Are you shy? Then you have a mental disorder | Tim Black | spiked

Are you shy? Then you have a mental disorder | Tim Black | spiked:

While it is easy to make fun of the silliness of the psychiatric industry for giving our most banal behaviours a jargonised sheen, there is a serious point here, too. When everyday subjective states, such as shyness or distractedness, are turned into clinical objects, they become ripe for external, clinical intervention. We cease to be capable of overcoming a bout of anxiety, perhaps brought about by job worries; instead we are encouraged to see ourselves as in need of professional, expert help. And any practical problems at the root of, say, ‘depression’ or ‘anxiety’ - like unemployment or marital problems, for instance - are transformed into mental problems in need of psychiatric solutions. 

Brave New World eh?