The Person Behind The Diagnosis

Anyone who receives a serious diagnosis feels as if everything had changed in the blink of an eye, as if yesterday were years ago. With the power of words someone has created a turning point in their life.

Among animals it means to eat or be eaten; among humans, it means to define or to be defined.

Thomas Szasz

People diagnosed in this way feel like they have had heavy stones placed on their backs.  Not only do they have to deal with their personal problems, they also have to get used to their new name. This weight and this readjustment are very exhausting for a person.

Sometimes this person feels like the diagnosis is more serious than it actually is. That she has taken life and becomes a monster that eats everything up. She may feel like a stranger in her own body, does not recognize herself in personality and being.

Live with the diagnosis

Accepting this new reality with all its changes is no easy task. First, a reality emerges that settles in the mind without having been invited.

When you come face to face with the monster, your choice is whether you want to hug it and learn to live with it, or whether you want to move on in an endless fight. The responsibility of how you deal with this situation is entirely yours.

Living with the label and becoming fully aware of its meaning is difficult and takes time.

Experience is what you make of what happens to you.

Aldous Huxley

Everything and nothing changes

As the seasons are for plants, so is a diagnosis for a person. Like a forest that forms leaves over the months that change color and fall. But the tree is firm.

Sometimes the person may feel like the land and trees have stayed the same. Over time, however, it may seem like the leaves are changing color, falling to the ground, and others are being born. The tree may still be there, but it could also be felled and gone forever. Despite all these superficial changes, one thing remains the same and that is the fact that you always need a spot to grow in.

The same thing that happens in the forest also happens to the person. The word changes the person and does not change them at the same time. There is a part of life that is different now. However, there is also a deeper aspect that does not change and will always be there.

I am not the diagnosis

Sometimes the diagnosis can mask the person. We hear phrases like, “She is depressed,”   or, “She is schizophrenic.”   Not only are such phrases misused, but they also promote one of the greatest problems associated with mental illness, the stigma.

Diagnoses are often used like unchangeable traits. A diagnosis is not a proper name, a person is not called depressed or schizophrenic. Also not bipolar or eating disorders. People are not a diagnosis, a label, or a word. A disorder may show up at any time, but that does not mean that the person becomes the disorder himself and ceases to be himself.

There is a single face behind the word

The diagnosis is always related to a face. We must remember that a diagnosis is simply a series of symptoms that tell us about the disease, not the person. It gives us general information about what is happening to the suffering person, but doesn’t say anything more about them.

Despite our similarities, each of us is unique. We all have a name, personality, taste, hobbies, and certain traits that set us apart from the rest. A diagnosis will never give information about these peculiarities that we should discover bit by bit.

A reliable diagnosis is important. It conveys useful information on a professional level, but does not give us all the necessary information about the patient. We must never forget that behind every designation there is a unique face, a person who feels and is much more than just words.

Find the inner balance that is also in you