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<< Everyone has problems--that much is a given. >>
This is plainly false.
If everyone had problems, shrinks would have no idea what normal behavior was. They therefore would be unable to diagnose and treat abnormal behavior.
The need for shrinks presupposes that there are normal people and normal behaviors. Anyone who differs significantly from these normal people with the normal behaviors is a fruitcake, and that's why fruitcakes go to the shrink (to get their head fixed). >>
I'm afaid that it's not "plainly false" at all. If I had said that everyone is obsessive/compulsive, or everyone is schizophrenic, then you would be right. All I said is that everyone has problems. I have dealt with enough people in my lifetime to know that for a fact. But they are not the same problems. On one hand you may have someone with an eating disorder who otherwise is the perfect bill of health (physical and mental). On the other hand you have someone who is schizophrenic but physically fit. Then there are drug addicts who have neither eating disorders nor schizophrenia. Of course there are also the unfortunate souls with more than their fair share of problems, but they are in the minority.
Regardless, EVERYONE has issues... no one is perfect, no matter what sort of image they project. You, for instance, seem to want everyone to think you are the picture of mental health, but the very fact that you think it's embarassing to see a therapist is pure 100% Grade-A evidence of a problem right there. Ridiculing others for trying to better their lives? More evidence.
Problem-free people are like unicorns--rumored about but never found.
l2c