Diagnosis: A Thousand People Speak Out

The public is rarely asked its opinions concerning mental health issues and, as revealed by a literature search, is almost never surveyed on this topic without the use of medicalized, diagnostic, forced choice illness language. This article reports on an ongoing community outreach project that gave people the opportunity to reflect on and share their thoughts about the medical-mental illness-diagnostic model and its impact on their lives. Two organizations with long-standing opposition to the individualized model of human development and the medicalized understanding of emotionality designed and conducted open-ended surveys on emotional distress and diagnosis online and at two New York City street fairs. Results from over 1,000 surveys indicate that mental illness diagnosis is viewed as a “necessary evil” at best, and an isolating and destructive practice at worst. The results strongly suggest that nonmental health professionals are important allies in the fight for alternatives to diagnosis.