Martin Bobgan and Deidre Bobgan

Martin Bobgan and Deidre Bobgan argue in the following viewpoint that mental illness is not a disease. Although a brain can be diseased, the mind cannot, they contend, because the mind is not a physical organ. Bobgan and Bobgan assert that blaming mental, emotional, and behavioral problems on mental illness allows people to reject free will and personal responsibility for their actions. Behaviors typically described as mental illness are more accurately characterized as “problems of living,” the authors maintain. Bobgan and Bobgan are the authors of PsychoHeresy: The Psychological Seduction of Christianity and codirectors of PsychoHeresy Awareness Ministries, an organization which believes that many concepts of psychological counseling are contrary to biblical beliefs.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What happens when a person’s behavior is labeled...