The medical model is the dominant paradigm of psychiatry. Over the past forty years it has become the target of a rising tide of criticism. What is the medical model? Why is it the object of criticism? The medical model is not a scientific concept or theory. It cannot be confirmed or falsified by facts. A model is a conceptual-linguistic construction, a metaphor. The balsam wood model airplane is a metaphor for a real airplane. It is not a real airplane. It is a representation which highlights similarities and ignores differences. A fire in the eyes may sparkle but it doesn’t burn. The medical model is a metaphor which portrays psychiatry, psychiatrists, and psychiatric patients in the language of medicine. Medicine does not need a medical model. It is the standard on which psychiatry models itself, like the real airplane is to the toy. The medical model projects the metaphors…