Very often we find ourselves in desperate times both emotionally and physically. What people in the helping field notice is that in these times what people crave most is answers; a name to put to a condition, something we can point to and say “This is what’s going on with me.”
This drive is applicable to physical ailments as well as emotional ones. Nobody likes to suffer and not know why. The drive to find a name for our pain is so strong and culturally ingrained that people will spend life savings in order to figure out just what is wrong. First opinions, second opinions and even third opinions will be sought out.
The result of this is very often huge amounts of debt. Money spent on searches of discovery, different therapies from medicinal to less traditional ones. Often to the point that doctors, nurses and mental health professionals will often concede and provide a diagnosis that may be to the patient’s liking but not exactly relevant to what is actually going on.
All this has been exacerbated in recent years by the marketing campaigns of drug companies aimed to make people feel as if they should be on medication. These commercials both in print and on television, radio and internet make us feel as if we should be on some sort of timeline for healing, if not we should be asking for drugs.
Nothing could be further from the truth. All of us have different timelines and coping mechanisms for dealing with stress, grief, depression, anger and physical healing.
In addition, rarely mentioned are the effects of putting labels to our processes. The outcome of labeling someone bi-polar, schizophrenic, and autistic or any other diagnosis can be in and of itself crippling. The very act diagnosing, can take away the very hope which was being sought in the first place.
Very often once someone has been labeled with a malady they give up the hope and drive to overcome and develop their own coping skills. Very often it is better to work with the issues that are being presented rather than giving someone a reason to continue on in the same frame of mind and behavioral reference which such diagnosis give them.
A behaviour which is very often manifest once an individual is given a name for their problems is excuse making. For example, they may tell everyone they know they are bi-polar. As soon as this happens it becomes the frame of reference for how others treat them, which in turn causes them to act accordingly more often and to a greater degree.
Along with this, in this day and age it is virtually impossible to keep any medical and mental health issues to oneself. Once the word is out it becomes who you are, to family, friends, lovers and even employers. Being treated as different causes us to act differently.
The fact of the matter is we; all of us have our own share of depression, struggles and problems. By allowing each individual to rise to the occasion of problem solving without labels is to empower. Empowering should be the ultimate goal of therapy. Not labeling.