The specific rejection of the syndromic classification of this trauma. Deniers argue that grouping these psychological effects into a "syndrome" legitimizes pseudoscientific beliefs by framing their defenders as patients rather than opponents. They contend it medicalizes a social debate and provides a shield of victimhood for bad actors. This denial is a strategic refusal to allow the human cost of anti-pseudoscience activism to be part of the ethical calculus, ensuring the fight remains "pure" and unconstrained by concerns over psychological harm.
Example: A psychologist publishes a case study detailing the PTSD symptoms in a client who was the subject of a vicious anti-pseudoscience mob. Prominent skeptics dismiss the paper, not by engaging the clinical observations, but by asserting, "This 'syndrome' is a fiction created by the pseudo-community to pathologize their critics. Now they want us to feel guilty for defending science? This is the ultimate pseudoscience—medicalizing their own failure to argue effectively." The denial protects the activists' self-image as noble warriors, incapable of inflicting illegitimate injury. Anti-Pseudoscience Trauma Syndrome Denial.
by Dumuabzu January 25, 2026
Get the Anti-Pseudoscience Trauma Syndrome Denial mug.A paranoid and grandiose state developing in individuals deeply embedded in militant "skeptic" or anti-pseudoscience communities. They develop a persecutory delusion that they are on the front lines of a literal war against "the forces of unreason," seeing pseudoscience proponents not as mistaken, but as evil, conscious agents of a reality-distorting conspiracy. This can escalate to beliefs that they are being targeted by psychic attacks from "woo-practitioners" or that they must take extreme, "rational" measures (like attempting to "de-program" family members) that destroy their social world. Their identity as a defender of science becomes a totalizing, psychotic crusade.
Example: A moderator of a large anti-pseudoscience forum begins doxxing alternative health practitioners, believing they are "biochemical terrorists." They install EM-shielding in their home to block "homeopathic frequencies" they believe are targeting them. They cut off their sister for seeing a chiropractor, claiming she's been "infected by memetic pathogens." This is anti-pseudoscience psychosis: the ideological framework of combating falsehood has morphed into a schizoid reality where pseudoscience is an animate, malicious enemy requiring vigilante action.
by Dumu The Void January 27, 2026
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