The Evolution of Mental Health Issues

Being mentally ill is now the moral equivalent of being unfortunate enough to suffer from asthma or dandruff. The emphasis is on removing the 'stigma' from such conditions at all costs. Thus everyone with mental illness is busily given a blanket exoneration regarding their condition. But human beings are complex creatures. While it is certainly true that there are forms of mental illness (including depression), due to psychosis or chemical imbalance which are not the fault of the sufferer, it is also certainly true that, being moral creatures, moral failure, guilt and bad conscience can make us feel less than perfect mental equilibrium, anxiety or depression. In some cases these are spurs of discomfort we have deserved. This being so, explicitly removing all responsibility or 'stigma' for their condition from everyone who feels mental unease may not be in the best interests of the 'patient' and may actually hinder the 'recovery' of many. In addition to this mania for exoneration at all costs there is also the tendency to medicalise perfectly normal aspects of the human condition. For example, the effects of unrequited love or grief, as in the case of Prince Harry. These things will always occur and cannot be remedied by the application of science. At work here is possibly a vampiric desire to BE SEEN to stand with the afflicted and an excessive credulity in the powers of science to correct the whole of creation. Just a thought.