Modern psychiatry defines disorders by a checklist of symptoms (e.g., via the DSM), treating the syndrome itself as the disease. This is unlike the rest of medicine, which views symptoms like a cough as signals of various underlying causes. This flawed approach has stalled progress by focusing on labels instead of mechanisms.

The shooter developed gender dysphoria after immersing himself in sexualized anime subcultures. He became fixated on resembling the 'cute and petite' female characters, suggesting his trans identification was an outgrowth of a fetish rather than an innate sense of identity.

For individuals whose symptoms have been repeatedly dismissed, a serious diagnosis can feel like a relief. It provides validation that their suffering is real and offers a concrete problem to address, overriding the initial terror of the illness itself.

With three-quarters of mental health providers being women, the field may have a significant blind spot regarding male issues. This gender imbalance can make it difficult for men to feel seen and heard, creating a structural barrier to effective treatment that goes beyond social stigma and pushes them towards toxic online communities.

A core assumption of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is that problems like depression or anxiety arise because individuals haven't learned the necessary skills to manage emotions or navigate relationships. The treatment is therefore focused on explicitly teaching these presumed-missing skills.

In certain online subcultures, identifying as transgender is seen as 'cool' and provides immediate access to a tribe. This reframes an individual's social alienation from a personal failing into a societal moral failure, a powerful coping mechanism for maladjusted young people.

Psychology is moving away from a firm distinction between personality and mental health. A persistent mental health issue, by definition, is a stable pattern of experience and behavior, which fits the scientific definition of a personality trait. The two concepts are fundamentally intertwined.

Contrary to the dominant medical model, mental health issues like depression and anxiety are not illnesses. They are normal, helpful responses that act as messengers, signaling an underlying problem or unresolved trauma that needs to be addressed rather than a chemical imbalance to be suppressed.

The term "depression" is a misleading catch-all. Two people diagnosed with it can have completely opposite symptoms, such as oversleeping versus insomnia or overeating versus appetite loss. These are not points on a spectrum but discrete experiences, and lumping them together hinders effective, personalized treatment.