Meaning & use
orthogenic
Last updated
Meaning
adjectivebefore a nountechnicalmedicalrare
relating to treatment or education intended to correct disturbed emotional or mental development, especially in children
Grammar: Used before a noun, as in 'orthogenic treatment' or 'an orthogenic school'; it is not usually used after a verb.
Patterns
- orthogenic treatment
- an orthogenic school
- orthogenic care
The clinic offered orthogenic treatment for children with severe emotional difficulties.
In the 1940s, an orthogenic school was set up to study and support troubled children.
Her paper reviews the history of orthogenic care in child psychiatry.
Common combinations
- orthogenic treatment
- The old hospital wing was used for orthogenic treatment.
- orthogenic school
- He spent two years at an orthogenic school in the 1950s.
- orthogenic approach
- The orthogenic approach aimed to correct development through daily routine and therapy.
Synonyms and how they differ
- corrective
- Much more common and general; it can describe anything that corrects a problem, not only mental development.
- therapeutic
- Focuses on healing or relieving symptoms rather than on correcting a child's development.
Word family
- orthogenesis noun
- an old biological theory that evolution follows a fixed direction
- orthogenic adjective
- relating to the correction of disturbed development
Commonly confused: orthogenic or orthopedic? orthogenic or orthogenic?
orthogenic vs orthopedic
Orthopedic relates to bones, joints, and muscles; orthogenic relates to mental or emotional development.
orthogenic vs orthogenic
Not to be confused with 'organogenic', which means formed by or involving organs.
Practice
In which context would you most likely meet the word 'orthogenic'?
Choose one answer.
'Orthogenic' is a rare technical term about correcting disturbed mental or emotional development, so it appears in psychology and psychiatry writing. The other contexts have nothing to do with that meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “orthogenic”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.