ABSTRACT
This is a book about an idea, a concept, namely mental illness and its corollary, mental health. The two concepts are forever linked, like yin and yang, as the dark and light aspects of the human psyche. One cannot exist without the other, in the same way that the concept of “up” cannot be without its opposite of “down.” Each needs and defines the other. Each exists as the opposite of the other; what the other is not. They exist as categories, organizational principles, and ways of conceptualizing human nature. They are not real in the way that rocks or buildings are real. They do not physically exist in the material world. They are ways of interpreting the world. Any given psychological experience or behavior can be given a variety of meanings by the experiencer or an observer. Which one do we pick and why?
