Dualisms and the Myth of Mental Illness

Abstract

What does it mean to `de-medicalize misery'? Does it mean that we should no longer think of states of despair, sadness and madness in medical terms? Does it mean that there is no proper role for doctors in trying to work with and help those so afflicted? And if that is so, then what is to be done about the systems that Western societies have set up to help, such as mental health and primary care services, all of which are predicated on the assumption that misery and madness are, among other things, medical conditions? Are all these to be dismantled? If so, what should take their place? These are not rhetorical questions; they serve the point of drawing attention to the fact that words have important consequence, if we mean what we say.