11/19/2025
"In 1962, Dr. Thomas Szasz wrote The Myth of Mental Illness, a book that challenged the way we think about human suffering.”
His argument wasn’t that people don’t struggle. Instead, he suggested that reducing complex human experiences to diagnostic labels can sometimes obscure the deeper truth: our thoughts, emotions, and behaviours mean something. They emerge for a reason.
This perspective has deeply influenced my own work. After years in forensic nursing, witnessing the ways people respond to pain, adversity, and trauma, I learned that what we call “symptoms” are often adaptive responses...creative solutions the person developed to survive what they were living through.
In my psychotherapy practice, I carry this forward.
Instead of focusing on “what’s wrong,” I focus on what makes sense:
Your behaviour has purpose.
Your emotions reflect what mattered.
Your beliefs formed to protect you.
When we stop pathologizing our experiences and begin understanding them, something powerful happens:
- Shame turns into curiosity
- Fear turns into insight
- Survival strategies become pathways to healing
We can’t heal by rejecting the parts of ourselves that kept us safe, we heal by bringing those parts into awareness and helping them evolve.
If this perspective resonates with you, I invite you to explore it with compassion. Your story makes sense. When you see it clearly, change becomes not only possible, but deeply meaningful.
— Brent McKay, RN, BScN, MACP, RP
