SketchySeaBeast responded eloquently, and I appreciate both of your posts. I'd also like to add that for me there's an aspect of scientific humility: mental he

SketchySeaBeast responded eloquently, and I appreciate both of your posts. I'd also like to add that for me there's an aspect of scientific humility: mental health is complex enough that it's often unclear which conditions are more akin to kidney disease and which are more akin to high blood pressure. In that context, the labels "sick" and "normal" are too absolute. How differently should we treat "sick" people? Do they milk their diagnoses extra sympathy as alluded to by stephengillie elsethread? Honestly I don't care too much about that. A much bigger concern is that labeling people "sick" justifies the creation of a self-sustaining industry dedicated to their "treatment". Even if nearly all of the researchers and physicians are well-meaning (which I believe), we need to be skeptical. Most of all I resist the othering of the "mentally ill". What we regard as "normal" entails quite a range of irrational and strange behavior. I personally believe the best model is that nobody's "normal", yet medical intervention is rarely justified and ostracism is never justified.