Sammanfattning
This article introduces the concept of diagnostic culture as a way to understand how psychiatric
diagnoses both influence and are influenced by contemporary society. A diagnostic culture is one in
which psychiatric diagnoses and categories are disseminated and used by numerous actors as the
most important means to understand various life problems and mental disorders. In this article, we
argue that psychiatric knowledge increasingly overshadows other possible ways of understanding
mental distress, such as existential, societal or religious ones. Furthermore, we argue that different
psychiatric diagnoses may function as a seismograph informing us about the social rules, standards,
and norms relative to which individuals navigate today. Thus, this article claims that by investigating
the diagnostic culture empirically, we can examine the normative demands that individuals in
contemporary society are faced with.