For an elementary school student with severe ADHD, who’s at risk of getting expelled for behavior problems, a proper mental health diagnosis can mean the difference between success or failure with traditional education. In situations like these, we can all understand and appreciate the importance of a medical diagnosis.  But what about the rest of us? What if you’re depressed after two years of COVID lockdowns, socially isolated, and feeling lost with your career and life? What if you’re getting anxiety at the grocery store or struggling to make friends in a new city? You might currently have five of nine symptoms required for a mental health diagnosis as per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), but will that diagnosis actually help or hurt you? 

Sarah Fay, my guest on this week’s podcast, has been formally diagnosed with six different conditions ranging from anorexia to generalized anxiety disorder; and based on her research, believes that most labeling practices do more harm than good. 

Listen and learn:

• Why many children are receiving mental health diagnoses from general practitioners, not psychiatrists
• How a mental health label can turn into an identity
• Differentiating between situational vs. chronic mental health problems

Links

Sarah’s Site

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Sarah Fay is an author and activist. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Time Magazine, The New Republic, The Michigan Quarterly Review and more. She is on faculty in the English department at Northwestern University. Her new book is called, Pathological: The True Story of Six Misdiagnoses.

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