Mental illness was once an esoteric affliction. Now we’re told that it’s a nearly universal experience. Witness the proliferation of psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, group therapy, counselling, behaviour therapy, rehab and pills. It seems that the few of us who aren’t in treatment are at least candidates for it. Transnational drug companies, known by the sobriquet, Big Pharma, offer drugs for almost every mental health problem and for an increasing number of non-problems. This article is a critical analysis of the mental illness industry with particular emphasis on the use of drugs that claim to be psychotherapeutic. Drug treatment is based upon…