Maybe it minimizes mental illness, but at least it's more of an attempt at a response than "he was just evil". What do you propose we do with the purely evil people? How can we detect them early?
Also I think it's kind of a stretch to say calling this mental illness is propagating a poor image for all mental illness any more than calling cancer deadly makes ALL ILLNESSES sound deadly.
Also I think it's kind of a stretch to say calling this mental illness is propagating a poor image for all mental illness any more than calling cancer deadly makes ALL ILLNESSES sound deadly.