Diagnosing in Outpatient Settings

Unpopular opinion: You are NOT your diagnosis. 

Working in outpatient settings felt dehumanizing, at times. Due to the way insurance works, I had to diagnose people on the first session. I didn’t agree with this method and I still don’t.

When a person is diagnosed with a diseased lung, they don’t become that lung. But when they get a mental diagnosis, they become that diagnosis. This is the process of dehumanization common in the clinical mental health setting.

Everyone has a story, everyone has a reason for their current situation. I believe in looking deep into the context and culture of an individual before going into any form of diagnosing. I’m bullish on this idea because I’ve overcame my own mental health diagnoses following a long, spiritual journey. From here, I became obsessed with finding other outlier cases, and why some people take a diagnosis to their grave while others are able to alchemize that pain into something greater.

What if your “mental illness” is just a naturally occurring product of unresolved traumas? What if you’re already intrinsically whole, and the illusion of the diagnosis is causing you to behave in a way that’s in alignment with that diagnosis, instead of who you truly are? I believe we all have the ability to turn our pain into our power. Are you ready to let go of who you think you are and become who you’re meant to be?