In the 1800's people could end up in the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia for all these reasons. (Thanks to Insanity is a social construction... what seems odd or unusual or abnormal is called "mental illness," and the definition of that changes as the social mores do. Even today, diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association, are essentially voted on by "experts" in the field. Don't think you've ever been given a diagnosis? Think again. If your therapist has ever billed your insurance to cover the cost of your sessions, then they've given you a diagnosis. Insurance won't pay without one.
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