The use of labels to describe varied mental states is controversial and in many cases detrimental to the individual being labeled. One issue is that people don’t fit neatly within the confines of the imposed labels. To borrow from the peer movement, “we are more than our diagnoses.” And this is absolutely true. I am more than my label of schizophrenia and publicly admitting I have this diagnosis places a whole other set of labels one me. Labels like “disabled,” “limited,” and in need of “accommodations” aren’t pleasant. They don’t instill hope for the future. Those are the politically correct ones. You can, I’m sure, imagine the other not so flattering ones. It goes on and on.
Some of my colleagues are totally against labels. Some believe that self-identifying with any label causes self-stigmatization. And I agree to a certain extent. I agree in the case when an individual allows that label to limit them in any capacity whatsoever; whether its employment, relationships, family, life goals, etc.---then yes it’s a problem.
However, what if a label is necessary for an individual’s recovery journey? It was for my recovery. Prior to getting my diagnosis, I was floundering. I had no idea what was up or down. My diagnosis explained a lot for me and it helped me secure Social Security Disability benefits that I needed to survive. Those benefits sustained my son and I while I couldn’t work. Without the label there would have been no benefits and without the benefits I have no idea how I would have lived. This is the case for many individuals.
So looking beyond basic survival, there is also perception. Perception is crucial. Certain negative perceptions fuel stigma and stigma kills. I live in the clinical world and the peer world. Every day I see clinicians going about their work trying to make a difference in the lives of the people they work with. Their hearts are in the right place, even if their tactics are not always “helpful.” I see peers challenged to stay empowered and empower others.
As a peer specialist I use my label of schizophrenia to shatter stigma. I observe well-intentioned clinicians talk about the “schizophrenics” as if they are a monolithic group with one set of behaviors and characteristics and I shatter their perceptions. I shatter their presumption that everyone with that label is unemployable, unable to live on their own, unable to raise their children, unable to make decisions about their medical treatment etc. by just living my life transparently.
The only way to make a profound and personal impact on these clinicians is to self-identify as a person with the label of mental illness. It’s their language and I use it to make an impact on them that I hope will affect their treatment of others like me.
Self-identifying as a person with a serious persistent mental illness also helps me empower the peers I support; especially those who have just received a diagnosis and are trying to come to terms with it. It’s daunting to hear a doctor say you’ve got this or that and its forever. So when they talk with someone with the same label who is doing well, living life on their own terms, the result is hope. And hope is the cornerstone to recovery. That’s my goal in doing the kind of work that I do. Namely, to instill hope, fight stigma, to empower and to ultimately create a broad space for us all to live our lives on our terms.
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