Are We Pathologizing the Human Experience? How Alchemy Can Help Your Mental Health

Mental health wasn’t really a thing we looked at until recently. We may have, however, over compensated for the lack of coverage through the past few millennia. We’ve found the need to dissect every personality, bunch it’s complexities into a category and throw it into a box with look-a-likes, leaving nothing and no one “normal”.

Labeling our difficulties can be helpful sometimes, as it allows us to understand and communicate our experiences. It provides a framework for discussing mental health and seeking appropriate support. However, we must also recognize the limitations of these labels and the potential harm they can cause.

The concept of a “disorder” implies that there is something inherently wrong or abnormal about a person’s mental state. It suggests that certain thoughts, emotions, or behaviors are deviant and should be fixed or eliminated. But is this perspective fair? Isn’t it just another way to pathologize and stigmatize human experiences that may be complex, nuanced, and varied?

The human mind is a vast and intricate landscape, encompassing a wide range of emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. What may be considered “disordered” in one culture or context may be completely normal in another. Moreover, the line between what is considered a…