I really liked the writing in this article, it's compelling and fun to read. I do however think the author misses a broader point somehow. The idea that 'ment

I really liked the writing in this article, it's compelling and fun to read. I do however think the author misses a broader point somehow. The idea that 'mental illness' is a boogyman label which one will avoid at all costs is a good one. Who would want to self apply this label? You'll throw your lot in with the person talking to themselves on the street corner. Instead of this, we are now supposed to start trying to encourage people to humanize mental distress (no need to say disorder now), indeed to extend this even to those suffering from more severe problems. All of this is well and good, but the problem isn't really the term 'mental illness' is it? It's that we have decided as a society to reject all mentally ill people as hopeless cases, broken beyond repair. It doesn't have to be this way. Many mental disorders are recoverable, and there is a huge amount of unknown about the rest. We have literally made a poor cost benefit analysis years ago and stuck with it for far too long without much thought. What we should do is recognize that mental illness impacts most of us at some point in our lives, and that it severely impacts members of our own families (if you don't think it does, they are probably not telling you because of the stigma). What would we have to do to resolve this? We would have to decide to dedicate large financial resources to helping the mentally ill recover if possible, or to find an existence which is mutually beneficial if not. Many countries have done exactly this, and with the considerable resources we have in this society, there is little doubt that we could find more answers to helping find real recovery. Once people observe that mental illness is not a badge of shame, but an actual illness like many others, I believe that many more will be encouraged to seek assistance, and that we will all be much better off for it. As a nice side effect, you will no longer have to feel like shit knowing that the bipolar person on the street is likely to get roughed up frequently and meet an early end because we decided that's the way it is.