Stop Taking Away Our Labels

Mental health and illness deserve labels.

Can you imagine having a child with diabetes and trying to get them help without using the label diabetic?

"Hello, Doctor — yes, we need help managing her glucose levels. She faints, falls down, gets shaky."

"Oh, she's diabetic?"

"No. We don’t like to label her. She just struggles to keep her insulin levels at a typical level."

So she needs… what? How would you know which doctor to go to, what treatments to consider? If you believe in evidence-based treatment, which studies do you even read? You stay in the dark. The child stays in the dark.

A label — a diagnosis — is shorthand. It gets you in the right general area, a cluster of symptoms, and then you can talk about the unique case of each individual.

Avoiding labels and diagnoses for certain disorders adds to the stigma. It gives weight to the false idea that it’s somehow different from a disorder below the neck.

I believe in the power and validation of labels.

We never avoid saying someone is deaf or has diabetes. OCD, and many other neurological differences, deserve that same honesty. My daughter’s soul is big, bright, and brilliant — and she knows it. She also has a brain that works differently.

When we avoid naming psychological or neurological disorders, we keep the stigma alive.