Hi, Erica! What an interesting and provocative subject you have chosen for your article. I have given thought to most of the aspects you discussed, although there is not a single answer to all of it (as always). Thus, I completely agree with some of your statements and partly disagree with others :D

I was a little surprised to read here that there is a "biomedical model" which is based on the fact that mental disorders are brain diseases and that therefore pharmacological treatment is emphasized to "combat suspected biological anomalies".

Well, what else could they be? After all, we are our brains and biochemicals. However, pharmacology has not advanced enough to have a real treatment of the imbalanced chemicals. But, I see what you mean here. We are prone to maintaining a certain set of "symptoms" due to our behavior and thinking models (if we take the CBT perspective) or the system relations (if we take the Systemic perspective). So, if one is depressed and doesn't change his thinking and behavior pattern or systemic relations, he will never be "cured" by the antidepressants he takes. He will simply need to take them till the rest of his life. This is mainly because his lifestyle (e.g. thinking pattern, system relations or in order words - the internal and external stimuli) will get him back to the decreased levels of serotonin eventually.

However, it is extremely important to state that antidepressants are crucially beneficial in cases of severe depression. Furthermore, depression has its different stages and not all of them require pharmacological treatment but there are stages and cases which require it.

How much does a "healthy person" need that a "sick person" shows normal behaviour again, i.e. doesn't disturb his view of the world too much in the sense of what he considers to be healthy?

I think that it is not about the "healthy people" disturbed by the "mad people". It is more about what the suffering people with a mental disorder go through. I think there is a very romanticized picture of the mad living in their own wonderland and "forced" to be "normal" by the "normal". I worked for two years with people suffering from schizophrenia and, unfortunately, these were not happy people. Sadly, hallucinations are never "pleasant". You will never have lovely visual hallucinations about you lying on the beach with a nice cocktail. No, you will hallucinate your worst nightmares coming true - like being stabbed to death... again and again. The voices in your head will never talk flattering things. Instead, they will scream and say that they are going to kill all your family. If you have olfaction hallucinations you will never smell flowers. No, you will smell dead bodies instead.

That is how these people suffer. And pills do help them. Some get rid of their hallucinations, others don't, but are hugely relieved. I have only worked with the second group.

I agree with you that having "a diagnose" could be an excuse to deal with your life and issues. In the mental care center I used to work with the described patients a young man voluntarily enrolled because he assumed that he is mentally ill. He used to visit a psychoanalyst who perhaps confirmed this (don't they see pathology everywhere?). His problem (I will call him Mark) was that he couldn't stand being around people at work and felt very very annoyed with them to the point that he couldn't go to work. Mark was a very clever young IT specialist who preferred to spend his time with our talking to themselves patiants instead of dealing with his issues. It was really convenient for him because he was their favorite. His opinion was extremely important to the rest of the patients and he could really influence them. He liked this role. But this place wasn't for him for sure. Was he mad? No, of course not. His behavior was odd though. His coping style was ineffective. Did he need pills? No, he didn't. Did he need therapy? Yes, sure he did.

So, we have both examples here. People who benefit from having a diagnosis and taking pills and a person who uses it as an excuse.

I am not into DSM-V, either. I think they went too far. I agree with you that it's very easy to "earn yourself" a diagnosis these days. I think this is happening with autism. Suddenly, everyone is autistic. I ran over "autistic people" on Youtube who are reflecting on their autism?!?!?! What is that? One of the autism markers is not having a theory of mind? Reflection upon yourself and others??? What kind of autism is this? I think that any odd behaviour is called autistic or ADHD these days.