Meaning & use
pathologizing
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Treating or describing a behavior, condition, or trait as a symptom of disease or psychological disorder, often inappropriately.
See it in a sentence
Critics accused the study of pathologizing ordinary grief as a mental illness.
She felt the therapist was pathologizing her shyness instead of accepting it as part of her personality.
A note on using this word
Frequently used critically, to suggest that normal human variation is being wrongly labeled as disordered.
Words with a similar meaning
medicalizing
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
normalizing
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