The rhetorical move of suggesting that someone's strongly held opinion, emotional response, or ideological stance is not a legitimate viewpoint but a symptom of unaddressed personal trauma or mental instability requiring professional intervention. It pathologizes disagreement, implying the opponent isn't rational but damaged, and that the debate table should be swapped for a therapist's couch. It’s a way to cloak personal attacks in a veneer of faux concern.
Example: When someone expresses deep anger about systemic injustice, a reply like "You need to log off and play the therapy card, bro. This level of rage isn't healthy" attempts to reframe their political critique as a personal psychological problem, invalidating the content of their argument by questioning their emotional fitness to hold it.
by Abzugal February 3, 2026
Get the Therapy Card mug.