The number of Americans, now estimated as one in five, diagnosed with a mental
illness is to a great extent a result of this disease-izing of life. Getting
through adolescence, adjusting to an empty nest, grieving a loved one,
negotiating the ups and downs of marriage — these are not mental disorders.
These are facts of life. By dishonorably folding these figures into the number of
persons with real, persistent emotional troubles, the pharmaceutical and
psychiatric industries inflate their importance while realistic and appropriate
services are often unavailable for both the severely troubled and the
getting-through-life clients.
In linking psychotherapy and counseling
services to a mandatory diagnosis of mental illness, the leaders of the mental
health professions have effectively stigmatized services which for years have
facilitated insight and personal growth for countless persons. People are
increasingly resistant to counseling because they perceive it to mean one is
"mentally ill," which, indeed, it does, on paper, if one uses a health insurance
program or community mental health center.
Seeking counseling does not
constitute proof of mental illness. Responsible therapists, for example,
routinely consult with other therapists, for professional advice as well as
assistance in keeping our emotions from coloring our efforts to be helpful to
clients. Is this is a mental disorder, or responsible professionalism?
Psychotherapy can be a godsend to persons struggling with life problems:
overcoming abuse, bereavement, breaking bad habits. But the mandates of diagnosis
are stern; bereavement, for example, may last only two months before the wise men
and women of the American Psychiatric Association determine it is no longer grief
but "a major depressive disorder," a mental illness. This says more about the
emotional state of the deciding board members than it does about a husband of
many years who has lost a beloved wife.
If a person pays a health
insurance premium so that his or her money can be pooled with the funds of
thousands of others to pay for services, those services should be rendered
accurately, rather than manipulated based on the ethics of the particular
professional.
If the current debate on parity in mental health services
can include honest public dialogue about the widespread misuse of diagnostic
categories as well as the benefits of psychotherapy and caring support in times
of emotional pain, it would be a useful process. But it does not. Instead, the
medical, pharmaceutical, and insurance industries continue to misrepresent the
reality of mental health services to the public.
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