I agree with most of what you've written.
One thing bothers me tho...about both our statements...
Dysfunction and mental illness implies sickness, and thus unaccountability for the state these characters find themselves in.
No responsiblity...??? Absolutely not!
You make a good point. Personally, I don't subscribe to the medical model of human behavior. That is one of the problems with psychiatry -- if behavior can be explained in terms of an "illness," it absolves people of the choices they make, and the attitudes and thoughts they keep. I don't buy this. I think in very few cases (e.g., tumors, Alzheimers) there actually is a physical cause and explanation of the affects of brain function and behavior. I read an excellent book years ago entitled THE DEATH OF PSYCHIATRY (written by a psychiatrist, btw), who said that what medicine calls "mental illness" is really simply "problems of living," and rather than treatment, what the mentally "ill" need is to learn better ways to cope with life's responsibilities. Another book I read more recently maintains that the onset of schizophrenic symptoms isn't a physical malfunction (e.g., an illness), but is emotional trauma. Learning a successful way to cope with that initial trauma is probably a better method of "treatment" for schizophrenia than, say, use of drugs (which is what the medical model always ultimately throws at mental "illness").
It gets back to what I was referring to as "ways of thinking." One can actually *think* their way into "mental illness." And there are psychological therapies based upon changing the way clients think, as the path back to "health."
In sum, I believe that people are responsible for their behavior -- there is no "illness," per se, that gives them an excuse, or which makes them a "victim" of something that is ultimately out of their control and responsibility.
(Disclaimer: I'm not a mental health professional, but I used to work for an association of mental health professionals; I've got a close friend who graduated with a Ph.D. in behavioral psychology from Stanford who I bounce questions off of on these topics; and I've done a lot of reading in this area. My theory about the link between the leftist worldview and mental "illness" is just that -- a theory; but given time, I think I could make a good case for it.)