There will always be a risk involved in receiving therapy or any kind of direction in your life. As Riptide said (or quoted?) we are not perfect beings. As such we will make mistakes in our lives.

This problem is not as simple as the obese doctor telling patients to eat healthy or the smoking surgeon. Anyone in this field or anyone inflicted by mental illness knows it is far more complicated than these examples.

You can be a good therapist with a mental illness. I think that scares many people and society is not willing to accept that as a valid statement. Just as we will not accept that ex-convicts can be productive members of society. The stigma attached to each of these things is too far reaching for people to stand up and say "I can."

Most severe mental illnesses are self limiting. How many patients with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder that do not control it can make it through college and onto graduate school?

Many people receive direction in their careers by their personal experiences. If we start classifying those experiences as mental illness we will be limiting some of the best professionals in the field.