Internet psychiatry

[Zipporah Schumaker]

[Internet Psychiatry] is the practice of making a psychological diagnosis of an individual over the Internet. The term carries a pejorative tint in some pools of online culture due to the practice of those who style themselves as home grown psychologists to make authoritative statements on mental state and behavior without a legitimate medical framework to support their claims. Internet Psychiatry has found popularity with those who target persons for derision and attack over the Internet, and is frequently seen as a methodology used by [pseudo-intellectuals]. The [prototypical] Internet Psychiatrist may engage in critical judgment based upon thin slices of information about the subject, or by applying stereotypes combined with sweeping generalizations.