With a large number of ‘mental illnesses’ enlisted in the DSM, differentiation between bad habits that have turned into destructive behaviours and actual diseases has been lost. Plus, the DSM does not tackle the chicken-egg dynamic, portraying certain ‘illnesses’ to have been caused solely by genetics and biochemical imbalances, which may not necessarily be the case. David Bailey, a hypnotherapist and life coach at SOAS believes that “…science mixed with the pseudo-science of psychology has also had some detrimental effects in perpetrating popular misconceptions. The idea that something like depression, anxiety or a phobia is an actual “thing” like a stomach ulcer. Rather than a conceptual framework for describing a manifestation of thought is, in [his] opinion, problematic.” Continue reading Phantom Acceptance of Mental Labels