"I wonder if you skeptics would consider an exception for self-perceived problems like these."

Even Szasz held that if someone believed they could benefit from therapy and went in voluntarily, he had no objection.

Folks go to curanderos to have sage-smoke blown up their ass wafted over them. Others go to priests to be exorcised of demons. As long as nobody claims that its science when its not, and so long as it is voluntary; Szasz has no objection.

But, of course, you're being facetious here. Because you believe that the "problem" is more than the self-perception. You believe that the illness exists in those who don't perceive it. Which is why you blur the whole thing by comparing it to chemical depression which may be treated by adjusting the level of neurotransmitters.

Szasz wanted to reduce Psychology only to what could be found in the organs and cells; and to eliminate the treatment of things which are not physically there. You, by your choice of example, want to blur the line between the objectively observable and the imaginary.

Szasz had no problem with imaginary cures for imaginary ailments. We all know the power of the placebo effect. Its just the imposition of a belief on those who are nonbelievers that turns it into religious zealotry.

Oh, and BTW; even the sorcerers at the APA are united about the wrongness of treating a sexual orientation as a disease and trying to use "reparative therapy" to "cure" it. They hold that it is the failure to accept the orientation which is the illness.

Now the APA do accept that Ego-Dystonic Sexual Orientation is an issue because of the Ego-Dystonia, not because of the Orientation.

So with Reparative Therapy accepted as quackery, it would seem that the condition has two treatments that should work in tandem; get rid of the self-loathing through Acceptance Therapy, and working to rid the environment of external stimuli which attempt to convince the patient erroneously that there is something wrong with them.

Here at GC we try to do our part. And it seems to me that if you removed your constant barrage of hostility and negativity, you could contribute to both.

Dante