Perhaps mental illness is not being like the gp you see when you're ill

Or like the psychiatrist if it goes to secondary care.

For all the science of mental illness the label is ultimately a judgement made by a person. I would guess the most common judgement in clinical practice is different to me.

But I'm not sure. Most doctors have a...well they have a divide between doctor and patient...they forget that doctors are human so if they're human, I.e. if they fell in love with someone who was a patient, then they could be struck off. But it is human to fail and it is human to fall in love with someone I shouldn't have.

It is the same for my old psychiatrist. He got struck off. I'm not sure he should have been. He might have lost everything in life. His dignity. His profession. His job. His reputation. Everything. All because he loved as a human being could. But a doctor shouldn't.

I hope he's ok. I hope he hasn't lost everything but...in a small way...I hope he has. That's sort of the first step to being a really good doctor when it comes to dealing with people. It's not about the degree or what can be learned from books. It is what can only be learned from life and living a full life.

Unfortunately the risk is death. That's the cost of a truly full life. If he committed suicide then that would be a bad thing. But going through all the failures and losing everything he valued...well....it's a good way to learn about people.

A person who's making a value judgement to use the label of mental illness has to know people. The current medical system prevents good doctors being made.