Why does psychosis have to be bad?

This might seem like a naive or basic question. Anyone who adhere's to the illness paradigm might see it like asking why does cancer have to be bad.

Psychosis isn't an illness though. It's not one thing either. It doesn't have a shared definition as well I think. Psychiatrists, the arbiters, have a different definition to the public and patients.

It is a dumb question because the word means something bad. At least in the concensus definition. This is not just the mental illness stereotype. It's the psychopathology too. People kill other people and, more often, themselves when psychotic.

There is a movement battling against the perjoratisation of psychosis. They are a small movement will little impact yet but the change they bring is a necessary one. They would understand my question is not a dumb one.

There are also drug users who get high. They purposely induce what psychiatric measures see as psychosis but they enjoy pleasureable experiences. In fact the word enthogen is used to describe drugs which create experience, but the term is synonymous with induced experiences of altered reality.

And, of course, religion has its seed in psychosis. That's a huge thing in itself but I can't be arsed to explain it again.

These are little pithy examples which expand the mind of the uninitiated however they don't do much for the purpose of the question. The question is the start of a thought process whereby the psychosis pathologised by psychiatry could, perhaps, have better outcomes for the individual.

Just so the reader understands, I've been through psychosis. The bad kind. The kind not induced voluntarily nor 'treated' forcibly. I nearly killed myself and I have a forearm with scar upon scar to remind me of the period.

But I survived and though I will kill myself in 4 years the process was sort of worth it. I've changed. A lot. This is what some people have mentioned as one of the problems of psychosis.

People change. The thing is that's not a bad thing, just an unusual one to an automoton.

I met with a friend of mine yesterday and he spoke of his desire for a Lamborgini. He has worked hard to get qualifications which could get him a job in a bank so he could make loads of money and buy his dream.

I used to be like him. We've know each other for ten years and there's always been some rivalry as part of the friendship. When we left uni we were on similar paths. We had somewhat similar ambitions.

Today my equivalent of his dream supercar is beating the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. I'll be honest and say my motivations have strayed far from any laudable goals I once had. I feel like Rocky in the penultimate round. I just want to win. There will be no feeling of success to ride me through. Just a brief interlude before the next challenge.

I could turn my talents once again to the pursuit of wealth. I don't though. I live frugally and work without payment or recognition. I work obsessively most of the time. Always struggling with concepts and research. Still with this idea of striving to affect the greater good but with a lot of the idealism tarnished.

I could probably blag myself into another job in the commercial sector but I don't want to. What changed was pretty significant. I am still the same arsehole but my life is dedicated to more socially acceptable things than acquiring material wealth.