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But whenever you check in for an appointment at the VA one of the questions the intake person asks is "Are you feeling sad today, even a little bit?"
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Certainly an innocent sounding question, and not a problem in itself. The problem is what they make of the answer.
If one were to answer totally honestly, how could one answer anything but "just a little bit" sad or unhappy??
You're at the VA, (or the doctor's office) if you didn't have some kind of problem, you wouldn't BE there. Maybe that's just me, but I'm never happy about needing to see a doctor.
Trouble is, if you are honest about that, they put you in a little box marked "depressed" or some other label
de jour. Same box contains people who are actually mentally ill and unstable. And, of course, to be "fair" everyone in that box must be the same, and treated the same, right?
NOT RIGHT!, but its what often happens.
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BTW, my insomnia is classified as a mental illness too.
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IF you look at the standard medical texts published in the 50s, you can find homosexuality listed as a mental disorder. (or so I've heard)
Things change over time, and what is, or isn't a mental illness depends on who is making the list.
I once read a (pre-internet) story about a future society where any interest in firearms was considered a mental disorder and gun magazines were pornography.
We aren't there just yet, but I know of some people who would happily take us there, if they could, and they are trying....