#DITCHTHELABEL

Over the last couple of years I have been labelled with pretty much everything going, I’ve been told ‘Sophie you have PTSD’ ‘You have specific phobia anxiety’ ‘You have depression’ ‘You have severe depression’ ‘You have anxiety’….how can I have all these different disorders and still be standing?! None of these labels are helpful to me, what do professionals aim to achieve by sticking a label on me?!

Going through a compensation claim I guess I understood the more labels they attached to me the more money they can achieve from me, but when you are trying to get your head around the trauma of a car crash is that really helpful to me?! The labels feel like an extra load piled onto me, weighing me down, I feel like I lost my identity and just became this person everyone loved to label.

The best thing someone told me recently was ‘Sophie you are not your depression, you have depression but you aren’t depression’ the second I heard that I was like WOW why have I never thought of that, something as simple as realising that it doesn’t define me can be powerful. So that is the best thing I could say to someone feeling like they have been labelled or had a label attached to them, you aren’t your disorder, you may live with it and fight with it every day but it doesn’t define you.

I do completely understand when you see a GP or a professional they have limited time and resources to help you so attaching you with a label is simply part of their job but being on the receiving end can be daunting. Once you have the label attached, you spend time researching and googling and read all these horror stories about this disorder you have just had stuck to you and it’s overwhelming to say the least…

One thing that does frustrate me is when people throw these words around like ‘I feel so depressed’ or ‘I just want to kill myself’ in a joking manor, I mean come on is that really funny? I am guilty of these remarks in the past and I didn’t realise the impact that could have on someone, so please think before you throw those comments around! 

Trying to find yourself again can be hard work, is it me feeling like this or is it the black dog?! I use to love going to gigs and footballs games, going out for dinner, going for long walks and now I don’t feel like doing any of these and I do think has this ‘depression’ taking all that away from me?! And will I ever get all these parts of me back?! It’s a scary thought to think that something has taken away all the things you use to enjoy in life and replaced it with a black cloud.

So #ditchthelabel, you may be struggling with mental health but you aren’t the label attached to you so don’t let it drag you down or define who you are!