Reply to comment

I think the idea from Anne's post above "An obsession with meaning"

is very interesting, and reminds us that a definition of mental health as self-understanding and self-evolution is really just an ideal and a norm itself. Just because it involves the evolution of a person towards an undefined goal as opposed to some ideal, does not mean it doesn't leave some people being deficient and some not, in ways that perhaps wont always be in agreement with who thinks they are mentally healthy and who not.

Also, to respond to your thoughts on "being realistic" akerle, I think part of the problem with the mental health world right now is that people started being realistic before having a concrete or unified understanding of what they were being realistic about - prescribing drugs and treatments and writing policies before anyone had any idea what the problem even really was. I too get frustrated with overly abstract discussions about topics that need immediate action, but hey, we're in a seminar, why not start as abstractly as we can and work our way down?