We live in a world overflowing with diagnoses — ADHD, PTSD, anxiety disorders, depression, the list goes on. It’s never been easier to slap a label on a even basic human experiences. A quick scroll through TikTok or Instagram reel or a 20-minute visit to a psychologist or an online questionnaire, and you’re boxed in. Labelled. Categorized. And the scariest part? You accept it — because it came from someone in a white coat, or someone with the word “expert” in their bio or a well-renowned pioneer in this or that.

This is how we humans who were once functioning — even thriving in difficult conditions — suddenly find themselves identifying more with a disorder than with their resilience.

A common one I normally encounter is a friend might read a few PTSD symptoms online and suddenly everything becomes trauma. Suddenly, they label all of their childhood experiences as traumatic even when they clearly have no impact in their present life.

So to the mind every reaction is now reinterpreted through that lens. And because we’re all too tired or distracted or too busy to deeply introspect what we’re consuming, we fall for it. We believe it. We become it.

Diagnosis has now become identity.

You’ll hear people say:

· “It’s my ADHD that made me forget that.”

· “It’s my anxiety, I can’t help it.”

· “I’m neurodivergent, I don’t do well with conflict.”

Do you see what’s happening? Instead of operating from basic human principles which have been there through our evolution — from agency, choice, and personal values — we start living from constructs, from labels. Disorders become our north star. 

And slowly, what began as self-exploration or wanting to learn psychology turns into self-imprisonment.

You started working on yourself to find freedom, but now you’re racking up labels and diagnoses left, right, and centre — and it’s only making things worse, pulling you further away from reality.

You thought you would find freedom but now you’ve found a prison. 

Labels Feed the Ego

The ego loves labels. It craves meaning and it wants to be ‘seen’, especially when it can place the blame outside of itself. And what perfect way to seek refuge than a diagnosis? it is socially accepted, peer-reviewed, and “unchangeable.” It lets you say:

“This is just how I am.”

But what if that’s the very loop keeping you stuck? Have you ever considered that?

The moment you take on a diagnosis as your core identity, you stop looking for ways to evolve and to grow outside the confines of that identity. You start noticing more symptoms, not because they’re new — but because your mind is now trained to find them. 

It’s like retroactively rewriting your life story to fit the diagnosis and oh boy, it will scan and write a very long story.

· You failed math or science once? It must’ve been undiagnosed ADHD.

· You avoid confrontation? That’s your anxiety disorder.

Before the label, you just were probably just saying, “I don’t like math.”

Now, you say, “I was never wired for it.”

This might feel validating short-term, but long-term it strips you of your resilience and your ability to see how resilient and tenacious humans are — the same resilience that’s carried humanity through wars, famines, plague and all those natural disasters. 

That part of you doesn’t disappear just because someone gave you a diagnosis.

Use the Label — Don’t Let the Label Use You

This isn’t about denying your challenges and your experiences in life. It’s about perspective. I know this might make you feel angry or even invalidated — but that’s not really you. 

It’s your ego reacting, clinging tightly to the label and seeking validation or comfort. But there’s no freedom in that. Real freedom comes from dropping it.

Yes, you might fit into a certain diagnostic category. But don’t forget: those categories were created by other human beings — based on patterns, not absolute truths.

Use your diagnosis as a frame of reference, not a prison cell. It’s a clue, not a life sentence. Your ego may try to hold on to it — because it loves self-preservation, and it loves feeling special, even in suffering. 

But the moment you drop the label as your identity, something amazing will happen: you return to your naked self.

You stop obsessing over what’s “wrong” with you or how ‘disordered’ you’re and start reconnecting with what’s always been right with you — your ability to survive, adapt, grow, and take ownership of your life which has endless possibilities.

You may have been through hell or you may be going through hell now but that pain is not who you are or your identity. You are not your diagnosis or your disorder. 

You are a human being — whole, capable, and far more powerful and infinite than the DSM could ever define.

Note from the Author

If you’re ready and you’d like my help with healing, finding peace in life and breaking free from these toxic patterns, then you can book a FREE BREAKTHROUGH CALL with me HERE. Happy healing 💙💙. Feel free to share and comment! Use this information with caution, it comes from my own thoughts & bias, experiences and research😊.

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