Today we are going to speak to the whole notion of ‘stigma and ‘labels’ as attached to those given psychiatric diagnoses (worse being diagnosed by those without the education to do so including self-diagnosis).
Coming from the perspective as a person who has been involved in the treatment of others with major mental illness since 1993 and having gone through my own healing journey with bipolar 2 (manic depression in the old days) I can diagnose a person probably as well as anyone who has been through med school to learn how to do so ….and I am here to tell you that the labels do much more harm than help for most of those who are so diagnosed.
First, there is a stigma attached to these labels. I don’t know if you realize this, but doctors who are going through depressive episodes who reach out for help, can have their licenses revoked in the United States, and then we wonder why 400 MDs commit suicide a year -add another 400 medical students and that is probably a very low number – we can start to understand why these labels can be so harmful even to those who are educated and trained to help those of us who have medical issues that need attention.
Second, there is this ‘superior’ feeling that those who have yet to be diagnosed diagnosing those in their lives. Given the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual 5th Revision has a diagnosis for every normal human emotion (makes it much easier to prescribe meds with a diagnosis rather than do the hard work of therapy to better understand and release the underlying issues) because, well that other person is a ____fill in the gap. Most often today people love to label others as narcissists. The only problem with that particular habit is that we humans are all on the continuum of narcissism as we all want the best for ourselves. Truthfully, if you believe in these labels less than 2% of the population would have what a true diagnosis of narcissism would be – so given that reality, you can stop using that label as you are doing so inappropriately.
Third, there is secondary gain to many of these diagnoses. Those with ADD/ADHD (even if only self-diagnosed) love to tell me how they are unable to do whatever because they cannot concentrate. However, the people with these issues have what is considered ‘hyper focus’ on those things that they want to do and simply ignore the rest. So, I challenge my clients to find a reason to do those other things that are most compelling and then use their natural ability to hyper-focus to get those things done.
For those with anxiety or depression, many times they take themselves out of situations that they feel overwhelmed by so don’t have to do many of the things they didn’t want to do anyway and get lots of sympathy for it.
For those who have serious mental health issues, social security disability income can be had, though to be honest, it is a very hard thing to accomplish – or it was back when I was involved in conventional mental health.
My point here is that I have found during the 19 years that I have been in practice that most people have created a negative behavior based on compulsive thoughts because of a trauma – or maybe many traumas over a lifetime. What this means is that the ‘cause’ of the problem’ – the event that caused the problem to develop needs to be uncovered. The ‘purpose for holding onto the problem needs to be understood and then ‘a compelling future’ that is much more alluring than being ill, needs to be found so that a person can return to health – this is in the case of emotional reasons for the symptoms because and this is a big “BECAUSE” NOT ALL seemingly psychological or psychiatric symptoms have a thing to do with emotional distress. Many have to do with the inability to metabolize the proteins from which the amino acids are found to make the neurotransmitters and the hormones necessary for us to feel emotionally stable and to think clearly. It needs to be added here that there are also issues when Vitamins and minerals are not being metabolized either so for example too little B12 can cause one to feel depressed, Vitamin D3 is necessary to feel emotionally and mentally stable as well as many others.
Hormonal imbalances come into this equation as well especially as our sex hormones decrease when we go through menopause for women and the similar situation with men when their testosterone levels go down later in their lives.
Many, many medications cause emotional dysregulation including SSRIs -serotonin reuptake inhibitors that are prescribed for – you guessed it – depression – so much so that they have a ‘black box’ on the label stating to be careful in giving to youth because they will get homicidal or suicidal. However, there are other classes of medications that can do the same thing so be forewarned.
And then there are brain injuries to the parts of the brain that have to do with emotional regulation and mental processing including strokes.
There are other issues that can come into play, however, I do believe that you are getting what I am saying here. Most mental illness is not necessarily something that needs a diagnosis – anorexia, bulimia, sex addiction, substance abuse, and substance addiction along with the personality disorders such as histrionic and borderline personality disorders need to be understood for what they are along with psychopaths and sociopaths – and this is by far a very tiny minority of human beings.
So, how about we come from the point of view that a person is having some problems with functioning and to help them to deal with that issue, we need to find the ‘cause,’ the ‘purpose,’ and a ‘compelling future’ that is so alluring to the person that they are so excited to finally be free of this label that they will do the deep inner work to let all this stuff go to have a quality of life more than worth living, and become de-labeled as they are back to emotional and physiological health!
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Suzanne Kellner-Zinck founded Dawning Visions Hypnosis in 2002, She has become an innovator in the use of hypnotism and neuro-linguistic programming in the areas of obsessive compulsive disorders such as: eating disorders, sexual addiction and substance abuse as well as working with those with anxiety and mood disorders.
Her clients have come to work with her from across the United States and as far away as Africa to help them to finally be freed from these emotional issues that once ruled their lives. Today she is in the process of bringing her work to many more in the form of ebooks and other downloadable formats.
She is a member of American Holistic Medical Association and the American College for Advancement in Medicine.
Prior to founding Dawning Visions Hypnosis, Kellner-Zinck worked within vendor programs for the mentally ill working to help them to live up to their fullest potential. Many of her previous clients were able to move out on their own and find fulfilling work.
Kellner-Zinck is a Certified Trainer of Hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic programing through Tad James Company, Inc. and a Master Hypnotist and Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming through Advanced Neuro Dynamics. She holds a bachelor’s degree in education and political studies from Curry College.
Dawning Visions Hypnosis is teaching people that they can indeed leave their unwanted behaviors behind as they move forward to living fulfilling and joy filled lives.
