The use of psychological knowledge at medical departments in hospitals is closer to being a psychologization of patients' behavior than attempts at understanding the patients. By adding a single extra word the generalized performativity of psychological language can turn a physical illness into a psychic « disturbance ». This allows professionals to keep a distance from their patients and thus maintain power over them. The function of psychologists is thus brought into the debate.
Performativity; psychologization; diagnosis; physical illness