Don't be so quick to use labels

Are you feeling sad because your dog, cat or hamster died? You might be diagnosed with depression. Are you unable to sleep and your mind continually "races" because you have three midterm exams to study for? You might be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Are you afraid to sleep in a dark room or struggle talking in large groups? You might have the diagnosable mental disorder of a phobia. Has psychology gone too far in describing abnormal human behavior - absolutely. Psychology has become disordered.

Almost everyone in America has a psychologically diagnosable mental disorder in his or her lifetime. Thirty percent of Americans can be diagnosed with a mental disorder every year as the number of disorder categories swell from 60 psychological disorders in the 1950s to more than 400 categories today. Mental disorders are the leading cause of disabilities in the United States and Canada. Are we a mentally ill nation?

If an entire civilization fits into a category of abnormality, one must question the reliability of the category. When one cries, does not sleep and lays on the couch for a month when grieving the death of a close friend, it does not mean one is mentally ill. When we grieve the death of a close friend we are actually healthy, alive, feeling honest human emotion and are sad, but not depressed.

When a child is active, impulsive and does not concentrate in class, it does not mean he or she has Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). An active child might simply be an active child, not a mentally ill child. Giving an individual the label of a mental disorder creates a sense of helplessness called the labeling effect. When a person is labeled with a disorder, they tend to use that label as an excuse for their failures and poor behavioral choices - they become the disorder.

Are there individuals who struggle with mental illness - absolutely, but not at the rate reported by most statisticians and pollsters. Diagnosable mental illnesses are at the far extreme of human behavior and emotion. A child, who truly has ADHD physically cannot sit still and impulsively talks out, is often physically violent and can't control their behavior and emotion. A child with ADHD wants to follow instructions but their body will simply not allow them to. A person with clinical major depression has no energy, no hope, a sense of helplessness and doom and a total feeling of lack of joy for two weeks or longer.

One cannot be a little depressed or have a "touch" of ADHD. Glibly accepting diagnostic mental disorders as the emotions and feelings one has while they become "depressed" due to missing a lunch date or being a bit "ADHD" from drinking too many energy drinks is disrespectful to individuals struggling with real psychological disorders and minimalizes, generalizes and perpetuates the common vernacular that everyone in our country is mentally ill.

In a famous study, a teacher is told by the principal that she is trying a new technique to improve student learning. This year, she will fill the teacher's class with the highest achieving students to see educationally how a group of high achieving kids will perform when in the same homogeneous classroom. The teacher is excited and takes on the task. The students excel and lead the school in achievement.

Halfway through the year, the principal announces she has made a terrible mistake and inversely sorted the list. The teacher actually has the lowest achieving students in her class. "Sorry for the mistake," the principal offers but acknowledges, "You've done such a great job with these kids so far, let's see how much they can improve by the end of the year."

Again, the teacher accepts the challenge but with little success. The class achievement begins to plummet and the children begin to fail. At the end of the year the children's success achieved in the first half of the year has diminished and the class does not meet state standards for achievement.

As the school year comes to an end, the principal visits with the teacher and announces, "I did not manipulate your class list. Your class was actually a randomly assigned group of high, low and average achieving children." The teacher, shocked, wonders how she could subconsciously condemn a group of children she cares about by not teaching them to their full potential?

How can a teacher with good intentions fail her student's simply by changing the student's label? It is human nature.

When told a person is ill, we heal, when mentally diminished, we avoid, when nurtured by a rough family, we pity, when told a person is immature, we parent and when one is labled with a learning disability, we coddle and talk down to the poor, hopeless soul who does not have the ability to learn. What a shame!

Instead of looking at one's ability we look down at their disability and pity. Pity creates sympathy that diminishes a person's self-worth. A better option is empathy. Understanding another's point of view creates a sense of equality. If I truly attempt to feel what you're feeling and understand why you're feeling it, I do not feel sorry for you but understand you. Would you rather have someone pity you or understand you? The answer is easy.

So, are we mentally ill as a nation? The answer is yes and no. Our nation is founded in personal growth and individualism. Individualism creates competition and competition dictates that one must win and one must lose - unless one is incapable of participating in the race.

Being labeled an alcoholic, depressed, ADHD or learning disabled allows those labeled to be incapable of racing due to their disability. Some have disabilities that take them out of the race while others choose to use a disability to exit the race. For those who make a choice, choose differently. For those whose disability has taken them out of the race, persevere, stay in the struggle and use your abilities to overcome your disabilities. Don't become your label.

Bill Rutherford is a psychotherapist, public speaker, elementary school counselor, adjunct college psychology instructor and executive chef, and owner of Rutherford Education Group. Please e-mail him at bprutherford@hotmail.com and check out www.foodforthoughtcda.com.