We are blessed and cursed to live in an age of information. Whatever you want to know, is available to you. Including psychiatric labels and terminology. The explosion of communication and technology has meant that we can label and classify our experiences like never before. At our fingertips we can find others who have similar symptoms, discover ways of explaining confusing feelings and possibly how to manage mental health problems.

Good vs. Bad – Psychiatric Labels

There are obviously helpful aspects to having such a wealth of information – useful parts of being able to connect so easily with others who can relate and validate your mental health experience. However, it is not without its problems.

Partly this is because what is known about psychiatric issues is continually evolving. Even amongst experienced professionals there is debate over how to accurately diagnose and treat problems. What causes problems – and therefore what can fix them – is even less certain. While is may seem like ancient history, the 1st publication of a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) was only about 70 years ago.

Since then, frontline providers have found it both useful and lacking. It helps some of the time, but is by no means perfect. Throughout its repeated revisions, there remain criticisms and disagreements. Prior to DSM, mental illness was seen as a defect – of either brain or character. It was common for mentally ill people to be seen as morally corrupt. So, mental disorders as we know them have not been with us that long. And we remain largely unclear on the value and validity of psychiatric labels.

How psychiatric labels help us

There are good reasons for psychiatric labels. Bearing in mind the historical views of mental illness, it was kinder and more compassionate to see mental illness as something more medical and less moral. Labels and terminology also allowed us to differentiate between types of experience – so recognizing that there are different kinds of anxiety. Psychiatric labels and psychological research also went a long way in trying to explain mental disorders – how they develop and what keeps them going. And, importantly, labels go a long way in validating a personal experience – allowing people to make sense of painful and confusing psychological or emotional experiences in a less blaming or shaming way.

Psychiatric labels: how they harm

For all their good, psychiatric labels leave us with some problems. Some of these are specific to our current information age.

Label gives Explanation without Solution

One issue is when the label offers an explanation, but no solution. People can get stuck in the label so that they are disempowered to fix it. The more we know, the less it can serve us as we feel resigned to being stuck in ‘it’s just the way I am’. This might sound like

• “I’m just socially anxious, so I can’t go.”
• “I have attachment issues.”
• “My ADHD/Depression/Other makes me _______________.”

This seems more common when we have a diagnosis (whether that’s a professional one or self-diagnosis) but no context. The context – how and why patterns or styles developed – provide ideas for where the healing needs to begin. When a label gives a name to the experience and stops there, it has the potential to hurt you.

Being overly confident in Labels

It is disheartening and upsetting to get different labels from different providers as you seek help. In my experience, it is not uncommon for people to have collected different diagnoses for the same issue. They often engage in a recommended treatment, before getting a different diagnosis and treatment down the line for the same root problem. Of course our problems might shift and one kind of issue might turn into something else. On the other hand, it could be mis-diagnosis. And still another possibility might be that the labels are not a useful as we hope.

They might not be specific enough – one problem can look like 2 or 3 different diagnoses depending on who observes it. So what are these labels actually describing? Every mental health diagnosis is a name for something that is theoretical in nature. Meaning that we can’t look inside and ‘see’ mental illness. So how can we know what we are labelling? Or what label is most accurate?

It may be more realistic to think of a psychiatric label as useful to point. If it aids understanding and guides you towards resolution, great. Because the labels are ways of categorizing mental distress. Some professionals would argue that mental illness is a natural, normal response to stress and painful life experiences. And at the moment there is very little firm research proving biological basis for mental illness, but rather that the brain and body respond to the world in the way they need to.

Using the label like a weapon

We are all learning so much about ourselves and others through out technological connections. It can be really grounding and freeing to know that there is a name for the emotional distress you experienced. Downside is that in our sound-bite, click-bait world that psychiatric labels can be oversimplified to the point where they hurt us. It can be like learning a new word. Once you know it, you start to hear it everywhere. So it goes for psychiatric issues. We hear about trauma and then we see it all over. We learn about narcissism and suddenly we are surrounded by narcissists. Terms like gaslighting, triggers, identity, dissociation are distilled down into 30 second clips, which is on one hand helpful. But on another, not nearly enough to grasp the depth and complexity of the terms.

I commonly see people in therapy who have been caught in a trap of label and diagnoses – both for themselves and others.  And that has actually served to detach them from seeing the issues accurately. In many ways, we get paralyzed in wondering if someones fits a label instead of just responding to their behavior as it is. We wonder if our partner really is narcissistic or not. When the question maybe should be, is it okay to be talked to in the way you have been. Alternatively, people get labels slung at them in an argument which detracts from the issues and personalizes the attack. Its harder to just stop being a narcissist then it is to change the way we communicate and resolve conflict. So the label becomes a weapon.

Therapy for Mental Health, Trauma and Relationship Issues in Katy, TX

If dealing with a mental health diagnosis, relationships or trauma is having a negative impact on you, reach out for help. Psychotherapy and counseling be a great way to work on important relationship issues, like communication, anger management and boundaries. If you are struggling with relationships in your life or your past, extra support could be essential in your healing.

I offer counseling for body image, eating disorders, mood problems (anxiety and depression), trauma and relationship issues (communication, anger, boundaries) in-person or virtually. I’m available for brief phone consultations to discuss your needs. Click here to contact me now.