Psyonormative

Psyonormative is a term used in critical psychology and related fields to describe practices, discourses, and structures that enforce or assume a normative standard of mental functioning. The word blends psyche (mind) and normative, signaling the alignment of individual mental states with social or medical norms about what counts as healthy, stable, or appropriate.

In scholarly usage, psyonormativity refers to the way diagnostic criteria, treatment goals, and everyday expectations shape how people experience and report their mental lives. It encompasses the policing of emotions, coping styles, and cognitive differences as deviations that must be corrected to fit a presumed norm. Proponents argue that the concept helps reveal how power and institutions mold subjective experience, while critics warn that it can reinforce stigma and suppress genuine diversity in mental experiences.

The concept intersects with medicalization, normativity, and the neurodiversity movement. It is invoked in discussions of psychiatry, psychotherapy, education, and workplace mental health policies to critique the presumption of “normal” mental functioning and the pathologization of nonconformity. It remains a contested and evolving term without a single, fixed definition or widespread consensus.

See also: Neurodiversity; Medicalization; Pathologization; Normativity; Critical psychology.