He Called Mental Health a Scam. Then He Emailed Me to Say It Again.

The Dangerous Cost of Calling Mental Illness “Fake”

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I’ve written a lot of things online. Some of them controversial. Some of them are painfully personal. Some that draw the usual trolls who toss their “truth” grenades and move on.

But every now and then, someone really means it.

Not just the comment they leave publicly.
Not just the rage they hurl into the ether.
They need to make sure you see it. Feel it. Maybe even change your mind.

A while back, I wrote a piece pushing back on a prominent pastor who claimed post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, doesn’t really exist. I called it irresponsible, unbiblical, and cruel. Apparently, one reader didn’t appreciate that.

He left a comment.

Then, when I didn’t respond, he tracked down my email and sent the whole thing again — word for word — like a follow-up punch.

Here’s what he wrote:

Mental health is the ultimate scam! If I walked into a psychiatrist’s office today, I could easily walk out with any of the following six diagnoses: depression, anxiety, bipolar, ADHD, PTSD, Autism spectrum disorder.