Is Insanity a Disease or Simply a State of Mind?

After reading The Yellow Wallpaper I was thinking about mental illnesses. Who decides what is classified as insanity. I think that a lot of things, like ADD, BPD and ADHD are conditions that are often overdiagnosed. I think that doctors see kids who have a little too much energy, or a rebellious spirit, and immediately want to pump them full of drugs that will mellow them out. It's not that I don't believe that these conditions exist, I just think the statistics prtraying how many kids get them are greatly overexaggerated due to doctors' eagerness to provide a 'curable' diagnosis. In the Yellow Wallpaper completely agreed with the assumption that the narrator went bonkers. She obviously had inadequate medical care, and it was nobody's fault, what was wrong with her would not have been recognized by physicians from her time. It just makes me wonder at how we got from 'she's overexhausted and needs to stay in bed for 3 months' to 'we don't know why but she's hyperactive so lets give her some meds that will induce a hazy, slow existence and you can take her home after we fill the prescription.' It also kind of scares me that the narrator might not have been better off getting modern treatment, that she would have been just as unhappy as she was in that yellow room.

Poetry in a Nutshell

Heroes. These amazing storybook characters that every person, child or otherwise looks up to and envies. My personal favorite is Iron Man. He's charismatic, cocky and a genius. Plus, in the movies he's played by Robert Downey Junior...enough said. The real question, however, is what makes a true hero. Society labels a hero as 'one who shows great courage.' That can be, firemen, policemen, doctors, military personnel or even teachers (it takes a lot of courage to take on the jerks teachers have to deal with.) In class we've talked about literary heroes like Beowulf and Oedipus. They were seen as heroes due to their deed and accomplishments. They were well-known people (kings) who overcame a huge challenge or even fate, even if Oedipus did a pretty awful job of it.
Society sees heroes like fireman and policemen, at the same time they acknowledge Superman, Batman and Iron Man as heroes.So what is a hero?
I don't think that there is any true definition for a hero. I think that heroism is in the eye of the beholder. Anyone can be a hero, parents, teachers, dogs. Heroes are just ordinary people who do amazing things. i.e Iron Man.