degeneration, n.Definitions

Degeneration (n.) was ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the label doctors pinned on patients they could not help, and it cannot by itself produce a psychoneurosis.

Degeneration (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠psychiatry's word for the obsessional patient — a condemnation in place of an explanation, which collapses before obsessions in great men like Zola.