The Myth of Mental Health

It is often assumed that health, whether mental or physical, means the absence of illness. While I will not try and describe physical or medical health I will try and discuss the thorny topic of mental health. I have argued that mental illnesses are moral judgments of unwanted behaviors and have little or nothing to do with real medical ilnesses or diseases. Mental Illnesses represent a dangerous, toxic myth. In my book Psycho'therapy' and the Stories We Live By" I suggest that those of us who work in the mental health system do not ever really try and formally describe mental health as there is no economic reason to do so. (My chapter entilted "Mental Health" is the main reason I wrote this book.) I describe behaviors that might be morally wanted that might define a myth of  "mental health." Of course, I then delve into some of the reasons why some behaviors are referred to as illnesses and others as health and who gets to do the defining and creating of both these myths. 

store.bookbaby.com/book/psychotherapy-and-the-stories-we-live-by.