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I believe that mental illnesses are stigmatized diseases that are confined to the evolving limits of technology. I completely agree with the idea that once technology advances to find the physical correlates of different types of mental illness, this stigma will dissolve and will find a new mysterious illness to burden. People are simply afraid of what they cannot understand. Science is on the brink of psychiatric comprehension but until society can pinpoint the exact underlying mechanisms, to many, mental illness will remain an illusion skewed by ungraspable perspective. This skewed perspective may be a product of societal standards, dictating that mania is bad, or by the individual artist who thrives on his inexplicable gifts of energetic inspiration. Where the collective we sees unhealthiness, the artist feels creativity. In this sense, mental illness is handicapped because in some cases, a mental illness’ entire existence depends on how you look at it.

Depression is usually seen as more one-sided. Those who feel it generally do not like it and those who witness it understand that something may be wrong or off, whether or not they agree that it is a mental illness or not. Depression is a disorder in which, the person feels sad, worthless, or pessimistic for a certain length of time. Depression is something that should be cured then, right? These people are not living healthy and normal lives, right? However, what if we're not right? Depressive realism is the proposal that people with depression actually see the world more accurately. Depressed people are less affected by positive illusions than are so-called “mentally healthy” individuals. Several studies suggest that moderately depressed people seem to have a more realistic grasp of their importance and relative abilities. Non-depressed people use illusory defense mechanisms, perhaps adaptively, to see the world in a more positive light. Depressed individuals are more likely to rationally gauge their control in certain types of situations.  Voltaire’s Candide sums it up perfectly, “Optimism is the madness of insisting that all is well when we are miserable." So, whom do we treat now?