"Loose definitions of Mental Illness serve to decrease personal responsibility and justify expanded government ..."

Shrinkwrapped on the 1/5 statistic: "Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics":

Why don't we reserve the concept of Mental Illness for those who suffer from a serious definable Mental Disturbance that brings the person far out of the (wide) limits of normal human variability? I know this would decrease the income of some Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Social Workers, and various Counselors, but to be human is to function less than optimally much of the time, worse during periods of high stress. Pathologizing human variability and behavior is a sign of, dare I say, Mental Illness.