overprescribing
pathologizingnormalizing
Making conform to norms
accepting · affirming · validating · destigmatizing · embracing
pathologizingdeclassifying
Removing secrecy status
humanizing · demedicalizing · destigmatizing · reframing · contextualizing
pathologizingcelebrating
Observing with festivity
honoring · valuing · appreciating · uplifting · empowering
pathologization, pathological, pathology, pathologist, pathologically, pathologists, psychopathology, pathologic, pathologies