Established as a common practice within an organization; confined to an institution such as a hospital or prison.
From Latin 'institutum' meaning 'established practice,' from 'instituere' (to set up). The psychological sense of becoming dependent on institutional life developed in the 20th century through sociology and psychology.
This word captures a troubling paradox: institutions created to help people can end up making them dependent on institutional life itself. The concept explains why long-term prisoners or patients sometimes struggle with freedom - they've adapted to a controlled environment.
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