What Happens When Psychiatry Claims Depression Is an Illness?

This article explores the implications of misinterpreting understandable emotional responses to life events and circumstances as “mental illnesses.” Besides stigma, fear, and pessimism about recovery, this “medical model” also leads to the widespread use of medical solutions to nonmedical problems, which are generally ineffective and often damaging. The paper supports calls by the United Nations and World Health Organization for a paradigm shift toward more humane, effective, evidence-based theory and practice.