Family Reflections

Wwareness of mental health issues has grown to the point that almost everyone can diagnose themselves, their spouse, their kids, and their extended circle of friends and relatives with something. Whereas people were once just “neurotic,” “eccentric,” or “difficult,” they’re now on the spectrum, or have bipolar, ADHD, or anxiety. They — and we — have something identified and codified by experts who study such things. And as a result, we can get treatment.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Indeed, the whole point of diagnosis is to identify the source of our difficulties. When a teenager lacks motivation, we want to know what’s wrong and what to do about it. When we find ourselves panicking while driving a car, we want to know why and how to make it stop! There are all kinds of mental health symptoms that normal people have, much the same way that normal people can have headaches and stomachaches. Having physical and emotional symptoms is just part of being human.

Nowadays, people who have uncomfortable symptoms reach out to psychotherapists and psychologists for relief. In the “olden days,” people thought that going to a mental health professional meant you were “crazy.” They would avoid getting help for themselves and their children in order to avoid the stigma of mental illness.

Fortunately, we now know that normal, high-functioning people can have mental health issues without being mentally ill. Mental illness of the kind that causes severe dysfunction and disability is, fortunately, extremely rare and isn’t primarily addressed by therapy, but rather by medical interventions.