Thanks to CP&P, I found a new blog this morning -- The MacGuffin, another psychologist/critic of the mental health debacle. And in his post today he offers this, which is the best statement of why mental illnesses are NOT diseases:
"Mental Illnesses are defined as mixtures of symptoms packaged into syndromes. These syndromes are consensus statements from committees writing the nosologies of psychiatric disorders for the DSM of the APA and the ICD. Thus, mental illnesses are not diseases. (Stahl's Essential Psychopharmacology: Neuroscientific Basis and Practical Applications pg178)
Remember I have said this before -- these categories were arrived at by committee, not through research.
*It has been said that the platypus was designed by committee