normopathy
Sign in to saveNormopathy is the pathological pursuit of conformity and societal acceptance at the expense of individuality. In her book, Plea for a Measure of Abnormality, psychoanalyst Joyce McDougall coined the term normopathy to describe fear of individuality. Normopathy is difficult to diagnose because normopaths are integrated in society. Normopaths depend on social approval and validation.
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Normopathy is the pathological pursuit of conformity and societal acceptance at the expense of individuality. In her book, Plea for a Measure of Abnormality, psychoanalyst Joyce McDougall coined the term normopathy to describe fear of individuality. Normopathy is difficult to diagnose because normopaths are integrated in society. Normopaths depend on social approval and validation.
Christopher Bollas studied normopathy during the 1970s and 1980s with patients who had nervous breakdowns. Bollas, who called it normotic illness, considered it an obsession with fitting into society at the cost of the person's own personality. Normopaths experience emotional crisis – such as a teenager fumbling a football during a game at school – as a mania, and resort to violence or other dangerous behavior.