Psychiatric Moralism

A form of moralism where psychiatric diagnoses and categories are used to judge, condemn, and exclude those whose behavior or beliefs deviate from approved norms. The psychiatric moralist treats mental illness not as suffering to be alleviated but as moral failing to be condemned, using diagnostic labels as weapons rather than tools for care. Political dissenters are "crazy," social deviants are "disordered," those who won't conform are "mentally ill." The moralism lies in using the authority of psychiatry to pathologize difference, treating those who don't fit as sick rather than simply different, and deploying diagnostic language as a form of social control rather than healing.

Example: "He dismissed her completely different worldview as 'delusional'—not a clinical judgment, just a way of saying she was wrong. Psychiatric Moralism: using the language of illness to avoid engaging with difference."

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 14, 2026

Psychiatric Puritanism

A purity culture within communities that elevate psychiatric diagnosis as the primary framework for understanding human difference and distress, where proper diagnostic thinking becomes a test of virtue and belonging. Psychiatric puritanism demands that true members understand all human variation through diagnostic categories, treat non-psychiatric frameworks as naive or unscientific, and maintain the purity of diagnostic boundaries against contamination by alternative approaches. Members compete to demonstrate their diagnostic sophistication, their ability to spot pathology everywhere, their commitment to the medical model against all challenges. The result is a community that claims to help the suffering while pathologizing all human variation and dismissing any approach that doesn't fit diagnostic categories.

Example: "They diagnosed everyone who disagreed with them—not clinically, just as a way of dismissing difference. Psychiatric Puritanism: using the language of diagnosis to police the boundaries of acceptable humanity."

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal March 14, 2026

Psycho-Orthodoxy

The established, institutionalized set of beliefs that dominate mainstream psychology—the often-unexamined assumptions about how to study mind, what counts as psychological knowledge, what methods are valid, and what theories are acceptable. Psycho-orthodoxy includes commitments: that quantitative methods are superior, that laboratory experiments reveal psychological truth, that statistical significance matters more than effect size, that Western populations represent humanity, that individual behavior is the right level of analysis, that psychological findings are universal, that replication crises are methodological rather than theoretical. Like all orthodoxies, it provides a framework for psychological research, but it functions as gatekeeping—determining what research is published, what theories are taught, who gets tenure, and what questions are worth asking. Psycho-orthodoxy shapes not just what we know about mind but what we think it's possible to know, making certain approaches feel scientific and others "soft" or "unscientific."

Example: "Her qualitative research on lived experience was rejected as 'not real psychology'—psycho-orthodoxy, where method defines the field rather than questions. The orthodoxy's power is making its preferences feel like standards."

by Dumu The Void March 17, 2026

Psychiatric Orthodoxy

The established, institutionalized set of beliefs and practices that define mainstream psychiatry—the often-unexamined assumptions about mental illness, diagnosis, treatment, and the role of psychiatry in society. Psychiatric orthodoxy includes commitments: that mental disorders are brain disorders, that diagnosis is objective, that DSM categories name real diseases, that medication is often the best treatment, that psychiatric authority is legitimate, that the current psychiatric system is basically sound, that critics are anti-science or anti-treatment. Like all orthodoxies, it provides frameworks for understanding and treating mental distress, but it functions as institutional power—determining who gets diagnosed with what, what treatments are covered, who counts as mentally ill, and what alternatives are marginalized. Psychiatric orthodoxy shapes not just how we treat mental distress but what we think mental distress is, making particular conceptions of illness seem natural and alternatives (social, psychological, spiritual) seem insufficient.

Example: "She suggested that some distress might be social rather than medical—and was accused of denying mental illness. Psychiatric orthodoxy had made its framework feel like the only way to take suffering seriously."

by Dumu The Void March 17, 2026

Psychiatric Bigotry

The practice of attributing religious, spiritual, metaphysical, or otherwise non‑scientific beliefs to mental illness—such as “delusion,” “schizophrenia,” or “needs therapy”—as a means of humiliation, discrimination, or silencing. Psychiatric bigotry weaponizes clinical language to stigmatize people whose worldviews differ from secular materialism, often ignoring that such beliefs are normative in many cultures and not indicative of pathology. It is common in online debates where calling someone “delusional” serves as a quick dismissal, but it also appears in clinical settings where cultural competence is lacking.

Example: “When she spoke of her spiritual experiences, he told her she needed to see a psychiatrist—Psychiatric Bigotry, using mental health labels to dismiss legitimate cultural and personal beliefs.”

by Dumu The Void March 25, 2026

Psyche! NEVER GIVE UP!

You never read the next one!

Hym "Psyche! NEVER GIVE UP!"

by Hym Iam July 12, 2025

Psychobabble

When a person or people speak about ideas or subjects using baseless information with no substantiating facts, in a way that doesn't make sense to the audience, and sounds psychotic or unusual to those listening.

My history teacher went on a wild tangent during class, filled with psychobabble regarding his own biased, political views, instead of fact based history.

by Holaholala July 15, 2025