aSocial Psychologist & Personal Advisor

Mis-Applying the Medical Model
of Mental Illness

It takes wisdom . . . to recognize wisdom
The music is nothing, if the audience is deaf!
- Walter Lippman.

The following explanation is "music" that most of society is not hearing — they are "deaf" to this music, because they have unwittingly accepted the conditioning of certain cultural institutions. A "deconstruction" of mental myths is needed — a debunking of Flat-Earth Assumptions. To the task of deconstructing commonly held beliefs, that are false, French philosopher Derrida said this:

Do not feign a "naturality" that does not exit.
One of the gestures of deconstruction, is to not naturalize
what isn’t natural—to not assume that what is conditioned by history,
institutions, or society is natural.
- Jacques Derrida.

The Myth of Mental Illness
by Matt Moody, Ph.D..

The commonly-held view of Mental Illness is expressed by author Shannon Hale:

“It’s common. It’s biological. It’s not their fault.
It’s not laziness or a bad attitude or a result of bad choices.
It’s a disease like cancer or any other.”

The previous statement is overly broad, describing a phenemenon that Shannon Hale asserts -- "It’s a disease like cancer or any other!"

Truth is, when we examine each particular case of what a doctor has diagnosed as a "mental disorder," in certain instances Shannon Hale's statement may describe the reality for some people. And on the other hand, we will absolutely find that in some cases, if not most cases, that the cause of a particular disorder in adults is not biological, and is indeed the result of a bad choice -- more specifically, the direct consequence of a morally-wrong choice.

In certain cases, what is diagnosed as a "mental disorder," is really a spiritual disorder, and the very symptoms of anxiety, depression, and/or mania signal that people have not heeded the dictates of their moral intuitions. King Solomon taught:

"Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life."
~ Proverbs 4:23.

"Life is Self-Correcting! Whenever you make a mistake,
Life will make sure you are properly notified. Whenever you
feel a loss of emotional harmony, a loss of inner peace, this is Life's
inherent clue that you have not been true to your intuitions of truth.
So, through your own conflicted feelings, Life
is notifying you to correct your course."
~ Changing Your Stripes.

While it is true that people act in dis-ordered ways, it is mostly a myth to imagine that mental dis-orders appear beyond a person’s ability to choose otherwise. It is mostly a myth that people “come down” with mental illness . . . like they “come down” with the flu, or like they might contract "cancer."

The Medical Model of Mental Illness is being misapplied to many normal adults and children on a wide-spread basis; an unnatural application that is being sold as "natural" — sold as real. It's a massive misapplication of biologically-caused Mental Illness among people who are mostly functional, people who can hold down jobs and follow through with commitments. These "normal" people are being diagnosed with all manner of mental illnesses.

From his book, "The Myth of Mental Illness," Psychiatrist Thomas S. Szasz states:

"The concept of disease is fast replacing the concept of responsibility. With increasing zeal
Americans use and interpret the assertion 'I am sick' as equivalent to the assertion
'I am not responsible.' Smokers say they are not responsible for smoking,
drinkers that they are not responsible for drinking, gamblers that they
are not responsible for gambling, and mothers who murder
their infants that they are not responsible for killing."

"To prove their point -- and to capitalize on their destructive behavior -- smokers,
drinkers, gamblers, and insanity acquitees are suing tobacco companies,
liquor companies, gambling casinos, and physicians."

"Classifying thoughts, feelings and behaviors as diseases is
a logical error, like classifying whale as fish."
~ Dr. Thomas S. Szasz.

Now the descriptions of dis-order may fit, but in many cases, the explanation of WHY the mental dis-order exists is not the true explanation. The Flat-Earth Story sold by some mental health therapists goes like this: It’s not your fault because your brain chemistry is out of balance; or it’s not your fault because you have a bad gene that runs in the family. That's just two versions of the "unnatural" story — the story that misapplies the Medical Model of Mental Illness to the normal population.

There are other "models" (theories) for explaining dis-ordered emotions and behavior; and the fact that most are unaware of alternative explanations, tells you that the prevailing paradigm for explaining mental illness is deeply entrenched into cultural thinking.

Here’s how I explain it in my book, Changing Your Stripes:

* * * * * * *

You DO your Dis-Eases. Certain psychological paradigms for explaining why you do what you do offer enticing excuses for bad behavior. Here are a few: "It's not your fault because you're Bi-Polar," or "You're not responsible for acting whack-o because you have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder," or "You can't help yourself, because you have Attention Deficit Disorder."

In this world, there are millions of people paying good money for bad psychological service; specifically, people who are paying to be diagnosed and labeled as HAVING a Disorder—when they don’t really have one, they’re doing one! Since the Mental Illness Paradigm maintains that you GET mental disease, like you GET Malaria, of course you would need a prescription of pills to cure the assumed biological cause—it’s not your fault, it’s just bad biology!

* * * * *
If you choose to pop a pill
to chase away emotional pain, when
you awake from your drug-induced dream,
Life will be waiting for you, right where you left it.
.* * * * *.

For those diagnosed with disorders, it may be a fact that life is dis-stressing and personally dis-pleasing, in other words life is not easy—it's Dis-Easing. Welcome to earth: Life IS a Set Up! The vast majority of people diagnosed as HAVING a mental disorder are being misled by what is called the “medical model” of mental illness: that the mental malady has a physical cause, a biological origin, apart from any choice-making input from you.

The bitter truth for most people behaving badly and feeling foul IS that they themselves have directly contributed to their so-called "mental disease," and without their direct donation to the cause, they wouldn't be dis-eased—instead, they would HAVE happiness, or at very least . . . inner peace. To assume that all diagnosed mental disorders initiate and perpetuate like biological diseases undercuts a key principle to personal recovery and fulfillment: Owning your Response-Ability.

Note: Evidence that what I say . . . is real, is observed by how the Diagnosers of Mental Illness proceed to FIX that dis-order! As therapist proceed with "talk" therapy, this implies that the dis-ordered client has some say-so in the matter: They chose their way in . . . they can choose their way out.

Logically, if you actually could GET Bi-Polar or A.D.D. like you GET Malaria, then why do those diagnosing such disorders proceed to invest hours in trying to talk you out of your condition? In contrast, a medical doctor diagnosing Malaria simply supplies the anti-Malaria medicine, and the pill alone does the job. Medical doctors don't require further interventions to make Malaria go away, least of all, trying to talk the disease out of you!

This means, some who hold to a Disorder Paradigm play both sides of the issue: On one hand, they say you HAVE a disease and "it's not your fault," and a pill is prescribed, YET they YACK at you for months thereafter as if talk-therapy would do you any good; as if YOU and YOUR THINKING and YOUR CHOOSING had any correlation to YOUR CONDITION—which was whole truth and nothing but the truth to begin with! Because of the power in you to cause the course of your life, it is you who initiates the creation and perpetuation of so-called mental disorders. YOU . . . DO your Dis-Eases!

* * * * *
One Conscious Choice at a time,
You choose your Propensity to be Peculiar;
You even choose your Propensity to . . . Insanity.
You are Responsible for the Person that You become.
You are Response-able for both your "premeditated" acts,
and the "thoughtless" emotions and reactions that flow from You.
.* * * * *.

I maintains that the vast majority of Psychological Depressions occurring among "normal" people, happen thru a person’s willful cooperation and participation at the level of Spiritual Disharmony—the failure to keep Inner Liberty. Show me a person who is Living True, and I’ll show you a person who is not Depressed—or BiPolar, or O.C.D., or A.D.D., or P.T.S.D., or even X.Y.Z. 1 Why is this so? Because the fruits of Living True are the exact antithesis of dis-order symptoms; it is impossible for Light and darkness to occupy the same space. The Light of Inner Liberty will necessarily dispel the darkness of all emotional dis-order and dis-ease.

Virtually all Dis-ordered Emotions and Behavior will consistently correlate to the way people perceive and respond to what is happening in their world! It is you doing the perceiving and responding to all situations of accident or abuse, and why do you perceive and respond as you do? The answer is crystal clear: Because of the Animal that You Are today! The vital need for Changing Your Stripes is confirmed. (Changing Your Stripes, 2nd Edition, pages 146-152).

Related Articles: Spiritual Roots of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Cause & Cure for OCD
                         Emperical Evidence confirms that Depression occurs due to Sin and not Serotonin
                        Mental Disorder Behind Stalking Behavior: NO Disorder at all, just People Being Bad
                        Because there's No Bug, Bacteria, or Virus involved: You don't HAVE OCD, You DO OCD
                         Diagnosis vs Description: When Labeling and Pigeon-Holing is Unhelpful
                          The Diagnosis Treatment of OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

* * * * * * *

Ascending to the pinnacle of Healthy and Happy Living will not happen by applying the techniques and skills of today's most popular paradigms; further, any mental or emotional malady is mostly made worse through the fatally flawed assumptions of "It's-Not-Your-Fault Psychology" — a pervasive paradigm that tends to deprive people of the very thing that will deliver Healthy and Happy Living:

To fully and wholly accept Response-Ability for what comes out of you!

The key to emotional health & happiness is fundamentally
about YOU and Changing Your Stripes!

"The Greatest Prize
for Life's labors isn't
in material possessions
or impressive accomplishments,
but in the progress of personal character.
You labor for your own becoming, this is your richest reward.
Who You Become is your greatest possession,
make it your Masterpiece!"
(Changing Your Stripes, 2nd Ed., page 274).

You Need to Put your Peepers
on the Words in My Book.

You'll be so much Smarter and Happier if you do!

My new book, "Changing Your Stripes" presents principles for:
Getting out of the ditch in which you've been dumped, . . .
the difficulties of which you are a Victim, . . . and/or
Getting out of the ditch in which you've jumped,
the difficulties for which you Volunteer.

"Mastering a challenging situation
is ultimately a matter of
mastering yourself!"
- Matt Moody.

"Changing Your Stripes," teaches you the principles that lead to lasting change,
making you a new kind of creature capable of responding
with calm, even as storms of adversity swirl.

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Changing Your Stripes is a
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Changing Your Stripes

a
Social Psychologist & Personal Advisor