Ah... the good old debate as to where, exactly, illness, behaviour, societal maladjustment and personality diverge. Again, a standard essay topic, the conclusion to which changes depending on the environment in which it is written.
Because it's a standard essay, you know it's big on the agenda. You have to keep it in mind all the time. Some "illness" isn't actually an illness in the right circumstances. For example, being a delusional psychotic might well help you out in an unstructured, battlefield scenario, as it may very well facilitate acts that enable survival (like terrifying the opposition away at top speed when one-on-one). Outside that? Unhealthy, as your neighbours will tar and feather you, if you don't manage to kill yourself first.
It's an illness when people around you treat you like a freak and gang up on you, or you harm yourself as a result. It's not an illness when they think it's really cool you can do this, and you find a means to survive well. That's about the yard-rule you can use in a pragmatic world, even if it's not a very nice one. <sighs>
edited 18th Apr '12 5:55:31 PM by Euodiachloris
The other post seemed to be hitting "there's no such thing as 'mental illness,' you're just pathologizing the different." I may have misread, though.
edited 18th Apr '12 4:27:51 PM by HersheleOstropoler
The child is father to the man —Oedipus