When a doctor examines a patient he is looking at him in terms of whether he is well or ill. If, from this medical point of view, there is something the matter with him, it is because he is suffering from a pathological condition. Physically, mentally, morally, socially, spiritually, it means you are ill . But all mental disorders have been psychiatrised. There is not one possible disordered state of mind not covered by a psychiatric name.
Every position is something North, South, East or West on the psychiatric compass.
He insists that the difference between a physical disease and a psychiatric disease is the difference between literal and metaphorical, real and unreal, true and false, genuine and fake, being and nonbeing. Just as metaphorically it may be said we are all asleep, so metaphorically some people may be said to have sick minds. Unfortunately, this metaphor has got the contemporary world in its spell. In the last ten years, the desire to take one s life has officially become a mental illness in the USA, and the desire for one s own sex has ceased to be one. However ludicrous all this may be, behind this childish game and metaphorical play lie enormous interests of money and power.