The Problem with Mental Health Labels

So many people these days overvalue mental health labels that can actually be doing more harm than good. When I hear the words “I have anxiety,” or “I have depression,” or similar, I can’t help but feel an inner turmoil that makes my body shudder and face wince. Most mental health conditions are highly changeable they might get better or worse over time and may even disappear completely. When someone applies a label to themselves however, it’s like they see their difficulties as static, a part of their personality or biology. It becomes disempowering and can prevent people from actually working on and overcoming their problems. The tendency to diagnose arose from the pharmaceutical industry wanting to categorise mental health issues so they could sell medication. But, mental health and mental ill health, feelings and symptoms lie on a continuum, it’s not a case of you either have it or you don’t. Many difficulties get misinterpreted and misdiagnosed, for example, people with bipolar are often diagnosed as having BPD and vice versa and the medication used to treat conditions often does not work, has debilitating side-effects or simply promotes long-term dependency. When the narrative of illness becomes the focus, we tend to only see information that fits with our preconceived idea, which leads to a snowballing effect. Let’s change the language and maybe change our mental health.