Book excerpt: "Psychological problems are simply aspects of our behavior- broadly defined to include our ways of thinking, perceiving, feeling, and acting-that cause us distress or interfere with functioning in important areas of our lives. This straightforward and pragmatic definition of psychological problems is offered as an alternative to the current medical model view in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association and the International Classification of Diseases published by the World Health Organization that dominates thinking about psychological problems in most of the world today. Psychological problems are not the result of terrifying illnesses of the mind. Although can be very distressing and problematic for individuals, they are surprisingly commonplace variations in the natural continua of psychological problems that arise in perfectly ordinary ways. This perspective has the advantages of scientific validity and reducing the stigma inherent in viewing psychological problems as mental illnesses, mental disorders, or psychopathology"--