Research suggests that at some point in their working lives, up to 30-35 per cent of adults will experience symptoms that meet a diagnosis of mental illness. Some are diagnosed by a medical or health professional, some use Google to self-diagnose, some disclose this to their workplace, others don't, some wear their label with pride, and most others wear their label with shame. 

People use their diagnosis to define themselves far too often in society. The danger of labels is that once they are assigned to us, we have accepted them, and we start to become what we feel those labels represent. Our consciousness causes us to act in ways that will produce exactly what we expect. Wherever our consciousness is focused, that is the direction in which we move. 

Some of us are used to repeatedly using the same negative labels out of habit. “I am a failure”, “I am a loser”. The problem is that the more we use a word or phrase and believe in it, the more power it has over us. This is because repetition is used by the brain to learn, search for patterns and consistency as a way to make sense of the world around us. For example, you may not remember the exact end dates of the world wars, but chances are that you still know what 7x9 is because you had to repeat your tables of multiplication, again and again, drilling it into your consciousness. Repetition is the most powerful tool for imprinting and keeping something in our minds. 

Thus, who a person really is, and the pattern of behaviour that they may display at the moment, are two completely different things. And this is true regardless of how prevalent a pattern may be, whether chronic or long-standing. There is a world of difference between saying “I am a depressed person” and saying, “I am currently feeling sad because of things happening around me”. Almost any diagnosis will come with both physical and mental symptoms. Although you may feel them all the time, it is important to distance them from you in a way that you can understand they are just happening to you, and they are not who you are. 

If any of you have been diagnosed with any kind of health condition; whether large or small, mental or physical, recent or some time ago, here are some things you need to remind yourself of: 

1. You are kind, you are smart, you are important. 

2. You are doing yourself a great disservice by not believing in yourself, so start believing in yourself! 

3. Be the change you wish to see in the world (Gandhi) 

4. Life is a great and wondrous mystery, and the only thing we know that we have for sure is what is right here right now. Don’t miss it. (Leo Buscaglia) 

5. You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you. (Mary Tyler Moore) 

6. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. (Franklin D. Roosevelt) 

7. Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of travelling. (Margaret Lee Runbeck) 

8. I was always looking outside myself for strength and confidence, but it comes from within. It is there all the time. (Anna Freud) 

9. Sometimes all that needs to change is your perception. 

You are not your diagnosis. So please stop referring to yourself as nothing more than a diagnostic label.  

You are way more than how anyone or anything can make you feel. You have all the power to decide how you want to see yourself. Hold on to that and don’t let anything grab that away from you! 

Sources: 

https://beingclarity.com/healing-without-labels/ 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00807/full 

http://www.nodestination.blog/how-words-count-and-why-some-labels-are-just-not-healing/ 

http://ibpf.org/blog/why-i-am-more-my-diagnosis 

https://psychcentral.com/blog/you-are-not-your-diagnosis/ 

If you would like to discuss this further or need some help or support in this or any other area, our counsellors would be happy to help. 
 
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