[Angelique67]

When I was young it was not common for young people to be evaluated psychiatrically and I lived without a label for a long time. I went to a therapist who never labeled me and I did my best as just another person in the world.

Since being labeled and diagnosed and misdiagnosed, as well as having been forced off benzos and dealing with the withdrawal syndrome, I barely feel human anymore. I'm not earning a living or seeing anyone and I only have one friend left on earth.

Is it bad for the kids today who are getting labeled with multiple things before they're even out of high school? Is it better because they get help sooner? Are they succumbing to learned helplessness, believing they have less capability to make their way in the world?

[lizardlady]

Is it bad for the kids today who are getting labeled with multiple things before they're even out of high school? Is it better because they get help sooner? Are they succumbing to learned helplessness, believing they have less capability to make their way in the world?

Angelique67, I believe it's some of both. I work with kids and teens at risk of becoming involved with the juvenile justice system. Some of the kids I work with clearly have a psych disorder, but have not been diagnosed. Once they are diagnosed and get the help they need (therapy, possibly meds) they are able to get their lives on track. The flip side is that I see W-A-Y too many kids being hung with a diagnosis when they shouldn't. The adults around them want a quick fix so they want the kid on meds. Sadly some parents want a subsidy check and push to have their kids diagnosed in order to collect money. Frankly, I believe that's a form of child abuse.

[Angelique67]

Originally Posted by lizardlady

Angelique67, I believe it's some of both. I work with kids and teens at risk of becoming involved with the juvenile justice system. Some of the kids I work with clearly have a psych disorder, but have not been diagnosed. Once they are diagnosed and get the help they need (therapy, possibly meds) they are able to get their lives on track. The flip side is that I see W-A-Y too many kids being hung with a diagnosis when they shouldn't. The adults around them want a quick fix so they want the kid on meds. Sadly some parents want a subsidy check and push to have their kids diagnosed in order to collect money. Frankly, I believe that's a form of child abuse.

Yes, that's pretty awful. I'm grateful I didn't have any diagnoses when I was young. People thought I was weird but I still thought of myself as human. I don't as much anymore.

[Jolisse]

Angelique,
You are not alone in the way you feel, sometimes I don't feel human either. I try to go on the best I can, hoping things will get better.

[gayleggg]

When I was young and since I lived in a rural area, we weren't evaluated like kids are today. I think today we are going overboard, but when I was in school I obviously had a learning problem but didn't know how to fix it and neither did any of my teachers. I was left feeling very dumb. I was toward the bottom of my class and had definite problems reading by second grade. We did have a remedial reading program but I was judged "too smart" for that.

My emotional issues didn't show up until later but I was 33 before being diagnosed with depression. Looking back I can see signs of mania and depression, but did real well at hiding it.

My daughter is a school counselor and listening to her I would say that we have an abundant group of children needing psychiatric help, however, I don't agree that they all need meds. I think most just need a more stable and nurturing home and school life.

[lizardlady]

posted by gayleggg

I think most just need a more stable and nurturing home and school life.

I agree wholeheartedly!

Gayleggg, your story of school makes me think of one of my cousins. He never learned to read. When he was in school it was assumed he just wasn't smart enough to read. But because his mother taught at the school they just kept promoting him. This guy who was considered "too dumb" to learn to read took over his father's farming and logging businesses as an adult. He made both of the profitable. His wife, who is supposed to not be so smart either, reads trade publications to him. Given what I know now, I suspect he is either dyslexic or has a learning disorder. He's sure no "dumby."

[nija43]

Outside of the medical/psychiatric worlds, I think labels are ineffective. They are ineffective in society. Labels are more common and thus more widely known there ever before. Most people have pre-conceived notions of what these popular labels mean. And those notions are, typically, not accurate and sometimes just plain wrong.

If you are labelled as being depressed or whatever, it still doesn't make things any easier for you, for your family, or for your friends. To other people you may come into contact with, you're still "weird" or "strange" or "different".

I began going to a child psychologist when I was six years old. I got my label and went to the psychologist once a week for about a year in order to "get ready" for school. That label made absolutely no difference to my life.... not at home, not at school, not in the neighborhood. If I was six years old in the year 2014, I would still get the same label and it still wouldn't make a difference.

Maybe kids do get labelled earlier and more easily nowadays. The way people react to them is just the same as it was 40 or 50 years ago.

[waggiedog]

Hi there. Oh wowsey, I've been a member here for a few years and I didn't even know that this place existed!! Basically for the ''older'' folk.

It was 33 long long hellish years before I was actually officially diagnosed. This has been a positive thing for me and my family because now I'm receiving meds which suit me and I've been in therapy for around a year, plus some group DBT/STEPPS group work.

[Nammu]

This is a question I've oftwen wondered about. When I was 9 I was diganosed with migraines and an ulcer. I was 24 when my life fell apart and wondered why the adults in my life had never questioned my sudden shift from bubbly to very withdrawn. I only found out a few years ago from my mother that the doctors had wanted me to see someone but my father wouldn't hear of it...only crazy people go to the crazy doctors. Would my life been easier if had had been able to address the CSA then or harder with teachers knowing I had a label? Would I have carried more shame if talked about back in the day when nobody talked about stuff like that? I have met some much younger kids with CSA and the "help" made life harder but others did much better? I guess it depends on the individual and like gayleggg said having a healthy home life.

I've met some both young and old who carry around their diagnoses like a badge that entitled them to special treatment because they were victims or ill. some of them learned it and I think some of them sought it out, but again I don't know if it is the label, the timing or the individual. I do think there is way too much labeling, so much labeling that it almost makes a person without a label abnormal.