There can be little doubt that society is unbalanced in legitimating physical sickness while reacting with alarm and repugnance to problems of a psychological nature. Think of the discrimination _against_ psychological disorders, in favor of physical complaints, practiced openly by nearly all health insurance companies, offering reduced benefits for mental health. Psychological pain does not hurt any less because it is emotionally based. Even so, emotional distress is held suspect, and insurance coverage for it, if not ruled out completely, is frequently only partial. It was, after all, not more than a century ago that our mental hospitals were run with an inhumanity that {15} still can send shivers down one's spine. Unhappily, it is clear that we have not entirely left this phase of our development: the film _One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest_, for example, points to continuing inhumanity in some psychiatric hospitals. And there is the alleged case of a Ukrainian woman who was involuntarily committed and held for some thirty years in a mental hospital. She was thought to be insane because, unfortunately, no one involved in her case recognized her "gibberish" as Ukrainian! Emotional and mental problems are still not accepted by many. There is a fear of the unknown and a skepticism that psychological problems are nothing more than signs that a person is malingering, simply does not want to try to get better. And there is a gut-level anxiety when confronted by someone who, we worry, "may be close to going over the edge." TEARING DOWN PRISON WALLS What undue hardship this causes! As wonderful as the body is, we accept its imperfections, its susceptibility to disease and injury. But our brains, our minds, our spiritual dimension--how less well we understand these in their greater complexity! Is it so strange and unacceptable that they should be prone to their own problems, that they, too, may bring suffering? Because society does not legitimate emotional pain, many people are not able to see their own pain as legitimate. So they deny it, to themselves and to others. But pain is usually a healthy signal; it tells you that something is wrong: Withdraw your hand from the fire! Move your cramping legs! Do something about your abusive, alcoholic husband! Get help for your depression! Every one of these pains is a warning. To ignore all except those that are physical would be like saying that we are only bodies, without feelings, without humanity. When you are in pain, whatever its source and kind, pay attention to it! Pain is often what points to a better life.