ABSTRACT
In psychological literature the subjective, personal type of functioning has been regarded as less adequate, less true and less adult than the objective, impersonal. This chapter explains the practice of psychiatry in the society and considers the ways in which this profession might be afflicted with the prevailing distortions of the society. Mental illness consists of the various modes of perceptual distortion undertaken by the human species and the equally varied techniques for concealing these distortions. Perception has content and form, and either or both of these may be subject to distortion. The 'subjective' and 'objective' modes of perception are concepts which can be formulated in various ways. In subjective distortion things are perceived only in so far as they have a direct and immediate bearing on one's life; in objective distortion things are perceived only in terms of a general frame of reference.
