Actually I'd like your opinion on this: I think the reason I feel so strongly about this is exactly the subjective nature of the behaviors. I think the problem with diagnosing the behavior based on broken thinking is that it's telling someone they are that behavior. I feel like mental health diagnosis in general doesn't consider the damage done by telling someone their entire mind is broken or sick. It's similar to gaslighting in its own way in my mind. It's like telling someone they are sick and the only way to get better is by learning how to be well again, but your mind doesn't work either so take some pills and hope for the best. I honestly feel that if at some point someone pointed out that these behaviors can be abusive and that we don't understand that we are hurting someone and explain the difference in perspective, it would have been incredibly more helpful. Like explaining that denial is a coping mechanism that I might be using to protect myself, but that I don't understand that to someone else that denial is gaslighting because it is invalidating their perspectives and emotions. Maybe even pointing out that repressing our emotions is a form of self harm because we fear the rejection and abandonment that we already know, but we don't realize that by living this way we are continuing the cycle. I honestly feel like the reason so many psychiatric professionals fundamentally failed at diagnosing and treating this is the very thing they are trying to teach: perspective. How can you ever begin to explain perspective to someone if you don't understand what it's like to not comprehend perspective. I thought perspective was universal up until a few months back. People existed as I saw them in my mind and people that disagreed were just stupid and couldn't face the facts. I think exactly what I just said is why someone with so much perspective has so much trouble diagnosing and treating someone with no perspective.