Mental illness is a subjective thing. Teens think adults are flat out nuts. I notice members of the Fluther still use the term, “PTSD” even though, after my having long thought the “D” was incorrect, they finally have dropped the “D”. Reacting with stress, anger, fear, etc. after a deeply traumatic experience is not a disorder, it is a common and expected reaction to extreme disorder. It is the disorder which comes first. The “PTS” is the normal after, expected, and in need of healing.
Wanting to cause pain, to me, is mental disorder. Greed strong enough to drive someone’s behavior, is mental disorder. Killing humans when it is not for self or vulnerable other defense, is mental disorder.
For those things, yes, it would help. People who can’t remember who they are, think they are Ben Franklin, maybe that sort of thing can be considered a mental illness but I don’t. I think reality is not something we can mandate. A person’s reality is their own, and nobody should be able to mandate what it should be.
So, as I see it, like time, reality is a human invention. Time may be marked by certain events, but is only something humans thought up. So it is with reality. Humans have markers for that, but reality is something humans have invented based on certain markers, and corralled accordingly. When persons are no threat, they should be allowed the reality which suits them.
What was the question?
Oh, yeah, no. And, yes. Which reality are you supporting? Which definition do you observe as mental illness?