[ellard]

I disagree with coining a different term to make it more socially acceptable. Therapist being generic is useful for keeping mental health issues under a single blanket and preventing other people from easily figuring out what you're going there for. This is similar to how going to a doctor could range from doing your yearly check up to following up on a possibly fatal issue.

The real solution is the one we've already been pushing for and have had a great amount of success over the years, which is to treat mental health issues with the same importance as physical health issues.

[m_fayer]

I agree and disagree. Full blown major depression or panic disorder or what have you should absolutely be treated like physical health issues. But, there are many of us who are perfectly functional and decently happy who could still use counseling. We who keep screwing up relationships, failing to follow through on projects, allowing ourselves to be doormats or stressed out cliches, the "healthy screwed up".

Crappy upbringings and suboptimal mental habits do not always come with psychiatric disorders. And such people often don't live their best lives because they forego therapy on the grounds of "I'm not that bad, others have it much worse, I don't want to be self involved and drain resources. Also I don't want a diagnosis just to get therapy." But something like counseling has been provided by elders or religious authorities for millennia across various cultures. It's strange that now, that form of counseling is provided mostly by medical professionals to a big chunk of the Western middle class. But it's absolutely better than nothing.