Individuality: the cause of many diagnoses and labels?
Understanding individuality — how someone is uniquely designed and how that impacts their way of thinking, functioning, and acting — can help reduce the limiting and destructive effects of diagnoses and labels such as autism, ADHD, depression, ME/CFS, Borderline, Bipolar and other personality disorders. The key questions are: Are diagnoses and labels helpful, or are they limiting and destructive? Have they been used as a way to camouflage and repress individuality?
I believe that anyone truly connected to their individuality (a.k.a. authenticity and uniqueness) can relate to the struggle of conforming to societal standards at the expense of their true nature. Our generation has felt that pressure more than any before us because we are more attuned to our individuality. We are the bridge between the ‘old tribal systems’ and the new era of individual empowerment. In fulfilling our purpose — empowering ourselves and others — we inevitably encounter the limitations placed on individuality. One of these limitations are medical diagnoses and labels such as ADHD, autism, depression, and various personality disorders.
More and more people are getting diagnosed — especially with autism — mostly because they struggle to conform to societal standards and expectations. This struggle leads them to believe that something must be wrong with them. While there may be other reasons why someone identifies with autism, depression, or a personality disorder (which, at this point, seem increasingly interchangeable), the root cause often lies in the weight of social expectations. Why? Because the moment someone thinks, functions, or acts differently from the idealized norm, society assumes there must be an underlying mental cause. This is how we have been programmed, and it is how the mental health system operates. But this way of thinking is more destructive than we realize — it distances us further from our individuality, authenticity, and true nature, when in fact, individuality must be preserved, especially in the times ahead.
What if there is no mental cause? What if the way you feel is perfectly natural for how you are uniquely designed?
What if, at our core, no one is meant to conform to societal standards and expectations?
If that’s the case, then we no longer need to compare ourselves to any idealized image(s)/societal standards. And if we stop comparing, then these kinds of diagnoses and labels simply lose their foundation. They were built upon an idealized image of "what is normal" and served to uphold that image. In doing so, they became a way to camouflage and suppress individuality. But these labels do not serve us anymore, they do not serve the empowerment of the individual — the space where our differences are accepted and celebrated, where love for ourselves, for nature, and for each other is our foundation and therefore stronger than the external forces that seek to divide us.
On a positive note, I also recognize that these diagnoses and labels lead people toward self-discovery. Many begin to explore ways to function better by harnessing their unique abilities, and make their own meaningful contribution. In this sense, a diagnosis can sometimes act as a catalyst for self-inquiry and self-acceptance.
However, if you are on the path of self-discovery and you think you need to get diagnosed because that will give you the recognition and permission (to be who you are), I hope you’ll remind yourself that you are more than a label.
Don’t seek acceptance in a diagnosis. Seek acceptance in your uniqueness.