A 19th-century medical and psychiatric perspective treating mental illness and insanity as a disease affecting the mind's ability to connect with reality; the study of alien minds or mental estrangement.
From alien + -ism (a suffix forming nouns of practice, doctrine, or condition). Developed in 19th-century psychiatry to describe the field of studying mental alienation—minds separated from reality.
Alienism is a fascinating forgotten word—psychiatry used to call itself alienism because mental patients were seen as people whose minds had become 'alien' to themselves, a haunting metaphor for mental illness.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.