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I'm reading about the man in NYC who stabbed four people -- killing three -- today. The NBC News article says "mental health" seven times. The term "mental health" has become so broad that it prevents practical, common-sense discussion and treatment of violent crime.

There's a tremendous amount of literature about empathy for mental health issues: of course, that's fair. Lots of people struggle with depression, and many other issues. However, that is a world apart from what happened today. "Criminal insanity" used to be the word for it.

The broad language conflates the two, and I think that's worse for both populations. It means that violent, criminally insane, drug-addled crimes are not taken seriously enough. And on the other side, it further stigmatizes conventional depression, trauma, etc.