On the 'reality' of mental illnesses, if I can be a little less serious, I do still recognise (as did my favourite professor) that it is still a very odd position to be in, to say that the illness must exist because of the presence of the treatment. Suppose that the treatment had for some reason not been invented, does that mean the illness didn't? Did the illness become 'real' the moment the treatment was discovered to be effective?
It’s why Fraud advocated cocaine use for hysteria. The work he did with Fliess is worth looking into as it’s relevant to you point about pathologies being revealed by the use of medication, cocaine in their case.
On the 'reality' of mental illnesses, if I can be a little less serious, I do still recognise (as did my favourite professor) that it is still a very odd position to be in, to say that the illness must exist because of the presence of the treatment. Suppose that the treatment had for some reason not been invented, does that mean the illness didn't? Did the illness become 'real' the moment the treatment was discovered to be effective?