When teenagers receive a mental health diagnosis, they may experience a mixture of feelings. Some teenagers feel relieved when they are diagnosed with a mental health condition. After the confusion and anxiety of experiencing different symptoms without knowing why, a diagnosis can help young people make sense of their experiences and pave the way for treatment and recovery.
Other young people find that receiving a diagnosis helps them overcome feelings of loneliness and isolation. Knowing that other teens have similar experiences can be an important source of strength and resilience.
But some aspects of having a mental health diagnosis can also feel difficult or challenging. Sometimes, when teens receive a mental health diagnosis, they may feel like it reduces their identity to a single label or concept: that it overlooks the depth of their reality and their experiences. They might feel like it doesn’t reflect who they are or what it’s like to be them.
Identity formation is a central process of adolescence. During their teenage years, young people explore their values, sexuality, religion, interests, and roles in society. They begin to develop a richer sense of who they are, what’s important to them, how they relate to their community, and what they want to do in life.
So when a mental health diagnosis feels like an identity label, it can have a big impact on a teenager’s sense of self and their well-being. They may feel like their diagnosis changes “who they are” and the way they understand other parts of themselves. It can affect the way teens engage with their goals and aspirations for the future. Teenagers might also worry about how they are seen by others, and whether their peers and community will define them by their diagnosis.
Sometimes, this change in identity is so strong that people continue to identify as having a mental health disorder even when they have recovered.
Moving On from a Diagnosis As an Identity
However, having a mental health diagnosis doesn’t have to define your identity. While a diagnosis may be one way to describe particular aspects of yourself and your experience, it doesn’t mean it encapsulates your core self, essence, or “who you are”. Your gifts, talents, strengths, character, and experiences are much broader than a mental health diagnosis, and they’re unique to you.
Sometimes, the way we use language can help us move on from using diagnoses as identity labels. For example, saying “I have depression” or “a person with depression” rather than “a depressed person” emphasises that a diagnosis is only one part of someone’s life, not a defining characteristic. This is known as person-first language.
You may feel like even when a diagnosis is just describing a part of your experience, it still doesn’t capture the depth or specificity of your mental health symptoms. But that’s okay. A diagnosis shouldn’t seek to fully describe the thoughts, feelings, and behaviours you encounter in daily life. Instead, it gives a more general description of the patterns you experience, helping to determine the kinds of treatment, support, and changes that can make you feel better.
Why Are Diagnoses Important?
Receiving a mental health diagnosis can cause both positive and negative feelings. A review exploring the impact of medical diagnoses on people’s lives found that most people reported both positive and negative psychological impacts of diagnostic labelling, from resistance, fear, and sadness to empowerment, relief, and validation. Many people spoke about challenges related to identity and sense of self.
However, there are many reasons why mental health diagnoses are important. Diagnosis is often a profound step towards effective treatment. Having a diagnosis can bring knowledge of what treatments can help, nurturing hope and providing a sense of control.
Diagnoses can also help teens communicate their experiences to others and be taken seriously. Sadly, young people often say that their feelings and experiences are invalidated or minimised before they have a diagnosis. They find that a diagnosis helps them feel believed and have their needs recognised.
While we still need to strive to create communities where young people’s feelings are validated and believed, even without a diagnosis, diagnoses are currently an important resource for many young people.
Diagnoses can also be helpful at school or work, making it easier for young people to receive the additional support they require. This might mean extra time during exams or fewer working hours.
Diagnosis, Identity, and Empowerment
While many young people with mental health diagnoses want to move on from understanding their diagnosis as a central part of their identity, some young people are empowered by identifying with their diagnosis.
They may want to show that diagnoses aren’t something to be ashamed of, but are a way of interacting with the world that should be recognised and supported. Or they may want to acknowledge the time and energy they put into managing a diagnosis. They might think that their diagnosis is an important part of who they are, but not a negative one.
This identity-first approach is more often embraced by young people with neurodevelopmental disorders, such as ADHD, that usually begin in childhood and affect the way the brain develops and functions. Teenagers with ADHD may draw attention to the strengths and gifts associated with the disorder, rather than the aspects that can make daily life more challenging. For example, young people with ADHD may be able to hyperfocus on particular tasks or experience heightened creativity.
Diagnosis, Labels and Stigma
The impact of a diagnosis on our identity is often closely related to stigma. The way that society interprets a certain label naturally affects how that label makes us feel about ourselves. When a label is stigmatised, it’s easy to internalise this stigma and develop negative ideas about ourselves and our identity.
Adolescents are particularly concerned with the evaluation and perception of other people. As their identity develops, their self-concept can be largely shaped by the way they think that other people see them.
Sometimes, receiving a mental health diagnosis may increase the stigma a person experiences. This might happen with heavily stigmatised disorders that are falsely connected with concepts of dangerousness or untrustworthiness. For example, people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder are sometimes labelled as inherently difficult or troublesome, when in reality their behaviours are a normal response to past experiences of trauma. This stigma can even be perpetuated by healthcare workers.
Some young people find that receiving a diagnosis changes the way other people perceive and understand them. They might have been treated as though they are less capable than other people or can’t be relied upon.
However, naming mental health diagnoses can also help to reduce stigma, both against individuals with mental health challenges and stigma surrounding mental health in general. One study found that people with a diagnosis tend to be perceived as less blameworthy than people with similar behaviours but without a diagnosis. While they were sometimes identified as less typical for themselves, they were not described as less normal, acceptable, or treatable.
More generally, naming mental health diagnoses can help spread awareness and understanding about mental health in communities. They can help others understand what people with mental health symptoms may be experiencing and why. Speaking openly about diagnoses can also make mental health a more visible and voiced topic, rather than something that is hidden and avoided. This is an important step in overcoming stigma.
The Wave Clinic: Specialist Mental Health Support for Young People
The Wave Clinic offers specialist residential and outpatient spaces for young people and families facing challenges with their mental health. Our programs take a whole-person approach to mental health support, sensitively addressing the past experiences and interpersonal relationships that shape a young person’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. We emphasise the role of the family in mental health, treatment, and recovery.
We understand the importance of self-confidence and a sense of belonging for building resilience in recovery. We focus on developing life skills, nurturing self-worth, and forming meaningful connections.
At the Wave, we make a difference in the lives of young people. If you’d like to learn more about our programs, get in touch today.
