I am afraid, too. I went through a period of time (a few years now) when the mental health service said that I was 'too functional' to qualify for publicly funded treatment. I remember that my symptoms escalated - not because I was trying to manipulate them into treating me, but because I was really struggling with intense pain and lonliness. Having a therapist helped me feel less alone (so I was able to function better). It signified hope to me, too. Hope that things would get better for me. So when they cut off that avenue my functioning deteriorated significantly.

Since then I've really developed a fear that a therapist will terminate me if I seem to be too functional. In my last session I took a risk, however. I told my therapist 'I no longer identify with being mentally ill'. I expected that he would start talking about termination, but he didn't. I still can't quite believe it. I find this hard, and I think some therapists do too; One doesn't need to be mentally disordered in order to benefit significantly from therapy. Instead of aiming for 'normality' (whatever that means) one can aim for 'optimality' in the sense of being the best person you can be according to your ultimate values.